New Vella Story: Flower from the Flame

I've mentioned this story in passing on and off for the last few months. 

I'd originally written Flower from the Flame as the novel Thistledown (Haegtesse Book 1) under a different pen name almost a decade ago. I originally did it as part of NaNoWriMo, too. I'd self published it, but I didn't know what I was doing and it flopped. Mostly because I was too damned shy about it to network and promote it. 

So now, I'm re-writing it. Giving it my current voice, cleaning it up, and adding an MMC POV. This was a story I wrote when I needed it. And in some way, I think I need it again. Because it's a story about coming into one's own. And I feel like I am racing for that cusp.

The FMC, Thistle, is autistic. I discovered I'm autistic last year and it's completely changed my life. Re-reading Thistledown, HOW did no one put 2 and 2 together to realize I was autistic? I wrote her as autistic without even knowing it back then. Now I'm just putting a name to it.

At one point, I was planning on turning Thistledown into a comic. This is one of the panels with Mrs. McCreedy on it. I based Mrs. McCreedy off of my Grammie Kay who passed away. She'd be almost 105 if she were still alive today. I miss her a lot and she's the person I dedicated the book to. I like to think she'd get such a kick out of the fact I'm writing monster smut now lol. 

So, that's a lot of the past stuff. What about now?

Well, that's relatively easy to be honest. As I re-write Thistledown to Flower from the Flame, I'll be posting it on Kindle Vella. Right now, I'm breaking up chapters into more uniformed lengths for serialization. I've re-read and updated the first two chapters. The first one is already live and the second I submitted today.

If you're expecting rhyme or reason to how I post on KV then you are going to be SORELY mistaken. I do my trash cat best but the whims of creativity and neurospicy demand payment constantly so who knows. I am hoping that since the chapters will be shorter, I'll be able to turn out one a week. But again...​

This here is the eternal vibe.

So precisely how much content do I have?? Bold of you to assume I can quantify that for you. But! What I can tell you is that the word count currently sits at 81k. The second book in the trilogy (Yes, it was originally a trilogy!) was a little under halfway done at roughly 30k. And then just some brainstormed notes for the third book which is negligible at this point given that I'm probably going to change stuff.

Let's just say I beef up Flower from the Flame to 96k for it to be finished, yeah? (This is likely given I'm adding the MMC POV and more plot elements) I'm planning on making each KV episode 2-3k long. Which gives us 32- 48 episodes, depending. 

I haven't actually decided yet whether or not I'll split up each book on KV to be separate books or just keep it as one long ass story until it's done, then split it and publish it as 3 separate books on KU.

I should also probably note that none of this is finalized editing wise when I post it via KV. It's roughly edited, but not gone through with a fine-tooth comb. So you WILL find errors. 

If you would like to support the story and watch it grow, you can always follow, read, and comment via Kindle Vella! ​(Click the top graphics or the kindle vella graphic to be redirected!)