The Thrawll Saga

See? I'm not a liar. I told you I would blog again, and here I am. The first real topic I want to discuss is the series I am currently writing. At present, I am working my way through the first draft of Book #5. My first book has been through about eight drafts and is scheduled to be professionally copy-edited next month. I have a title for it, which I have not released yet, mainly because I am not 100% certain I am happy with it. I actually have titles for the first three. 

So what is the general idea of the series?  Well, I have always been intrigued by the idea of writing a story that takes place over a long period of time. The main problem I encountered when initially drafting the concept of this story is that I felt I would quickly become bored writing about the same characters over and over. Plus, how many life-altering events can one person realistically survive? My wife is a big fan of Grey's Anatomy. I always joke that if all these crazy things happened at my workplace, I'd probably go work at a different hospital. I may be writing in a fantastic setting, but I want the story to be somewhat grounded in realism, especially in the way people behave.

So the decision was made that the overall saga would be made up of several trilogies. Each trilogy will be a self-contained story in its own right. Each will focus on its own set of characters, its own conflict, and be resolved by the end of the third book. However, some of the characters from each trilogy (those lucky enough to still be alive) will still have parts to play in the conclusion of the saga. This allows me to write a long, epic saga (around twenty books), while continually telling fresh stories about new people. 

The first trilogy centers around a young man named Adel. He is a deckhand on a shipping barge, living a relatively boring life. But when bandits try to rob his barge, he accidentally discovers he possesses an incredible power. Being an idealist that naively believes one person can change the world, he sets out to learn more about himself and finds himself in the middle of a vicious war. He discovers that he may, in fact, be able to change the world, but may not be able to bear the consequences of doing so.

The second trilogy is set five years after the conclusion of the first and follows a group of young soldiers. The trilogy opens with them in training, under the tutelage of a drill instructor that would make R Lee Ermey say, "This guy is a bit much." They are all hungry to get their first taste of war. They will soon discover that many of their preconceived notions about war and even the sides fighting it might be wrong. 

That's all you're getting for now. There are three more trilogies planned after that, leading to the conclusion of the saga, but I'm not giving away any more yet. The final series will be a culmination of everything that has happened to that point, and will include a large cast of characters that you will already know (and hopefully love, at least some of them). The first book of the first trilogy is planned for release in the spring of 2021. Make sure to follow this blog, along with my social media presence on Facebook and Instagram for more updates. I'll actually be putting the first chapter up at some point in the future, that date is still TBD. That's all I have for now, everyone, make it a great week!

~Pete