If you’ve come across this page, a warning. I plan on revealing secrets about my novel, Will Be Done. Be ye forewarned that spoilers a-plenty are ahead. If you’d rather not know some fun facts about the novel, stop reading now.

The cover of Will Be Done depicts various elements of the novel. Will Be Done is a travel adventure meaning the main characters traverse across Kingdom to restore the queens. This is why the compass design is prominent on the cover with a version of the map behind it.

The compass points depict the four symbols of the original four queens, lacking only Snow White’s apple now that she is no longer royalty. Clockwise from top, you’ll notice Cinderella’s slipper, Helga’s frog, Valencia’s “little match,” and Penta’s gloves. The four quadrants in the compass illustrate elements from the story, notably, the Pipes of Perringon, the dagger Hero controls, Penta’s necklace with a soda can charm—her “ring,” and our newest princess, Rapunzel.

Speaking of Rapunzel, her tower sits on the bottom of the cover. It is in the middle of its Towers of Hanoi transformation as executed by Sanders midway through the book.

Some fun Easter eggs in the novel and back story.

The third chapter takes place in the 100-acre wood. When it came to introducing a new world, I wanted to avoid common fantasy environments like Neverland and Narnia.  I knew instantly I wanted the 100-acre wood once I thought of it, but wouldn’t my adult readers think it silly? You may judge, but I’m rather proud of Sondra’s final comments in that chapter. Our society has lost a lot of its innocence and not for the better.

Speaking of the 100-acre wood, I originally wrote Will Be Done in 2017. To avoid infringing on Milne’s copyright, I described it vaguely. My early readers didn’t connect it to the Winnie-the-Pooh setting, and it became just a vague, innocent world. Wondering what I could do, I searched references to Milne for inspiration. To my surprise, the copyright ended in 2023, allowing me to use the setting, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Christopher Robbin from the original story.

Many of the chapter titles are musical terms, relating to both the music-centered plot and the mood or events of the chapter. So Scherzando is a music term for “playful.” Perfect for the 100-acre wood. Berceuse is a lullaby for Valencia’s baby. Teneramente means play with tenderness, and it headlines both Beauty’s lovely farewell to Grr and Cinderella’s reunion with her prince, Roger.

People ask me if characters will return in later novels. Many characters return from the first three novels in the Kingdom series. The queens and others from the first novel are represented here. Sylvia first appeared in the second novel, On Earth, As It Is. I didn’t expect her to turn into Snow White when I first wrote about her, but her progression has worked out rather well. Sanders disguises herself as many characters from that novel; for example, Charlie and Paisley. Alice also is from the second novel. From the third novel, we have Lenore and Julia. While not described in this novel, Lenore is Poe’s The Raven, transplanted to a fairytale world. Julia, is an amalgam of characters, but named after the main female character of 1984. Even characters from my short stories in Kingdom’s Ascension appear in the text. Gilbert Grossenroid, a failed writer from Kingdom’s Ascension, is featured at the Ghael Inn when the queens visit. Will characters introduced in Will Be Done appear in future novels? Of course!

The Towers of Hanoi is a real puzzle that you can play online. Yes, not a leap to see how I put together Rapunzel’s “tower” and the “towers” of Hanoi, but I had fun writing that passage.

What’s in a name? I always make up silly names for my characters, but in this novel “Big Mac” is a clue. My hope as a writer is that you read it thinking Jim was being silly again and didn’t connect it to Joseph McQuin, a character Alice mentions in the second chapter. But the other names are mostly played for laughs. Wysdel is an almost-anagram of Disney. Mr. Silly Putty was a fun one to make up. I’m not sure where Sinope came from; it just felt right for a sprite. And Pollytheenpam? Well if you have Pennilane (Penny Lane), doesn’t Pollytheenpam (Pollythene Pam) make sense? And if you remember a lyric from Pollythene Pam, the Beatles sing “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” And then in Polyphony chapter, you have this exchange.

Wysdel broke away and grimaced. “But Polytheenpam?”

Cinderella waved at her. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

I originally envisioned the cover of the book to be Radiance’s Retreat, the illustration in the same named chapter. Dan did a fantastic job on it, and you can view it in full color elsewhere on this blog, but I was wrong to think that was the cover. When I asked Dan to change and collaborated more with him, we came up with one of the best covers in the series, in my opinion. I really learned something in this series about how a vision may turn into tunnel vision until you invite others express their creativity.

Lastly, some statistics that some may find interesting. Most of the first draft for Will Be Done was written in 2017, the year after I published the first in the Kingdom series. The second revision finished in July 2022. My early readers finished in March 2023. My editor worked on it in May 2023. My illustrator and I have been talking about it since the end of 2022. Finally, I published this novel on July 4, 2023.