Ellen Goodlett Books In Order

Publication Order of Rule Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Ellen Goodlett is an American author that writes short stories and novels. Goodlett operates primarily within the Young Adult genre. She is best known for ‘Rule’, her debut novel.

+Biography
Ellen Goodlett comes from Pittsburgh. That is where she spent a significant portion of her childhood, though she eventually came to call New York home. Of course, Goodlett will tell you that she has no true home.

The world is her oyster and she takes every opportunity that comes her way to travel. A former student of Bryn Mawr College from where she graduated, Ellen Goodlett was just a child when she decided that she wanted to pursue a publishing career.

Goodlett was quite shy. She was a keen storyteller but she couldn’t bring herself to display her talents before other people. But then she realized that writing would enable her to tell her stories without having to talk to other people.

It wasn’t just the attention that made Goodlett so shy. She also hated being judged on the quality of her work and the prospect of watching other people receive and then tear her stories to shreds caused her considerable anxiety.

But if she could put those stories down, then it didn’t matter how well or poorly her audience received them because she wouldn’t be around to watch their disappointment. She could simply take pride in her ability to successfully compose her stories.

Ellen Goodlett did not keep her intentions to herself. She was six-years-old when she told her mother’s office that she would become a writer. The people there initially presumed that Goodlett wanted to become a reporter like her mother.

But journalism didn’t really appeal to the author. She wanted to tell stories of fantasy, tales that took readers to new realms and embroiled them in grand adventures.

Of course, like most authors, Goodlett’s journey to publishing success was far from straightforward. But her passion for writing never faltered. For a little while when she was eight, Goodlett contemplated becoming an artist.

She began illustrating a cartoon that explored all the reasons she hated writing. This was around the time that she encountered writer’s block and realized that the writing process wasn’t nearly as simple and straightforward as she had expected.

But, fortunately, she recovered from this temporary lapse in judgment and rediscovered her love for the written word.

Goodlett wrote her first novel in high school. She went on to craft a second one when she was in college. At the time, Goodlett hadn’t yet set her sights on the YA genre. But both of her first novels dealt primarily with teenagers struggling to overcome the same challenges that had assaulted Goodlett.

There was no particular moment in time when the author decided that she would write for the Young Adult genre. Rather, over time, Goodlett realized that she enjoyed writing about teenagers and that her natural voice was best suited to tackling the anxieties and complications that people faced during their teenage years.

While she had contributed numerous articles, essays, and short stories to various magazines and newspapers, Ellen Goodlett’s star on the literary landscape did not shine until she wrote ‘Rule’.

Her debut novel which follows three girls vying for the throne of a fantastical realm, ‘Rule’ wasn’t actually Goodlett’s idea. Alloy created the initial premise of three bastards who had been blackmailed into fighting for the king’s throne.

The author was tasked with fleshing the story out, laying out the various plot threads, creating the setting, and crafting the characters. Once she was finished, for all intent and purpose, ‘Rule’ became Ellen Goodlett’s story.

The premise might have come from an external source but Goodlett was the one who shaped it into the series it eventually became, adding her unique voice and storytelling signature to the concept.

The setting was actually inspired by Goodlett’s extensive travel experience. Anyone that has followed the author’s social media activity knows that many of her posts revolve around her many adventures around the world, the people she meets, cuisine she tastes, and the sites she tours.

That vast experience finally proved useful when the author was charged with building an entire fictional world from scratch and she realized that a number of the exotic locations she had visited were perfect foundations for all the fantastical settings she wanted to create.

Goodlett has admitted to taking a rather unconventional approach to writing ‘Rule’. Once Alloy gave her the premise, Goodlett immediately sat down to write, taking the first six months to produce a third of the novel.

But then she stopped and joined forces with Alloy to outline the rest of the story. When the author eventually submitted the concept to ‘Little Brown’, all she had was the first third of the novel and a basic outline of the remaining two thirds.

Once she was given the green light, it only took Ellen Goodlett eight more months to produce the final draft. The fact that Goodlett could churn out an entire novel, a debut novel at that, in so little time often surprises people.

But then they learn that the author actually wrote over half a dozen novels earlier on, all of which she shelved, and they realize that Goodlett had plenty of experience as a novelist and that her achievement wasn’t so unbelievable.

+Rule
The Kingdom of Kolonya is approaching a precipice and one of three girls will soon have the power to drag it back from the brink of destruction, but only if they can gain control over the throne.

Zofi has spent her life fighting alongside her brand of travelers to survive the outer reaches. While Zofi will do anything to keep her family safe, she will fight even harder to keep her sins and sacrifices hidden from the ones she loves.

Akeylah was raised by an abusive father in the Eastern Reach. And with rumors of rebellion rife, she will make a decision that will threaten the entire kingdom.

Ren grew up within the confines of the kingdom, working as a lady’s maid. And desperate to survive, she took to scheming in the servant’s chambers. But if her latest actions are discovered, Ren will lose her life.

When the king determines that his days are numbered, he summons all three girls to the capital, reveals to them that they are his illegitimate daughters and tells them that one of them will become his heir.