Setting Expectations: "For Blood and Flame"
We've surpassed 2,300 sign ups for the end of a realm starved of magic. Let's discuss a bit more than that 30-second elevator pitch (or heart-wrenching dedication) you likely signed up from.
When I wrote For Mist and Tar, I wrote it for myself. I knew it was dark in a way fantasy readers weren’t expecting, written in a lyrical manner that wasn’t common in the romantic fantasy genre, and intermediate in the sense of its magic system and world building.
I also knew Vellene Winloc is the kind of character you want to strangle before you realize that’s exactly what’s been done to her every moment of her entire life.
That Eledar Lirik is the character who wallows in his misery but somehow still finds a sense of humor and for whatever reason can’t manage to die.
That Kadir Rathmore is absolutely a card-board cut out of the morally gray bad boy often seen in romantasy until you realize I wrote him that way to further demonstrate his mastery of masking.
That Mogaell Winloc reads as no one important, quietly making her own moves in the background.
As you can see, none of that has anything to do with plot.
For Mist and Tar was never intended to be this epic, badass tale. It was meant to be the kind of book you curl up with and sink into, and I knew in an age of fast-paced, to-the-point books that For Mist and Tar wouldn’t be for everyone.
It led to marketing this book being nearly impossible. Keywords I would use to describe the book (dark, morally gray, feminine rage) had stereotypical implications (sexy and badass) and For Mist and Tar was never going to fit into that mold.
There’s nothing wrong with books written like that (I even have an entire trilogy that is sexy and badass *cough* Fates of Mirror *cough*). But I’ve consistently found that most readers who pick up For Mist and Tar have expectations based on the stereotypes of tropes rather than the darkness, morally gray, and feminine rage that’s actually expressed on the page.
I’ve often called For Mist and Tar a slow, strange read, trying to set expectations correctly.
The truth is, it’s not that its slow, it’s that its poetic in nature so if you try to speed read it, you’re going to feel like you don’t fully comprehend what’s going on (unless you’re just a natural at speed reading more poetic work — please teach me your ways).
It’s also not even that it’s ‘strange’, it’s just that it’s different. It isn’t what’s trending, and so it’s hard to put trending labels like ‘morally gray’ on it even when it is about a bunch of 17 to 24-year-olds grappling with newfound power (or lack thereof) discovering the lines of their morals for the first time.
My job as the author (and as my own marketing team) is to help iron out those expectations and make sure the readers picking up both For Mist and Tar and For Blood and Flame know what it is they’re purchasing. That’s the nice thing about you being here on my newsletter list.
I don’t want what happened with For Mist and Tar to happen again with For Blood and Flame. I want to ensure if you’re picking these books up you aren’t expecting a sexy, badass story, because it’s really not that. If you want that. I again must redirect you to my Fates of Mirror trilogy.
So then who is the Alchemight Duology (For Mist and Tar and For Blood and Flame) for?
You like character-driven books that make you question your own morals.
You gravitate toward darker stories you can wrap around your soul; stories you may never read twice but know will sit with you for weeks after.
You appreciate characters so morally gray that you, yourself, don’t know whether you even like them (but you also kind of like that you don’t like them).
You like writing that puts you directly into the scene, writing that almost has a cadence like poetry or a song with purposeful repetition.
You also don’t mind writing based on emotion with heavy allusions to mental health. This is where the vibe comp of The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue comes into play.
You appreciate that feminine rage is varied depending on the woman, and that the women in the Alchemight Duology have been trained to bow to men. They find their rage (that’s a certainty) but it takes time for them to break the chokehold of their years-long abuse.
You’ve picked up books like The Poppy War or A Little Life knowing they would hurt but wanted to read them anyway for the sake of finding solace in your own emotions.
You like romance in a tragic sense that’s built on mental health struggles, traumatic backstories, and frustration.
But don’t just take it from me. I’m the author, so of course I’m biased. Let’s take a look at a couple of notes left by my Beta and Sensitivity readers for For Blood and Flame, the direct sequel to For Mist and Tar but book 5 in Wrathos:
***Some adjustments made to these notes just so they flow as a continius paragraph. Notes were left on a questionnaire and broken apart by the questions I asked. I simply eliminated the questions.
These notes are from two betas who gave me permission to use their notes in today’s newsletter (thank you again!), and the reason I gravitated toward these particular notes is I feel they most accurately set the expectation for this book.
But sometimes, I just want the writing to speak for itself (marketing is exhausting, ya’ll). So, here are some quotes you might’ve not seen yet and a few I know you haven’t seen as I’ve kept them under lock and key.
They’re all out of order and random, but I hope you can feel in them why this book is a dark book not necessarily for the plot but the vibes.
Again, these are all for the sequel to For Mist and Tar, For Blood and Flame:
I’ve never felt, creatively, so passionate about a work of mine. I’ve said this on social media, but I’ll say it here:
For Mist and Tar crawled so For Blood and Flame could burn it all to ash and resurrect itself into something far more sinister. Please do not go into For Mist and Tar expecting the exact same level of darkness. The feminine rage and darkness in my books levels up over the course of all my series. For Blood and Flame is book 5, where as For Mist and Tar is book 1 in Wrathos.
I’ve always had a deep passion for dark fantasy with a gnarled, tortured element. I love writing about the human condition from the eyes of a fictional world, creating monsters and Gods and villains. This is a passion I locked away, because I didn’t think anyone would want something like that. I love writing books that aren’t pretty but devastating; books that are beautiful in their hurt.
For Blood and Flame is the first book of mine where I didn’t hold back. I put my entire voice as an author onto those pages, and I’ve found my passion for writing revitalized in the process.
These are the stories I’m meant to tell, the stories I hope to continue to tell, and I can only hope that you, my amazing readers, will stick along for the ride, even if it’s different and dark and a tad monstrous.
When Will For Blood and Flame Release?
Right now, I’m awaiting responses from a few beta readers I haven’t heard anything from. As soon as I get their feedback, I can begin to properly finalize the novel. Already, I have a few scenes I’ve thought of in the last few weeks I’m desperate to add, but I’ve been glad for the tiny break while For Blood and Flame has been with betas.
If you’re brand new around here and you haven’t checked out the 15k to For Blood and Flame marketing campaign, then please do.
Essentially, the release date is May 14th. However, it will release earlier if we hit 15,000 free Wrathos Books subscribers before then.
Right now, we are at 2,300 after about a month of me consistently promoting the campaign across TikTok and Instagram.
With the rate we’re growing (squeals in indie author) I feel we will hit the 15k milestone before May (a girl’s gotta manifest, right?), so I’m doing everything I can to make sure I’m ready to launch.
A really simple way to help out is to visit the Wrathos Books Leaderboard and copy your unique referral link.
You can send it to friends, family, use it on social, wherever. Word-of-mouth can really work wonders! Plus, if you rack up enough referrals, you can get the paid Wrathos Books subscription at no cost. It’s really a win-win.
Thank You For Being Here
I just want to say thank you. Every day, more of you find me, and truthfully it’s a dream come true. I’m so excited for the launch of For Blood and Flame, and I hope you are, too!