Notice

This blog is no longer an active blog and has been moved over to michelledargyle.com. Thank you for visiting!

Reader Love

If there is one set of people I owe anything to, it's my readers. I love each and every reader, even if they dislike my work. They gave it a chance, and in this industry, that is everything. In appreciation to all my readers, this is a little corner of my site filled with tidbits and treasures just for you.

Please note that I will be adding to this corner as often as I can, so check back for new things. Have fun exploring!
PIECES

FACTS ABOUT PIECES
  • Pieces was the eighth novel I ever wrote, but my fourth novel published through a publisher Pieces was never a planned duet with The Breakaway. I first got the idea when fans of The Breakaway kept inquiring about a sequel. I started an outline and before I knew it, the book was born!
  • Pieces was first planned as a short story, then a novella, then a novel. It just kept growing and I realized the story I wanted to tell needed a long format.
  • Pieces was contracted for publication in September 2012 with Rhemalda Publishing. It was published in February 2013 in paperback and eBook formats. An audiobook version will be available soon.
  • At the time, Pieces was the fastest I have ever drafted a novel. I completed the first draft in 10 1/2 weeks.
  • Some of the most intense research I did for Pieces was figuring out the sentencing/parole situation for Jesse and the rest of Naomi's kidnappers. Sentencing criminals is far from cut-and-dry.
LINKS FOR PIECES


THE BREAKAWAY

 FACTS ABOUT THE BREAKAWAY
  • The Breakaway was the first novel I ever wrote, but my second novel published through a publisher 
  • I first wrote The Breakaway in 1995 when I was fifteen years old. (It went through a lot of revisions, edits, and rewrites before it was published in 2012.)
  • The Breakaway was contracted for publication in April 2011 with Rhemalda Publishing. It was published in May 2012 in paperback and eBook formats. An audiobook version is now available.
  • The first draft of The Breakaway was 35,000 words (at fifteen years old, I thought that was really long). The final published draft is 78,000 words. 
  • When I first wrote the villain, Eric Moretti, his name was Butch. (I am highly embarrassed by this fact.) 
  • Naomi never fell in love with Jesse in the first drafts of The Breakaway. He was in his thirties, and was just super-duper nice. Yeah, that had to change. 
  • In the first drafts of The Breakaway, Naomi's kidnappers were bank robbers, not jewel thieves. 
  • Brad was not abusive in the first drafts of The Breakaway, and Naomi's parents were not neglectful. I mainly used the kidnapping as the main source of tension for character growth. It didn't work. 
  • Brad used to have his own point-of-view chapters, as Karen does.  
  • The Breakaway's original title was Kept Like Property. This changed when I was in college and realized the importance of more meaningful titles. 

LINKS FOR THE BREAKAWAY

FACTS ABOUT MONARCH
  • Monarch was the third novel I ever wrote, but it was my first novel published through a publisher.
  • The idea for Monarch began from several short stories written years ago. One was about a guardian angel named Nicholas Avery. The other was about a bed and breakfast inn where a mysterious man shows up in a fedora, and the other was about a woman in love with a man who has to leave her for unsaid reasons (but it is hinted that it's a secret government job).
  • Monarch was contracted for publication in October 2010 through Rhemalda Publishing. It was published September 2011 in paperback and eBook formats.
  • Monarch was a finalist in the 2008 first paragraph contest hosted by literary agent, Nathan Bransford. Because of this, many things were set into motion for Monarch, leading eventually to its publication through Rhemalda Publishing in September 2011. 
  • Monarch was originally written as a NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) project in November 2008. I completed the first 50,000 words in the one month required, and finished the complete book two months later. I later rewrote it completely from scratch.  
  • The villain, Kyle, was originally two separate characters.
  • Much of the research about the CIA for Monarch came from reading autobiographies written by retired CIA officers.

LINKS FOR MONARCH


BONDED

FACTS ABOUT BONDED
  • Bonded contains three novellas. Cinders was the fourth novel I ever wrote. Thirds was the fifth, and Scales was the sixth.
  • Cinders, the first novella in the collection, was first self-published in 2010. After mild success, it was then taken on by my publisher as a collection of novellas. The contract was signed in December of 2010. Cinders was no longer for sale as of February 2011. Bonded was published November 1, 2012 in paperback, hardback, and eBook. An audiobook version is now available.
  • In December of 2012, my publisher also published Cinders, Thirds, and Scales as individual novellas for sale on Amazon only.
  • Cinders began as a flash fiction piece from inspiration I found after watching the movie trailer for Disney's Cinderella III: A Twist in Time.
  • Thirds was inspired by my favorite Grimm's fairy tale, One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes.
  • Scales came about because I wanted to tell a villain's tale, and my husband's favorite villain is Maleficent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty.
  • Scales took the longest to write (over 9 months for the first draft).
  • Bonded is like four books -- the three novellas, and then as one complete work with overarching themes

LINKS FOR BONDED


SOME FAVORITE BOOKS

LINKS TO SOME OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS YOU MIGHT ENJOY



Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)