For several months after I finished writing and editing my last book, Hunted, I found myself in a writing slump. I tried getting into a couple projects and made some progress, but they didn't grip me. I could feel it wasn't the time to sit down and pound out the whole thing (it usually takes me around 3-9 months to finish a book once I really get going).
However, I recently decided to revisit an old project that's been quietly haunting me for about ten years. It used to be called The Fortune Seeker, and I actually finished it for NaNoWriMo in 2018, but I could tell it wasn't the story it was supposed to be. So I kept chipping away at it, bringing forward new characters, discarding old ones, reshaping them, playing with the world. On this last revisit to the world of Strath and Osk, I found myself fired up by it in a new way. I even purchased a fantasy worldbuilding template on Notion to help me keep all the details of this story in one place. I think it might be time to finally finish it the way it wants to be finished.
Tales of Strath and Osk is a fantasy novel in nine (or it might end up being seven) separate but interconnected stories, each from a different character's point of view. There is the Highwayman, the Pirate, the Enchantress, the Weaver, the Vagabond, the Witch, the Philosopher, and one or two more characters I haven't quite solidified yet. There is a crown of great power that's been lost for long ages. There are two sets of sisters, each trying to find their way back to each other across various obstacles.
This story is near and dear to my heart not only because I've been working on it for so long, but also because it's heavily inspired by Cornelia Funke's Inkworld series, particularly Inkspell and Inkdeath (even though Inkheart is my favorite). It's my own take on the kind of fantasy world she created, and I'm deeply in love with both this world that's been living in my head for a decade as well as the characters who inhabit it.
Allow me to introduce you to Scabius Lyle, the best (and best-dressed) highwayman in Strath:
"The first time he robbed from the rich, he intended to distribute his spoils among the unlucky, the unhappy, and the unfortunate–such as he had once been. But Lord Delling gave him a better price.
After that, he only stole from the rich to give to the rich."
TALES OF STRATH AND OSK LET’S GOOOOOOO 👏
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