Today's Darklight On is ... Shelley Russell Nolan
Welcome, Shelley
How many lives does one story have?
I started writing when I was a teenager, penning my ideas on paper seeing as I didn't even own a typewriter let alone a computer. One of those stories first scribbled down and then neatly transcribed by hand onto fresh paper was Angel Fire. It was the story of a teenage girl with a recurring dream of fire that led her to the discovery she once had an identical twin. She then sets out to find out what really happened to her sister.
Fast forward many years to 2014 when three friends and I decided to put out a paranormal anthology which we would all write a novella for, Sisters of the Shadows. I pulled out the folder containing Angel Fire with the idea of using it for my novella. But the story I found did not live up to my memory of it. In short, it sucked. Which is to be expected for a first manuscript. I still believed the idea behind it was sound, so I set the folder aside and rewrote the story from scratch.
In 2015 the anthology was released and I was pretty chuffed to have my first publication. Reviews were very kind and I shuffled off to write something else. Fast forward another two years and I had a couple of readers approach me to ask if there was going to be a sequel to Angel Fire. At the time I was in the middle of my Reaper Series, but the question got my mind racing on what might happen in a potential sequel were I to write one.
My mind kept ticking over with ideas, so once the final book in the Reaper Series was done I turned my attention back to Angel Fire with the intention of making it into the first in a paranormal fantasy novella series. Of course, once I got started on the second novella in the series, Wild Lighning, I realised I needed to add more details to Angel Fire to give it the scope needed for a first in series.
Angel Fire Mark III was published this month, along with Wild Lightning in Arcane Awakenings Books One and Two. It may not have the nine lives of a cat, but I am pretty happy with how the third incarnation of it turned out. Now I'm working on giving another old manuscript a second chance for the fifth novella in the series, Divine Captive. All of which gives me hope that one day I will be able to resurrect my first ever story, about a teenage heroine accidentally transported to another planet where she has to fight brain eating aliens before she can return home.
A girl can dream right?
Arcane Awakenings Books One and Two
A hidden past. An uncertain future.
In Angel Fire, all Andie wants is acceptance, a task made difficult thanks to the nightmare that's plagued her for the past fifteen years. Then she learns it's a terrifying memory of the night she lost her identical twin. When Angel's spirit calls to her, begging to be saved, Andie is determined to discover what really happened the night her sister died.
The story continues in Wild Lightning, when Celeste wakes in a mental institution with no memory of who she is or why she can shoot lightning from her fingertips. Spurred on by a vision of Angel, Celeste escapes and searches for answers as her captors close in.
Andie and Celeste must battle ruthless adversaries as they seek to uncover the truth, but will this lead to a future more dangerous than what they've left behind?
Arcane Awakenings – a fast-paced paranormal fantasy novella series.
Buy Links: Amazon / Kobo / Google Play / Barnes & Noble / iBooks
About the Author: Website / Facebook / Goodreads / Twitter
Fast forward many years to 2014 when three friends and I decided to put out a paranormal anthology which we would all write a novella for, Sisters of the Shadows. I pulled out the folder containing Angel Fire with the idea of using it for my novella. But the story I found did not live up to my memory of it. In short, it sucked. Which is to be expected for a first manuscript. I still believed the idea behind it was sound, so I set the folder aside and rewrote the story from scratch.
In 2015 the anthology was released and I was pretty chuffed to have my first publication. Reviews were very kind and I shuffled off to write something else. Fast forward another two years and I had a couple of readers approach me to ask if there was going to be a sequel to Angel Fire. At the time I was in the middle of my Reaper Series, but the question got my mind racing on what might happen in a potential sequel were I to write one.
My mind kept ticking over with ideas, so once the final book in the Reaper Series was done I turned my attention back to Angel Fire with the intention of making it into the first in a paranormal fantasy novella series. Of course, once I got started on the second novella in the series, Wild Lighning, I realised I needed to add more details to Angel Fire to give it the scope needed for a first in series.
Angel Fire Mark III was published this month, along with Wild Lightning in Arcane Awakenings Books One and Two. It may not have the nine lives of a cat, but I am pretty happy with how the third incarnation of it turned out. Now I'm working on giving another old manuscript a second chance for the fifth novella in the series, Divine Captive. All of which gives me hope that one day I will be able to resurrect my first ever story, about a teenage heroine accidentally transported to another planet where she has to fight brain eating aliens before she can return home.
A girl can dream right?
~~~
Arcane Awakenings Books One and TwoA hidden past. An uncertain future.
In Angel Fire, all Andie wants is acceptance, a task made difficult thanks to the nightmare that's plagued her for the past fifteen years. Then she learns it's a terrifying memory of the night she lost her identical twin. When Angel's spirit calls to her, begging to be saved, Andie is determined to discover what really happened the night her sister died.
The story continues in Wild Lightning, when Celeste wakes in a mental institution with no memory of who she is or why she can shoot lightning from her fingertips. Spurred on by a vision of Angel, Celeste escapes and searches for answers as her captors close in.
Andie and Celeste must battle ruthless adversaries as they seek to uncover the truth, but will this lead to a future more dangerous than what they've left behind?
Arcane Awakenings – a fast-paced paranormal fantasy novella series.
Buy Links: Amazon / Kobo / Google Play / Barnes & Noble / iBooks
About the Author: Website / Facebook / Goodreads / Twitter
Glad you kept the story alive, Shelley. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteThanks Eleni!
ReplyDelete