Hey there, Fam!
ARCs were sent out just last Friday, Aug 14th, and whew! Some of ya'll are fast readers!
A few reviews have started to trickle in, and I'm just so overwhelmed by the positive feedback Kathryn and the rest of her motley crew have received so far. One comment that's been echoed in a couple of reviews is that the book is “fast paced” or a “quick read.” I'm actually really happy that some ARC readers have found themselves flying through an 80,000 word novel, and here's why…
Unpopular opinion--Just because a book is fantasy doesn't mean that it has to be a 100K word doorstopper that drags you through page after page of thick, dense prose.
Okay, caveat here. Of COURSE epic and high fantasy exist. Some people love to chew their way through pages of description. Some people love sensual details that make a new world come alive for them. Some people adore walking with an author as new magic systems are introduced, along with an entirely new vocabulary to go with it.
But I don't.
And when I started writing A Deviant Beginning, I figured there were other readers out there who don't like it either.
Now, it helps that since A Deviant Beginning is a contemporary fantasy, I don't have to make up an entirely new location for you. I don't have to invent a Middle Earth or a Westeros or even an Equestria (yes, we watched a LOT of My Little Pony when the kids were little).
Instead, I drew on real places, which allowed me the ability to simply remind you of a place if you're familiar--for example, lush Forest Park in St. Louis--or easily paint a picture for you if you're not--for example, the hot LA sun beating down on a dry, brown and yellow terrain.
So while there's obviously a lot of description in A Deviant Beginning, I don't have to use a lot of words to paint the scene and to drop you in the middle of the action.
The other reason why I think some readers are finding the book to be fast-paced is due to my past editor smacking me around a few times when I was working on my first series about fifteen years ago. She was prone to violence and wielded Microsoft Word's track changes like a weapon.
Let me explain.
If you haven't noticed by now, I love words. If you follow me on social media (and you should), you'll see that sometimes I talk a lot. So when I started writing my first book, I naturally used a lot of words. And my editor went through the book line by line and crossed out every word that wasn't necessary. Here's my favorite comment from her. I'll never forget it:
“Cut that shit out. No one cares.” 😭
So while my ego was momentarily battered and bruised, I got over myself, listened to her, and started cutting words. That habit I learned over fifteen years ago has served me well. Now, after I write every chapter, I ask myself, “What's the point of this chapter? Does it drive the action forward? Does it foreshadow what's to come? Does it make connections to what already happened?” And if I can't answer those questions, it gets deleted, even if my heart breaks a little bit because I loved some of the words I used.
So that's why I think ARC readers are finding A Deviant Beginning to be a quick read, and I hope you read it and see for yourself!
