A bit of Rhonda Collins' biography leading up to the writing of the Castles in the Sand trilogy.

Building “Castles in the Sand”
By Rhonda Collins

We build our castles on the sand, knowing that time and tide will wash them away….

Several years ago I “met” Sandra McLaren on the internet and we quickly became friends. We were introduced by another mutual friend who knew of our common interest in the television series, Beauty and the Beast. Both of us had been writing fan fiction featuring the characters of this show for quite some time.

Over the months after we met we discovered other similar interests. Sandra had spent some time in her youth in the Middle East, and loved the Middle Eastern culture and people, and I, through my interest in Arabian horses, had always had a similar love of the culture though I lacked first-hand knowledge.

We spent some time discussing the differences in culture, and one day Sandra and I discussed the idea of writing a story of an Arab prince and a young English girl.

I became caught up in the idea. We discussed the possibilities and the characters and thought of ways to expand upon it. The more we talked, the more excited I became. Here was a story idea that had resonances of Beauty and the Beast and Pygmalion and had the possibility of becoming not only a memorable love story but also a genuine hero’s journey of the “self”.

The only problem was that Sandra lived in England and I lived in the United States and we’d never met face to face. How could we write this monumental story?

Sandra and I decided that one way we could do it was to let her in essence “become” the young English girl, Amber, and let me “become” the Arab prince, Anwar. Sandra commented that she certainly had enough experience with being a young English girl, and I had written the character of Vincent in Beauty and the Beast for years, and the character of Anwar in many ways was reminiscent of Vincent. I would do the research required to make certain the story remained feasible historically and culturally, and she would use her own experiences in the Middle East to tell me when I was doing something that I shouldn’t.

The research ended up being a lot more difficult than I’d anticipated. We wanted the story to reflect the chaotic environment of the Middle East and the changes the area was going through politically and historically so readers could better understand the man Anwar was. We wanted him to be of royal blood, yet we certainly didn’t want to tread upon any truly royal feet. Plus, at this time in history, Nasser had become the president of Egypt and “royalty” although recognized (and admired, revered, or hated depending upon viewpoint), no longer had any real power in Egypt. So…we walked a tightrope trying to make the story believable and use the history of the area to our advantage while still keeping it totally fictional.

At the time we were writing, it never occurred to us that we might have problems selling the book because of Amber’s age. She was only fifteen when they began their affair, and he was forty-five. It seemed inconceivable to us that if a story was truly good, that we couldn’t sell it. After several years of blood, sweat and tears, the book was finished. Castles in the Sand was huge…over 360,000 words. We began sending it out to publishers, only to have them stop at the query letter, saying “360,000 words! It’s too long! Can you cut it down to 90,000 words?”

I don’t think so.

Then they said, “Perhaps you could cut it into three books?” I began looking at it with that thought in mind, and decided to try. Six months later I had the first book, Kahramaan, ready to go. Then publishers would look at it, but they were appalled at Amber’s age. “Could you make her older?” they asked.

I don’t think so.

If we were to change Amber’s age, a very integral part of the story would be lost, so we both agreed that we couldn’t do that. But what were we to do? It had become apparent that our novel didn’t have a hope of matching anyone’s guidelines, and even though several publishers expressed interest, unless we chopped out half the heart of the book or took away an integral part of the story, no one would buy it. We refused to be cowed. The story was good. The writing was good. It deserved to be read.

“I’ll publish it myself,” I told Sandra, who by this time had decided that it simply wasn’t going anywhere. She agreed. I began looking at the logistics of self-publishing.

Self-publishing a book isn’t difficult. It’s the marketing that’s hard. Publishers have contacts that an individual does not, and they generally have the money that an individual doesn’t have. I knew I had neither, but one way or the other, I would publish this story.

I took out a dba as Castle Publishing and began getting quotes from printers. I almost had a heart attack when I found out how much it was going to cost. But I did it anyway. Castle Publishing published Kahramaan last summer, and Beyond Saqqara has just now been printed. I learned from the first book, and the second one was easier. I no longer use a printer, but do everything myself-including production of the covers and binding-and the end product looks just as professional as any book in the bookstores.

Now I’m looking at getting the final book in the series finished. Hopefully, Castles in the Sand will be finished by next summer. After this series is finished, Castle Publishing will publish my romantic suspense novel, Memories of Darkness.

The books are available on the Castle Publishing website and directly from me. They’re not yet in bookstores, but who knows? Someday, if I ever actually make any money at this, I may publish other authors’ books. Maybe tomorrow.