OOPS, HE DID IT AGAIN...
Hmmm...just wondering if I should allow The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm Trilogy be illustrated and/or turned into a graphic novel...still thinking. There has been some interest. I’ll think on it. I have some writing to do for now. Thranduil just keeps getting bigger. He’s currently about push his first 200 followers on Facebook (I’d have more but I’m low-key; this attention began when a Mythopoeic Society member unintentionally “outed me” early last year and it’s been a roller coaster ever since). True, he does have some name followers on Twitter and elsewhere (Instagram, Pinterest, WordPress), but that only gets him so far. He had to have readers.
TKWR Trilogy has broken a few ceilings since its inception (12-22-15)--one of them being readership--for an unpublished book it’s doing well (even though people including professionals are now questioning what TKWR is: they can’t decide whether it’s a fan fiction, a continuation or a whole new genre). It’s already pinned under films, books, fan-fiction, LOTR/HOBBIT or Tolkien on Pinterest. It’s safe to say the flagship book, The Saga of Thranduil has opened the door to many opportunities--all of which would make my Dad proud.
I’m kinda glad it’s not a real book at the moment--TKWR Trilogy is the reason my family isn’t talking to me--they’ll say otherwise, but this is the actual reason). But if I get anymore readers, they won’t have a choice but to deal with it.
I don’t like to talk about the numbers because it bothers me and I only shared it with an editor in Canada because she deals with that sort of thing and they are enough now that I have to start thinking in the long term and my family will hate me even more for it. It’s only a matter of time and I know it, @fortunatelyclevercandy. I can’t even say for sure what Lee knows. I try not to think about it but it’s starting to get big enough where it would be a near impossibility the Tolkien Estate won’t notice and with enough readers for them to care. I just want to finish the story and make it good and not upset my family anymore than necessary, @mystarlightblr. I have to keep up looking like a pathetic loser so they’ll have something to talk about. They are most happy when they think I am a failure--I’m not kidding. I wish I were.
There are a lot of people waiting for something--what, I have no idea. But it’s safe to say that Thranduil has put Mirkwood on the map and out in plain view of the world in a way never seen before. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t exciting--I never expected this to even get noticed in a sea of other “Thranduil” stories--much less Tolkien professors, collectors and those close to the Tolkien family. It’s a whole new world now--anything can happen.
I’m editing the first book even as I write the next one and the extended versions, so there is some time to decide the end game for this trilogy. I just have to start thinking more about the future of Thranduil and this story in more professional terms--now that a business asked if I wanted to put his story on a tee-shirt.