CASTLING: The Novel that Refuses to Quit

Novel writing is a whole different beast to the short, snappy stories you generally find online. With Vocal we can dive into a story, finish it, and say goodbye all within short order, but a novel? Writing a book takes months, if not years of non-stop work.

My first manuscript took a little over 6 years to complete. It was very long ( 1,000 + pages ) and messy, but it was an accomplishment that is still hard to fully appreciate all these years later, even with it printed out on my shelf.

But today, I want to talk to you all about my ( hopefully ) debut novel, CASTLING, and how I've grown with it since the idea first came to me in 2018. I also want to discuss how I ( hope ) to finish it this year, and what steps I will be taking to ensure its success.

The Slow Discovery Process

It all began with a simple idea; a quote, really.

A feeling came! Dark intrigue - politicking against the backdrop of war. But what war? The war was to be in the past; a war between the divine and the damned. Now what was left were the final desperate gasps of resistance.

And it was all to be fought within: inside the minds and bodies of the human race.

This idea would stew for two years before something substantial began to be put to paper. At first it was just snippets - scenes and quotes that would become the defining core of the story.

"What is it that keeps you awake at night? It is the visions? The hallucinations? The nightmares conjured by your mind's eye? Or might it be guilt, knowing that a dead king has more power than you?" - CASTLING, by Amanda Starks

From these scenes came the first renditions of the major characters; a boy and a girl from vastly different families and backgrounds who have their paths thrust into each other by others in power.

The first commissioned art of Aislinn, the daughter of a tyrant king, came easily, as her design had been heavily inspired by that of the character Amira from the first season of Rage of Bahamut: Genesis.

Blair, the red guard knight turned exiled exorcist after the tragic death of his brother, took much longer to nail down. Even this year ( 2024 ) he had new additions to his design including burn scars that snuck up to his face.

By 2021, the idea could officially be categorized as Dark YA Fantasy ( GAME OF THRONES x THE EXORCIST ), and the main themes of control, power, and the nature of human evil became the guiding lights for the draft moving forward, and move forward it did!

By March of 2021, the first draft was started in earnest!!

Aislinn's secret was flushed out. Blair's DnD inspired party was forged, and the minor characters were given purpose: goals, dreams, beliefs - and yes, glorious flaws.

More and more kept coming throughout 2021. By the end of the year, 15,000 words and massive world-building work had been accomplished.

Then, with all of this under my belt, I enrolled in a Young Adult publishing class in 2022, hosted by New York Times Bestselling Author Emily Colin!

I was so nervous.

But the feedback, critiques, and encouragement I got from her were INVALUABLE.

AND SHE SAID THIS!!!!

The above comment meant I was on the right track for the feeling I was going for.

After receiving feedback and editing suggestions for my first ten pages and more encouragement from Emily, I felt more confident than ever to continue my exploration into this manuscript that now had potential in the eyes of a professional.

Sadly, after a health scare, I was apart from my draft for over a year. It wasn't until May of 2023 that I came back to the draft with a focused energy. I NEEDED to bring this novel to life.

Research. Pages upon pages of notes. World-building overhauls. Character overhauls. Entire DELETION of characters. A fully written outline. Minor characters received deeper lore and motivations.

I once more was adding words to my long-abandoned draft which had been switched over to a second version of the initial one. I realized...maybe I was adding too many words?

But seeing the large discrepancies between the first and second drafts, ( quality of writing, clarity of themes and plot, character motivations and personalities shifting, ect. ) and the need to start fresh, I decided to create Version 3; a blank slate to be inspired.

Onward to 2025

So, here we are...several years later with an entire notebook of scribbles, world-building, research and a document some 40k words long that continues to grow with every editing and writing session.

Can I actually do this? Finish another draft? Actually PUBLISH it?

I am certainly going to try. Here's the plan:

Step 1: Finish the damn draft.

Sounds simple, but with how much I like to play around in my manuscripts, it hasn't been. So, to focus myself, I've married myself to going chapter by chapter, rather than jumping around to whatever scene pulls me in fastest. This means I stay in a chronological mindset knowing what has already been established to make the future chapters come easier.

Step 2: Edit until the polish hurts my eyes.

I'm prepared to do most of this myself, with the help of friends and beta readers who have already begun the process for the finished chapters. As for a more professional eye, I will be dropping money on an editor who has experience in the genre.

Step 3: Get a book cover that will BLOW MINDS.

There is something to be said about a high-quality book cover, especially coming from an independent author. Sure, anyone with money can snare a talented artist to pretty up their mediocre novel, but it's still a way to set yourself apart from the thousands of self-published books found online.

It needs to advertise the vibe of the novel while still looking professional and enticing. AND I WILL HAVE MY BEAUTIFUL ART!

Step 4: Put CASTLING in as many hands as possible.

This means very possibly selling my soul to the Amazon overlords, or taking a chance and diversifying into IngramSpark, Barnes & Noble Press and others like StreetLib and reedsy. I would prefer to diversify, but after doing research it seems that for first time authors, sticking to Amazon provides the best results for discoverability. ( We shall see, as the market is constantly shifting! )

Among all of this, I also need to be on social media promoting CASTLING, which is something I'm not looking forward to. I know for certain I will be here on Vocal, sharing my triumphs and struggles with you all. It's a fantastic platform to get the word out, as like me, there are a lot of fantasy nerds here!

Now, to see if these plans can come together, or if they will all crumble apart...man, that sounds like the start of an excellent novel idea, doesn't it?

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You can check out all the stories I've shared here related to CASTLING under the "Irkalla" section in my catalogue! Thank you so much for reading! <3