Every book has a story behind the story. For Kin of Fae: The Returned Child, that story begins with a shelved manuscript and two very honest early readers.
Back in 2024, I drafted what I intended to be my novel: The Lost Season. It opened with two desperate characters driving frantically to a cabin on a lake, winding along a treacherous road under the full moon to take on a monster. I was excited. I love dropping into the middle of a saga. Growing up, I was hooked on Star Wars, soap operas like Days of Our Lives, and even superhero comics like Alpha Flight. I’ve always loved being thrown into a story where the action is already moving, the characters already scarred, and the backstory waiting to be uncovered.
But the two “alpha” readers I showed these first chapters to didn’t love it. In fact, the drop in saga-style frustrated them: while they appreciated that the events I described were powerful for the characters, the impact didn’t land for them as readers. They hadn’t been invited along for the journey, only told about it afterward. It felt, they said, like hearing about an amazing trip second-hand from a friend. They were sort of insulted that they hadn’t been invited to come along.
I’ll admit, though I was super happy to get genuine feedback, I didn’t take it well at first. I thanked them profusely, of course, for the honest feedback. But privately, I sulked for a couple of weeks. I thought it was great. But eventually, I copied those opening chapters into a new document, slid them to the end, and began writing the story that would lead up to that moment. By the time I’d outlined and drafted ten chapters, I was invested too. And I think the series was better for it. My two “alpha” readers had been absolutely right.
And that’s how The Returned Child was born: as the book that needed to come before the book I thought I was writing.
So to my brave alpha readers—thank you. Tough love isn’t easy to give, but it can change everything.
Once I get The Returned Child launched in September, the original first draft of The Lost Season is waiting on my hard drive to show what comes next. With a bit of post-trimming rework (and hopefully, some equally helpful beta reader feedback), it should be ready before too, too long.
Stay tuned. The saga of Kin of Fae is only just beginning.
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