THE PRINCE’S SON is in editing, #Synopsis & #Logline time – all advice welcome.

Yep, that time has come!

The book is written, it’s been to alpha readers and I’m currently editing in preparation for sending to beta readers, so now is the time to start distilling my 150K word complex sequel, with multiple plot strands and 4 viewpoint characters into just a few lines. Easy, right?

Hm, you’d think so, but ask any writer and they will, almost without exception, tell you that it is way harder than writing the entire book.

This is my first sequel. I’m happy with the book, but how much to put in the blurb? To assume most people looking at it will have read the first book? Or not?

They don’t need to have done so – although probably best read in sequence, this is, once again, a stand alone book with its own complete story arc, though threads are left dangling at the end. But for those who have read the first, and want to know what has happened to their favourite characters?

Tricky. Very tricky.

I need to settle the blurb for the back cover of the paperback quite soon, so I can get the cover design underway, so any advice, experience and/or opinions gratefully received.

I have multiple drafts, but the following are my best efforts so far: not by any means settled, and I’m more than willing to scrap and start again if that looks best, but here goes:

Logline

To regain his former position, an exiled spy must escort a pair of young sisters across a dangerous mountain range and deliver them in time for a marriage of alliance. The bandit chieftain whose lands they must cross has a totally different agenda for the girls.

(46 words)

Short description

Raised a proper noblewoman, Lady Nessa Haddo’s only goal in life is to secure a suitable husband, but as a younger twin in a land where superstition deems her cursed, her prospects are limited. When she sets her sights on the handsome foreign envoy sent to escort her sister to her arranged marriage, Nessa’s romantic fantasies entangle her in events beyond her darkest nightmares.

Compared to his last escapade, Rustam Chalice’s commission sounds simple: wrangle an unwieldy bridal caravan across a mountain range populated by bandits, trolls, werecats and worse, try to cajole a traumatized princess out of her self-imposed isolation, and arrive on time for the politically sensitive wedding.

What could possibly go wrong?

(115 words)

Long description (back cover blurb)

In a society that believes younger twins to be cursed, Nessa Haddo clings to her unlikely dream of securing a husband. But when sets her sights on the scar-faced foreign envoy, her romantic fantasies entangle her in events beyond her darkest nightmares.

Rustam Chalice is too preoccupied with the consequences of the coup that resulted in his exile, to take more than fleeting notice of an infatuated teenage girl. Lady Risada, the woman he loves, has married his father, the prince, while his sister, still ignorant of their familial relationship, teeters on the brink of religious zealotry in her efforts to reconcile the torture she endured.

When the Haddo twins are kidnapped, Rustam blames himself for his potentially fatal lapse in judgement, and sets out on a rescue mission.

Meanwhile, back in her ancestral home, Lady Risada awaits the birth of her heir. All her carefully honed assassin’s skills are screaming warnings of foul play, yet she can find nothing obviously amiss.

And deep in the halls of a mountain clan, an old enemy plucks his victim’s strings with expert malice.

(181 words)

Help, advice, suggestions? All welcome…