It’s Release Day For ‘The Crystal Tree’!

Celebrate with me, people. Today, my debut novel ‘The Crystal Tree’, goes out into the world as a published novel. Which makes me officially an author.! Goodness, that is a bit of a weird thought. Exciting, but strange at the same time. It’s a little surreal to think that anyone can go and read this book that I’ve put my heart and soul into writing for the past few years. But today’s the day, and I couldn’t be happier to be sharing this story at last. In honour of this momentous occasion, I a) want to share allll the information so that you can find the book, or tell your friends about it (psst, I would be so happy if you were to do both) and b) thought it would be fun to share some random facts about ‘The Crystal Tree’ and the process of writing it.

The Crystal Tree

Young Adult/Fantasy

Briar has finally managed to rebuild her life after losing her parents to the fire that destroyed her entire village. But when the magic-wielding Nameless Ones kidnap her sister, Briar is forced to leave the safety of her new home to save her.

With the help of some travellers on a mission of their own, and her own magic, Briar chases after the Nameless Ones, only to find that her sister’s capture is a small part in a dark plot that threatens the safety of the entire country.

A dark magician has risen, and the legendary Crystal Tree might be the only thing that can save them now.

Buy it on Amazon now!

Kindle | Print | Goodreads

Hopefully, that has you intrigued. If you need a little more convincing, here are six random facts about the writing process of The Crystal Tree, and some of my thought processes behind the writing of it. Enjoy!

1. The Crystal Tree took me six years to write. Which feels like a very long time to be honest. When I first wrote the book, I was in my first full year of university, studying writing and publishing actually. And while I loved the degree I had chosen, I was also absolutely determined that full-time study wasn’t going to stop me from writing my own books too. The Crystal Tree was one of several books I drafted at this time, but it was my favourite.
2. Camp NaNoWriMo made this book happen. I wrote the first draft in the April session of Camp NaNoWriMo in 2012. I’ve revised it during several other Camp NaNos in the six years that followed. In fact, the majority of the writing and editing I’ve ever done on The Crystal Tree has been during Camp NaNo months. I guess there’s just something about the format and the rush of having a strict deadline that makes me really push through the editing, even when I don’t feel like it.
3. It took forever to tell the story I wanted to tell. Not just in years, but in drafts. I rewrote The Crystal Tree 3 times just trying to dig into the heart of the story. Then it took 14 drafts t0 finally polish it into the form that I loved and that resonated with the story that I always dreamed of telling. I feel like 14 drafts is probably a lot, but there was something about this book in particular that made me really want to nail it. I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.
4. Occasionally, it felt like I was never going to get there. I feel like everyone gets to this point in their writing. You get so far with the book, and then it seems impossible that it’ll ever turn into a real book. I remember sitting in the car driving somewhere with my family, and being so down because I just couldn’t get it right. I wrote a list that day of all the things that I loved about this book and all the things I wanted it to do, and the emotions I wanted people to feel. and since then, even though I’ve never reread the list, I’ve never felt like giving up, no matter how massive the task of writing felt like.
5. When I wrote The Crystal Tree I specifically wanted to write a main character who wasn’t kick butt awesome or sword-wielding. I wanted to write a feminine character who made her way through the world using her wit and allying herself with the right people to get her where she wanted to go, and who used what skills she had instead of needing to be as strong as a man. I guess I wanted to write a different kind of strong female, and hopefully, I succeeded!
6. The Crystal Tree combines many of my favourite things but in particular my love of fantasy adventures, and my passion for music! I’m a musician myself, and the chance to make music a big part of a story was just too good to pass up. Also, I kept writing ‘magician’ instead of ‘musician’, and that’s a huge part of the reason why my magic system is based on song. Also, it just seemed cool to me.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into the behind the scenes of writing The Crystal Tree. And I hope you enjoy reading my book even more. This has been such a huge part of my life for so long, and publishing it has been such a dream for me that it hardly seems real that it is finally done and out there for you all to see. I hope you will love this story as much as I do and will share it with your friends!

Are you planning on picking up a copy of The Crystal Tree? What would you like to know about the writing of this book, or publishing it, or even just being an author? What is your writerly dream? I want to know all about it! Let’s chat in the comments. I would LOVE to hear from you.