august-b-writes

Here, I will go into depth about my second novel, “Out of the Shadows.” This story is what I like to call my back-burner novel. This is because this story doesn’t go with “A Light in the Darkness.” It’s a stand-alone story that I started writing while I was waiting for “A Light in the Darkness” to be officially published. I had a month or so of free time on my hands, so I started writing this one. It flowed from me insanely easily and, if I remember right, writing the story front to end took me maybe a month. While that initial session was nowhere near close to the finished story, it gave me a good look at how I write when I don’t have any pressures to do so.

I was free to just write what was in my heart. The story flowed naturally and followed a solid plot from front to end, which is surprising when I write because I usually jump around from plot point to plot point (thanks, ADHD). This story allowed me to jump out of my comfort zone and tackle issues that other authors may not have the courage to do so.

“Out of the Shadows” dives into queer and mental health issues as they relate to religious trauma. My main character, Blake, is a gay girl living in a highly-religious place (think along the lines of forced marriages and the belief that being LGBTQ+ is a choice). Blake felt trapped because nobody would listen to her. She had a trans brother that nobody respected, so she felt disrespected as a result. All she wanted to do was live her own life, not the one that her parents fabricated for her since the day she was born.

Blake meets the love of her life: her best friend that she’s had since she was twelve. To be able to be with this girl, she has to break the mold. While it’s a scary process, Blake realizes that she has so many people by her side to make this a reality and to escape the horrors that she’d been living for so many years.

Through this blog, you’ll see me post chapters of this story as I work on their edits because I want my potential audience to be involved as much as possible during this process. I want you to see the plot and the characters through my eyes in real time. I hope you enjoy this story as it is very dear to me being a queer person in a place that doesn’t accept me for who I am or who I want to be.

Below is the tentative cover for this novel. The final cover will be revealed when the edits are fully finished.