I thought it might be fun to share a bit about the most difficult scene I’ve ever written in my fantasy writing. The scene that involved the most rewriting was actually the opening to Lichgates, the first book in my young adult fantasy series, the Grimoire Saga.

The saga itself is  huge. Though it was originally a trilogy, the series evolved until I couldn’t contain it in just three books. So it’s only natural that it was hard for me to figure out exactly where such a huge story really started.

I’ve been writing for most of my life, and in my writing workshops, I was always taught to start the story where it really began. Sounds easy, right? It isn’t. If an opening involves too much backstory—i.e. a lot of past tense summary or flashbacks—chances are you started too late. If the opening is slow and drags on, chances are you started too early and have too much exposition. If you’re in either boat, you’ll lose a lot of readers.

I must have written a dozen or more first chapters for Lichgates. For quite a while, I just didn’t know where to start it. My novel features a secret world within our own called Ourea, which has a complex political structure and an ancient history—there’s just too much backstory to deliver in an opening. So I decided that Kara, one of the series’ two main characters and an outsider to this hidden world, needed to discover it with the reader.

I finally settled on the opening I have now, but even that was tweaked in the re-release last fall because it was still missing that something that would make it perfect. And though I don’t like to edit a novel after it has been released, I feel like that was a good choice.

Curious? You can read the first chapter of Lichgates for free by heading here. Hopefully it hooks you and drags you into Ourea alongside Kara. If it does, it was well worth the months of thought, writing, and editing that went into it. If not, thanks anyway for giving it a shot.

About Lichgates (Grimoire Saga #1)

Kara Magari is about to discover a beautiful world full of terrifying things—Ourea.

Kara, a college student still reeling from her mother’s recent death, has no idea the hidden world of Ourea even exists until a freak storm traps her in a sunken library. With no way out, she opens an ancient book of magic called the Grimoire and unwittingly becomes its master, which means Kara now wields the cursed book’s untamed power. Discovered by Ourea’s royalty, she becomes an unwilling pawn in a generations-old conflict—a war intensified by her arrival. In this world of chilling creatures and betrayal, Kara shouldn’t trust anyone… but she’s being hunted and can’t survive on her own. She drops her guard when Braeden, a native soldier with a dark secret, vows to keep her safe. And though she doesn’t know it, her growing attraction to him may just be her undoing.

For twelve years, Braeden Drakonin has lived a lie. The Grimoire is his one chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes into his life. Though he begins to care for this human girl, there is something he wants more. He wants the Grimoire.

Welcome to Ourea, where only the cunning survive.

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