Happy New Year, everyone!
Since my last post in November, I have been hard at work on some projects. This post today will not be an official announcement of said projects, but I still want to talk a bit about my first book and some designs from it’s early development.
This first book I’m tentatively calling “The Arliden Prodigy”, which will be a multiple volume series. The format is much different than a typical illustrated novel, and could be summarized as a comic, novel and screenplay hybrid. You may have seen this format explored through video games called “visual novels” (such as games like “DanganRonpa” and “Ace Attorney”) but I’ve figured out a good way to adapt it to print. This is also a nifty way, in my opinion, to fill the gap between reading a comic and reading a novel—which is especially good for reluctant readers! I’m very excited to see this project come to fruition and see how readers interact with the format.
This series will be more appealing for readers 12 years old and up. I can imagine it would resonate with readers who are getting to the age where they want to pick out their own reading material, and they gravitate towards fiction that might seem a bit “darker” from what they’ve been reading before. This usually consists of main characters with misfortunes or misunderstood teenagers. The readers want to relate to the main character’s struggles and want to root for them in their journey. Arliden Prodigy is that kind of story, featuring a boy who has lost his powers, and is kicked out to the streets as a result, and an orphan girl who’s down on her luck and doing everything possible to survive. The world in “The Arliden Prodigy” is heavily inspired by the late 1800s of America and the UK during the Industrial Revolution, and also giving the setting a heavy fantasy and “Steampunk” feeling. The setting of “The Arliden Prodigy” is a world that gives young children a lot of responsibility in their lives, but also seems to be taking advantage of them more than helping them, so it’s an exciting ride of being able to root for these main characters and seeing how they can make a change and fight for what they believe in.
A long road is ahead, and there is a lot of work to be done before I can make it to my next goal, but I’m getting there one step at a time!
Until next time,
Sevita Lochan (Head of Publishing)
