New YA fantasy book by Ella Arrow! Because why wait for lightning to strike when you can fly your kite in a storm?
I decided to publish my finished novel, instead of waiting for the blessing of traditional publishing gods that can be so capricious. I’m feeling proud and vulnerable. It feels great to put my book out there for the world, but do I really want to know what the world thinks of it?
One of my oldest friends told me she loved my new book, Indigo Calico Raspberry Night, as soon as she finished it. She wrote a glowing Amazon review, said the ending made her cry, and gushed about how fun it was to see so much of me in the story. But before she said any of that, she said she found a few typos. She’s an academic, so she offered to proof my next manuscript if I wanted.
Sigh.
I replied that famous authors find typos in their published books all the time. It’s like Murphy’s Law for writers. Plus doesn’t a dropped stitch now and then prove the thing was hand-made?
Publishing a book is an act of vulnerability. What if readers only see the flaws? What if they think I plagiarized what I meant to pay homage? What if my story’s too predictable, or implausible, or the bold choices I really enjoyed just tick people off?
My book includes lots of acts of vulnerability. My heroine, Lyra, asks herself questions like, What if people found out the awful secrets of my past? What if I let myself open up to magical possibilities? What if I told my boyfriend, my parents, or my intriguing new friend about the weird things that have been happening to me? Will they stop loving me? Throw me in the loony bin? Or will they open doors to other realms and experiences I never dreamed of?
Indigo is clearly one of those down the rabbit-hole, fly off to neverland, over-the-rainbow kind of stories, but a teenager going through the looking glass is different than a child. Lyra navigates embarrassment in high school, first loves and love triangles, and questioning the things her parents have been telling her her whole life. There’s magic and secrets, an evil queen and a trickster god, loss and awakening, childhood hiding places and starlit kingdoms. There’s even a library for crows. And there are friendships, deep and wide, mysterious and clarion, the kind you cannot imagine living without, until the day you have no choice.
The book is set in my home town of Elgin, Illinois, and Lyra’s house is based on my childhood home. The cheeky boyfriend reminds me of my husband who loves to tease. I came up with Smashing Day and Reverse Garage Saling in real life, two of the quirky activities Lyra invents. I carried around the words “Gonehagen” and “Carpe Dream” in my head literally for years before I figured out they fit into this story. A confluence of influences, from Star Wars to Tom Waits to English folk songs to the giant pine trees behind my house, all flowed into this book.
So even though there are many echoes in my book from other fantasy stories about someone who discovers that rip in the fabric of the universe that reveals what’s really going on underneath, I still believe this is a book that only I could write. That my friend was onto something when she said she could feel my personality and experience on every page. That’s a scary thing to say. It makes me feel incredibly vulnerable, because if someone doesn’t like my book, does that mean they really don’t like me?
Most things worth doing in life can be at least a little bit scary.
At its heart, Lyra’s story is about learning to know yourself, and accepting your own truth. Even if others don’t. Even if it sounds scary or crazy or stupid to say out loud. Your truth belongs to you, and no one can take it away.
So I think my book is pretty great. Maybe you will, too. Fair warning, though; I hear there are a few typos.
Read the first chapter of the new YA fantasy book, Indigo Calico Raspberry Night, by Ella Arrow, out now on Amazon and Ingramspark.
All the best,
