The Mark of Thorn: Book of Scars – So, three fairy tale characters walk into a bar…

Three fairy tale characters walk into a bar… That would be the tagline of this series if it weren’t so damn cheesy, and this story is not a comedy, although it does have a bit of dark humor throughout. It’s my signature dark fantasy fairy tale retelling, and I’ve always been excited about this one from the moment that I invented it to the day that I first posted it online.

It may sound like a joke, but really, this is exactly how the story begins. Three fairy tale characters meet in a tavern, and through a series of unforseen circumstances, find themselves travelling together. Throw in another who binds them all together with a common purpose, and there lies the story.[image error]

The base idea is this:

This idea came together when I was thinking of all the bits and pieces of fairy tales that I had thought about retelling, but felt that they wouldn’t stand on their own. I thought about common themes within fairy tales, and something came to me: there were several stories that had mention of thorns and roses, and many of those stories also had dealings with a witch or sorceress. So with that common theme in mind, I began to write what I knew would be my most epic tale.

The Mark of Thorn series is a 5-book saga that takes place in a world where many fairy tales are happening at once. It is different from my other retellings in that way, but it is very much its own thing. While the overall story stretches across the books, the 5 books are each meant to represent one of the 5 characters, in which I decide to delve further into their backstory while the overall story arc is taking place.

Each of these books is full length, at least 100k+ so these won’t seem like short pieces of a larger work. There are a lot of storylines to explore. Each character has a sprawling past and they grow as the story progresses.

Which characters and tales does this series explore? It’s a secret (for now).

When I first began publishing this series online, I did not tell readers who the characters were supposed to be. I left them to figure it out. From the start, it’s pretty clear who one of them is, and the rest are eventually revealed through the text. I thought that was a fun thing to do. It had people guessing and thinking about what they knew about fairy tales in order to figure it out. For some of the characters, it was a waiting game, because there was not much to go on until I revealed it. I’m not sure how I will go about revealing this information this go-round, but for now, I’ll just keep it quiet.

If you have read the first two books before, there are a couple of things I want to address (spoiler free):

One thing that was mentioned to me about the first book was that it seemed to just be getting started and then it was over. The ending was unsatisfying to some. So I’ve decided to take this into account and consider adding a bit more in an attempt to resolve this. The book is 93k already.
Another thing is that readers wondered why the first book seemed to focus on one character, and then by the second book, it was like another character had become the focus. The books are written in third person multiple pov — like many of my other works — but the series is designed to focus on characters at different times. That’s why the first book seems to focus on one character and the second book seems to focus on another, even though all of them are important. The third book will be the same way, focusing on yet another character.

Right now, I have 2 books written and have started the third. I have pretty solid ideas for the rest, so I don’t think writing them will be a problem, even if they are large projects.

Since there are 5 books, my plan is to release one of these every 6 months, and hopefully have another book in between to fill in my 3-month writing schedule. I have a good headstart, which means I have over a year to complete book 3 before it needs to be released. I don’t think that will be an issue. At least, I hope not.

And so, that is my plan!

I’d also like to add that since The Mark of Thorn series is fairy tale based, I likely won’t be publishing any other twisted fairy tales during the time that I’m working on this one. The books in between will likely be originals, though I can’t share that with certainty at this time.

Now that The Captor’s Redemption has been released, The Mark of Thorn: Book of Scars is listed for preorder! Right now, it’s only available for preorder on Amazon, and it may stay that way. As planned, I’m going to release a book every 3 months, so Book of Scars will be released in November 2018, followed by another book in February, and so on!

I’m excited about this new workflow. I hope it works for all my fans as well and that I won’t get too far ahead of those who want to read my books as they are released. I think nowdays, it’s difficult to find time to do any reading at all (especially if you’re a slow reader like me) so I thank you all for giving me your time!

Let me know if there is anything else I can do to make this experience better for you!