June 29, 2017
For Immediate Release
Bestseller Jumps Genres:
DEWOLFE’S YA FANTASY NAMED ONE OF TEXAS’S BEST
Contest Sponsored by Writers League of Texas
Austin, TX – Published peers have named Adrienne deWolfe’s new young adult fantasy one of the best up-and-coming manuscripts in the State of Texas.
DeWolfe is the critically acclaimed author of four #1 bestselling Historical Romance novels. Now she’s “jumping genres,” trying her hand at her first fantasy for teens. That manuscript, DARK WIND, is a finalist in the prestigious 2017 Manuscript Contest, sponsored by the Writers League of Texas.
“I love working with teens,” deWolfe says. “In fact, I teach Driver’s Ed in my home town, so I get lots of great feedback from my students about my plot ideas — and my driving wisdom,” she adds with a laugh.
DARK WIND, the first book in deWolfe’s Guardians of Aeld Series, is still in progress, but it has become notorious in Texas writing circles
“About four years ago, I was building my fiction world for planet Aeld — when my computer crashed and got stolen from the repair shop,” deWolfe recalls. “The night before the meltdown, I actually had a dream that the manuscript would never get published. Does that make me psychic?”
DeWolfe can joke now, but she said the loss of a manuscript is every writer’s worst nightmare. “There must have been some Higher Plan for me, because my publisher contacted me two days later, asking me to write a Western Novella. That short story (SHADY LADY) was published in a #1 bestselling Romance anthology (PISTOLS & PETTICOATS.)”
But deWolfe never gave up on Raevyn, the primary protagonist in the ensemble cast of DARK WIND. “I’ve revamped Raevyn, of course, and I’ve given her new obstacles to overcome. Essentially, I’m writing an entirely new plot.”
DeWolfe, who “moonlights” as a hands-on healer in the Reiki tradition, says she has wanted to write a book about a “healer mystic” since 1990 — five years before her first published Historical Romance (TEXAS OUTLAW) was conceived. “Apparently, my first Paranormal Romance manuscript (WOLFSPELL) was ahead of it’s time. It got more rejections than I care to count. Then I tried to drop paranormal elements into HIS WICKED DREAM (Book 3, Velvet Lies Series,) but my Avon editor nixed the idea. She said (and I quote,) ‘Readers in Iowa would never buy a book with a paranormal theme.'”
That Avon employee was referring to conventional publishing opinion, which grew from a marketing statistic, citing Iowa with the highest literacy rate in America.
“I’m pretty sure Iowa readers bought (Stephanie Meyers’) TWILIGHT,” deWolfe says dryly.
“Okay, I’ll admit I’m a bit of a maverick among genre fiction writers,” she continues. “As a Romance author, I don’t write Ingenue Governesses and Regency Rakes. As a Fantasy / Paranormal author, I don’t write heroes who suck blood and eat brains. Call me crazy, but I don’t find those diets appealing in a hero or a Mate.”
So whatever happened to that stolen computer?
“It remains one of life’s Great Mysteries,” deWolfe said. “Of course, I like to think the rust-bucket is now giving the thief the same misery my hardware used to give me.“ (See post, Help! My Printer Has a Poltergeist.) “Yes, losing a 400-page manuscript was traumatic,” deWolfe admitted. “I was able to recover from the shock — and the pain — of losing something so precious because I’m a life-long student of Attitudinal Healing, and the program gave me the skills to cope with grief. It also helped me see that I could turn tragedy into a story of triumph and perseverance — the kind of story that should be recorded for readers.
“Whenever I write, I keep in mind that the writer-reader relationship is extremely intimate,” deWolfe explained. “When a reader chooses to immerse herself in my fictional world, she’s giving me a direct connection to her emotions. I want her to be entertained, of course, but even more importantly, I want her to feel inspired and empowered by the women in my novels. That’s why I make a conscious effort to write strong, independent heroines, like Raevyn, the teenage sorceress in Dark Wind. She’s kicking butt and zapping soul-suckers by page 15.” (For sneak peeks of DARK WIND, visit deWolfe’s blog.)
Based in Austin, deWolfe is the recipient of 48 writing awards, including the Best Historical Romance of the Year. She has written novels for Bantam Books, Avon Books, and ePublishing Works.
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