Pact Days: Last Week's Question #ValespianPact #Constant

Last week I opened Pact Day for any questions and received one from Brooke E. 

Her question was, "When is the next valespian pact book coming out and what is it going to be about?"

The next Valespian Pact book is Constant. It is about Zeus's brother, Mestor, and Warlord Sohm'lan. Roughly, the plot is:

Since Mestor was fifteen summers, he has had a crush on Sohm'lan who is not only his father's best friend but also the Vondorian younglings' waterfater (which is much like being a godfather). For the most part, Mestor has kept his feelings to himself, not believing he has a chance with Sohm'lan until Mestor sees something that gives him hope and he pursues Sohm'lan in earnest.

At the age of 40, Sohm'lan was widowed, losing his mate and unborn in childbirth. He wore the black veil of mourning until the day the Vondorian twins were born and his best friend made him the younglings' waterfater, giving him a new purpose. Now, years later he struggles with burgeoning feelings that are not very waterfather-like for Prince Mestor and he does his best to keep his distance. But being stuck on the star ship, as they assist Prince Zeus in his quest to return the Fal'Amoric royal family to Valespia, means every time he turns around, Mestor is there, tempting him with a promise Sohm'lan dares not accept. He can never forget his beautiful Niobe, but his rising desire for Mestor is getting harder for him to deny.

Sohm'lan must decide if he will claim Mestor. But before then, they must not only battle forces that threaten Valespia, but deal with hidden truths about the Mar'Sani people as well as the bigotry that has kept them from reaching their full potential.

Constant shares a timeline with Striker. It wasn't a story that I was originally going to tell because I didn't think it would have much bearing on the rest of the series. I had planned for Mestor's and Sohm'lan's love story to be told over the course of the series as a side plot. Last year at about this time, I wrote four flash fictions that were about the beginning of that relationship which happened on the side during Striker. But as I wrote, I thought their story had the fodder for a novella, so I stopped writing Bespoken and took up Constant since it would precede Bespoken. 

The funniest thing happened though, Constant wasn't only about the romance. Parts of the Valespian Pact plot arc, that I was struggling to show in Bespoken and the other books of the series, was easy to show here through the Mar'Sani culture and history that I originally didn't think would be pertinent to the series plot arc. But all of this also means that my novella is on its way to being a super-novel. Though I'm glad because I get to show so much more of the Mar'Sani people, I have also struggled because I am a linear writer. Constant kept being expanded, pieces written and inserted here and there when I should have just rewritten the whole kit and caboodle. This writing scenes and inserting them caused my mind to go haywire when I tried to think of the story as one piece. So after spending months trying to make it work, I acknowledged defeat and started at the beginning and have been doing exactly that, rewriting the story one chapter at a time. Which also means that it has taken me forever to finish Constant when I thought I would be done by April of this year. Ha! No such luck. As it is, I'm attempting to have the story completed by the end of November and submitted to the publisher by the end of the year. The longer the book, the longer the self-editing takes to prepare it for submission.

IF I get the book submitted before the end of the year like I want, then publication standard is 9-12 months before release, unless the publisher can fit it into their schedule before then. 

And that is the answer to Brooke's question. 

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to comment and I will include it on next Pact Day. 

Thank you for stopping by and reading!!