Week by numbers.

~ Ann Benjamin ~ Leave a comment

It seemed time for an update, yes?

  • 1, book published!  Welcome to the world, The Queen of England: Grand Tour.  In case you’ve been hiding under a rock the past week, the sequel in the trilogy is now available (and I would love it if you might read and review).
  • 68,761, words on this year’s manuscript (202 pages, approximately).  I really wanted it to be finished before I published, but, it’s not done, so that’s life.  I am very close to having it finished and hope to have a solid first draft done by next Wednesday (let’s see).
  • 1, recent author interview.
  • 1, 1-star review on Life After Joe that really made me laugh.
  • 1, very nice villa we got to stay in this week at Desert Palm.
  • Epically, terrible job I did for packing for said night.  Really, there was no end to the level of how bad it was.
  • Some, adulating recently — car serviced for the first time in forever, and registration renewed on Hubs’ car. #winning
  • 1, video/song I’m still obsessed with (see below).

https://giphy.com/embed/551RB2fg4RvcZMw40z

via GIPHY

We’re off to see Solo tomorrow and maybe the Rain Room in Sharjah on Saturday.  We’ll also be cheering on Liverpool in the Champions League final on Saturday night.  Next week we’re heading to Georgia (the country, not the state).  More marketing attempts will be coming your way soon — I hope you’re enjoying them.

The Queen of England: Grand Tour, Behind the Scenes.

~ Ann Benjamin ~ Leave a comment

Just as I did with the first book, I thought I would give a look into some of the behind the scenes details of The Queen of England: Grand Tour.  If you want to read the book without any spoilers, stop reading now.

  • I ended up changing a major character’s name in a late draft.  Her original name was just not a good fit.
  • And then I did the same thing with another character.  (I’m also going through something similar in my current manuscript).
  • In the last edit, I cut out a plot point that seemed super forced. I thought a certain character would nominate another character for a role, but in the last read, it just didn’t make any sense.
  • In the rough draft, Britannia was meant to go on the Grand Tour.  Logistically, it was too difficult from a logistics standpoint and ended up being cut.
  • Similarly, Askew was also meant to be on the Tour, but I thought it would be more in character that he stayed at Buckingham to protect Juliette’s interests.
  • I had originally thought to introduce a new Prime Minister while Juliette was traveling, but that seemed another bad fit (and that I was really just throwing too much at my poor Queen).  The Prime Minister will have more of a role in the third book.
  • Apparently, and this is going to very early days of the rough draft, there was an entire scene involving clues from the Battle coat of arms — needless to say, it was kind of a bunch of nonsense.  Cutting the scene was an easy choice as it was overly complicated.
  • I have another Sailor Moon reference in this novel.  Fans should be able to easily recognize the reference.
  • It took me more than a few tries to get the scene between Juliette and her half-sister, Riya, the way I wanted them.  Even now, I’m not 100% happy.
  • As another way to further complicate poor Juliette’s life, I originally had the day of the equinox (and all that happens) initially fall on the queen’s birthday.  When finalizing the first book, I realized that timing would be impossible.
  • I’m still trying to figure out how to work in Camelot, which I haven’t done yet.
  • I apparently wanted to give Prince Estevan a dog, but didn’t manage that detail either.