Somebody recently asked me why I decided to write a Fantasy Adventure novel. My first response was a bit glib and shortsighted on my part. Why not? I said that I had always wanted to write one, but I wasn’t sure I could do it and I wanted to prove it to myself. The more I considered it though, I knew that my motivation went much deeper than that. Now while it may partly have been true that I wasn’t sure I could pull it off, my real reason for saying that was because I was passionate about proving two things.
One: that I wanted to fully immerse myself into a new realm. One that pushed the boundaries of my imagination. Two: I also wanted to make sure my story had the good flesh and bones of a legit fantasy novel. For good or bad, the Fantasy genre has always suffered from the unfortunate stereotype of being a guilty pleasure read. Not for the hardcore mind you, but in terms of the greater literary world it’s not often compared to the classics. In school everybody reads To Kill A Mockingbird, The Sun Also Rises, Pride and Prejudice, The Joy Luck Club, Great Expectations. But you would be hard-pressed to find any institution adding to its required reading lists the works: The Hobbit, The Wizard of Earthsea, or Dune.
Now you might say what about Frankenstein? Mary Shelley’s magnum opus is probably one of the greatest science fiction books. Ditto for George Orwell’s 1984. Okay, so maybe those works have crossed the genre barrier and will get added to a school’s required reading list, and probably Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. I think the point that I am making is that there are those books that fall under required reading umbrella and then there are those books that will not, cannot, but will be devoured by the true fans of fantasy. I think detective and romance novels have plenty of dedicated readers too, but I am focusing this blog on fantasy.
Getting back to what actually motivated me to write The Acolyte & The Amulet was that I had been writing a number of bizarre, fantastical stories for a while. The more I kept at it, magic became the essential element. Not boundless snap your fingers magic where anything is possible, but a magic that had different grades of conjurers and spellweavers and consequences for all. Then my magical world of Nebilon was born and in it there was a precocious young girl named Luma who though was quite gifted in the ancient art had no real clue as how to control her incredible gift. From early childhood, she was a Seer and had the impeccable ability to scry and search into the future— kind of her own internal crystal ball. I kept writing stories about her and I couldn’t seem to let go. In fact, one day as I was earnestly trying to develop new standalone stories with new characters and new scenarios, I had what seemed like a déjà vu. Then as I was trying to reconcile what I was writing from what I was imagining, it became clear to me that it was my character, Luma nosing her way into my scene.
I was writing a new story about a troubled weatherworker named Glanzing and it became quite apparent to me that he desperately required Luma’s help. The two did not hit it off right away, but there was something of a symbiotic or complimentary relationship between them that was necessary in order for them to accomplish their respective quests. Turned out, they were indeed, on the same quest.
The Acolyte & The Amulet found a new path and slowly the quest was becoming clearer to me. After subsequent drafts, and many torturous tweaks and twists, I was able to finish the novel, but roughly three quarters of the way through it, I had a bittersweet moment. I had become so invested in my characters that I was beginning to get a bit melancholy because I knew the inevitable wasn’t far off. I would eventually have to put my characters to rest. The sad but true fact that every author faces. Authors who do not write series or sequels.
It dawned on me then, that I didn’t have to let the adventure end where it did. Having read J.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Ursula K. Le Guin, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Paolini, and Anne McCaffrey, I knew that if wanted to see the growth of my characters carry on, I would have to write a sequel. At least. If not a full-fledged series.
Since that was new for me, I had to take stock and see if I truly wanted to go in that direction. I actually started rereading the Earthsea Series and then the Discworld Series. I did that mainly as a stalling tactic so I wouldn’t have to make the tough decision. I needed to get away from myself, but it seemed that I got even deeper into those respective realms. And then, curiously enough, I found myself plunging deeper into the realms of my own Nebilon and beyond. More scenarios and characters emerged not all of which fit neatly into the first novel, which was perfectly fine. That gave me the impetuous to write the follow-up novel and so I did.
I have often believed that there is a connection between reading and writing. One feeds off of the other. It’s not bite for bite or measure for measure. Sometimes you read a chapter and then you end up writing a paragraph or vice versa. Sometimes you only end up with a bunch of notes. I wouldn’t even call it direct inspiration, but I feel that going back to writers that one admirers can offer much more than a friendly escape. Returning to the works and the writers that one admirers stimulates creativity.
As I am busy writing Book Two of the Nebilon Series, I am still mulling over possibilities for its title. That’ll come later. Hopefully. Most important is getting the thoughts down and scribbling away. Although, I will say this. It is kind of nice knowing that I have most of my characters lined up and ready to move ahead. Where they will go and what they do is still the big mystery?
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