Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today I’m excited to have debut author Lucia Damisa here to share about her YA Fantasy, A Desert of Bleeding Sand. I follow Lucia’s blog Path to Publication, which is a great resource full of advice from writers and agent interviews. I’m excited to watch her become a debut author. I really enjoy fantasy historical stories, and I’m looking forward to starting Lucia’s series.
Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:
In this inventive fantasy debut perfect for fans of Dance of Thieves and The City of Brass, West African Mr & Mrs Smith collide in a magical desert palace.
Mercenaries are raiding academies and taking students. A traitor in the palace might be the mercenaries’ source of intel. Zair, a half-aziza and elite military student, is sent to infiltrate the coronation ceremony under disguise to find the traitor. Zair is desperate to succeed and save her little sister from the mercenaries, and maybe also prove worthy of the elite soldiers’ badge, despite the hatred against her tribe and their magical abilities. But then she encounters Dathan, a clever rival spy also after the traitor for intentions unknown.
A threat to each other’s goals, Zair and Dathan begin working against each other in a game of wits, desperate to find the traitor first while avoiding the consequences of spying in the sentient palace. When courtiers start to turn up dead, however, both realize their individual skills might be no match for the traitor’s. In a glittering Sahara Desert palace where hunger is for power and night magic guards its halls, Zair and Dathan must team up to find the kingdom’s greatest traitor, or watch everything they love burn.
Before we get to Lucia’s interview, I have my IWSG Post.
Posting: The first Wednesday is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group Day.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
The awesome co-hosts this month are: Jennifer Lane, L Diane Wolfe, Jenni Dorner, and me!
Optional Question: What fantasy character would you like to fight, or go on a quest with, or have a beer/glass of wine with?
I’d pick two characters from fantasy stories and two from contemporary favorites. My fantasy choices are Raisa in The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima and Sage from The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen. Both are memorable characters who are underdogs fighting to save their kingdoms and are written by some of my favorite authors. My contemporary choices are Mia from The Front Desk and Lina in Finally Seen, both by Kelly Yang. These are immigrant middle graders fighting to make a better life for their family, friends, and community. Kelly Yang is another favorite author of mine, who is an incredibly inspiring person.
Interview With Lucia Damisa
Hi Lucia! Thanks so much for joining us.
1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.
Hi everyone! My name is Lucia Damisa and I’m the author of A DESERT OF BLEEDING SAND. I’ve been reading author interviews on Literary Rambles since I started this wild ride to publication four years ago, so it’s a full circle moment to be here as an author! I’ve been writing full-length novels since I was thirteen. Back then, I was in an Air Force boarding school and there wasn’t much to fill our free time. So I started writing and would dedicate a notebook to a particular story, fill it up with ink, and then my friends would read and chat about them. I had to stop writing in college and while I served in the Naval Headquarters because of time, and writing became a thing
I ‘used to do years ago’. But after my service, I started freelancing as a lifestyle writer and found myself with lots of time to spare. I picked up writing books again and literally couldn’t stop pouring out story after story for a year. I then found out that even continents away, you could get published, and being an author became a dream of mine!
2. Where did you get the idea for A Desert of Bleeding Sand?
The seed for A DESERT OF BLEEDING SAND came when I read my first rivals-to-more fantasy book. I’d known of enemies-to-more, but that book introduced me to a perspective where the characters don’t quite hate each other but challenge and need to beat each other. I was captivated and wanted to explore the sabotage, and angst, and urgency of the trope. But I had no plot or setting to place the characters. Shortly after, the elections took place in my country and we started to hear of terrorists going to schools to abduct dozens of students for ransom. From toddlers in kindergarten to college students, no age group was spared. It was reminiscent of the abduction of over 100 girls from a school in 2014 that led to the Bring Back Our Girls movement. I felt crushed and helpless; these were my mates. It could’ve been me or my siblings. I needed a way to speak out. To speak up for us. So I took these characters I’d had in my head for months and started to write this satire-like story where the youths could actually do something. Where Dathan and Zair could go to the head of leadership and fight to free their mates. It’s a book that tries to hold up a mirror and show the ways a country can fail its youths, while helping my peers feel seen in my small way.
Your Writing Process
3. That’s an inspiring way to come up with a story idea. What was your world-building process like? How did the fact that the setting is a desert impact the world you created?
World building is one of my favorite parts of writing because it takes me from the little corner by my bed where I write to grand worlds! I wanted to explore a desert setting in this book because prior, I’d explored mountains and rivers and forests. However, it was tricky for a historical fantasy since Nigeria doesn’t have large deserts. But I do live in the north, which has desert-like terrain, and I scraped and scoured until I found an article that said the Sahara Desert—which I’ve always been enthralled by—might extend to Nigeria in a few decades. I was delighted that it wasn’t farfetched to link Nigeria with the Sahara Desert, so I ran with it! It’s definitely been a change but I love exploring a desert setting.
Also, the main kingdom in A DESERT OF BLEEDING SAND is inspired by Nigeria’s tribal structure, but while my country has hundreds of beautiful tribes, I drew from many of them to create five tribes in my book, to highlight how tribalism can also stunt a nation’s progress. Externally, Nigeria also faced colonialism and slavery decades ago, and so I built the other kingdoms in the book from the historical versions of nations that colonized Nigeria, both for ‘history lessons’ and also to explore what happens after nations break free of colonial rule. Do they get their stuff together and go on to thrive? Or do the leaders drop the ball so the land fares worse?
Other inspiration came from Nigerian and African mythology such as the azizas (African fae) from Dahomey, and some of my favorite Biblical stories!
4. Your world building is so cool. A Desert of Bleeding Sand is part of a five-book series. How did you plot it out and how much of the rest of the series have you plotted out? What advice do you have for writers wanting to write a series?
I’m an outliner who loves to intertwine subplots in my series, so immediately after I finished the first book, I started drafting the second. At the time, I didn’t even have an agent yet, much less a book deal! But my goal when I start writing is to complete my characters’ arc. After writing book one, I made these detailed outlines of about 30-50k words for the subsequent books in the series. By the time I finished book 2, I signed with an agent, and then I wrote book 3 while book 1 went on submission. After book 3 finished, I was unable to process being done. I couldn’t say goodbye to the series I loved so much! I was delighted when a new idea for the series came—an idea that stretched into two more books. So it was a wild timeline that spanned two years with me writing the first three (and a half) books without the guarantee of a book deal, and then finishing book four after I signed with my publishers. I’m yet to write book 5, the epic finale, but I have finished outlining it!
My advice is rather unusual: you don’t have to wait until you sign a book deal to draft or plot out your sequels. I know of writers who waited to sign a deal first and got so overwhelmed with the pressures of publishing that writing the next book was like pulling teeth. Or some who couldn’t go back to book one to make changes, or open threads to explore in subsequent books because book one was way past tweaking by the time they started writing book two/three. Some of my best series have big reveals in book three that had been foreshadowed in book one, chapter five. And you can’t do that if you haven’t planned well in advance.
5 How has your story improved through working on edits with your agent and editor? What did you learn about improving your writing from the process?
It’s improved in a major way. In its two-three years before publication, ADOBS underwent rigorous revision. I’m an ‘overwriter’ and my agent at the time was brilliant; she helped me whittle down all the fluff to reveal the heart of the story. We actually trimmed over 12k words of the manuscript! She also guided me in enhancing the emotional and magical areas of the book. By the time we finished revisions, it felt like we’d run a marathon, but I was so happy with the result. I thought the book was pretty much ready after the edit with my agent. Ha. By the time I got to work with my editors, I was shocked by just how much work there was left to do! I was lucky that my book’s structure was sound from the jump, but when you decide to write about military students who are also spies and with a world building as vast, there’s a lot of deep diving needed to make things grounded. My editor was brilliant and helped me with this aspect!
I learned (again) that feedback is super important, especially from people who share your vision for the story.
Your Road to Publication
6. You have a five-book publishing deal, which is rare, especially for debut authors. What was going on submission like and how did you get such a big commitment from your publisher?
Great question! My publishers wanted six books from me from the jump, but as I explained earlier, I initially planned for the series to be a trilogy. Afterward, I had an idea for two more books. I didn’t have an idea for a sixth book (back then), and we decided to sign a five-book series. My publishers are of the belief that when readers love characters, they want to follow them on a long journey across multiple books. So I didn’t have to coax or convince my publishers to sign a pentalogy as I’d feared I would; I’m blessed that it’s what they wanted from the jump.
About going on submissions, it’s one of the most difficult experiences I’ve had! You think querying is tough, and then you go on submissions and querying starts to seem easier. (It’s not.) A DESERT OF BLEEDING SAND got a lot of interests both during querying and on submissions. But unlike querying which ended with three offers of representation, on submissions, the interested editors couldn’t quite get their entire team on board. I was lucky that about six months in, my publishers reached out to me about my book, but I wanted to explore all my options, so I asked for time to decide. I had their offer at the back of my mind through the highs and lows of submissions. After a while, I decided to pull my book out of the submission trenches, rather than proceed on to Adult editors, and accepted my publisher’s offer!
7. What are your tips for working with a publisher without an agent?
Another great question! My tip is to insist on being in the know. When you have an agent, your agent is who you go to with questions about the publisher’s decisions, and this makes it easier to express concerns or disapproval—because there is a mediator. Without an agent, you might be less willing to ask your publishing team questions. But it’s important that you make it clear to your team from the jump that you’re going to ask questions about things you don’t understand or didn’t expect, and that you want to be kept abreast on as many things as possible. Make sure there is an open line of communication. If they refuse, then you might want to reconsider taking the offer!
Promoting Your Book
8. How have you been promoting your book before it was published and what are your plans now that your book has been published?
Since I live a continent away from the hub of publishing, I’m so thankful for the internet that connects readers and writers all over the world. It’s been my biggest marketing tool. I found members for my wonderful street team, the Desert Stargazers, on social media, and they’ve been priceless in sparking excitement for my book. I also enjoy posting ADOBS’ teasers in bookish spaces, and hearing from podcasts and magazines that want to feature me. Now that my book is out, my publishers will keep shouldering most of the technicalities of marketing, but I plan to keep doing what I’ve been to also get word out of the other books in the series!
9. Share about your blog, Path to Publication, and how it can help writers.
When I started on my journey to publication, I devoured everything I could on the publishing world. I especially loved to read old blog posts and interviews of successful authors to see their journeys to publication almost in ‘real time’. I learned a lot. By the time I signed with my first agent, I didn’t want to discard all I’d learned about querying. I decided to start a website where I shared all of this information in an environment that felt welcoming, warm, and even fun. I found other writers who were interested in uplifting fellow writers, and we shared lessons learned firsthand from querying, signing with an agent, going on submission, debuting, etc. The contributors come from different countries of the world, and write in various genres/age groups from picture books to romance to fantasy, mystery and more.
My goal is for writers who subscribe to Path2pub or read our posts to not feel isolated in their journeys, but have a resource that also feels like learning from friends. Recently this year, we held our first pitch event (#P2Ppit) on X and Bluesky, and helped connect writers with literary agents while also celebrating writing.
10. What are you working on now?
I took a brief detour from writing the A DESERT OF BLEEDING SAND series to work on another idea. Drafting it went much faster than I anticipated (114k words in one month, at?) so amid revisions for the ADOBS series, I’m preparing to write the grand finale, book 5.
Thanks for sharing all your advice, Lucia. You can find Lucia at Tiktok, Instagram, Goodreads
Giveaway Details
Lucia’s publisher is generously offering a $15 gift card for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by April 12th. If I do not have your email (I can no longer get it from your Google Profile), you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.
If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites and/or follow me on Twitter or follow Lucia on her social media sites, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This giveaway is international.
Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops
Monday, April 7th I have an agent spotlight interview with Etsy Loveing-Downes and a query critique giveaway
Monday, April 14th I have an interview with author Mia Araujo and a giveaway of her MG Afia In the Land of Wonders
Wednesday, April 16th I’m participating in the Raindrop in Roses Giveaway Hop
Monday, April 21st I have an agent spotlight interview with Carey Blankenship-Kramer and a query critique giveaway
Wednesday, April 23rd I have an agent spotlight interview with Rebecca Eskildsen and a query critique giveaway
Monday, April 28th I have an interview with debut author Alby Williams and a giveaway of their MG Where There Be Monsters
I hope to see you on Monday!
