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I originally wrote Brush of Darkness as an experiment. It started in the summer of 2008. I was co-writing another story with a friend for fun and the subject of possibly getting published had come up. Things ultimately didn’t end up working out with the co-writer, but in the meantime I decided to investigate exactly how one went about getting published. (Ha ha – yeah, that sounds a bit naïve, I suspect.)
At any rate, I started BoD, joined RWA, took a bunch of workshops and finished the draft in April of 2009. I started the query and pitch process shortly after that (as well myriad contests that summer.) By November 2009 I had my agent and by January 2010 I had a three book deal with Pocket.Nothing of which really has anything to do with writing a series, but just to give you an example of how fast things can move. In BoD, Abby Sinclair has signed a seven year Contract with the Faery Protectorate. Originally I had thought I might write seven books – one for each year of her Contract. However, as anyone who has tried to get published knows, it can be very difficult to sell a series up front, particularly from an unknown author. Often that first book has to be able to stand alone, simply because it’s easier to sell.
So I abandoned my immediate thoughts of doing a series and just wrote BoD to be as much of a stand alone as I could. I still left some things unresolved on the off chance that it would get picked up, but overall it was complete unto itself. Now, I initially wrote BoD as a paranormal romance – there was a different ending than there is now, and there was more emphasis on the romance as a whole. When it sold to Pocket, I had to expand my thought process to three books…and I was asked to turn BoD into an urban fantasy.
In about six weeks, I gutted some pretty large chunks and ramped up the “Scooby gang” feel and lowered the romance level. Not that there isn’t still romance in there – there is, but if it had to, the story could stand without it at this point (with a little more tweaking.) I would say that BoD is a bit more cross-genre at this point, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. There has been a bit of backlash from people who expect a straight pnr vs uf (i.e. there’s not enough romance/hea for pnr readers and too much romance for uf readers), but overall, I think it works.
Because I’m only contracted to write three books at this point, the current story arc is being shaped to be completed in those three. Not that I don’t want to write more (and I’d love to do a spin-off or two with some of the secondary characters as well). I am leaving the door nicely open, but I’d prefer to make sure things are as done as much as they can be…just in case. Now, this does mean that the second book may end in a bit of a cliffhanger, but the third book is currently scheduled to come out in the same year, so hopefully that won’t be too much of an issue for my readers.Trust me and I’ll make it worth your while… 😉
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A marine biologist in a former life, Allison Pang turned to a life of crime to finance her wild spending habits and need to collect Faberge eggs. A cat thief of notable repute, she spends her days sleeping and nights scaling walls and wooing dancing boys….Well, at least the marine biology part is true. But she was taloned by a hawk once. She also loves Hello Kitty, sparkly shoes, and gorgeous violinists.
She spends her days in Northern Virginia working as a cube grunt and her nights waiting on her kids and cats, punctuated by the occasional husbandly serenade. Sometimes she even manages to write. Mostly she just makes it up as she goes.
Read more from Allison on her official website, blog, Twitter or Facebook.
Intrigued? I know I am. Allison has kindly offered a signed copy of Brush of Darkness! Leave a comment on this post and we’ll throw your name in the hat. Please note: You must include a valid email address with your comment to be eligible. Contest ends Wednesday, February 16, 2011 @ 11:59pm.
This book is available from Pocket. You can buy it here
