As many of you know, this book began as a play that my sister, a friend, and I wanted to perform, based on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, though we had to make changes for casting and prop reasons, so our play was going to be titled The Giraffe, The Witch, and the Tunnel Tube.
It gets points for being even more of a mouthful than the original, but then my mother told me to exchange the Snow Witch for a Lady Dragon, so it became The Giraffe, the Dragon, and the Tunnel Tube. I then decided that that WAS too much of a mouthful, and shortened it to The Giraffe and the Dragon.
Then I decided that was a stupid title, and called it The Five Queens instead. This is, I think, the stupidest title change I made, because, honestly, if I were to see a book titled The Giraffe and the Dragon, I'd pick it up with NO QUESTIONS about what the book might be about. But this was also the book where I exchanged the Giraffe for a Jaguar, so...
That lasted until I changed the plot in the next draft to include love interests for the five girls - now it was The Dragon's Return, because, um, it was now a sequel to Alphego's Hill, and about what happened after the Lady Dragon returned to Rizkaland. I really liked it, because it fit the book on several levels, and it lasted until only recently, when I decided to change the title to fit better with Water Princess, Fire Prince.
So what is it?
Aw, you know me, I'm not going to give it to you just like that. Have a bunch of inspiration pins specific to this book!
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Annnnd, how 'bout a snippet?
“You will never believe who came by our house today!” Quena
announced.
“You won’t believe who came to ours,” Ashna countered.
But Quena just shook her head. “Oh, Ashna. You’re the
Bookdaughter. Everyone comes to your
house.”
Ashna sighed. The Doorkeeper wasn’t just anyone, but still, Quena had a point. More
people came to visit the Bookholder for advice than a herdsman in a cabin in
the corner of a wood. “So who came to see you?” she asked.
Quena glanced about the room, then leaned closer, prompting
Ashna to do the same. Even so, it was several moments before she whispered, “Queen
Amber.”
Ashna jerked back, and her eyes went wide. “The Lady Dragon?”
Quena nodded. “Yes, she was here.” Then she shook her head,
clearly amused by Ashna’s shock. “Oh, she’s not like the legends at all. Well, perhaps
she was, but she’s not anymore. She was so nice. She shared her food with us,
told us wonderful stories about herself, even offered Marno a job at her
castle.”
“I hope he turned her down!” cried Ashna, aghast.
“Well, he’s still considering yea or nay,” Quena admitted. “But
honestly, she’s not as evil as the legends portray. Indeed, you know how it’s
suddenly taken a turn for the cooler – even though it’s not yet autumn?”
Ashna slowly nodded.
“It’s her doing. She used her magic to help us.” Quena leaned forward.
“Did she tell you that? Quena, think! She could be lying!
Saying what you want to hear to sway opinion in her direction.”
“Or she could be telling the truth,” said Quena. “Look, she
admits that she was less than nice to Klarand – but she says that she feels
completely differently about Rizkaland. She says she wants to bring us back
hope – and you know full well that that’s something that the people have been
sorely lacking of late.”
“Tickling your ears…” Ashna whispered.
“I mean, you and your parents do your best,” Quena
continued, oblivious. “But even that doesn’t make up for the neglect of the
kings and queens…”
“They do their best, too!” Ashna cut in.
Quena gave her a pointed look. “Do they? What have they done to help us through our
droughts? Our terrible winters?”
“Everything they can,” said Ashna. “You don’t sit through
the long hours of counsel meetings where they search through solutions to
impossible problems. They can’t magically produce food, you know.”
“But Amber can! And she has corrected the winds to bring us
cooler weather, and shorter winters. She can
do more, so much more than just sit in long council meetings where nothing
is decided, much less done.”
“Alphego chose the kings and queens, do you question His
wisdom?”
Quena was silent a moment, and Ashna almost thought she had
brought sense back to her friend’s head. Then she shook her head. “But what if
their time is done? He did promise Amber the rule of Rizkaland.”
“Quena, listen to yourself – this is the Lady Dragon we’re talking about!”
“Aren’t you the one who’s so quick to say ‘do not judge’?”
Ashna stood up and paced the room, her thoughts jumbling
through her head. “But she’s the Lady Dragon – her record is in the Legends –
Legends I have memorized. She turns
people to ice for fun. Who does that?”
“It has been a thousand years since she left her island.
That is surely enough time for her to have changed.”
Ashna shook her head. “When I read the prophecy of her coming
to Rizkaland, I’ve always pictured her as the fiery dragon that terrorized Klarand
in the legends. But this…”
“So who came to see you?” Quena asked, clearly taking
delight in Ashna’s conflict. “Klarand’s handsome
young prince? A delegate from Rintae Island?”
“No,” said Ashna,
slowly bringing her thoughts back together. “It was the Doorkeeper.”Blogs Also Revealing:
Flights from Aerie
MorganElizabeth Huneke
Lianne Taimenlore
Dolls, Books, and Things that Matter
Writingin the Light
Jaye L. Knight
writinganyone
WrittenRest
Read, Write, Laugh,DANCE
Interviews:
Dreamsand Dragons - Laura
TheRambling Rose - Jasmine
Other:
BookCrazy Lady - review and interview
Written Rest .... I'm not really sure what this is, but it's hilarious.
Free Books! Currently, the following books are free:
Do You Take This Quest? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CFDHFT4/
The Ankulen: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EZAXWYM/
CinderEddy: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KZNW2TO
Giveaways! I have two. The first is a rafflecopter giveaway with the prize being a signed physical copy of Water Princess, Fire Prince and a bottle of Citrus Bliss, which is a essential oil blend of about seven citruses and vanilla extract - and as readers of Water Princess, Fire Prince know, that's the smell of warm bathwater in Rizkaland.
The other prize is for the person who leaves the MOST comments during this tour, be they here on my blog, on my posts for the tour - including the countdown posts I was doing last week - or on the interviews and reviews and such on other blogs. (And yes, you can comment multiple times on the same post, but there must be someone else commenting between your comments, or you must be replying. And constructive comments, please. Don't be commenting just to be commenting, or I won't count it.) I'm not entirely certain what this giveaway's prize will be, but I'm kinda leaning towards a chance to Alpha read book two. If so, if there's a tie, then I'll award the prize to both people who tie.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
That snippet. People trusting Amber. This is not good.
ReplyDeleteEep! The more I hear about Lady Dragon, Tela Du, the more I want to read it! (And by "the more I hear about it", I mean "the more snippets I read".) It sounds like it'll be even better than WP,FP!
ReplyDelete*foot begins bouncing as I read* *eyes widen* *squeaks repeatedly* This... this is bad! What's going to happen next? What did Laura tell Ashna?
ReplyDelete"...honestly, if I were to see a book titled The Giraffe and the Dragon, I'd pick it up with NO QUESTIONS about what the book might be about." This made me laugh! :) but I would too. :) Still, that title does not belong to a book like this one, so you were wise after all. :)
ReplyDeleteI think it sounds like the name of a children's book. You can mix anything up in them.
DeleteVery, very cool title, Kendra! I wondered if Book Two would have a "contrast" title like WPFP. Wow.
ReplyDeleteAnd I already love the intrigue you're building up with Amber. Playing nice to get people to trust her sounds exactly what this type of character would do.
God bless, and happy writing,
~"TWR"~
Awesome pictures Kendra!
ReplyDeleteAs for what has me the most excited about Water Princess Fire Prince, would probably have to be the whole "super powers" element (I Love super heroes!) ;).
I'm so excited for the next book! Thank you sooo much for sharing an excerpt!
ReplyDeleteAwesome snippet! Makes me want more...
ReplyDeleteOkay, is this a weird question? (Yes, Amanda, it's a really weird question, but I know you'll ask it anyway.)
Yes, you're right. I will.
Kendra, did you come up with Tela Du because it sounds like Tunnel Tube?
There, I asked it.
Haha, I'm glad you went with LDTD instead of TGTWATTT. Ya know, it doesn't abbreviate all that well.
It may have been part of the subconscious decision, but honestly, I was just throwing syllables together for Tela Du.
DeleteI think it would have been abbreviated to GWTT, just like LWW. but yes, too many the's.
And while you're answering silly questions....
DeleteExactly how does one pronounce "Tela Du"?
*Halo*
Tell-ah Doo
Delete