Hi,

Thanks for subscribing. I'm Nora Shear, and this is where I write about my books and the process I take to write them.

I'll be sending these on a monthly basis ONLY. Each issue will cover my progress on the book I’m writing, as well as updates and tidbits about the books I’ve already published. Plus, if I’m lucky, I’ll have a Nubs photo to share with you.

(If not, expect some bloomscroll.)

If you’re new to my work, the Descendants series is about a group of people called post-mortals - immortal beings who are a combination of vampires, shifters, and demons. They have miraculous powers, but each one’s powers are different depending on personality and clan. These post-mortals have to live in the world of humans, and the series follows several of them as they fight threats larger than they are. Each book is a standalone romance, but the horror story is threaded through every single one.

What’s New

I’m starting with the happy news that I finished a very lacy 1st draft of the 2nd book in the Descendants series, No Sky Like Midnight! It’s a story about a post-mortal and the human he’s falling for, as they flee an evil secret society that’s hunting them … and in particular, fleeing the monstrous thing they wield, something that looks like sentient honey. Paige and Leo are my main characters and I’ve had a blast writing them. (Not so much the sentient honey. UGH that stuff freaks me out.) Next month I’ll have a sample to share, just to give you an idea of the tone of the book. I hope you enjoy it.

I was also happy to discover that completing this draft brought me to 150k words written on novels this year. WOW. That’s a lot more than I expected to get to by August. I thought No Sky was going to be a novella!

(It’s never a novella.)

This is the most I have EVER written in a year in my life and I credit it all to this one “blocking the scene” trick I’ve been using. I start to draw out the basics of who’s where, what they’re doing, etc and before I know it, I’m writing dialogue and details ‘just so I don’t lose them,’ and before I’m even aware I’ve done it, I’ve written several thousand words. So far its been the best way to get me past my writing resistance, and I couldn’t be more happy with it.

More than Words

I’m also thrilled to share that I’m going to be doing my cover reveal next week!! It’s a gorgeous cover and I’m jumping up and down in excitement about being able to share it with you. I’ll be posting it on Patreon first, on September 8th, then on BlueSky on the 11th, and I’ll have my first ever teaser trailer on TikTok on the 18th!

Can I squee now? I’m gonna squee now. :eeeeee:

Anyway, that’s all for this first newsletter! Next month you can look forward to the sample and the cover, plus a little side story about writing the 1st book in the series, No Dream Like Forever.

Thank you for joining me!

Warmly,
Nora