Fantasy Taking Flight!

Today I welcome Nicole Zoltack on her Champion of Valor tour!

Since writing more than one book was something I never planned, I asked Nicole about writing a trilogy.

Writing a Trilogy

If anyone ever told you that writing a series is fun, they would be right. After all, we all love our characters, right? And we all love to put them into sticky situations, the stickier the better. And as writers, we hate to say goodbye. So standalone novels turn into just one more book, and poof! A sequel! And then another and another….

Now if anyone ever told you that writing a trilogy is easy, either never wrote one, or is a liar.

The first book in my fantasy romance trilogy, Woman of Honor, was so easy to write. If you don't count the long layover in which I wrote half of it during Nano and then let it sit collecting virtual dust bunnies on my hard drive for nearly two years before finishing the rough draft in another month. So yeah, it basically took me two months to write it. Piece of cake. (Obviously it needed a lot of editing before I submitted it but that's besides the point.)

Book two, Knight of Glory, was fairly easy to write as well. Some of the characters were already introduced, and I introduced more, as well as new races - dwarves and trolls. Obviously not new new races as many fantasy books have dwarves, but my trolls aren't your normal trolls. For one thing, they have magic - they can dance on the wind. And the women always wear exquisite clothes. As a race, they are tall and have long features - arms, legs, noses. Anyhow, a war started at the end of Woman of Honor, and it continues throughout Knight of Glory. The kingdom of Arnhem is at war with Speica, and things are looking bleak for Arnhem.

Then it was time to write Champion of Valor. The last book. Which means everything needs to be tied up neatly in a bow. This book took the longest for me to write. It was the darkest, and I cried after writing some scenes, and during another. And I purposely made things hard and then harder on the good guys. I wanted to make them work to achieve their ending. Even wrote myself into a corner. For a little while, I didn't know how Arnhem could possibly be victorious.

In the end, there are still some things I did not explain fully. I plan on revisiting this world in future novel(s). This series focuses on the final war between Arnhem and Speica. But there are plenty of stories that can be written before and after the war.

So if you like dwarves (and would like to meet a dwarven woman, seriously why are they hardly ever written about? And no, she doesn't have a beard!) or knights (seriously, who doesn't like knights?) and mages (both good and evil ones), you might enjoy the Kingdom of Arnhem series. Just beware of any ponies with dripping wet manes. Those Kelpies will drag you down into a watery grave.

Be sure to leave a comment to be entered to win some signed post cards and magnets. Each comment during the Champion of Valor Blog Tour gives you an entry for the grand prize: a copy of the entire Kingdom of Arnhem trilogy - Woman of Honor, Knight of Glory, and Champion of Valor.

Visit Nicole at her BLOG and WEBSITE!

Any questions for Nicole? I bet she likes Hot Tamales as well!