What is Colours of Dawn About? (Why Did It Take So Long?)
New beginnings. It's a time of change at EVE as it splits off from the Longs into the EVE Witchcraft Conservatory with the goal of shaping a new generation of witches in the open.
It picks up 10 years after the end of Hall of Mirrors; Victoria has finished school and returns to EVE as Doctor Ravenwood, while Millie returns changed from an entirely different experience. Yet both of them wind up asking the same questions: what do I do now? Was it all worth it?
Colours is in many ways the smallest, most personal book in the series so far, and (at least to me), the most emotional. It's also what I consider to be the middle book of the series, which is one of the reasons it was so hard to write. Middle books are often the most challenging, and that fact, combined with the time jump, made it particularly tricky to get right. I hope I did.
Being the middle book, it's the hinge point for the entire series, and had to bridge the first three and set the trajectory for the rest to come, while still being satisfying on its own. It took a long time to get that balance right. With the time jump, it also had to play catch-up over the time we missed without being boring exposition or characters being like "Hey, remember that time we did the thing the reader didn't see?" The characters had to remain familiar, but different enough that it felt like time had passed. This was something I failed at in early versions and took a lot of hammering away at before I figured out.
Also, you may notice that Pretoria is no longer a PoV character. That was one of the hard choices I had to make before this book could become what it needed to be. Ironically, she is a better character for the choice, and the story is much tighter and more satisfying. It was not an easy decision, and took ages to commit to. Though it pains me to say it, I'm glad I did.
I learned a lot writing this book, lessons I hope I never have to re-learn! Though it is my fifth(!) novel, it was by far the hardest to write. For myriad reasons, some I cover in the Afterword section, some that I can't discuss until the series is finished (spoilers), and some I will never talk about because they're too personal. So no matter how many books you write, there is always something to learn, new ways to fail, and new ways to succeed!
If you're reading this, thank you so much for your patience and understanding. The From the Ashes of Victory books are very special to me, and I hope to you, so it's more important to get them done right than fast.
All that said, I sincerely hope you enjoy Colours of Dawn.
It picks up 10 years after the end of Hall of Mirrors; Victoria has finished school and returns to EVE as Doctor Ravenwood, while Millie returns changed from an entirely different experience. Yet both of them wind up asking the same questions: what do I do now? Was it all worth it?
Colours is in many ways the smallest, most personal book in the series so far, and (at least to me), the most emotional. It's also what I consider to be the middle book of the series, which is one of the reasons it was so hard to write. Middle books are often the most challenging, and that fact, combined with the time jump, made it particularly tricky to get right. I hope I did.
Being the middle book, it's the hinge point for the entire series, and had to bridge the first three and set the trajectory for the rest to come, while still being satisfying on its own. It took a long time to get that balance right. With the time jump, it also had to play catch-up over the time we missed without being boring exposition or characters being like "Hey, remember that time we did the thing the reader didn't see?" The characters had to remain familiar, but different enough that it felt like time had passed. This was something I failed at in early versions and took a lot of hammering away at before I figured out.
Also, you may notice that Pretoria is no longer a PoV character. That was one of the hard choices I had to make before this book could become what it needed to be. Ironically, she is a better character for the choice, and the story is much tighter and more satisfying. It was not an easy decision, and took ages to commit to. Though it pains me to say it, I'm glad I did.
I learned a lot writing this book, lessons I hope I never have to re-learn! Though it is my fifth(!) novel, it was by far the hardest to write. For myriad reasons, some I cover in the Afterword section, some that I can't discuss until the series is finished (spoilers), and some I will never talk about because they're too personal. So no matter how many books you write, there is always something to learn, new ways to fail, and new ways to succeed!
If you're reading this, thank you so much for your patience and understanding. The From the Ashes of Victory books are very special to me, and I hope to you, so it's more important to get them done right than fast.
All that said, I sincerely hope you enjoy Colours of Dawn.
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Cindy
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Dec 03, 2020 04:57AM
This did feel like the middle book--shorter on plot, more intense on character development. I think keeping POV to the 3 MCs makes sense. The biggest character development we didn't see is Pretoria and I was trying to connect the dots between who she was in the last book and who she is in this one. All in all, another solid effort and I'm eager for the next 3. Thank you.
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Cindy - Thank you for reading and your generous review, I appreciate it.Yes, losing Pretoria's POV was hard, but necessary. If you saw what the book looked like before... yeesh. Originally it was more plot-heavy, but it came at the cost of the development we get in the final version. It was, in essence, two books, but a lot of the cut plot will end up in Book V. I don't know for sure that there will be 3 more, but I can say for certain that there will be at least 2. I'm very gratified that you are looking forward to them! I will have an update on the series in the new year, once more people have had a chance to read Colours. Thank you again for your support, it means a lot.
