Blood Cursed and Book Bound: A First Look
Copper Canary, Silver Secret, and Polly Olly Oxen Free have a new competitor.
Hello dearest of readers,
Remember a post or two ago I mentioned sharing details about my current WIP and then in true “me” style I dropped off the face of the earth?
Whelp.
Consider this my apology letter. Complete with a batch of newly baked Canva treats:
Blood Cursed and Book Bound: The Pitches
First and foremost, you can’t have a project without a founding concept. For Canary it was “what if the only people who can help you are the ones hunting you, and the only people who can hide you are the ones hurting you?” Polly Olly it was “what if Pollyanna got Alice-in-Wonderlanded after her accident and can’t leave until she glad games the jabberwocky?” For this book, things started a bit different.
Instead of my inspiration coming from a question, this one came from a series of images in my mind:
A small child is having her magic permanently dampened by the government—and as they complete the spell, she winks at me.
An editor is editing a spellbook and the book starts arguing with them and defending itself. Other books on the editor’s desk join in and debate the merits of the editors “corrections.”
Two fated faeborn are foretold to bring peace to the realm. Public pressure to fulfil the prophecy ends with them cursing each other as kids. They hate each other, are forced to work together as new graduates, and have to fake date…or something bad will happen.
The last one needed some work. But it tumbled around in my mind for a while. Then I saw someone in the literary world post about looking for a Cold War book set in a fantasy realm.
Everything snapped into place:
They were prophesized to be together and that their fated pairing would pull the realm out of the Cold War—instead she cursed him at age eight and they made each other’s lives a living hell. Everyone has given up on them, except the book that made the prophecy.
This obviously isn’t a pitch. It’s barely coherent. So, after writing the first half of the first draft, I revisited my inspiration to make myself some proper guides:
Two newly graduated teens are desperate to escape each other—and the childhood legacy that marked them as a fated pair meant to end a magical Cold War, which they botched by becoming blood-cursed enemies instead.
When they’re both hired as interns at an agency that collects and corrects tampered spellbooks, they uncover a hidden message in the edits: someone is trying to turn the Cold War hot—and making sure their prophecy failed was the first step.
Which, with the magic of my brilliant critique partners, became:
The Pitch Deck
Before I got my brain narrowed in enough to write the pitch, I had to set somethings in stone. And the best way for me to do that?
Canva. Naturally.
Bonus Content: The Set Back
Everything above has recently been shared publicly on social media. But. Since you all are my very special, dearest of readers, you get to have extra bonus content.
Am I trying to buy back your love for having postponed Polly Olly Oxen Free for longer than promised? Maybe. Okay, yes. But in my defense the “longer than promised” wasn’t entirely in my control:
That’s right folx, I got me a fancy new POTS diagnosis. Likely have had mild POTS since I got a bad case of chicken pox as a kid (based on my medical history) and then it took a steep turn for the worse in college when I was hospitalized for Mono. But those are stories for another time.
You are here for BCBB Bonus Content.
Bonus Content: The Supporting Cast
I have to say, this cast has been so fun to get to know and write. My favorite is Jaret, but Fredi comes in as a close second. I see spin off short stories in their future.
And that’s it!
That’s all I have for you at the moment. As you can see below, I am halfway through draft one. And although it isn’t a ton of progress, and it is stalling the next episodes of POOF, I’m still getting words on the page as promised. Considering that my body decided being upright is the devil incarnate for the last three months, it’s not too shabby.
Y’all just wait until I have all of my blood running back up to my brain again on a regular basis—I’ll be pumping out novels like nobody’s business.*
I wish you all the very best,
Cayse
*This is a figure of speech attached to hopeful bombastic blabbery. Don’t hold me to it, please and thank you
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I’m such a Fredi fan already!