The pictures above and below are of the first partial print-outs of my story. I put several copies together for some friends to read and give me feedback during our beach week in 2019
Note the title.
At the time, I had already realized that the story is too long for one book. I figured a trilogy would do.
Oh boy was I wrong.
A year later book one was complete and out on Amazon. Book 2 followed in 2021.
Here are the original covers:
Late in 2021 an independent publisher approached me and after a bit of back and forth I agreed to republish the books under their company umbrella. I pulled book 1 and 2 from the market, did a bit of editing and we revamped the covers. Book 1 and 2 were re-released in June and July, respectively, and book 3 follows on September 8, all under the CKP logo.
That first book of the originally planned trilogy was titled Tinaree and it was supposed to be just an introduction of my main characters and some background info to set the stage before the real story begins.
In my mind, Tinaree is still just that, the opening to the real story, even if it has turned into its own trilogy, divided into Trial by Inferno, Forged by Crucible, and Tempered by Blood.
This is what they look like now:
Tinaree was the first of three planned ‘books’—I guess, I need to change that term to ‘parts’ to make it less confusing.
The working title for the next part is Missions, which was supposed to be the second book. I have the major events of it laid out, but, of course, going by how my writing has been going, there will be changes—and it won’t all fit into a single book.
One of the bigger changes is that Mason was not a planned recurring character, at least not in the original layout of the story. However, if you’ve read the books, you will know that he has turned into a major character, who now demands to go off on his own adventures. Will they be part of Missions? From what’s in my mind, yes. Now, I just need to figure out what exactly he will be up to and how to work his adventures into the original storyline—and, of course, how his activities will affect said storyline and its main character, Taylor.
I’m looking at more puzzles to figure out and layers to peel back, and how to deal with characters that have taken on a life of their own and demand to forge a path that might or might not be what I had originally planned.
All in a day’s work of a writer’s life...
Until next time,
Nic