The Time Has Come the Walrus Said
It really has and I am so beyond thrilled that all of the hard work is finally culminating into something grand. Well at least grand to me. And that’s all that matters.
I just saw the final draft of my cover art and OMG OMG OMG OMG it’s everything I dreamed it could be and more. Things got a little delayed with my cover artist being under the weather the last 2 weeks but we are back on track now and soon I will be revealing the cover art as well as the release date!
With that, as the title of the post suggest, the time has come to say an end to sharing this story on Royal Road.
After much deliberation and humming and hawing over where to publish, I have come to the conclusion that Amazon KDP is the correct choice for now. With that being said, Amazon is a no play zone where they don’t let you have anything listed on KU (Kindle Unlimited) and have it shared anywhere else.
Bummer, I know.
So with that, I will be having to take down all of the current chapters on Royal Road in preparation for the full release. (I can’t have Amazon approve it if it’s up anywhere)
But this isn’t all bad news. I am still working/writing the new LitRPG story that will be going on Royal Road to replace it! Decks of Eloswyr is coming along and hopefully by June it will be ready to begin its release into the wild. (I need to be oh so many chapters ahead when I release it to stay up to date with it weekly and ya girl has been BUSY with health issues, life stress, as well as just being plain tired)
So let’s take a peek into Decks of Eloswyr shall we?
Decks of Eloswyr is a progression LitRPG/Gamelit style story where the main character, Leora Hayes, gets isekai'd to a new realm and must learn why and upon learning why must figure out how to get back home.
I am not going to go too far into the task she must complete… major spoilers there… but I will say she has a long road ahead of her and this story is unfolding in a way suitable for Royal Road. (much less novel type chapters and much more serial which works better for RR.)
This story is ultimately my way of enjoying the process of creation and writing in a way that is honestly quite freeing. SO far there is literally echoes of everything I truly love smattered about the pages and her encounters. And in true me fashion, what was meant to be a care-free, silly little story, quickly evolved into a full on mammoth of world building and creation.
I literally built an entire world from the ground up with new race names, character stats names, etc. and I could not be happier with it. It’s been so much fun not sticking to “normal” like I had to with The Whispers Saga since it was urban fantasy set in our world. In Eloswyr, it’s a whole new world, so anything and everything goes. Literally.
Instead of health points it’s called ‘Elith’ and instead of mana it's called ‘Oris’. That’s a little teaser for you. And of course I will have a document at the start with names and explanations so there is no need to fear being entirely lost.
And as the name suggests, it does in fact have to do with a deck of cards but not in the way you might think. I took the idea of the four suits and elaborated and created my own version with huge twists and big changes.
It truly is a labor of love. Quite literally as my brain won’t ever let me stop thinking about it and going over things Leora will encounter and places she will visit because I am totally in love with the world of Eloswyr.
Wrapping my head around stats and progression was a little frustrating at first. It’s one thing to read someone else’s version of that in the plethora of stories on RR but it’s a whole beast to come up with your own. But once I found my stride and finalized how I wanted the progression to work in this world, it all came together rather quickly.
Another little mini spoiler I can share is the names of the five houses within the world.
House of Vespera
House of Thalborath
House of Nyxalith
House of Gorundar
House of Sylphariel
Do these names invoke any idea of what they might represent or be about? I am so proud of all of the creativity I poured out to come up with everything in this world. Don’t get me wrong, I am equally proud of The Whispers Saga world I created and the characters within BUT for some reason Eloswyr feels so much more alive. I don’t know how to describe it. More creative? I don’t know. Just something more. I think it harkens back to what I was saying where I was able to do literally anything in this world because it’s not held to IRL standards so that probably has a LOT to do with how I am feeling about it.
And don’t take working on this as me not working on the rest of The Whispers Saga. I totally am. As well as Absynthia, to which I will say… I do not recommend working on multiple projects at one time… just save yourself the sanity and don’t. Mmkay pumpkin?
I know I said it on threads but I will say it here once again because it’s just as true today as it was the other day…
Being both and author and an artist is quite exhausting in my head. It gets crazy in here. (both figuratively and literally)
More updates to come soon but I wanted to leave an explanation as to why Whisper of Secrets has not been updated and will be coming down from Royal Road. Amazon won’t allow it. >.< because if it were up to me, I would have it everywhere. But having it everywhere becomes super confusing to my brain with different isbns and all that jazz so easy route for now. Who knows. I might change my mind later and go wide but for now the ‘zon it is.
‘Til next time! Happy Reading!
<3 Rhea