Fantasy Archives - Thea van Diepen

Works in the Works (and a call for Alpha/Beta Readers!)

Thea van Diepen

For most of the years since my first book came out, I’ve been somewhat aggressively been focusing on one project at a time. This is mainly because, when I started publishing, I was still in university and it was really only the summers where I could focus on writing and publishing in any meaningful way. Which meant, in order to get a something done in those four months, I had to be really specific on what that something was and

Sneak Peek at New Fiction Coming for Subscribers!

Thea van Diepen

Hello! If you haven’t signed up to my short fiction subscription yet, you’ll want to before June 1st. Why? Because the next set of short fiction for subscribers contains not one but two stories and a poem! And one of those stories? Quite literally introduces a new world I’ve not previously published anything in. But I promised you a sneak peek. So let’s get to that 😁 Sneak Peek #1 There was once a cat who sat under a cherry tree in bloom, contemplating the flowers. “Do

The Birth of an Idea: The Drawing that Became The Tree and the Grave

Thea van Diepen

Yesterday, I was looking through the notebook where I recorded the dream that formed the basis for the story in The Tree and the Grave. You can see bits of what I wrote along the side of the image. The part that I think is the coolest is the drawing I did back then (I think I was fifteen?). That image stuck in my brain like you would not believe, because my memory of it when I was an ocean

In the Forest of Night (a Hunter and Prey excerpt)

Thea van Diepen

In celebration of the first draft being completed, here’s an excerpt (everything is subject to change, as this is a first draft. Note that, because all the words after the 70,000 word mark are spoilers, this comes from somewhere in the middle, and I am very much resisting giving any sort of context to it): Out of bed, covers thrown back, door opened and into the tunnel. Empty behind her. Empty in front— A wolf. The tunnels empty save for a wolf.

The Lullaby (a Hunter and Prey excerpt)

Thea van Diepen

In celebration of the first draft reaching 70,000 words, here’s an excerpt (everything is subject to change, as this is a first draft. Note that a small section has been removed because spoilers): The man’s magic made straight for the dark place and the crack in the dark place, which it entered into before she could stop it. As it did, the man himself vanished again, which did not disguise his footsteps as he ran past Adren, off the bridge, off the