I'm happy to welcome the awesome Patricia Lynne to my blog today to celebrate the release of her newest YA book, Leaves of Fall.
First Draft versus Final Draft
The first draft of Leaves of Fall was written way back in 2011 or 2012. I don't remember the inspiration behind the story or why I set it aside. It never left my mind, though. When I opened it again in 2018, I knew there was a lot of work that needed to be done. Here are a few of the changes it went through to get to the story you can read today.
1: Names
The first draft I went a little weird with names. I had parents naming their kids weird things. Rudyard was Highway and his little brother was Rug. At the time, my thinking had been parents were naming their kids exact location they were born. For example, Rug was born on a rug. Weird, I know. I scraped that idea and went with parents naming their kids after places from their past. So Highway became Rudyard and Rug was Canyon after the Grand Canyon.
Trees also got name changes. At first, I just named them all random tree names, but beta readers and editors found it jarring. When they heard the name, they thought of that tree and not the tree character.
Not all names changed. Armory, Mini, Pine, and Oak's names stayed the same. Birch, Silver, Alaska, Dahoon, and River all had different names. I changed Birch's the last because I was fond of the first name: Maple. I considered changing him to a Maple tree, but I wanted the unique appearance of birch trees for his character.
2: Dahoon and Pine
Dahoon and Pine weren't in the first draft at all. Very few trees were. Most of the interactions Armory and Birch had were with other people. Some of those interactions made no sense, though, so they were cut. I'm very glad for this because I adore Dahoon and Pine. They're so laid back and easy going.
3: Miracle
One huge difference between the first and final draft was a character called Miracle. Armory meets her after she is kidnapped. Miracle is a small child and she goes with Armory and Birch on the journey to get Armory home. I tried putting her in as I rewrote, but found it stopped the story and I realized she had to go.
4: Communities and Nomads
I waffled between what to call the groups of humans that lived in this post-apocalyptic world. Communities started as tribes, but that was cliche, so I switched to families. My editor suggested communities at one point and since I found using families a bit confusing at times I went with that. Nomads were outlaws at first, but I switched to nomads since that was the lifestyle they adopted. They just aren't lawful about it.
Blurb:
Armory was born into a post-apocalyptic world torn apart by war between
man and nature. Trees are the enemy. But when she’s kidnapped by nomads
and taken far from her home, a tree nymph is the one who comes to her
rescue.
Birch promises he can get Armory home. He says not all
trees wanted a war. Armory has no choice to trust him if she wants to
see her family again.
Together, they trek across the ruins of
America, meeting both human and trees who want nothing more than the
fighting to stop. But the hatred between the two may be too deep to
heal. Armory isn’t sure her friendship with Birch will be enough to
convince the human race to take a chance on peace. Birch has a plan,
though. He’s just not sure he’ll survive.
Snag on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, or Smashwords for $2.99. (or 99cents if the pre-order price hasn't changed yet. ^_~)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
About the Author
Patricia Lynne is the author of Young Adult Paranormal, Fantasy, and
Sci-Fi books. She actually never set out to become a writer, and in
fact, she was more interested in art and band in high school and college
On a whim, she wrote down a story bouncing in her head and began
learning all she could about writing. That was the start of it, and she
hasn't regretted a moment. When she's not writing, she's watching Doctor
Who or reading about serial killers. She's an avid knitter. One can
never have too much yarn. She writes New Adult Urban Fantasy and Sci-Fi
Romance under the name Patricia Josephine.
Patricia lives with
her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a
small petting zoo, and has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of
the rainbow.
Find Patricia around the web.
Website -
http://www.patricialynne.com
Twitter -
https://twitter.com/plynne_writes
Facebook -
https://www.facebook.com/plynnewrites/
Patreon -
https://www.patreon.com/patricialynne07
Goodreads -
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/635444.Patricia_Lynne
Amazon Author Page -
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01EM6YLAW
Smashwords -
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/patricialynne
