New Story: Threads

I meant to do this last week but… *eyes self* Yeah. I need to get my stuff together over here. Anywho, yes, there is a new story available on Kindle!

Threads is one of my attempts at playing with Greek myths, transporting them into modern times or other such weird quirkiness. I have plans to do something with the Minotaur myths, Selene and Endymion, and then from there we’ll see. It is definitely the more romantic/sickly sweet of the them, though then again, Selene and Endymion keep trying to get a piece of that action too… *whacks at them*

There were a couple of quirks with writing it. One was trying to write flirting. This is where being a social hermit finally bit me in the butt. I tend to get friends by accident rather than by any conscious choice, and if I’ve flirted with anyone, it’s gone right over my head (a trait that Katherine inherits). Thank God I had Mel to help get Zag and Katherine going. After that, I managed on my own fairly well. I really focused on the feelings I wished I experienced when I was her age, or even that I would feel now that I’m older, to a certain extent. I’m a little sappy and a big believer in true love, so I always try to give that to my characters in a romance. I just have to make some of them work for it.

I think I had the most fun writing Persephone and her daughter Melinoe. Rather than the naive damsel or the Stockholm Syndrome sort that she tends to get typecast as, I slid Persephone into a more…sneaky role. Oh, she still is on the naive side, but she also tries to manipulate the world to her own advantage. And her advantage, in her opinion, is whatever it takes to stay with Hades. She is very much in love with him, but was also smart enough to figure out a way to be with him when her mother threw a royal hissy fit. I thought it would make her a good ally for Katherine.

As for Melinoe, well, along with Zagreus and another immortal, they are considered the children of Persephone and Zeus. But I looked at more direct translations, which called their father Zeus Underworld. I honestly think it was meant as a comparison, since Hades is the king of the Underworld just as Zeus is the king of the Heavens. It just got skewed by the view of Zeus and how it doesn’t matter if the goddess is married (to an extent), he will try. Anyway. Melinoe was interesting because of how insane she is. I loved that I could make the threats to Katherine more psychological with her as a midway villain.

Which brings up bad decision number two. I won’t go into specifics, except… Damn it, I should have made Katherine afraid of something that I don’t have a phobia about. I know about having a fear of heights, they justifiably make me nervous, I should have gone with that. But nooo, I had to go with the first thing that popped into mind for a nightmare, and then when Mel said my ending needed more confrontation, it left me only one myth to turn to, the very first Greek myth I ever read. So I guess yay for hitting two myths with one story, but… I gave myself nightmares. Greaat.

Overall, I’m really happy with how this story came out. I had to do a little fighting, I had to do a lot of evaluating human behavior, but I think it came out right. And then comes the fun part: finding an artist to commission for a cover. Because I was doing a straight romance, I actually turned to an artist I knew who specialized them in a way. I’ve been reading The Way to Your Heart, an online manga by Emily Muto, for what I think is over a year (about when Yayoi went off the deep end is when I started reading). Her art has approved so much over the course of the comic so far, and I know she puts all herself into her pieces, which made her the perfect person. And the end result was well-worth it, a bit like she plucked the picture out of my head and just recreated it. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to work with, and if I continue this series, she will definitely be my go-to for future work.

Well, I think I’ve rambled enough. Go check it out for yourself!

Threads on Kindle