All at Sea: How “Deathsong of the Deep” Only Barely Came to Be

A Guest Post by Danielle E. Shipley, Author

~ A Note From Tyler-Rose ~

It is my great pleasure to host the wonderful Danielle E. Shipley and celebrate Release Day for her new story “Deathsong of the Deep”!

Danielle (who blogs at Ever On Word) and I became friends about eight years ago when I was still writing on my very first blog, “The Feather and the Rose,” with one of my writerly college roommates.

We actually met in person once when Danielle traveled down several hours by train to visit us in our college dorm room and spent a delightful day discussing books, blogging, and our various works-in-progress.

She writes clever fantasy in worlds inspired by fairy tales and myths. I love her writing, so I’ve already got my copy (I pre-ordered it because I was just that excited), but you can get yours today on Amazon.

Happy Release Day, Danielle!

~ End Note ~

My NaNoWriMo 2013 had strange beginnings.

I had participated in – and completed – National Novel Writing Month twice before, successfully generating 50,000 or more words of fiction within the 30 days of November. But the closer the calendar crept toward my third NaNo, the clearer it became: I had no clue what I wanted my next novel to be about it.

Which is not to say, ‘I had no idea.’ Ideas, I had aplenty.

Me, September 9th: “I’ll do kind of a modern take on ‘The 1,001 Nights’, featuring the main character from the project I couldn’t figure out how to write last year!”

September 23rd: “Okay, I still can’t figure out how to write that character or his story. How ‘bout something with a Kraken instead (because best. Sea monster. Ever)?”

October 5th: “…Or the continued adventures of Robin Hood from my ‘Outlaws of Avalon’ series?”

October 7th: “Hi, my name is Danielle, and I would really like a NaNo idea that feels right. *weeps*”

The desperate rain of ideas kept falling. A prince and a witch walk out of a tower… No. So this girl meets this ghost in the woods… No. Some sort of whodunit? Or another sort of whodunit? No and NO. Two hours left ‘til the clock struck midnight on November 1st, and I still didn’t know what to write about! I’d never been more disorganized or less prepared for anything in my life, and let me tell you, the panic was real.

With no time left to splash around in a dither, I had only one way forward: Let my gut choose from my imagination’s overflow, and start typing.

And my gut chose to run away to sea.

To jump aboard a talking ship and explore a mythic watery world of seirenes (sirens), seal folk (selkies), mershades (ghostly mermaids), an enigmatic sea goddess, and a charismatic captain who – what do you know – bears just the slightest resemblance to that character I’d been wrestling with since 2012.

…And, of course, the magnificent tentacled horror that is the Kraken.

My brainstorming phase may have been all over the map, but once I found my heading, it was beautifully smooth sailing. Two weeks later, I had a first draft. Today, my #KrakenBook is launching from harbor and (I hope!) into the hands of an audience every bit as eager as I am to get swept away by “Deathsong of the Deep” (out February 14th).

Read up, me hearties!

~ Danielle

About “Deathsong of the Deep”:

Nineteen-year-old tavern girl Molly Worth needs a way out of the lackluster future she’s sure awaits in her small portside town. A miraculous living ship needs an ally willing to steal her away from what she’s sure will be her doom. It seems like a match ordained by the mystical Sea Queen herself, but the darkest power below has other plans for those who brave the deep.

Taken under the wing of a creature of myth, and absorbed into the uncommon crew commanded by one rakish Captain Crow, Molly begins to make her way toward the life she wants for herself, only to lose it all in an epic venture gone wrong. Now to regain what the monstrous Kraken destroyed requires that she weigh life against life, and life against death with the unnatural creature who sings to her soul.

From the author of fairytale saga “The Wilderhark Tales”, the “Outlaws of Avalon” legend, and “Inspired” love letters to the heart of creation, comes a high-seas fantasy of faith and doubt; of honor and love; and of tentacles.

About the author:

Danielle E. Shipley – author of fairy tales retold, legends reimagined, and other expressions of wishful thinking. In the past, she’s worked as a librarian in a kindergarten, a Towne Crier in a Renaissance Faire, and a butler in Germany. In another universe, she’s a tenor on Broadway, a wandering minstrel, or at the very least a Dark Lord singing about world domination. Born, raised, and homeschooled in the Chicago area, she now resides primarily in realms of her own making, along with her crazy crew of character children. She hopes to ultimately retire to a private immortal forest. But first, there are stories to make. Find out more at deshipley.com!