The First Pages

Here's a sample of my middle-grade fantasy novel, Quercus.



Quercus is doomed. An evil queen wants to swallow the kingdom in darkness and harness the elemental powers. Enter twin sisters, Tia and Tamela.

When Tia and Tamela find a troll poking around in their backyard, they decide to confront him. Only to find themselves falling inside an oak tree and into the kingdom of Quercus, where Queen Cassiopeia will stop at nothing for absolute power.

Soon the sisters are separated. Tia among the trolls and Tamela keeping company with a butter-sprite. Will the sisters find each other and can they keep Queen Cassiopeia from plunging the kingdom into darkness and harnessing the elemental powers?

Part One

The Kingdom of Light and Dark

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Chapter 1

Prelude to Darkness/Twin Dilemma

A copious oak tree with bark resembling a worn old man’s face stood in the Naylor’s backyard. Deep inside this oak tree was other world. A kingdom called Quercus. For eons, light and dark were equally balanced. Now darkness has tipped the scales in its favor.

A Fortnight ago

The darkness walked through the woods, stretching its long obsidian fingers toward the old castle, where light still remained. A golden-skinned princess shrank from the window, goose bumps populating her bare arms. She hugged herself. “The darkness has crested,” she said to her father, the king. However, her words didn’t touch his ears. King Quasar laid on a bed swimming with various sized pillows. His wife, Queen Cassiopeia, put him in a magic induced coma.
Princess Soleil knelt by her father’s bedside, the tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. She gingerly flicked lint from his thick beard. “Father, I wish I knew how to wake you. The kingdom is unraveling. Mother’s going to make darkness overtake what light remains. And my sister is trying to kill me.” The princess sighed heavily. The tears started to roll. Time was siphoning through the hourglass. “There has to be somebody out there that can help.” Princess Soleil went to the window again. She stared at the impending darkness.
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Tamela slid into the window seat. She placed her messenger bag in the other seat. Tia cleared her throat. “Can you move your bag, please?”
“No.” Tamela didn’t make eye contact with her twin sister. She folded her arms and stared out the window. “No more sitting together,” she said.
Tia flopped down next to her, anyway. “Is this about me making an Aslan sculpture out of the instant potatoes at lunch? You know that stuff isn’t fit for human consumption.” She unzipped her bag, rummaged around for a minute until she found a tattered stick of gum. Quickly she shoved it in her mouth and began to masticate.
Tamela took her eyes from the window. “Tia, could you do me a favor? Could you pretend to be normal when we’re at school?”
Tia stopped chewing her gum as her glasses slid down the bridge of her nose. The girls across from them started to giggle and whisper. Tia stared down her straight laced, starched collar, hair in place; the world is black and white, normal sister.
“What constitutes normal anyways,” she replied loud enough for everyone to hear. She shot a minatory glare at the giggling girls.
Just then, Grayson Miller, the object of Tamela’s aspiration boarded the bus. He looked in their direction before taking the seat behind the bus driver. Tamela relieved herself with a sigh.
“Oh, Tia, most people try their hardest not to be weird. But you on the other hand.”
Tia regarded Tamela for a moment. “Well with any luck maybe I’ll fall down a rabbit hole like Alice and you won’t have to worry about my weirdness.”

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Chapter 2

Sapphire Night

Outside the sky was the bluest hue, like sapphires, and in that gem of night were swirls of pink and tiny stars. Tia could see them from the top bed bunk in the room that she shared with her twin sister. The air wafting in from the open window was crisp and cool, and an owl stood perched on the branch of a large oak tree beside the window, calling into the night. Its eyes were glowing like two mini-moons. Tia listened to the cacophony of her sister’s soft snores, the owl hooting, and the crickets’ chirps. She turned on her side…her sister could sleep through a parade, but Tia was a light sleeper.
Tia sprung upright in her bed, the sprightly burgundy dyed curls bounced atop her head. “If that darn owl don’t shut it. I’ll give it a piece of my mind.” Tia usually spent time in detention for giving someone a piece of her mind. Tia’s slipper clad footfalls made a soft thump as she jumped from the top bunk.
Outside in the shadows, a figure hunched over the moonflowers she helped her mother plant.
Tia raised her window. “Hey,” she yelled.
The creature looked up at her, its face unrecognizable in the dark.
“Tamela, wake up. There’s someone in the backyard.”

The Saffron Moon Project

Well, it's been a long while since I blogged. It's not like I have a bunch of readers waiting to read my words. I'm currently working on a middle-grade manuscript. Well I've only written the first chapter. I'm not quite sure what direction I'm going with it. It's called the Fantasy Life of Saffron Moon it's a coming of age story with hints of magical realism. At first it was going to be about a lonely girl with a crowded imagination, but then...I decided to make it a bit more fantastical. So Saffron Moon is a lonely girl with two different colored eyes. And she can see hidden truths with her right eye.
So the first hidden truth she sees with her eye is a fellow classmate's home life isn't so sweet. So Saffron is faced with keeping quiet or trying to find a way to help. Along the way she'll deal with dodging gym class, a rival student, unrequited crush and a bully of a big sister. I suppose it sounds ok. The Fantasy Life of Saffron Moon, her eyes sees your truth. I might change the title. Maybe to Saffron Moon.

Hard

Life is hard. Finding love isn't easy. You can be patient as a rock but frustration crumbles your resolve. Staring at blank pages trying to write a book with a catchy hook. In my waking dream I'm already there, a publishing phenom. But writing is hard. Getting published isn't easy. True love is more difficult. Everyone has a story to tell. Will you listen to mine?Like that rock of a mountain I will not be moved. Dreaming is easy. But making them real is hard. In my mind I hear that Journey song, "Don't stop believing" because I must continue to believe and never give up, eventhough it's hard.

Lost in Emotion

Sometimes I'm filled with dual emotions when it comes to my publishing pursuits. On one hand I'm enliven and on the other hand I'm dubious. I feel the excitement coursing through my veins when I see that my short story isn't doing too bad on webook. But then the seeds of doubt start budding every time I open an e-mail politely declining my manuscript or how my story ranks in the triple digits on autonomy. But that's life no matter what vocation you're pursuing. Sometimes you will have doubts and question whether your energy is best suited elsewhere. I have.
But I must keep the faith and continue to believe in this dream I've been dreaming for so long. This eternal flame in my heart eclipses an shadow of doubt.

Sea of No

I started sending out queries for my middle-grade novel, The Strange World of Neve Rimbel the first week of this month. By the second week, two of the three agents respectfully declined. I've been swimming in the sea of no for so long, I wonder where the shore of yes is. I know rejection is part of the literary game and it's a subjective business. I've worked really hard on my novel. I think it's a very good story. A twelve-year-old girl and her family moves to a cursed town. The girl sees beware, bewarned, be afraid eteched on her window. Thus begans her encounters with strange things from a woman bursting into crows to alien baby imposters.

A lot of the middle-grade/young adult novels I read the protagonist are white. My protagonist Neve Rimbel is black, but of course I like to think that wouldn't be the cause of a no. I would like to believe a fantasy novel with a black protagonist could have a decent number of readers and buyers. Character race shouldn't matter if the story is well-written and compelling and you believe in the story you're telling.

Often when I look at the book sections in Target and Wal-Mart (where I work) I get a wistful look in my eyes. Given a chance I would love to see my story ideas in book form.

The Mirror World

In the year 2004 I made my first attempts at breaking into publishing with my children's novel entitled The Mirror World. Well, actually at 53 pages it was more of a long short story. Anyways, I felt it was publishable. So off it went. And back it came. The story was a fantaasy about a lonely 12 year-old girl, named Taryn Hayes, who gets sucked into another world via an antique mirror. (What is it about mirrors being portals). From there she ends up in the land of Arnasor. (My name spelled backwards. Clever. Clever). Where a rabbit sporting a tweed jacket sees her fall from the sky. Mr. Timbleweed (the rabbit) belives she was sent to help the oppressed creatures defeat an evil giantess, Desmara.

Most agencies gratfully declined but one although they said it wasn't strong enough to market, they suggested a critique service. This lead me to DeeDee Hughes. She critiqued The Mirror World (along with all my subsequent manuscripts). She thought I had the makings of a very fun and exciting adventure story. After revising and following her suggestions, I sent it back to that agency, exactly a year later. This time they said they didn't feel they could market at this time.

The Mirror World probably won't ever be on any shelves but it was a good learning curve. There are loads I like about the story and descriptions. Mr. Timbleweed broke into a loping gait, with Taryn in tow. She struggled to break free, but the homicidal rabbit had a stronghold on her. Another butterfly fluttered by.

Ambrosia looked at Taryn. A clod of dirt landed on the fairy, knocking her to the ground. Hoof beats could be heard from above. The wooden door started to splinter and bulge. Shamus let out a squeal. “We’re being infiltrated.” Taryn saw his foot narrowly miss the fairy that still lay on the ground. “Watch it you idiot,” she snapped. She ran and gingerly picked up the lavender fairy. She held Ambrosia in her hands; she was no bigger than a dragonfly. The fairy’s wings brush against her palms, her tiny crystal eyes looked into Taryn’s. This can’t be real she thought.

In 2006 The Mirror World did get published online with Sweetgum Notes. My former creative writing professor had accepted my submission. She said her staff thought it was delightful. (Why weren't they agents). Well there are some characters I'll use in other stories. I really like Cyan and Rue, my goth-like rainbow sprite. The Mirror World started it all.

Literary Dreams

I've been honing my writing skills since 2004. Prior to that I deferred my literary dream to pursue a white-collar office job, I never even had an interview for. My post-secondary education was spent failing and retaking computer and accounting classes. All the while writing was in the background. I took two creative writing classes while in college. I had a professor, Dr. Kinder say my writing reminded her of C.S. Lewis (I hadn't read anything of his at the time). If I could time travel I would go back and take English and writng classes intead of business and computer classes were mediocrity was evident.

Writing for me didn't truly began in 2004 but in 1988 when I was nine. I use to write and illustrate my own stories, along with my cousin. Most of my characters were talking animals with a few misanthopic aliens thrown in. Writing is what I love to do.

My literary dreams began in 1988 and although I deferred them in my early twenties, the dream is still alive.