About the Story

format: novel...now a trilogy length: ~50,000words / 30,000 words / ??? words when: june-july 2022, october 2022, october-?? 2022 best part of the process: the boys get a real go at bein cute gay lovers worst part of the process: the uncertainty of "should i stop at one? what if the other parts suck?"

Magic is everywhere, shoulder to shoulder with the mundane and the city life, and Saint Paul is no exception. When Andrew Vidasche and Micah Stillwater meet unexpectedly thanks to mutual friends, they fall quickly for one another. But Micah has Fae blood running in his veins, and his charade at humanity is complicated when he comes to realize he has uncanny abilities activated by his intense feelings for Andrew. When Micah's dad disappears and it's likely that his evil Faerie Queen mother is to blame, Andrew and Micah embark on a road trip to the wild Redwoods of Washington. They bring with them Micah's faerie half-sister and Lucienne, a small but fearsome friend from the magical bluffs of Lilydale. Micah helps bring together the humans and Folk with his unassuming determination, but will he be any match for the Redwood Queen?

Commentary

GGGHHH I know I probably get excited about every completed project, but I am so into this project.

Ever since we moved to Saint Paul, I take this magical winding road along the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi and have been obsessed with it since. When the thought crossed my mind that faeries probably live in the difficult to navigate terrain, it clicked into place with my desire to throw Andrew and Micah together in a more mutual fashion ever since finishing Code.

There was a definite moment from one scene to the next where I was like, hmm, who should so-and-so be in this? And then I was like LOL WHO AM I KIDDING and I threw in a classic OC. That's how this story ended up starring Andrew, Micah, Ingrid, Lucienne, Erik (albeit dead, as usual), Julian, and briefly Cirrus and Jonas. It's really funny because I'd say they all end up fitting very appropriately given my prediliction to write fantasy, so they're all set up pretty easily to accept the fantastical. Andrew's shop assistant Sam is my first new character. He's trans and very obviously based on a new client I'd met a few days before kickstarting this project, and yes, I did tell the client haha.

I'd say what I'm happiest with about this project is that it's probably my most mature. Mature relationship, mature characters (Andrew's 32 and...Micah's 40 lol), a fairly straightforward plot (not by any means original! NOT BY ANY MEANS), and a setting that works since it's set on streets I know.

Okay but the parts I had to put in Montana and Washington when they go to get Julian back were...awkward. Difficult. Lots of research.

Anyway so yeah, it's a sweet, full-length novel that I'm now going through for the second time to clean up before doing...I don't know, maybe something with. Wattpad? Formal queries? Post on Amazon? We'll see. I made my dad read it a few times with me, so now it's all cleaned up, ready to pitch to an agent I found who seems like she would eat it up. Also, my dad inspired me to make it into a series, so I'm just now getting started on the third in the trilogy I'm calling "The Heartwood Trilogy." Teehee!

Images from the Story