Hidden Series – Page 4 – Tiffany Shearn

Renaissance Faire Pt. 2

The renaissance faire was an awesome experience this weekend. Despite breathing in a pound of dirt, sweating in the hot sun, and wearing my poor feet out, I loved meeting so many wonderful vendors and fairgoers. I was floored by the reception to my book. Thank you to everyone who stopped by my tent to hear a little about me and my work.

First, I want to say another thank you to my sister and husband for working my tent with me this weekend. They showed me the ropes learned from last weekend and stuck around in the blazing sun to help make the event a success. We easily found our rhythm, and their passion for my books matches mine. Without a doubt, I could not have managed without your support.

Impressions and Surprises

The biggest surprise for me was how the day flowed. Nine hours of standing around plus two of set-up and prep sounds like it would drag on endlessly, but you move quickly through the day. An hour of unpacking and set-up, and then you have an hour to relax. Other merchants would often come over to chat with us, or we would roam around chatting ourselves. Before you knew it, the gates were opening.

Showing off my book from in front of my tiny tent!

During the first hour or so, most people were drifting around scoping out the offerings or heading to the first show at eleven. We saved our voices for later, mostly nodding to people and showing off the book. The handful of early customers helped us warm up our book summary skills and gain energy from chatting about something we all enjoy.

The joust would let out, and a wave of people made their way through the aisles. It was always fun to see someone perk up when they heard my husband shout out about “fantasy books.” That would be me passing by and hearing someone call out to the reader in me. I immediately had something in common with everyone talking to us, which was a relatively new experience.

From there, it was a flurry of activity and trading off lunch breaks until around two in the afternoon. The late-lunch-lull allowed us to trade another round of short breaks and reapply our sunscreen. Things would pick up again between four and five. We caught our breath then, until the final rush in the hour before closing. Then, it was time to pack up again.

With short breaks and talking about books all day, the time flew by much faster than I expected. Based on this experience, I 100% want to come back next year. I now have this dream of standing at my tiny tent in 2023 and having someone call out, “Oh good! You did get a tent again this year!” #authorgoals

Closing down and packing up after a wonderful weekend!

After Hours

I have still never been to the evening events the fair also offers at the taverns on Saturdays. Instead of attending, we joined the cast and crew D&D session Cleric Games hosted after hours. They ran a little two-hour session for people who wanted to join.

I played a barbarian for the first time. Before this, my paladin was my favorite. My style is to “run in and hit things,” so melee works for me. Barbarian might be my new favorite. I would have to give it more than two hours of play before I make that decision, but raging is very “Tiffany.”

Final Note

Welcome to any new readers checking out and signing up for my blog here after meeting me at the ren faire. If you are here because we talked about my publishing journey, click on the “publishing” tag (by the little tag symbol) below and start with the oldest posts.

If you are here because you loved the books and want to keep in touch, I encourage you to follow my blog by subscribing at the bottom of this page for weekly posts, my newsletter by subscribing on the homepage, or any of my social media accounts. You can find those via the links at the bottom of the page.

As always, thank you all for your support, and I hope to continue sharing more books with you all in the future!

Hidden Sanctuary Release!

Book two of the Hidden Series of Elaria is out now and available in paperback and ebook formats! In this second installment of the fantasy action-adventure series, Annalla and Larron continue their quest to save the people of Elaria from war. Even as new powers emerge to aid their efforts, Kahnlair continues to expand his control and eliminate any opposition.

Rejoin old friends and meet great new characters as you follow a mage’s old family legend toward either salvation or ruin in Hidden Sanctuary!

**An old story, a living legend, and a desperate mission.**

You can find links to both books in the series on the My Books page, and don’t forget to sign up for my quarterly newsletter on the Home Page.

Reminders

Two reminders/announcements regarding things I have mentioned here and in other places are:

I will be at the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire for two weekends in August! I set up a Facebook event here if you want that additional reminder. I will be signing and selling books at my booth there!
I mentioned this in my newsletter, but for everyone else… I have a full chapter I removed from Hidden Sanctuary to cut the word count down. When I reach 40 ratings/reviews between the two books, I will make this chapter available as a free extra on my website!

As always, thank you all for your support, and I hope you enjoy Hidden Sanctuary as much as I do.

Another Milestone

This week was full of writing milestones for me across multiple books. All of these are in preparation for upcoming events.

Hidden Sanctuary

On Tuesday, the proof copy of the paperback version arrived. With the same font settings as Hidden Memory, the second book came in at about 450 pages and felt a little heavy in my hands. I’ve decided to drop the font down a size to reduce the page count and a couple of other minor changes.

If it were only the little adjustments, I would have proceeded. However, the font change is big enough that I have a second proof copy on the way. While the proof processed, I worked to finalize the digital formatting. The copyright is submitted, the book is listed in all of my accounts for reviews, and I have put out the call for ARC readers. The first ARC email went out on Friday! Once my second proof copy arrives – hopefully looking amazing – I will move up the release date so I can order author copies for my booth at the fair!

Hidden Promise

Hidden Promise is the third book in the Hidden Series. The preorder for the eBook is live on Amazon, with a release date scheduled for June 2023. I know it is a long preorder, but I can always move it up if I want to later.

Books three and four have not gone through as many iterations as the first two did before I decided to publish. I’m becoming a better writer, but I do not want to rush things. Thursday I officially passed the draft to my alpha readers, so we will see what they say. While they work, I will start on the major rewrite of book four!

Side note: to reward my fans for joining me early, Hidden Promise will be $3.99 for the eBook during the preorder period!

Coming Soon

A couple of other changes will also happen once I push for Hidden Sanctuary to go live. I spoke of it before, but I decided recently to put my work into Kindle Unlimited. Hidden Memory will switch over as soon as the request processes, and Hidden Sanctuary will shift over about a month later. The delay is to give all of my preorder supporters a month ahead of the pack as thanks for purchasing my book.

If you are in Washington State in August or September and are interested in purchasing a signed copy of my paperbacks, you will have several opportunities! I will be at the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire on August 13, 14, 20, and 21 in a little 5×5 booth selling and signing books. Then, on September 24, I will be back at Page Turner Books in Kent, WA for a book signing event they are holding with several local authors. It is called Fall Festi-Con Fair.

I hope to see some of you there or see more great reviews popping up on Amazon! I have a chapter cut from Hidden Sanctuary I will post on my website once I hit 40 total reviews/ratings between the two books. Hidden Memory is currently at 17, and I’m hoping the additional release and KU will push this even higher.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Of the Realms – Interaction

Side note before I begin this week’s post: I’m doing a social media giveaway for a free eBook. The winner will receive an Amazon (US) coupon code for Hidden Memory, and you can enter by sharing my series on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and tagging my account! The winner will be drawn when I receive my proof copy of Hidden Sanctuary, so enter by Monday, 6/27!

Of the Realms

Welcome back to another informative post regarding the realms I mention in my books. I began with an overview of the power and forces at work in the “Orientation” post. I recommend checking that one out first, as I will reference that information here.

Movement

While the realms all exist along the spectrum of physical/mystical power, their positions are not static. Each realm has a central governing force acting as an anchor around which it shifts. Aryanna is a physical realm, anchored by science and physics. With this anchor, it will never be a high magic realm. The limitation does not, however, mean mystical forces are unable to enter or influence the realm.

A realm’s movement can ebb and flow naturally, or it can shift based upon the efforts of the people living there. In a physical realm, the more people learn and leverage scientific advances, the further the realm shifts in that direction along the spectrum. The same is true for high magic realms, but often in much less predictable ways.

This movement is predicated upon the influence of a realm’s governing force. A high magic realm might have natural laws regarding the creation and consumption of magic. In such a realm, overuse of magic could push the realm toward the physical side of the spectrum as magic becomes depleted.

Interaction

The movement of the realms facilitates the rare occurrences of interaction, which requires overlap and connection. Realms overlap when the movement of two realms brings them close enough along the power spectrum for their spheres of influence to “touch.” It could be anything from barely brushing the outer edge to occupying the same space along the line. So long as there is at least one point of contact, interaction is possible.

Because we are talking about the power spectrum and NOT about physical space, occupying the same place is 100% possible and does NOT convey any higher probability of interaction. For interaction to happen, a connection must be formed. Each time an overlap starts, there is a small percentage chance that the “friction” created will trigger a bridge to be initiated. The bridge is the connection making interaction possible.

When realms are connected, a pocket forms physically where people and creatures can pass. As two realms overlap more, the pocket can become more stable and visible. Then, as they drift apart, the pocket destabilizes until it finally fades and doesn’t return. During the initial and final stages, when the connection is unstable, the pocket can move, shift, or even split in the physical world, and many bridges never achieve stability.

A natural bridge, such as this, is how humans and dwarves came to live in Elaria. The dwarves fled persecution, while a few groups of humans explored and expanded out of curiosity or need. Some human explorers returned to Aryanna before the pockets faded, bringing along stories of the elves. However, the first elf to enter Aryanna found their essential connection to the world depleted to the point of pain, and no others attempted to cross over.

The arrival of the magai, in contrast, was not the result of a natural bridge. An artificial bridge provided the link between Scorcellen and Elaria. Using their magic, and certain spells learned through the ages, the magai stretched their realm’s sphere out from one point. They pushed it until the point touched another realm, then caused friction with their power in an attempt to force a bridge into existence.

The power expenditure was massive, and the attempts failed more often than not. For those reasons, the process became highly regulated in Scorcellen. The connection to Elaria was made, and all the magai arrived within a month. Then, the bridge collapsed, and Scorcellen’s sphere snapped back into its natural shape, causing ripples throughout the realm.

History

Thus are the ways the realms move and interact, along with a tantalizingly brief history. What happened to Scorcellen? What was Elaria like before the others arrived? I intend to continue this series with some of these answers in the future. For now, thank you for visiting, and I hope this helps explain some of the references in the Hidden Series.

Faire Booth Preparations

I mentioned recently that my application for a booth at the local Renaissance Faire was approved. This weekend, I planned to go shopping for additional items for an outdoor booth dressed in the necessary theme. I hoped to have ninety percent of the materials and do a test run in the backyard. I would take some pictures of how amazing it looked and share them with you to bask in the glory of my creative use of limited funds.

As you can imagine, little of my shopping today went according to plan. The canopies we have are too big—my booth space is only 5×5—and none of the stores we stopped at had any options smaller than 8×8 or a 7.5-foot circle. Looking for decoration accents was also a bust. The craft stores were too DIY for my skill/time, while Party City’s merchandise was too modern.

Fortunately, our most important stop of the day paid off and made the shopping headache worth it. Looking into suggestions for decorating a Ren Faire booth, there were many recommendations to use old sheets to wrap modern supports to make them look more like a medieval cloth tent.

We went to Goodwill to search the linens, picking up a number of sheets to cover the tent, table, and chairs. I plan to use our twine to tie it all to the supports for that billowy tent feel. On a pass through the decorations, we also found another picture stand and a wood box to replace some of the more modern items we used at my first book signing in February.

This was the table at my first signing. I will use most of this again in August.

The rest will need to wait for delivery, as it had to be ordered online instead. I should have most of it before the end of the month to do a trial run. In addition to the tent, I ordered more sealing wax for more wax seals, some cute butterfly hair clips for potential giveaways with books, and some bookmark charms shaped like swords and other old weapons. Along with the advertising flag I ordered, I think my booth is going to look marvelous, and most of the supplies can be used again in the future!

Books at the Faire

I have seen a lot of advice on how many books to bring to events like this, and it still feels like I am stumbling in the dark. Some say 20 per 1,000 attendees at the event (I’m not sure if this is for each book or total), which would mean about 600 for this event for me. Another person recommended 50-100 of each book for a two-day event, depending on size. This would put me at about 400 books for this two-weekend event. I have decided to order 250 more of my first book, which will give me around 280 available. I’m debating between 150-200 of the second book, which I hope will arrive before the first weekend. The books will not go bad, so hopefully, my guesses will not be a massive overspend.

As for my second book, it has been with the editor for a couple of weeks now. This one is about 30k words longer than the first, so it is taking a bit more time. She expects to have it back to me by next weekend. Over this next week, I want to finalize the cover, frontmatter, and backmatter so it is all ready to upload to quickly order a proof copy. If that first proof looks good, then I will have about six weeks for a large order to be printed and shipped in advance of the event.

This also means the book is likely to be released ahead of schedule! I need the paperback to be live to order author copies on KDP (yes, I know there are other options). Sign up to follow my blog here or for my newsletter on the homepage to hear when Hidden Sanctuary officially goes live.

As a final note today, thank you to all the new readers leaving reviews for Hidden Memory. I am now up to 16 ratings/reviews! Reviews are amazingly important to new authors, and I appreciate all of you for taking the time.

Have another great weekend!