They were begun at a time in my life when health issues forced a change of pace and direction. The writing of these books spanned a period of 15 years and a total metamorphosis of my belief system along with my view of the Universe and my place in it.
I suppose I should not be surprised the Saga goes on! The stories were based around cataclysmic world disasters, the destruction of Atlantis and Noah's Great Flood. Everyone died at the end. Seriously not romantic!
And as an author, I am all about romance and happy endings! In order to give Hero & Heroine in both stories their happy endings, I reincarnated them into 1998CE and turned the two books into what I call Past Life Travel - as opposed to Time Travel.
They became Sagas indeed, of over 300,000 words each! No traditional publisher would touch them and Indie publishing wasn't an option back then. Not to mention, the author was a technophobe.
So, not only did those books take me on a spiritual journey, they took me on a learning journey of both writing and Information Technology skills that was equally startling; from writing on an electric typewriter - amazingly advanced for one who wrote their first book on a portable Olivetti! - because computers were terrifying, to self-publishing my books on multiple platforms, and tackling Social Media with all its wonders and pitfalls.
With each new process I need to learn, I still dither, struggle and procrastinate, get sick to my stomach and close the computer to face that particular leap of faith tomorrow. But eventually, I dare, and then discover it was pretty straightforward after all!
Back to the Sagas - see how easy it was for me to write books of over 300,000 words? -
First I did an intensive edit and cut them down to just over 200,000 words each. Still too big for conventional publishers to take a punt on an unpublished author.
By the time I came to try publishing them myself about 2012, another NZ author had recently used the title, Crystal Warrior. So the 1st edition of Bk.1. became 'Through All Eternity', which never sat right with me. It was always Crystal Warrior in my heart.
The 2nd edition therefore - with a new cover - was Crystal Warrior, and the 1st edition of Crystal Dancer was published soon after. Yet, somehow not many readers were drawn to these two books, although the few who did and left me a review, rated them highly.
These reviews may be read on my website, www.jenyatesnz.com .
Recently I attended a seminar with Joanna Penn of the 'Creative Penn' on 'How to Make a Living with your Writing' and I learned a heap more about being an Indie (independently published) author.
As a result, Crystal Warrior and Crystal Dancer are being recreated as a series of 4 books each, with each book being around 60,000 words. I had always thought that as each was one story, they could not be divided into two or more!
But when I allowed myself to do the math - divide the total word count of each book by 4 and see where they ended, I was astonished to discover that somewhere around the end of each 1/4 was a perfect ending!
The new formatting and covers for Crystal Dancer Saga are still to be completed but Crystal Warrior Saga is ready to go.
The 4 books of each Saga still need to be read in sequence, but are now in more manageable bites. I've also stepped into a new phase and published Bk.1. on multiple platforms. Will wait and see whether this is worthwhile before doing the same with the others. It's all a learning curve.
Meantime, I'm busy writing 'The Virgin Widow', Bk.3. in my sexy regency series, Lords of the Matrix Club. If you would like to be informed when I have a new book out, please send an email to jenyatesnz@mail.com . This will entitle you to a free .pdf of the short sequel to 'Lords of the Matrix Club' series, entitled 'The Townville Legacy-A Darkness in the Blood', or a sexy contemporary novella, 'The Winning Hand'. Please indicate which you would prefer.
Links to the New Releases:-
FORBIDDEN, Bk.1. in Crystal Warrior Saga is available at www.books2read.com/u/3JKYVE & www.amazon.com/dp/B06XRBH2F5
FORGIVEN, Bk.4. in Crystal Warrior Saga will be available for pre-order at end of April, planned to go live on 28th June.
