Melanie Nilles

Woohoo! I finished my edits this weekend. I’ve sent the manuscript back and now will wait on any further edits. I made a lot of changes, but this first part of the story went through quite the evolution.

It started seven years ago, I think. I decided I wanted to write fantasy and liked dragons. Well, that turned into what I thought would be two stories.

Nope.

A couple years later, I realized how bad it was and shredded the one and a third manuscripts I had. I kept some scenes from that but completely reworked the entire story. Characters changed slightly, mostly in their roles and backgrounds. The plot completely changed as I discovered a depth to the world I hadn’t seen before. I fleshed it out into something far better.

Still, it wasn’t quite right. My husband helped illuminate several problems. He didn’t read the story–still hasn’t–but we discussed things that he offered his opinion on. I took his suggestions and developed them further. Soon, I had built this world, a few religious systems, political systems for the different major nations I created, and social systems. I couldn’t believe the rich history that opened before my eyes. It had taken on a life of its own.

When I was satisfied with the direction the new story had taken, I realized it went beyond a trilogy to a four-book series. The middle two books flew by within one year, then I took a break to write two other books before returning to finish the fourth and final book, which was completed within six or seven months.

Soon you’ll see the culmination of my hard work and vision. Look for Dragon Prophecy next month and stay tuned for updates as I post appendix information, which will be included in the first book of the Legend of the White Dragon series.