Article: About the Lady of Joy Series
About the Our Lady of Joy Series:
When I first began writing the Our Lady of Joy series, I had one goal in mind: I wanted to write the kind of series I always loved to read, where the characters felt so real to me that I missed them when I finished.
While I love epic fantasy, I wanted to take a different approach from how it is traditionally written, focusing tightly on how the characters felt as individuals, so that as a reader, you might be in the room as part of that group. I also wanted to create strong female characters who suffered from some of the more common insecurities we as women often face, yet still managed to take control of their lives enough to find happiness.
As an introverted, voracious reader who would rather finish a good book than attend a party, I also wanted to take advantage of the electronic format to write a long, emotionally intense series of books that each lasted longer than an afternoon. Traditionally, books are edited down not only for the reader experience, but to maximize publishing house profits above print costs. With electronic publishing, that is no longer a concern, allowing authors to cater to readers who actively seek out lengthy books, just as I always have.
Most importantly, it was my hope to inspire any girls or women reading to identify with someone like them and to see all the wonderful things about that character, not just her flaws, unconsciously convincing them of their own value.
Even more, by keeping the focus of the book on those characters and their personal journeys over the traditional sweeping scope of epic fantasy, I could show the readers each character's incremental gain as he or she became someone happier and more confident. My hope was to give them ideas which might help in their own lives...or even just allow them to internalize the idea that personal change is rarely instantaneous or easy, despite what books and movies say.
During the course of writing the first seven books, I chose to focus exclusively on readers desiring emotional authenticity as their primary driver for reading fiction. For anyone interested in why, it involves brains which run a parallel processor vs. sequential. Screenwriter Corey Mandell explains it wonderfully at approximately 12:55 in his podcast here:http://coreymandell.net/how-to-create-the-best-possible-characters-and-story/.
It took 3 years to write the series and ready it for publication, but I loved every minute of it, finding it truly inspirational on a deeply personal level. So as you read the series, I hope you enjoy it, too.
- Valery
PS - Samples of each book aren't included here but you can see them in the look-inside on each book's Amazon page
The Lady of Joy Series Page on Amazon lists the whole series.
