I’m
Jennifer Allis Provost, and I’m going to talk about the convoluted path I took
writing Copper Girl.
I began Copper Girl with the scrap of an idea
gleaned from my boring job as a cubicle monkey. While this seed was
germinating, a few other ideas fluttered forth, and before I knew it, I had the
makings of a story: I was going to write a YA dystopia.
Or so I
thought.
In this
initial version, the main character, Sara Corbeau, lived in a world that used
to be full of magic, but no one believed in it anymore. Then Sara started
seeing a man in her dreams, who turned out to be an elf lord from the
Otherworld. Sara even had a snarky best friend, who disbelieved in everything
magical, and worried that Sara was losing her mind.
Well, that
didn’t work.
You see,
an integral part of Sara’s journey revolves around her boring desk job. (I
know, art imitating life at it’s finest) Most teens don’t have full-time office
jobs, so that, along with the romance level in the book, pretty much knocked Copper Girl right out of the YA
ballpark. Taking a cue from said romance level, I set out to rewrite it as a
paranormal romance.
Or so I
thought.
In this
version, Sara and the dreamy elf lord, Micah, meet in their physical forms
fairly early on, and establish a relationship. I also moved a good portion of
the action to the Otherworld, and added some political drama. Since I had also
added the Element-based magic system during this go-round, this is when Sara
actually became a copper girl.
That
version didn’t work either.
Ack.
Before I
started the third rewrite, I took some time to really think about the plot. So
Sara worked at a lame office job, then an elf showed up in her dreams, and
chaos ensued. That’s all well and good, but what was the chaos ensuing to? Then
it hit me, the integral part that I was missing:
What the
heck was the point of this story?
And that,
dear reader, is exactly what Copper Girl
had been missing. The characters were there, but the stakes weren’t high
enough. I didn’t really understand what Sara wanted badly enough to defy her
totalitarian government and begin using magic again. Then it hit me.
That
totalitarian government had taken Sara’s brother away ten years ago, and she
hadn’t seen him since.
Shortly
after this revelation, Copper Girl
went through its third and final major rewrite, and became a dystopian-flavored
urban fantasy. Snarky best friend stayed, missing brother entered, and the rest
of the story fell into place. The best part about this version was that it flowed. The words almost arranged
themselves on the computer screen, and the plot never felt slow or stilted.
What’s
more, it became something I really never thought it would be: a NA urban
fantasy. It was really the ideal NA premise: girl, aged 23, had graduated
college, moved out of the family home, found a job that sucks and has
inadvertently ended up in a boring life. Then, chaos ensues, but it somehow
makes everything better. It’s good chaos, ya know?
This was
the story, just as it was meant to be. Finally, I’d thought right.
It took
almost a year of rewrites, crumpled sticky notes, and anguished calls and
emails to editors and critique partners before Copper Girl finally came together. But, you know what? In the end,
it was all worth it.
Copper Girl
The Copper Legacy
Book One
Jennifer Allis Provost
Genre: urban fantasy
Publisher: Spence City
Date of Publication: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1939392022
ASIN: B00CXWC7JU
Number of pages: 248
Word Count: appx 80k
Cover Artist: Lisa Amowitz
Book Description:
Sara had always been careful.
She never spoke of magic, never associated with those suspected of handling magic, never thought of magic, and never, ever, let anyone see her mark. After all, the last thing she wanted was to end up missing, like her father and brother.
Then, a silver elf pushed his way into Sara's dream, and her life became anything but ordinary.
Book Trailer:
Tour Giveaway:
Prize pack including a signed copy of Copper Girl, swag, and a necklace inspired by the token Micah gives Sara.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
About the Author:
Twitter: @parthalan
Excerpt Chapter 1
