Weekend Writing Warriors – Wrath of Empire

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog hop where participants post eight to ten sentences of their writing. You can find out more about it by clicking on the image. 

 

 

I’m sharing the opening scene from Wrath of Empire, a prequel to my first novel, Ghosts of Innocence. Crown Prince Julian and his bodyguard, Chalwen, are talking about the late Empress Florence, who they’ve just interred. This snippet opens with Chalwen speaking: 

 

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“Your grandmother was ... a complicated person.” 

“I didn't really know her.” 

Was that sadness in his voice? Regret? Fear, even? 

“I was hoping she would teach me more about statecraft, and ruling the Empire.” 

Chalwen shuddered, then reminded herself that Julian was only nine years old. He was only aware of the last few years of Florence's rule, not the bloody century that preceded them. 

“I'll have to learn one day, and Father is too busy to bother with me.” 

“It's never a bad thing to think ahead. Today, you are only a step away from the Skamensis throne.”

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As I was preparing to post this, I reached an exciting milestone in this project. I tidied up the last scenes in the story – the first draft is officially done!

I will be reviewing the whole document carefully before putting it through the queue at Critique Circle for a detailed critique, but in the meantime I am also looking for one or two alpha readers. This would be for a full read through to give feedback on the big picture. Does the plot hang together, how do the characters come across, does the story flow and reach a satisfying conclusion ... that kind of thing.

I’m happy to reciprocate if you’ve also got work that you’d like an independent read through.

If you’re interested, send me an email (if you have my email address) or reach me through the contact page on my website.