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A young local writer inspired by a dream she had as a child has dived deep into a world where mystical mermaids cohabit not-so-peacefully with humans in her first ever book.
‘Tenebrasco’ is the first in the ‘Pearl Wealder’ trilogy, which is a young adult fantasy series written and self-published by former Beaulieu student Hannah Reed (26).
Being an author had been a long-time dream for Hannah and the story of Princess April Meridia was a decade in the making.
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It all started when Hannah was 10 and had a dream about being a mermaid. Hannah used her ability to lucid dream to go back into that fantasy world and manipulate it to her wishes.
“As I grew up when I was anxious, bored or travelling, I would tell myself that story,” she explained.
The story evolved and changed over the years, but it wasn’t until five years ago, after a friend from university suggested they should write a book, that Hannah finally put pen to paper.
“I wasn’t writing it with the intention to publish it,” Hannah explained. “I was writing it for myself, I liked the story, I wanted to write it. Next thing I knew I had a full book, with 90,000 words.”
Pictured: Hannah had mermaid-themed cupcakes at her book launch.
Writing the book not only helped Hannah explore a world she had in her head more in depth but also proved therapeutic. As she suffers from anxiety, Hannah found that writing helped her “get out my own head” and focus her mind and energy on something.
“That fun thing that we were doing turned into a cathartic activity,” she said.
With a whole book in her hands, Hannah started thinking about publishing it. But after doing some research about traditional publishing, she became “overwhelmed” by how many people had their book rejected “for no other reason than the publishers being busy".
“It seemed like a lot of luck of the draw,” she explained. “I thought, 'In this day and age, why can I not self-publish?'”
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After doing yet more research and reading blogs from fellow authors who had gone down that route, Hannah hired a graphic designer to design the cover, found editors for her book and spent a lot of time working on her type setting and re-reading her book.
Anxious about the book “not being good enough” or people not liking it, Hannah however kept “procrastinating” about the actual release. She finally took the plunge, picked a date for the launch, after which she had to follow a strict timeline from Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon.com’s e-book publishing unit.
“It came to the point where I was, ‘You either do it now or you don’t do it’,” she said. “I set a date for the launch party and committed to the deadline set by Amazon."
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The final manuscript she submitted tells the story of a world where mermaids exist, “like in Harry Potter,” Hannah said. “The mermaids, which I called 'the Mer', and the humans, 'the legged', are aware of each other’s existence and have been at war for a long time.
“The book opens with a peace treaty being signed to unite the land and the sea... but it all goes wrong!”
Without revealing too much about the plot, Hannah admits that there is more to come. She has already started writing the second book in the trilogy and knows “exactly where [the story] is going”, though some details still need to be fine-tuned.
“I think it’s better that way,” she explains. “If I can surprise myself, hopefully readers will be surprised as well!”
Pictured: Hannah launched her book in August.
Tomorrow, however, Hannah will be leaving her writing efforts to the side to meet aspiring authors who may be considering self-publishing.
Since the release of her book, Hannah says she has received many enquiries about the process she went through and decided to organise an event to share her tips.
She will be doing so for a good cause, as the proceeds from the tickets for her presentation at the Lounge, a recently opened literary-themed charity café, will go back to Macmillan Jersey.
Pictured: Hannah's talk will take place at the Lounge between 17:00 and 18:30 on 24 October.
“It’s for anyone who has thought about writing a book,” Hannah explained.
“I will talk about my journey and a little bit more about the process. To be traditionally published is a dream for a lot of people but you are in so much less control, you cannot choose the name of your book, the cover and you have no control over the marketing.
“[Having published my book myself]I am in complete control. I would still love it if a publisher turned around and said they wanted to publish my book, but I would probably ask them more questions.”
Hannah will be at The Lounge tomorrow between 17:00 and 18:30, with all proceeds from her talk about Tenebrasco and her self-publishing journey going to Macmillan Jersey. Find out more by clicking here.
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