Lord of Druemarwin by Helen Johannes
Welcome, Helen!
When did your writing journey begin?
I’ve been writing since my earliest memories of grade school and making up stories long before then. Standard operating procedure for an only child who had to entertain herself and whose best friend was the local library on or near whichever military base we were assigned to at the time. I wrote adventures involving horses—my favorite reading topic—until I discovered Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and all things fantasy. Then college consumed my life, followed by marriage and children.
When I was the mother of preschoolers and stuck at home in small-town America, I found Harlequin romantic suspense books at rummage sales and devoured them. Some were good, some…not so good. In my college-grad, English major mentality, I decided I could write something at least this good, if not better. So I sat down with my spiral notebooks and pen and poured out three romantic suspense novels in short order, typed them up, and proceeded to learn how to get them published.
Now, I don’t recommend taking up writing just because you believe you can do better than the published authors you’re reading. Those romantic suspense novels are still tucked away because they’re not my best work. However, they taught me about my writing process, about pulling together plot threads, and about pushing through to ‘The End’ of an entire book. Many people say they want to write, and they start something, but they never finish it. Finishing is a big deal, and I had finished three.
Enter Romance Writers of America, a chapter of which was advertised at the nearby university when I took a workshop on publishing fiction. By then I’d already learned that while romantic suspense was my go-to read, it wasn’t what ignited my writer’s heart. That was medieval-style fantasy romance, anything with horses and castles and swordplay. So I dusted off a story I’d started in high school, found it promising, and wrote it to ‘The End.’ Then I revised, revised, revised, all while attending workshops and critique groups. Finally, THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE was published by The Wild Rose Press. Now I’m adding to that world I created with the sequel, LORD OF DRUEMARWIN.
Any new projects on the horizon?
Creating one fantasy world hasn’t been enough, so between the two books mentioned above, I wrote BLOODSTONE, a Beauty-and-the-Beast-type romance. That’s also my first foray into audio books on Audible with an amazing narrator, Dawson McBride.
And, just because my mind is prone to flights of fantasy, I wrote a children’s chapter book that I’m preparing for self-publication.
Currently, I’m first-drafting a novella expanding the world of Val-Feyridge and Druemarwin.
Find it on: Amazon, Nook, and other online distributors
Excerpt:
“Raell, now is not the time—”
Aye, it wasn’t. They stood in torchlight on an open parapet while assassins stalked them, but this might be her only chance to reach him across that precipice he’d thrown up between them, to secure the future they were meant to share.
“Does my honor mean naught? When weighed with D’nalian honor, is mine lesser because ‘tis a woman’s honor? Or because ‘tis a Tolemak’s honor? Be honest and tell me that.”
The world had gone silent; Raell could hear nothing over the rush of blood in her ears, the terrible heavy beats of her heart while she waited, dizzy with fear, breathless with longing, for the man she loved to respond with a word, a look, even a blink. Even a shift of his gaze she’d take as a sign he’d at least heard, mayhap begun to consider—
“Yes, be honest, Lord Naed,” said a voice she’d heard but once, a voice that raised all the fine hairs on her body and made her innards contract into a cold, tight knot. “Tell us both how much honor means to a bastard who’s betrayed his countrymen and his blood.”
This photo represents the way I write, following a path through the trees into the glowing beyond where the forest will fall away and the whole story will finally be revealed.
Author Helen C. Johannes lives in the Midwest with her husband and grown children. Her first book, THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE, is a 2011 EPIC winner in Fantasy Romance. Her second book, BLOODSTONE, is a 2011 Launching a Star Winner in Fantasy Romance.
Growing up, she read fairy tales, Tolkien, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Agatha Christie, Shakespeare, and Ayn Rand, an unusual mix that undoubtedly explains why the themes, characters, and locales in her writing play out in tales of love and adventure. A member of Romance Writers of America, she credits the friends she has made and the critiques she's received from her chapter members for encouraging her to achieve her dream of publication. When not working on her next writing project, she teaches English, reads all kinds of fiction, enjoys walks, and travels as often as possible.Author Helen C. Johannes lives in the Midwest with her husband and grown children. Her first book, THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE, is a 2011 EPIC winner in Fantasy Romance. Her second book, BLOODSTONE, is a 2011 Launching a Star Winner in Fantasy Romance.
A tiny frost image—is it a bird, a dragon?—captured one morning on my window, reminds me that ideas and amazing art can come from anywhere and in any size.