Book three. Wow. It is still kinda surreal saying that I have a third book coming out. It’s not so much impostor syndrome and more like ‘how the hell did I finish that?’
Let me tell you how The Search for Adarna happened.
It was an accident.
Kinda.
Around two years ago I decided to join the crazy writers all over the world and do Nanowrimo. It was my first and last attempt. For those who don’t know what National Novel Writing Month is, basically you write over 1,600 words everyday for the whole month of November and finish a novel at the end of the month.
Yep. Nuts.
I was lucky enough that before November I already had a story in mind that I wanted to flesh out. Nanowrimo was the perfect excuse to finish it quickly. It also helped that the story I choose was a retelling of a favourite classic Filipino folktale, Ibong Adarna.
I’ve had this idea for a long time because I’ve been reading a lot of retelling of classic fairytales, like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel and so on. I started to think why not do the same thing for a Filipino story? I have said this in interviews before, I love bringing the Filipino flavor worldwide. It’s one of the reasons why I always go back to it when writing my stories.
Ibong Adarna was one story I loved telling my daughter when she was younger. It was the first story that came to mind when I started thinking of fairytales to write about. I kept thinking, what should I do to bring the characters in Ibong Adarna to this century? How do I make something old interesting to today’s readers?
Then it came to me.
The Kardashians.
Instead of the three princes, I have three heiresses. Instead of the King, I have an eccentric multi billionaire. Add social media to that and voila! Ibong Adarna in the 21st century!
I loved writing this novel even though it was rushed and under extreme deadline pressure. I am never doing Nanowrimo again because this book went through a lot of editing. I mean A LOT.
You’ve heard of authors who had to cut down their manuscripts, taking out 20,000 words or more. The Search for Adarna was the opposite. I wrote it in such a rush that during editing I had to add over 20,000 words to it!
Every time I write a book I learn a lot about writing. That was definitely the case with this book. The lesson learned? Do not rush a story.
The one thing that really surprised me when I was writing the end was that somehow it ended up connected to the universe of the first two novels. I really thought I was finished with that story but it turns out, I wasn’t. To clarify, the events in The Search for Adarna happens simultaneously as the events in The Girl Between Two Worlds. It’s the same universe with a focus on different characters.
No, I didn’t plan it that way, which made my life harder in the end. If I end up writing a new series after this, I am soooo planning it better.
Is there a book four then? Well, let’s just say things are “in the works”. I can’t say any more than that.
For now, enjoy the third book in the series. I hope you like The Search for Adarna.
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