A few weeks ago, I started publishing my book on this site. My intent was to finally, actively, truly work toward publishing it in full digital and physical formats, instead of cowing to those fears that always tell you: It’s not good enough. It’ll never be good enough. There’s a point where the author has to listen to voices that aren’t internal. When Trusted Readers regularly provide positive feedback and encouragement, that should carry more weight.

It does carry more weight.

This post isn’t simply an announcement, though you can start reading this chapter here: Prologue: The Children’s Gifts. Consider it a behind-the-scenes look at how a chapter and book come to life. I might not have this context for every chapter I release, but we’ll see. It’s very easy for a writer to procrastinate when fun new post ideas come to mind.

Prologues have been integral to fantasy books for decades. Thoughts on this are cyclical: from “must-have” to “cliche” to “must-have” and around again. IMO, if your writing is chasing what’s fashionable, you’re doing your story a disservice. You’re also not being honest with your Readers, which to me, is the more egregious matter.

Early on, I knew I wanted a prologue for each of my books, and they would all have a corresponding epilogue, as well. This was part of a larger decision: each book is told from the hero’s point of view. You know what they’re thinking, you see the world through their biases, you see how they grow based on their reactions to stress and other factors. Which meant I had a problem for the antagonists of the series. How do I help the Reader understand the machinations of their schemes?

I didn’t want to keep any of that hidden from Readers. In Lord of the Rings, you get a limited sense of Sauron’s plans. The Harry Potter series offers a little more visibility to Voldemort through a prologue or monologue. I wanted more for my Readers.

And so, the bookends of the story are devoted to the primary antagonists of the series: the dark god Delosh and Its thrall, the Mellifluent, the last survivor of a genocide committed by its master. This is where I communicate their motivations and plans, but also how the actions of our heroes affect those plans.

When I wrote the prologue, I took inspiration from the cinematic opening to the Fellowship of the Ring and the writing of Tolkien himself. It was formal and grand; it had depth and history; and it had necessary exposition to set up the entire series, not just the first book. It was heavy.

It was too much. And Trusted Readers were right to call me on it.

Additionally, it wasn’t the voice I used for the rest of the book, which was lighter and told from the perspective of a neurodiverse, carefree teenage girl. This had been a deliberate choice, but the transition was jarring.

In short, the prologue didn’t reflect the nature of the book. That’s a concern when you’re trying to hook your audience immediately. So begrudgingly – though that’s an insufficient term for my writer’s stubbornness LOL – I rewrote parts and shortened the length. But I hadn’t truly fixed the core problem.

So I researched movies, books, and other storytelling mediums for inspiration. The answer came quite simply when I arrived at The Princess Bride. I’ve regularly said that I wanted this to be a book I could read to my kids, nieces, nephew, and maybe grandkids some day. And so, Peter Falk introducing the story to Fred Savage gave me exactly what I wanted.

I injected two characters: a child who is impatiently waiting for the good stuff and the uptight narrator who insists they must get through the Tolkienesque parts to set the scene. It worked, per my Trusted Readers. It worked very well. This decision, therefore, became a new foundational component of the series. These two characters serve as guides for the Reader in the prologue and epilogue.

I particularly like the child, who voices things that Readers might be thinking: “You should get to the good stuff now.”

With that decision made, the prologue came together pretty quickly. I’m currently editing the epilogue in a similar fashion, which helps Readers recall key points from the story, while also setting up the next book, The Warlock of Nevermore. This is the last major edit planned for the The Starfall Omen.

Once again, here’s a link to this chapter: Prologue: The Children’s Gifts. I’d love to know what you think! This book would not be as far as it is without Reader feedback, and any thoughts are helpful, even it’s simply clicking the Like button.

I’ll continue writing these announcement posts, hopefully sharing some entertaining insights along the way. Thanks for reading!

Mike

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