It’s hard to believe my “book baby” will be out in the world in less than a month! Someone pinch me! Is this real? Haha! For real though, I can’t believe this is really, finally happening. And not going to lie, I am extremely terrified too! It’s no small thing to release a piece of your heart into the public like this, but I know the time is now for this story to be shared and I pray God will bless it in whatever way He sees fit!
Today, I wanted to share some behind the scenes info on the writing of The Peasant Queen. Join me as I take a trip down memory lane and recall the process of creating this story!
I first got the idea for this story while I was getting to the end of writing and editing my first ever book, The Nobleman’s Ward, in early 2014. I honestly don’t know what gave me the idea for doing a retelling of the Biblical story of Esther (in the same way that people often retell fairy tales) but somehow the idea was born. I’ve long been fascinated by the story of a young woman being pulled from obscurity as a commoner and elevated to the role of queen. The entire idea is storytelling gold and always seemed so romantic to me–see, God really writes the best stories! Often reality is even more fascinating than fiction!
The idea of using my favorite Bible story to write a romantic, medieval-era tale quickly captured my imagination and I knew it had to be the next book I wrote. The original concept for it, though, was much different from the finished product we will have come November 10, 2020. First, I thought Arabella could just marry an English duke and not actually become a queen, only a noblewoman. But that seemed to lower the stakes of the overall plot and didn’t excite me very much. I knew in order for the story to have the right “Esther” feel, my Esther-like character needed to become a queen.
So I invented a fictional medieval kingdom and dubbed it Acuniel.
PS: coming up with names for these kingdoms and cities/villages was challenging but oh-so-fun!
Then I thought that I would tell the story in a younger voice, more geared towards a YA audience. One evening while at the mall with my family, I started jotting down the start of a prologue on my phone any chance I got. I later finished that prologue and moved on to the first chapter. However, the voice of the story morphed into a more mature sound the more I wrote, and when I looked back at the prologue, I realized my original idea was not going to work. The story, I had figured out, would deal with a lot of serious emotions and conflict, and it needed a mature tone. The almost fanciful, fairytale style I had started with just didn’t fit. Not to mention… it was atrocious! I still cringe when I think of that original opening to the story. My sister and my cousin were the only two people to ever read it and both of them burst my bubble by thinking it was awful. I’m glad I listened to their opinions though, because it really was AWFUL!
Shortly after this, in April 2014, my family took our yearly “big” vacation, this time to the mountains of northern Georgia and the Carolinas. On that road trip from Texas to the east coast, I wrote my heart out. It was at this time that Arabella and Rowan’s story was truly born. I finally got a feel for what the story needed to be and quickly fell in love with it.
At that time, I had a notebook with a cute picture of a typewriter on the front that I carried in my purse everywhere. I would jot down new story ideas in it or make notes on The Peasant Queen–though at that point the book didn’t have an official title yet. While driving from our resort in Georgia to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore, I got the inspiration for the pivotal “Esther scene” where Arabella must appear before Rowan and the court to intercede for those she is trying to save. I wrote that scene in my notebook while curled up in my seat and watching sweeping mountain views pass by my window. What a place for inspiration, right?!
Much of this original scene made it into the final version you will read in the published book. Some of the story details surrounding it changed, sentences were added or taken away to make it smoother, but for the most part, the scene remains the way I wrote it that day.
After this trip, I continued to write throughout the year and typed the end on the story the week of Thanksgiving.
There are several other scenes that I can distinctly remember writing, and moments that felt so strongly inspired by God. About mid-way through the book, Arabella reaches a pivotal moment in her internal struggle and her relationship with God. Up to this point, she has harbored so much bitterness towards Him for allowing her to marry the king, but during this moment of despair, she hears His Voice speak to her heart. While I’m not necessarily claiming that those words are really straight from God, I do know the feeling I felt while writing that scene. I felt His presence and knew that this was exactly how the scene needed to go.
A similar thing happened two more times, again during an important scene with Arabella towards the end of the book, and then during Rowan’s pivotal spiritual moment. These scenes spoke to my heart as I was writing them, and the one with Rowan made me cry. I don’t know if these scenes will have the same impact on readers, but I put that into God’s hands.
While writing this book, I also discovered for myself how a character can end up dictating to the author how the story should go. I’ve heard this many times from authors, and it may sound strange to a non-writer, but it’s true. Sometimes while writing it’s like the character is pulling you in a direction different than you originally planned. As you discover who they are as a person, you realize that the path you intended to take them on isn’t the path they want or need to take.
Rowan is the character that seemed to grab hold my computer keys and say, “No, I would never do that. I need to do this instead!” I’m glad I followed that direction, because some of the reactions I had planned for him during the big climax of the story would not have fit his character at all. Ultimately, Rowan turned out to be my favorite character to write. He has a lot of painful history that has made him into the man he is, and on the surface he seems very unlovable. But once you dig past the hard shell and discover his heart, you can see who he is meant to be.
Now… fast forward through the years to today. It’s been nearly six years since I typed “the end” on the first draft of this book, and the finished product is vastly different from that original version. The core of the storyline remains the same, but after 5-6 rounds of edits through the years (three in this year alone), rewriting the beginning of the book three times, and cutting many thousands of words, The Peasant Queen is almost a different book. Whenever I get discouraged with my current writing endeavour and feel like I will never get it just right, I remind myself that writing a book is and always will be a process of trial and error, and many, many rounds of editing! There is no need to expect perfection right away! Though, as a perfectionist, that is a hard thing for me!
I hope you have enjoyed this peek into the journey this book has been on, and that you’ll take time to read this story that is very much a collection of pages from my heart!
If you are interested in pre-ordering the ebook version, you can do so HERE at a special pre-sale price of $5.99! If you’re like me and prefer to hold a real book in your hands, stay tuned for the paperback available for purchase on November 10, 2020!
