A mysterious but clearly evil creature plants The Book of Chaos in Fable Nuthatch's nursery, long before she can read, and waits. The vines on the cover disguise it as a fairy tale book, but it's far from it.
When Fable's much older and the book is ready to "harvest" her and her magic, it falls into her lap -- and through a streak of luck (or misfortune), sucks her cousin into its pages, not Fable.
But there's no magic in the village of Larkmoor. Fable has magic and has used it on occasion, despite risking her Aunt Moira's disapproval, mostly to defend herself against the bullies that torture her and her cousin, Timothy.
But she's never practiced it, so her magic fizzles when she tries to stop the book from taking Timothy. Fable doesn't give up. She follows Timothy into the book, but it spits her out far from Larkmoor. A talking chicken, called a Firehawk, recommends Fable find the Fey Witch and ask for her help.
Along the way, Fable meets Thorn, a blue-grey giant girl who joins Fable, and the two become fast friends. At a local tavern, the girls learn others have disappeared in recent weeks and local speculation is that the evil witch, Endora, may have returned.
A petty thief cons Fable out of some money, and the girls chase after him. When the boy's arrested for stealing and they learn the penalty is having a hand chopped off, Fable uses her magic to engineer his escape. They all end up on Fable's quest for the Fey Witch who turns out to be…
I won't spoil it!
Enjoy this set-up for the next few books, which I asked my library to purchase. It agreed to purchase books 2 and 3 and 4, so those reviews will be coming soon-ish --probably over Christmas. Look for them in my annual Holiday Picks!
This interview is part of a periodic series of interviews with successful indie-published authors, hoping to shed some light on the indie publishing path to publication.
10 Question & Answer with Jessica Renwick, author of MG Fantasy The Book of Chaos, first book in the Starfell 6-book series
1. What was your inspiration for writing The Book of Chaos?
As a kid, reading was a huge part of my life. My love for middle-grade fiction carried into adulthood, so I always knew I’d like to write a book for that age range. As for The Book of Chaos, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign I played in gave me the idea. Fable was originally my wild magic sorcerer in that game, and I was asked to write a backstory for her. That turned into a twenty-page document, and then the outline for a novel. I obviously had to make a lot of changes to make it work as a middle-grade book, but that’s where the idea stemmed from.
2. What were your most significant challenges when writing The Book of Chaos?
My most significant challenge while writing The Book of Chaos was letting go of my perfectionism and imposter syndrome. I think this is something many writers deal with. I had started and stopped a few novels before. That desire to have everything just right before moving on can be immobilizing. I had to learn to write through that fear of failure. One thing that helped was keeping a note reminding myself that I would be fixing and polishing the manuscript later through revisions and working with an editor. First drafts don’t have to be perfect! In fact, they never are. It’s okay if yours is messy. Nobody has to see it until you have fixed and smoothed it out.
3. When did you know you were going to write a 6-book-series? Did you plan it from the start, or did subsequent books organically arise from the first book?
From the start, I had just planned a trilogy. But the story grew organically from there. After writing the second book, I knew it would have to be longer.
4. What were some of the challenges of writing a series that were different from writing the first book?
Once you get into a series, there’s a whole set of new challenges to tackle. You need to keep characters, settings, and events consistent (I keep a story bible on Trello to track these). You want to keep even small details consistent, such as a minor character’s eye colour or their last job they mentioned in an earlier book. The previous events shape the world and what happens next, so you have to keep these things in mind all the time.
5. Did you pursue a traditional publishing route for The Book of Chaos at any point? Querying agents, etc.? Why or why not?
Yes, I have pursued traditional publishing and I even had an agent for The Book of Chaos for a while. The book obviously didn’t sell, which I am okay with now. After spending some time in indie publishing, I have learned so much and love having the control of my own career.
6. What led you to go the indie-publishing route instead?
While searching for writing podcasts to listen to, I found The Creative Penn by Joanna Penn. She started me down the rabbit hole of self-publishing podcasts and information. It’s a great podcast with so much information and a huge backlist of episodes to listen to.
7. Can you discuss, briefly, some of the challenges of the indie publishing process? What was most difficult and why?
Marketing middle-grade is the biggest challenge for me. The audience and customers are so different than those who buy adult books, so the general indie publishing advice doesn’t always work for us children’s authors. We need to speak to parents, teachers, librarians, grandparents, etc. and we compete in a market that is dominated by traditionally published books. It’s getting better than it was before, but it can be difficult to find that information. I have a book recommendation about this below on question 13 that helped me a lot.
8. My blog features books that kids and teens can check-out through their public library. Many indie published works, unfortunately, are not approved for library purchase. Did you make any publishing choices to consciously ensure The Book of Chaos could be bought by libraries and checked out by library patrons? If so, what were they?
I set my books up on Ingramspark. They distribute to libraries, so any library in North America should be able to order my books. I’m not sure about overseas, but I know that libraries in both here in Canada and in the US have been able to get them.
9. What MG books and authors inspired your writing?
I have so many! As a child, I loved the Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, and Percy Jackson. Those books definitely inspired my love for writing and fantasy. I also loved horse books (I grew up with horses) and Black Beauty was a favourite of mine. It definitely inspired all the animals I like to include in my stories. What do you most hope readers of The Book of Chaos walk away with from Fable's adventures?I hope Fable can inspire readers to bravely be true to who they are and to value themselves.
10. How important are reviews?Honest reviews from readers are very important. They help readers decide if the book is right for them and/or their children, students, etc. We have to remember that our books will not speak to everyone, and that’s okay. Reviews can help make sure your books end up in the right readers’ hands.
Bonus Questions
11. How can young readers help indie authors like you if they can't buy/purchase your books, but can read them through their libraries?
Requesting your library to bring in the books is really helpful! I love libraries, and they help spread the word and get our stories into the hands of readers. If you love our books, telling your friends about them, posting about them on social media (if you use it), doing a class book report about them, and leaving reviews online all help us indie authors a lot. Also, don’t be afraid to send your favourite author an email. Most of us love talking to readers and will happily reply!
12. If you have any words of wisdom for new/budding authors out there...please share.
The biggest words of advice I have are to remember that building an author career is a marathon, not a race. I read somewhere that it takes most authors, even traditionally published ones, seven years from that first published book to make it a full-time career (if that’s what they want). In the beginning, focus on writing more books and don’t worry about paid marketing. Build that budget slowly as you release more books.
For anyone interested in writing and publishing children’s books of any kind, I highly recommend Karen Inglis’s book, How to Self-publish and Market a Children’s Book. Learning to self-publish can be overwhelming, but Karen really breaks it down nicely and helps with all the decisions you will have to make. It helped me get the ball rolling with my own books, and she has recently updated it so it’s current with all the options and challenges in the industry right now.
