Sometimes love and treason go hand in hand
Just in time for the start of the school year!
Regnum Terra is now available in Paperback and Hardcover formats!
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After much waiting, wondering, and worrying, I finally took the plunge.
My debut novel, Regnum Terra is now officially published!
The Kindle and Nook versions are already available online, with paperback and hardcover editions coming soon.
I spent the last week working on this beauty:
I can’t wait to see this cover spread on an actual, physical book!
A huge thank you to all my diligent and supportive beta readers. This monumental project would not have been possible without your insight.
Follow the links below to order your very own copy of Regnum Terra!
“Wait, so he like, fixed your hair?” questioned Kenzie through a mouthful of salad the next day at lunch. “Sort of,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.
I had told Kenzie everything, desperate for her opinion on the events of yesterday, and I could almost see the facts sinking into her brain. Kenzie was the closest thing the world had to a boy-translator: she could take a single conversation with a member of the opposite sex and unpack it the way some people could unpack the symbolism in a novel. If anyone could tell me what Alek was thinking, it was Kenzie.
I hadn’t worked up the courage to tell her about the dream I had had of Alek though; I didn’t want to lose my only real friend because she thought that I was crazy. I hadn’t been able to shake the sense of deja-vu I felt around Alek; the sense I had that I knew him, or had known him, or something like that…
“I’m so glad you and Josh aren’t together anymore, though,” Kenzie interrupted. “I can’t believe he actually had the nerve to grab you. I don’t know what you ever saw in him; he’s a total creep!” I nodded fervently, relieved to know I wasn’t the only one who found Josh’s behavior exceptionally disturbing.
“Alek though, he’s kind of a weirdo too,” continued Kenzie thoughtfully, twirling her fork between her fingers absentmindedly. “I don’t know what he’s thinking. He followed you around yesterday like a stalker!” She frowned, concerned.
“My thoughts exactly!” I mumbled through a mouthful of what was supposed to be mac and cheese. “He kind of dragged me out of History too, and wanted to walk me home.”
“Hang on, he dragged you? As in, by-the-hand actual draggage? You didn’t let him walk you home, did you? Oh my gosh, please promise me you didn’t get in a car with him!” Kenzie almost shouted, her eyes wide.
“Shhh, everyone’s going to think we’re even crazier than they already do,” I said, glancing around the crowded lunchroom. “I didn’t give him a ride, or let him walk me home, or anything. Promise.”
“You had me worried that I was talking to a ghost!” Kenzie laughed, relieved.
“Nope, still alive, unfortunately,” I responded, looking gloomily down at my unappetizing meal. “Maybe this will kill me off and rid me of my misery.”
“Hey now,” Kenzie shook her finger at me reprovingly. “At least you have a boy that’s showing some sort of interest in you! Granted, it’s a weird kind of interest, but some people are really into that. Don’t tell me you’re into that kind of thing though; it might put a damper on our friendship.”
“Do you think he likes me, though?” I asked, my voice coming across a little whiney.
“Is that even a question?” Kenzie replied with a smirk, catching my blank look before quickly adding, “Yes, dear, he likes you.”
“Then why is he acting so weird?” I complained, stabbing my food with a little more force than was probably necessary.
“Because he’s a teenage boy,” she said with a shrug. “They’re always weird, and then you add actual emotion into the mix, and it just amplifies the weirdness.”
Hey guys! Not much to say this week… I’m still in the midst of querying literary agents, which is quite the grind. Imagine online dating, but much more rejection, and no weirdly awkward first-dates to break up the monotony. Pretty rough.
Which brings me to my main point: even though querying kinda sucks, you guys keep me at it! Your enthusiasm for my writing helps reassure me that I shouldn’t just shelve this project and give up on my dream of authorship. Thank you so much for all of you who read my random, weekly updates. Thank you for being willing to beta read my novel, and sparing me the embarrassment of typos in the manuscript I’m sending out to agents. Thank you for listening while I geek-out about the latest plot twist I’ve cooked up. And thank you for believing in me, even when I struggle believing in myself.
If it takes a village to raise a child, it certainly takes a village to publish a book.
Thanks for being my village.
Some of you may know that I teach high school Physics, (and English, too, starting next year!) This week has been the last of the school year, and today I wanted to give a huge shout-out to all my students for being so incredible.
From showing unparalleled enthusiasm about my writing to discussing weird scientific theories with me, you guys have been the best. As I’ve encouraged you to work hard and try your best, you’ve encouraged me to believe in myself. If I can ever become the teacher and writer you already think I am, my life will be made.
And to my AP class that wants me to write that novel about Mars… I’ve got some stuff in the works.
Outside of Mr. McKlellin’s room we stopped. I stared down at the floor as the boy’s hand dropped to his side. “I don’t really know your name,” I admitted, embarrassed. A beautiful, crooked smile flashed across his face.
“My bad,” he said, eyes twinkling. “I should have introduced myself sooner. But I’m going to be mean, Hazel,” he paused, the twinkle in his eye looking slightly wicked. “I’m going to make you guess my name.”
“What?” I replied, caught off guard. “Why?”
“I want to see what you’ll come up with,” he laughed, leaning against the door frame casually. “What kind of a person do I look like to you? Am I a Toby? Or a Clarence? Stanley? Because if you guess any of those names, I’ll know you’re not into guys like me and I’ll leave you alone.”
My cheeks flushed crimson.
“Are you flirting with me?” I blurted out, mentally cursing my lack of feminine wiles.
“Not if you think my name is Toby,” he replied with a wink.
A wink? Seriously?
“Well, I guess I can rule out Toby, Clarence, and Stanley…” I said, ruefully engaging in the game as my carefully built wall crumbled slightly under the intensity of Alek’s vivid gaze.
Alek.
Where had that come from?
I felt the same, eerie sense of familiarity that had washed over me when I had first laid eyes on the boy; a tingling through my veins that both excited and terrified me.
“You look like you’ve picked a name,” the boy said, his grin teasing. “What’ll it be, Hazel Anderson? Take a shot.”
I hesitated, tasting the name in my mind.
Alek.
I looked the boy up and down, from his slightly scuffed jeans to his messy, ebony hair.
“Your name is Alek,” I said, my voice surprisingly confident. The grin on the boy’s face faltered slightly, his shoulder slipping down the doorframe in shock.
“Oh shoot, I’ve offended you,” I muttered, running my hands through my hair in chagrin.
“No, that’s not it at all!” he replied, a crooked grin slowly spreading across his face. “You must either be a psychic, or really, really lucky.”
“No way…” I breathed, my heart pounding like I had just won the lottery. “I actually guessed it? Your name really is Alek?”
“Unless you hate it, of course,” he grinned, “in which case I’ll gladly change it. ‘Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptiz’d,’ and all that.”
“Did you just quote Romeo and Juliet?” I asked, my eyes widening incredulously.
“It’s not a problem, is it?” he answered with another wink.
“I’ll let you know,” I said with a tentative smile, pushing the classroom door open as the bell sounded loudly above us.
I just spent the last 24 hours rewriting my query letter… and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. To be frank, I’m pretty sure the stupid thing counts as a straight-up obsession now. Technically, I’m on my 6th draft, but considering the fact that each ‘draft’ went through at least twenty revisions… well, you get the picture. Each night after polishing up my latest attempt at perfection, I’m tempted to quote The Princess Bride: “Good night… Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”
Check out my latest draft, and tell me what you think!
Hazel Alina Galbraith is a 17-year-old spy from an alternate reality with a secret that might save the universe. Or destroy it.
The only problem is, she doesn’t remember any of that.
What Hazel does remember is her life on earth: her recent breakup with her boyfriend, Josh; the mean-girl-esque bully who spreads rumors about her; that huge English project coming up. And Alek, an unfairly attractive foreign exchange student with piercing eyes that haunt Hazel’s dreams. Hazel can’t shake the feeling that she somehow knows Alek, and when his strange behavior convinces Hazel he must be hiding something, she decides to investigate.
Hazel’s search for answers leads to an accidental trip to a shadow dimension, an encounter with a pyrotechnic phoenix, and, most importantly, the truth about her past. Hazel learns she and Alek are from a realm called Hespera: a dangerous reality filled with mythical beasts and ruled by a power-obsessed Council of Warriors. Hazel has been exiled to earth for treason. And as she remembers why she was branded a traitor, Hazel realizes she might be the only one who can prevent the rulers of Hespera from destroying the universe.
With the fate of two worlds hanging in the balance, Hazel must decide whether she is willing to sacrifice her normal life on earth to save the world she’s left behind. After all, in a universe where dreams look more like nightmares, being normal might be the happiest ending you can hope for.
REGNUM TERRA is a complete 73,000-word YA genre-splice that blends fantasy and science fiction. It is the first in a planned trilogy, and will be enjoyed by fans of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I have a bachelor’s degree in English Teaching with a minor in Physics Teaching, and I currently spend 40 hours a week working with my target audience as a high school English and Physics teacher. The manuscript to REGNUM TERRA is available, in part or full, upon request.
Thank you for your consideration,
Ellie Penner
As part of the querying process, many literary agents request you come up with some “comps” for your novel. A comp title is a previously published book that is similar to yours, either in content or audience. It serves to give agents and publishers a quick reference for what your book is like, how your book might do in terms of sales, and what your intended audience might be.
I knew right off the bat what my first comp title for Regnum Terra was going to be. When I first started writing my book, I was obsessively reading The Hourglass Door trilogy by Lisa Mangum. I loved the idea of a book that straddled genres; that didn’t fit neatly into pure science-fiction, but pulled on elements from multiple genres to create something new and fascinating. (Not to mention the fact that Dante, the main love interest, was pretty much perfect in my teenage-girl mind). When I began writing my novel, I knew I wanted to incorporate the genre flexibility found in The Hourglass Door. Regnum Terra uses the trope of a strange, attractive boy who captures the attention of the protagonist, but twists the conventional to add a layer of complexity to their relationship. Hazel, the main character of Regnum Terra, already has a relationship with Alek, the attractive foreign-exchange student who shows up unexpectedly in English one day. Although she can’t remember their shared past, Hazel instantly knows that, for some reason, this guy is different.
Coming up with a second comp title for my book was much more difficult. Because Regnum Terra blends science-fiction and fantasy, I found it hard to pinpoint another book that was similar. I was doing some research this week when I had a light bulb moment for my second comp title: the Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke. Inkheart also sports a strong female protagonist who discovers some strange truths about her past, and, like Regnum Terra, involves people who interact with both the “real” world and a fantasy world. I loved Inkheart when I was younger, and it made me unbelievably happy to realize that the book I had created was in any way similar to such a wonderful novel.
If you have any more comp titles for me to add to my arsenal, feel free to let me know!
As some of you may know, I’m currently in the process of querying literary agents to represent my novel, Regnum Terra. I’ve really enjoyed the query process because it reminds me a little of turning in papers for my English classes, (which I did, in fact, enjoy. Yes I’m a little weird…) Each literary agent is different, but they all want essentially the same things:
This is the most essential part to any query. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a letter where you basically ask a literary agent if they would like to represent your book. You introduce yourself and your story in a short, 1-page-ish letter, being sure to include crucial information about your book, such as genre, title, and word count.
Before you query, (if you’re writing fiction, anyway,) you should have a completed, edited manuscript. Most agents ask for some sample pages, but the number they request varies greatly. The highest number of sample pages I’ve sent thus far is 30, or 3 chapters. Most literary agents request 10 pages, or the first chapter of your novel. The key thing I’ve learned with this requirement is that you should never send your sample pages as a link in an email, unless the agent specifically asks for them that way. All of the information in your query is usually pasted into the body of an email.
And now to the beast… I mentioned earlier that I’ve enjoyed the query process, but for the past few weeks I’ve been struggling to write a synopsis. “What is a synopsis,” you might find yourself asking? That’s exactly the problem… a synopsis is a document that details the narrative arc of your novel, explains the plot, introduces the characters, and spoils the ending. Essentially, you have to condense your 300-plus page novel into 500-800 words. Ooof.
Not all literary agents request a synopsis as part of their submission requirements, so I kept putting off writing it; that is, until I found one literary agency that seemed just perfect. You know how, sometimes, you look across a crowded room and see someone you just know is a kindred soul? It was like that, but for a literary agency. I knew almost immediately that I wanted to work with these people. Only problem? You guessed it: they wanted a synopsis.
“That’s it,” I told myself. “No better time than the present, right?” So I sat down and promptly re-wrote the first paragraph of my partially-started synopsis… and re-wrote it… and re-wrote it… until, an hour later, I was on my sixth-or-so draft, and absolutely exasperated with the whole thing. I mean, it took 300 pages to tell this story; how could anyone expect me to condense it to 500-800 words, and still expect things to be interesting?
After a lot of internet research, a ridiculous number of drafts and edits, and cutting out way more of the side-plots than I would have liked, I finally finished my synopsis. I’ll be honest: it’s a little dry, but that seems to be the norm for these kinds of things. The moral of the story? Sometimes, you just have to sit down and do something hard. Finding time, consistently, to sit down and work on my book was hard. Figuring out the ins and outs of the querying process has been hard. Sending out drafts to beta readers and taking their feedback has been hard. Writing that darn synopsis was really, really hard. But in every single case, doing the hard thing has been absolutely worth it.
The Regnum Trilogy 