Moving On

by Cheri Chesley

Last week, about this time, I finished my edits on The Tyrant King. While I wait to hear back from my beta readers about what changes I should make before sending it back to my publisher, I've gotten to sit back and wait for my brain to decide which story to work on next.

It was no contest, really. I just fought it for a bit.

I feel like I SHOULD be working on the third and final installment of The Peasant Queen trilogy. I've started the draft, met my cast of characters, introduced the greatest horse (character based on a real horse) to fiction, and transcribed ALL of my handwritten work to computer.

But that's not going to happen right now.

Consequences is a contemporary YA "coming of age" (though I hate that term) about how, sometimes, we aren't the ones most affected by the consequences of our actions. Sometimes those most affected are people we love dearly, and wouldn't hurt for the world--except we did.

The timely thing here is that Chloe's story is one I originally drafted during a NaNo (National Novel Writing Month--November) a few years ago. It's the story that my brain is drawn to whenever my brain goes "dormant" from fantasy.

It's a story near and dear to my heart, drawn largely from personal experience but placed in a completely fictional situation.

It's a story about growing up.

It's a story about facing your past.

It's a story about reshaping relationships.

And it never fails to make me cry.

It's NOT a conversion story, though it deals largely with the LDS beliefs of forgiveness and love, acceptance without condoning. My character never has that moment where she feels the need to be baptized, but she does come to understand more about her father's church.

It's NOT a romance. Dealing with the mess her life has become, Chloe has no time for boys.

It's my hope to find a publisher for Consequences after the New Year. I'll keep you posted.