Yes… the one that I am posting here as I write it… the one about the kick-ass princesses… uh huh, the one that is the first novel I ever tried to write from a female perspective, with strong female role models who discuss real issues and don’t wait for any prince to come rescue them… that’s the one.

So, I know it might not be the kind of thing that all of you like to read. I mean, it is sort of aimed at pre-teen girls. But it is also developing into a pretty good adventure/fantasy story, and, even though I raised two daughters as a stay-at-home dad… before it was cool… it is a challenge to do.

But I am sort of getting swept up in it. You may remember me mentioning in an earlier post that, unlike my sci-fi series, which I wrote with absolutely no planning ahead, this one I planned out in advance, with maps of who went where when and what the did when they got there and all that. What I have found is that… well… stuff happens. I still find myself throwing in new characters unexpectedly, or shifting the story around a little.

For example, I started getting this idea that I should have one of the princes from the evil family be not-so-evil. I had no idea when that would come up in the story, but all of a sudden, there he was. Prince Nujeem, whom everyone calls Nudge, showing up in my first battle scene. And as I write him, interesting things happen. He gives a view inside the mindset of the evil empire and all his jerky brothers. And, because he ends up getting captured and dragged along with my crew of awesome princesses, I find myself making him a likable little dude.

This brings me to another idea I have been mulling over. I wrote some of my blog friends in as characters in my newest finished novel, the murder mystery set in World War Two London… (Available now through the link in my sidebar on the right if you click the picture of the book called: Double Service)… I thought, maybe, that since I might surprise myself with new characters now and then in this book, that I would maybe write some of you into the story. Now, I can’t guarantee you what kind of character it will be. It might be a small role. You might not get to speak. Or you might be a bad guy or girl. But if you want me to consider you for this, give me some names to use in the comments of this post. We might need to play with the name a little to have it match this fantasy world, but it can be your real name, or the name of your blog might even work… sort of… maybe. I will change your real name a little, for privacy. (I know, this is obviously a shameless ploy on my part to sell a few new books, but hey, characters need names, so why not become famous?)

Also, I just want to say that I am really liking my main character, Hildy… sorry, princess Hildread Starrgarrd Halfmoon of the Kingdom of Halfmoon. She is developing nicely… okay… wait… that sounds wrong when speaking about a 17-year-old princess… but you know what I mean, right? She is arguing with kings and stealing a uniform so she can fight in the battle and… well, I won’t spoil it for you, but she is sort of awesome.

Just a reminder… the entire story … so far… is all in one place, if you click the button on the top bar called: The Seven Kingdoms. That way, you don’t have to scroll through old posts to read it all. I did a lot of writing… by hand… on our camping adventure over the holiday, so I am in the middle of typing up at least another chapter or two. And it is getting pretty exciting, if I do say so myself. I think this is why some writers go away to a cabin or somewhere on a beach to write. It is good to get away from your normal environs. It helps the writing process.