Hello! This is an irregular post for me, as it’s about my writing and this is a blog dedicated to reading. So sorry in advance to all regular readers who are expecting bookish reviews. For once I’m talking about my writing, as it’s PitchWars season.
For more about PitchWars, click here.
About me
For those of you not following this blog, welcome! My name is Sifa (Sifa Elizabeth Poulton, for the full name!). I’m a Londoner born and bred, but half the year I live in York. In fact, as the PitchWars submission window closes, I’ll be heading back to York to start my second year at uni, studying Natural Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Maths).
When I’m not in labs, lectures of studying (about half the time!), I can be found reading, blogging here about books, writing/editing my stories, helping out at my church, (hopefully) playing sport (lectures permitting), baking and watching programmes like The Crown. Busy, I know, but I like to be active.
What am I writing?
Titled THE LANDS TOUCHED BY THE GRIFFINS’ WINGS, technically this book is the same one I entered last year. Technically. I’ve since fully rewritten it, with only names and a few places remaining the same! It’s an Adult/NA political/Court Intrigue Fantasy.
Adamus should be King, not a conqueror’s puppet. Cowering on the razor’s edge between resistance and his people’s safety, every act of defiance results in the deaths of the innocents he’s sworn to protect. He struggles to be the strong leader his country needs, desperate to find a way to feed his starving people without calling down his overlord’s wrath.
As the conquering King Henry’s taxes bleed the country dry and war to extend his empire looms, Adamus navigates the politics and plague-riddled streets of a foreign land. To provide food for his people, he must manipulate the new treaty Henry’s forging without arousing suspicion. At home, his sister Zianna fights to retain what little autonomy remains as Henry tightens his grip on their beleaguered country. Her dreams, Vialon’s freedom and Adamus crowned King, are ashes if she can’t unravel the plans Henry’s weaving around them.
But they’re running out of time. Adamus’ forbidden magic poisons him, stealing the precious months he has left, as he represses it to avoid being buried alive for heresy. It’s the one weapon that might turn the tide, but any hint of power is met with swift, brutal death.
This rewrite brought my deep interest of geo-politics to the front. I’d been in denial before – we’re all conditioned to hate our parents’ work, aren’t we? But it turns out that my dad has slowly been indoctrinating me to be riveted by trade and land politics.
I’m still working on comps, but so far I think THE TETHERED MAGE combined with the factions and conflicting loyalties of THE CITY OF BRASS describe it pretty well.
What I hope to get out of PitchWars
For me, I love the community. This last year, this rewrite, has been tough – and it’s been the people I’ve meet (through PitchWars and other events) that have kept me going. I want to meet more writers, grow my community of friends.
And, of course, I’d love a mentor to help me make this story as good as it can possibly be. I believe in this world, this story and these people, but I’m not sure how to get it to the stage where others will fall in love too. I’ve been entrenched in this world for so long now, through many rewrites, that I want to share my love of these characters and their adventures (or trials, depending on how you look at them). ‘m a hard worker, willing to put the work in to make this book gleam.
I know about hitting deadlines, and juggling workloads. I also know my limits, and how to make sure I don’t hit the brink. Or, if I do work myself too hard, I know how to step back, collect myself ready to enter the fray again to complete my tasks.
What else am I working on?
While I edit, I’m currently – slowly – plotting and world building a book about an alchemist who gets caught up in the first elections post-revolution. I love playing about with this magic system, and designing the politics. There’s so much interesting research to be done about voting systems and post-revolution states.
As for the plot… Backstabbers and opposing outlooks clashing, while everyone’s trying to better themselves. My heroine is caught in the middle, fighting for her and her people’s voice. Let’s just say it’s an inevitable book for a chemistry-nut to write when they’re six-months too young to vote in the Brexit referendum, then watches the unfolding chaos with mounting frustration
On a back burning is what I’m calling ‘quest book’. A young priestess creates a quest when the kings and queens won’t take a northerly threat seriously. As she manipulates them all to undertake this quest, she discovers the consequences of faking a prophecy – and the real motives of her ‘dark lord’ while the monarchs bicker around her.
Simmering on an ever further away burning is my YA epic fantasy – my celebration of quests and chosen ones and all the tropes I adore. I want to rewrite it, now I’m older. It’s about a young girl who discovers that she’s been foretold to end the demon god. This is the world – and story – I love more than any, but I want to give myself plenty of time to really hone my craft before I get to this one – a project that is pure indulgence.
Do you write? If so, what?
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 