Today, I’d like to talk about Wish Granted, my young adult fantasy novella that was published last year. In Wish Granted, a dryad, named Lindie, decides to join two humans on their quest to find a fairy. When they finally find one, the price he demands for granting the humans’ wish requires them to undertake a dangerous task. What they don’t know is that their actions just might change their land forever.
As a writer, I find it fascinating trying to write from the perspective of a non-human character. Lindie, the viewpoint character in Wish Granted, is a tree spirit called a dryad. I had a lot of fun trying to imagine how she would see and interact with the world around her. While I drew on what I knew about dryads from Greek mythology, I also added some unique traits of my own, including the dryad’s heart song, which plays an important role in the story .
Something else I really enjoyed while writing Wish Granted was developing the relationship between the two humans, Rinna and Sebastian. Though they are technically uncle and niece, they are close enough in age that they act more like siblings, giving each other a hard time but still supporting each other no matter what. Delving into that dynamic was quite entertaining.
One of the biggest challenges I faced with this novella was writing the main action scene. Though there are a few exceptions, I find that most fantasy stories aren’t complete without one. In Wish Granted, this scene involves a gryphon, and although I knew exactly how I wanted it to go, writing it so that my readers would see it the same way I did was a challenge.
When I first started writing Wish Granted, I intended it to be a short story. By the time I completed it, my “short story” had over 30,000 words, far more than most magazines would consider. I did submit it to one magazine that accepts longer stories. After they rejected it, I decided to try submitting it as a novella instead. Thankfully, Word Castle Publishing liked it and offered me a contract.
I was nervous about going through the editing process, but I had a supportive editor who helped me make Wish Granted the best it could be. The time from acceptance to publication was only about nine months, which is very fast in the publishing world.
Being able to hold a copy of my book in my hand is one of my “castles in the air” that came true. I hope there will be many more to come.
Have you read Wish Granted? Have you had a book published yourself? Let me know in the comments.
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I hope you have an amazing day!
