DEBUT SPOTLIGHT: Megan Van Dyke
This week’s debut spotlight features my friend and fellow author, Megan Van Dyke, who crafts sexy adult romantic fantasy with tons of adventure and heart. Megan’s debut novel, SECOND STAR TO THE LEFT, a reimagining of Peter Pan centering a very steamy enemies-to-lovers romance between Tinker Bell and Captain Hook, releases on February 15th with City Owl Press. I had the honor of being one of Megan’s beta readers while she was writing this spicy page-turner and it riveted me from beginning to end! I’m so thrilled this story will soon be out in the world!
THE FULL SYNOPSIS:
Tinker Bell, banished from her homeland for doing the unthinkable, selling the hottest drug in Neverland—pixie dust—wants absolution.
Determined to find a way home, Tink doesn’t hesitate to follow the one lead she has, even if that means seducing a filthy pirate to steal precious gems out from under his…hook.
Captain Hook believes he’s found a real treasure in Tink. That is, until he recovers from her pixie dust laced kiss with a curse that turns the seas against him. With his ship and reputation at the mercy of raging storms, he tracks down the little minx and demands she remove the curse. Too bad she can’t.
However, the mermaid queen has a solution to both of their problems, if Tink and Hook will work together to retrieve a magical item for her.
As they venture to the mysterious Shrouded Isles to find the priceless treasure, their shared nemesis closes in. However, his wrath is nothing compared to the realization that achieving their goal may mean losing something they never expected to find—each other.
Here’s our interview:
Paulette: Hi Megan! We’re just a few weeks away from your release date, and I’m so happy SECOND STAR TO THE LEFT will be debuting soon. There’s already some major buzz building around your novel. Can you tell us more about SSTTL and what inspired you to write it?
Megan: Second Star to the Left is a retelling of Peter Pan from the perspectives on Tinker Bell and Captain Hook. It’s an enemies-to-lovers romantic adventure fantasy that explores the dynamic between these two characters and how things might have turned out very differently from the Neverland we know. If it were to fit within the cannon timeline of the original, it would be considered a prequel since it takes place before the Darling children arrive.
The idea for this story literally popped into my head randomly one day while I was playing with my (then infant) son. The initial spark was this: What if Captain Hook had a curse placed on him that made the seas his enemy, and the one responsible was Tinker Bell, a pixie notorious for selling the hottest drug in Neverland—pixie dust. Yeah, seriously, I have no idea where my mind came up with that, but one minute it just appeared. The concept captivated me so thoroughly that I had to explore it. Questions came next: Why was Tinker Bell selling pixie dust? Why curse Captain Hook? What led to them being enemies? What was he willing to do to free himself of the curse?
Those questions and many, many others led me to learn so much about these characters. Hook’s voice was especially loud in my head, and so it was actually his POV that I started writing first.
Paulette: I was obsessed with your Hook—how could I not be? He’s a sexy, brooding pirate with a complicated past, which is my personal catnip when it comes to romantic heroes! The chemistry between Tink and Hook was palpable, starting with the very first scene. You did such a wonderful job of exploring both of your main characters’ pasts and their wounds. Your grasp of narrative voice and your ability to draw a reader into the story demonstrates a marked dedication to your craft.
Can you tell us a bit about your process as a writer?
Megan: I almost always plot out my stories (or at least the major plot points of them) before I start writing. That wasn’t the case with this one though. I had a concept, I knew about the characters, but I wasn’t really sure where the story would take them. Heck, I didn’t even know if there would be a full story. I just knew the concept sparked an excitement in me that had been snuffed out after loads of rejection and heartache related to previous stories.
My friends encouraged me to pursue this concept. Just write a page, a chapter. If it’s fun, keep going and see where it leads. So, I did. Several chapters in, I realized that I absolutely loved the story and characters, and I had to keep writing and finish it. Which meant I needed to figure out the rest of the story…oops!
After about 20k words, I paused for quite a few weeks while I mentally plotted out the rest of the tale. Once I knew the full story and where it was going, I sat down and wrote again. I still didn’t write every day. A lot of people swear by that, but it just doesn’t work for me. I tend to write in chunks of about 20-30k. I’ll sit with my characters and walk through the scenes with them a few times over before I actually write them down. But, if I try to do the whole book at once, it becomes muddled. So, I let them walk me through a few scenes—hear what they have to say, feel their emotions, their struggles—and then I write all that down over the next week or two or three. Then I take another break while I learn from my characters, and explore what comes next in more depth. Rinse and repeat until the whole story is drafted.
Paulette: I love that. Sometimes it’s a random scene that pops into my head, that I’ll jot down on my phone, that will lead to a full story idea for me, as well. It’s fun to chase an idea and see if you’ll fall in love with it. I have to be excited about a concept in order to commit to a full draft—otherwise I’ll abandon it, because even when inspired, drafting is a slog for me. What are your favorite and least favorite parts of drafting a novel?
Megan: Actually drafting the story is my least favorite part, lol! Some people draft quickly or leanly, but my mind just won’t let me do that. If it feels wrong or like I’m missing something, I just can’t seem to get the words out. Whether that’s an incorrect setting, a character acting outside their personality, or a plot element that just doesn’t work, my mind rebels against it. I think that’s why I take breaks while drafting, because the breaks let me sort out the puzzle pieces and get them organized so that when I go to write, most of what comes out is pretty close to how it will be in the final version. I don’t do a lot of rewriting. There will be some revisions of course, but I see that more as touching up the painting rather than actually drawing it. Those revisions are my favorite parts. All the pieces are there, I know the story, I love it, and it’s just adding those finishing touches and flourishes that really make it shine.
Paulette: We are so much alike in that respect! No wonder we’re such compatible beta readers! We also have some similar themes running through our work. I would love for you to share some of your favorite tropes and themes.
Megan: Family is a central theme that comes up in pretty much every story I write, and that includes all kinds of families: ones people are born into, found/chosen family, healthy and loving families, toxic families, etc. Family has always been a central component of my own life, which is probably why it inevitably leaks into my work. I was lucky to grow up in a good, loving family (though not without its flaws), but I’m also a strong believer in the families we find and build around ourselves, which often have very little or nothing to do with blood. Second Star to the Left explores this in a lot of ways, as it’s a key thing that both Tink and Hook are struggling with, even if they don’t quite admit that at the beginning. That idea of home and family is the foundation on which the story rests, and is something that takes on new and changing meaning for the characters as they grow though the events that they are faced with.
Paulette: Yes— relationships, family, and love in all of its various forms are the sorts of themes that I respond to most as a reader. You create such a well-rounded sense of Tink and Hook’s individual longings for home and belonging in the novel.
As a final question, do you have any advice for writers you’d like to share?
Megan: Three things: keep writing, find your people, and don’t get discouraged. Each one is harder than the last, but they’re all so important and things that have been key in my own journey.
Firstly, writing is like anything else in life, you get better by learning and practicing it. When I wrote my very first book, I thought it was incredible. A best seller. Amazing. How could anyone not love it? It had all of my heart and soul, and was the very best that I could do…at that time.
I look back on those pages now and cringe so hard. I still love the story, it has my whole heart, but my ability to tell it wasn’t there yet. I needed to learn. I needed to practice more. And thankfully, I found people who told me that before I got too cocky and deaf to criticism.
I kept writing, and writing, and writing. Each story got better, and honestly, I think each of mine still does. I’m still learning and growing. I never want to stop improving.
Finding other writer friends has been a huge part of my journey. Not only have they helped me grow as a writer, but they’ve expanded my views as a person, and are a big reason why I never gave up in the face of, what felt like at the time, constant rejection. They’ve picked me up and encouraged me to keep going more times than I can count. All writers need people in their corner. Cheerleaders to encourage them. Other writers to help them grow. Even critics to keep them humble and yearning to improve.
Which brings us to the third point: don’t get discouraged. It’s so much easier to say than to do, but it’s also incredibly important. There is a lot of rejection and criticism out there, from agents and publishers who will turn you down, to reviewers who hate your book, and unfortunately, just mean people who take some sort of pleasure in tearing others down. It’s tough. I almost gave up so many times on my road to an offer of publication, and I’m sure there will be plenty of bumps in the future that make me wonder if it’s all worth it and whether I should keep writing.
But there’s a lot of good out there too. People who love your work, who NEED your work. Friends and strangers alike who will encourage you and lift you up. Your stories are important. They are. I don’t care what you write, someone needs it. It may take a while to find those people, but you will, so keep going. If you love a story, I guarantee you’ll find others who do too.
Paulette: I totally agree! Finding your people is super important and I am so grateful that you are one of those people, Megan! You were so supportive during my own debut year, and I can’t express my gratitude enough! Thanks for joining me and best of luck on your launch!
You can pre-order SECOND STAR TO THE LEFT now at Books 2 Read
Megan is offering a spectacular swag pack to those who pre-order, including an exclusive epilogue, a signed bookplate, art print, and bookmark. You can redeem your proof of purchase here.
Megan Van Dyke is a fantasy romance author with a love for all things that include magic and kissing, especially fairytales and anything with a happily ever after. Many of her stories include themes of family (whether born into or found) and a sense of home and belonging, which are important aspects of her life as well. When not writing, Megan loves to cook, play video games, explore the great outdoors, and spend time with her family. A southerner by birth and at heart, Megan currently lives with her family in Colorado. You can connect with her on her Website, Newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Goodreads, and BookBub