Hunting Moon Sweepstakes!

Plus more of your questions answered! 😘

First off, I want to share this AWESOME SWEEPSTAKES THAT IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR YOU.

Yep, only subscribers to THIS newsletter get to enter the giveaway, and a whopping 25 of you will win an ARC of The Hunting Moon.

Of course, because it is run by Tor Teen, it’s only for residents of US and Canada (sans Quebec), but…

I’m also hosting a giveaway from my wee supply of ARCs for all you international readers!

So click the buttons below to enter your dedicated sweepstakes! And then scroll on to read the answers to more of your questions!

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Your Questions Answered

As I work through your questions (admittedly more slowly than I’d hoped, ha), you can always as more questions on the original AMA post! Now, onto the latest answers!

@Ro asked:

Would you ever put a kraken in any of your stories? <3

Lol 😂 I definitely would if it felt like the right book. I am determined to one day write a space opera set underwater….so….a marine opera? In which everything we love about spaceships and aliens and advanced tech and DRAMA is actually set in our own vast, terrifyingly deep and unknown seas.

So yes. A kraken might fit nicely in that idea, don’t you think?

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@Ro also asked:

Do you have a short story in your drafts pile that you feel you would like to expand on as a full novel / series? [I was thinking of the short story you shared recently with paid subscribers, but any other stories you have would be cool, as well!]

Oh boy. So many! Primarily because I am very, very, very bad at writing short stories and they tend to be ideas large enough for novels…which I then I have to pare back.

So for example, in my short story “Shirley & Jim” in the Because You Love To Hate Me anthology, I 100% wrote a novella. I kid you not. Then I just had to shave and shave and shave until it was a short story. 😅 So perhaps one day I’ll actually expand back to the larger length! Or write a full-novel sequel instead.

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@Helen asked:

Can you give us the story on how you developed the magic system for the Witchlands and how you made it more complex (even though you said you were supposed to make it simpler for the YA market haha). Thanks!

Oh gosh, I wish I had some easy, organized methodology I followed. But…nope!

I can tell you it started with the word Threadwitch. The word popped into my head one night, and upon further exploration of it, I developed Iseult’s character. I knew I wanted her to see the emotions of people and how they were connected to others…

Which then meant I wanted to create a best friend character who would be her opposite. What’s the opposite of emotion? Fact! (I realize this isn’t totally true. Many emotions are factual, and many seeming facts are driven by emotion. Which is exactly the sort of nuance Iseult and Safi grapple with!)

After I had Safi and Iseult, I started coming up with more and more witcheries. Seriously, anything I thought would be cool, I created. Windwitches, Firewitches, Bloodwitches, etc.

Originally there were no elements, though—I just had…hundreds of witcheries. Like, hundreds. Lol. But the editor at Tor Teen who was interested in buying the book thought it was too complicated. What if you simplify to only four elements instead?

Or, I countered, what if I ADD some elements on top of what I already have? That will….erm, simplify….it. *cough*

Somehow, she fell for my trick. 😂 And thus, the elemental organization system was born. I actually already had six Origin Wells in the world, so why not make each linked to an element and come up with six different elements? Thus, Aether, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Void were born!

And then from those elements, I actually began crafting the Paladins. They weren't in the very earliest proposal version (which was only the first 200p of the book), but by the time I finished drafting all of Truthwitch, they were solidly part of the story.

PHEW. Complicated enough for ya, Helen? 😅

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Alrighty, I’ll be back soon with more of your questions answered and more updates and fan news!

And don’t forget—if you haven’t already—to preorder The Hunting Moon!

P.S. Since I know you all keep asking, yes, there will be a Waterstones special edition again! And YES, there will be an Illumicrate edition as well! 🥰

💚 - Sooz