The original title for my debut novel was With You It Would Remain. I thought of the story as a mix of “Cinderella” (because it has a fairy tale feel and involves a romance between a maid and a prince), Jane Austen’s Emma (because my primary couple starts out as close friends and my fantasy world has a historical setting with banquets, carriages, and rigid social classes), and Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (because of the unequal power dynamic between my main characters and the fact that they’re separated by the heroine’s determination to set aside her own desires to do the right thing). The Jane Eyre quote “All my heart is yours, sir: it belongs to you; and with you it would remain, were fate to exile the rest of me from your presence forever” fit the story so perfectly that I liked the idea of referencing it right in the title.
When my manuscript found its publishing home, my editor wisely pointed out that With You It Would Remain was a little cumbersome and might be hard for readers to find. I agreed, and as we brainstormed a new title, the word “common” kept coming to mind. My heroine is willing to risk everything to save the prince and her kingdom, but the low value she places on her own self-worth keeps threatening to hold her back. As a shy palace maid, no remarkable skills or other traits make her well-equipped to undertake a courageous quest. Nothing makes her feel like she deserves or is capable of an extraordinary destiny when everything about her seems so common. But with encouragement from God and those around her, she discovers the truth that is so important for each of us to take to heart:
no matter how ordinary a person may feel or seem from the outside, in God’s eyes we are each UNcommon and capable of incredible things.
Not only did Common become the title of the first book in my Tales of the Mystics series, it also inspired the titles for all the stories that follow! Each companion novel features a different main character in the same fantasy world with overlapping plots and secondary characters. And each title is based on the heroine’s primary misconception that shapes how she views herself and the world. Next up is Traitor (releasing in 2021!), which follows a character who made some serious mistakes in Common, and I’m currently working on Scarred, in which the fire that took the lives of the heroine’s parents also left serious scarring on her face. I love how these titles help me hone in on each character’s fears and stumbling blocks and the ways that God can take those insecurities and turn them into a beautiful, transformational journey.
Only one person knows of the plot against the royal family and cares enough to try to stop it—the servant girl they banished.
Leah spends her days scrubbing floors, polishing silver, and meekly curtsying to nobility. Nothing distinguishes her from the other commoners serving at the palace, except her red hair.
And her secret friendship with Rafe, the Crown Prince of Imperia.
But Leah’s safe, ordinary world begins to splinter. Rafe’s parents announce his betrothal to a foreign princess, and she unearths a plot to overthrow the royal family. When she reports it without proof, her life shatters completely when the queen banishes her for treason.
Harbored by an unusual group of nuns, Leah must secure Rafe’s safety before it’s too late. But her quest reveals a villain far more sinister than an ambitious nobleman with his eye on the throne.
Can a common maidservant summon the courage to fight for her dearest friend?
Purchase Common here on Amazon.
An avid reader practically since birth, Laurie Lucking discovered her passion for writing after leaving her career as an attorney to become a stay-at-home mom. Her debut young adult fantasy novel, Common, was a finalist in the ACFW Carol Awards and won the Christian Editor Connection’s Excellence in Editing Award. Her short stories are published in Mythical Doorways, Encircled, Christmas Fiction off the Beaten Path, Stories That Sing, Deep Magic, and Focus on the Family’s Brio magazine. A Midwestern girl through and through, she currently lives in Minnesota with her husband and three children. Find out more at www.laurielucking.com.