Thank you for completing Song of Love Freed from Chains.
As a small token of my gratitude, I’ve listed some behind-the-scenes bonus info below that I hope you find interesting.
The original title for Song of Love Freed from Chains was Song of Love Bound in Chains. I changed it fearing it might attract BDSM or erotica readers rather than romance readers.
Zayne’s story was unplanned. Garret’s story, Hand of Death Heart in Chains, was the first novel written of the three current Kingdom of Oxwick novels and, at the time of its writing, I intended it to be the only novel. However, Zayne’s perspective was so vastly different from Garret’s that I decided he needed his own story.
Writing Zayne’s story put me in a bit of an interesting situation because, by the time I got one-third of the way through, I knew I would need to dramatically expand upon Garret’s story. (Please do let me know if you’re interested in beta reading Garret’s when I’m done updating it. It will differ greatly from the original version.)
I also knew by one-third of the way through Zayne’s that I was going to completely change the climax of their story.
In the early days, I thought Hand of Death Heart in Chains would be the first story in the series. However, the further I got into Zayne’s book, the more I realized that Zayne’s reveals far more information during the beginning of their relationship, while Garret’s reveals far more that’s pertinent toward the end. Plus, Zayne’s holds more tension if told first.
I’m what many refer to as a “pantser.” Personally, I prefer the phrase “discovery writer.” Either way, this means I do most of my writing without planning ahead, preferring to let the characters tell me their story as I write it. To that end, my final “outline” for Song of Love Freed from Chains is eighty-nine words, most of it written as I completed the chapters.
After finishing nearly ten chapters of Song of Love Freed from Chains, I abandoned the novel for several months somewhat accidentally. You see, I’d met Sal and Herbie. Next thing I knew, I had to write Sal’s entire novel, Ride into Romance (currently available to beta). I didn’t return to poor Zayne until I finished Sal’s story.
The original cover design idea for SoLFfC included Zayne with his arms out and chains wrapped around his wrists, similar to the image shown on the left (bottom if you’re on a mobile device). Garret would have still been behind him. But fitting Zayne on a cover spread out like that would have made him too small, so the design idea was nixed.
I write an average of 2K words on my writing days and re-read and edit each chapter at least twenty times or more—to where I become blind to small errors. Can’t tell you how many missed “to” and “a” words and the like my initial alpha reader catches.
Thank you for beta reading. I hope you enjoyed the novel and that I see you again for future novels.