Book Update: Rise of Ralienah

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Hello, my readers!

I figure it's time to update you on the status of my latest and most major writing project, Rise of Ralienah!  

Although in the last few months the training for my new job as a test administrator has kept me from spending a great deal of time writing, I have made some good progress in this project.  

I think I've mentioned before that Rise of Ralienah went from being a single novel and turned into a four-volume series.  It's been an interesting adjustment, since I now have a lot more room to try new ideas and subplots (a huge plus!), but I also have to rethink some older ideas and make sure they still match the story as it is now.

I am now writing part three of the four volumes, so I'm rather excited.  This in no way means I'm close to publishing, of course, but getting close to finishing what is essentially the first draft of a huge novel is always exciting.  

At this point in the narrative, I've introduced most of the key characters... there's only one really important one to go, and his entrance is coming up soon.  

In this version of RoR, I've been trying to employ what I've learned about foreshadowing and character arcs, and I'm really hoping it pays off by the end of the story.  How it actually plays out remains to be seen, but I feel good about what I've written so far.  

I've been so blessed to have a few beta readers this time around!  Dmitri Pendragon, an old friend from the Underground, has been so helpful in providing insights and critique throughout the chapters.  

Splitting the novel into four parts has also forced me to reconsider my original ideas for the cover art.  I've been looking around at some of the more popular covers for fantasy novels, and it seems that for books in the YA genre, beautiful, colorful, and magical paintings are in.  But books in the adult category tend to use plain colored backgrounds, with the title and author's name in huge text over the whole colors.  

I'm not really sure what category to put this book in yet, but I have a feeling it'll lean more towards YA than adult.  Especially if it means having a more fun cover than just... text on a plain background.  0_0  Talk about boring! 

Just for fun, here's an excerpt from Part II, in which our heroine, Ralienah, risks detection by the soldiers who would have her head in order to find Eotel--her friend and ally--while they are being hunted.  Instead of him, she finds someone quite different...

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GRIPPING HER SWORD, Ralienah stepped carefully over the mat of leaves and pine needles beneath her feet, every sense alert.  In the time since she had come to Talminia, she had come to feel as at home in this forest as she did on her own estate... but now even the peaceful cooing of the doves seemed ominous.  

She flinched as a distant crash and shout sounded somewhere to the south.  They were getting closer, and there was still no sign of Eotel.  Pushing back the feeling of desperation and burying it deep, she searched the ground for any sign of his passing- a snapped fern, a footprint, or-heaven forbid- a blood trail.  

More voices drifted her way.  Silently, she ran a little way off to the north, keeping to the soft patches of mossy ground.  Ahead there was a long, fallen tree resting at an angle.  Ralienah debated for a moment whether she should chance climbing it for a better view of the surroundings.  She might spot Eotel faster, but she might also be just as easily be spotted by someone on the ground. 

Then again, though she could hear the sounds of soldiers moving not far off, they were not yet close enough to be an immediate danger to her.  Quietly, she sheathed her sword and crept up the trunk until she reached its highest point, where it was wedged between the forked trunk of another tree nearly fifteen feet off the ground.  Peering carefully through the green, Ralienah scanned the area  A small butte a little distance away caught her attention.  They had a lookout point there, and it was possible Eotel had gone to cover the tracks around it.  

Transferring over to the forked tree, she shimmied down the trunk and stepped lightly to the ground, intending to make for the butte.  

But she had taken no more than paces when a peculiar feeling tingled down her spine.  She froze, and turned slowly toward a patch of thick brush not far off.  The tangled mess of thorny branches obscured completely what lay beyond, but Ralienah could not shake the feeling that there was something, someone, there.

Eotel?  She swallowed, casting another glance toward the butte.  If he had found himself in need of a hiding place, the brambles would have been a natural place to run to as the soldiers drew near.  

Carefully, she pushed aside the branches and wove her way into the brambles.  All was still, but for the forest sounds that echoed overhead.  There were hollows and thickets all around, and deer paths that made it easier to move through what might otherwise have been a nightmare to navigate.  

A twig snapped, and Ralienah straightened.  Heart pounding, she ducked under a branch and came through into the next thicket, expecting to find Eotel--

--and came face to face with a soldier, facing her with his sword drawn and a cold, inquisitive expression on his angular face.

Ralienah tensed, kicking herself inside for her eagerness.  In an instant she was in battle-ready position, certain he would attack in a moment.  

But the soldier made no move, only regarded her in silent consideration.  Recognition flickered in his eyes, even as Ralienah noticed the small iron circlet over his black-and-silver hair.  

With mounting horror, Ralienah realized she was staring at Lord Istarr.  

For a moment they simply stood, staring at one another.  His pale blue eyes regarded her with what seemed like surprise.  

She felt frozen, trapped, yet oddly unwilling to flee.  Instead, she studied him as well.   He was tall and austere, with square shoulders and a graceful stance.  He looked to be about forty-five or fifty years of age, though he had a peculiar sort of agelessness about him that made it difficult to tell.  

“It's you,” he said at last, his eerily soft voice cutting though the silence.  

Straightening her shoulders, she nodded.  “We meet at last, Lord Istarr.”

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In the original draft, Ralienah would not have met her antagonist, Istarr, until much much later in the story.  But as I wrote this newer draft, it felt wrong to have her fighting against a faceless evil for so long.  In this version of the story, I've tried to have Ralienah's struggles be just as much internal as they are external.  So though she is fighting for the freedom of the oppressed people of Talminia, she is also trying to prove her worth to herself and others.  Istarr needed to serve as an obstacle to this as well as to the freedom of the people.  

This is an example of the kind of character development I've been trying to employ throughout the story.  How successful I will be remains to be seen, but I intend to give it my best. :)

Anyway, that's where I am with my writing right now.  Other projects, such as my short stories, have taken something of a back seat in favor of RoR, but my other novels remain on the table... they just move much slower.  

Pray for me, if you will!  I've got busy days and a lot of pressure with this new job, and I'm still hoping to keep up with my writing somehow--not to mention my personal life with my family and stuff.  I'm looking forward to what the next few months will bring, but I'll admit I'm a little nervous.  

Anyway, it's nice to be blogging again.  Hopefully I'll be able to get a few posts out in the coming weeks.  

Until next time!

-Emmarayn Redding

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