Every two years over the Christmas period, I try to add more behind the scenes detail to this series of books I have been writing since 2007. It has always taken the format of something that I could add to the website each day or every few days to create extra interest and depth to the series. I started with this festive event mainly due to those who read the books, as my way of firstly thanking them, and secondly, because with this series, it is impossible for me to add everything that I have written as background detail to the actual printed books, so really this is my way of ensuring I get as much of this tale out as possible for the enjoyment of the reader.
This year (2016) I have decided to use the HTTK blog as a vehicle, mainly because it gives me more freedom and space to include a great deal of information. So what is the “Author’s Kingdom” all about?
This year has seen the seventh book arrive, which can only mean that I am currently busy putting together the final chapters of this tale, and so I thought that as I near the end, I would open up my writing world, and show you more of my side of things when it comes to how HTTK goes together in the actual stages of writing.
THE KINGDOM AS SEEN BY THE AUTHOR.
Heirs to the Kingdom through my eyes, is an immensely personal thing, this is after all my work, but it is also far more than just a story to me as the author. Simply put, HTTK is every thought, every person I have met, every feeling I have felt, my joys and my pain in the life I have lived.
I have created the kind of world I would like to walk in, and then within the confines of that world, I have added characters and relationships, actions and adventures, places of interest or I have loved to visit, and even though the world I have created is a figment of my own imagination, it is built on something deeply personal and very real indeed. In a nut shell, it is who I truly am, written from the point of view of all my characters.
Like most people, my life has been filled with joys and sadness, I see myself as a relatively ordinary person, who has shared a life of ups and downs, and each event has shaped me into the kind of person who decided one day to sit down and empty the contents of their head onto a page. My head is a busy place, I always have some internal dialogue constantly coursing through it, and everything I encounter is a spark that creates yet more activity, and that is one of the reasons why I write. Writing allows me to spill out all the dialogue and store it on paper, or in today’s modern world the computer, and that for a short time gives me a sense of calm until my mind fills up again.
To set the scene for what is to come over the following days, I will say that yes I am a typical writer, I can be very social when I feel I want to be, which kills my creativity, or I can be the quite deeply thoughtful introvert, who questions the world around me in private and then pulls it apart to see exactly how everything fits. I am truly at my happiest alone, something that annoys many of those who are around me in this life, as they fail to see that it is in those moments my mind truly has the space to think and open up, and that is when my writing is at its most intense.
It is my belief that a book should challenge the reader in some way. I honestly believe a huge part of the joy of reading is that it allows you to walk in the shoes of another, and then watch a scenario from their perspective. Reading not only informs us of facts and situations we would not normally find ourselves in, it allows us to connect and feel the emotions of others, as they face situations that we may or may not encounter within our own lives.
Life is not a simple thing, we have the so called rules of society, but life is not that easy at times, and we all tend to find ourselves at some point where the rules of our society do not appear to fit us at that time. There have been many occasions where I have felt the idea of one set of rules for everyone just is not appropriate, and as I have aged, I have seen that they have become less and less relevant in my own life, as I choose the way I wish to live, and that has had an effect on the characters that I have created within Heirs to the Kingdom.
Human beings are indeed complicated and contradictory, and that is just wonderful material for writers, especially in the modern landscape of today’s unclear world. If you take for example the role of a parent. Just this one area of my story displays a great many different aspects of what a parent can be, for example we see Jess who is loving yet stern, and the rock that holds the family together. Opal on the other hand is absent from her children’s lives, and yet due to the love she showered on her children in youth, and due to the lessons she taught them, all her children feel connected and loved by her. I am sure many people know others in a similar situation, and yet Morgan has raised her son Mason very differently, she is strict and cool in her affections, and teaches the value of power, her punishments can be severe, and I think this again shows in her son. Modern day society paints a glorious picture of motherhood, and we are taught from an early age that we must love our mother, but what if you don’t? Mason is a prime example, he detests his mother, and he finds her tiresome and annoying and feels very little towards her. It is a situation I have found to be very real in life, I have met a few who feel as Mason does, and I actually think that if there is valid reasons for it, then contrary to popular opinion, it is quite a natural thing to feel disconnected and alienated from the one person that society dictates we must love.
It is a challenging situation for many readers, which is why it is there in the book. Heirs to the Kingdom has many such layers within the pages, some I know readers have encountered, and maybe some they have not, and so over this series of blog posts I intend to unravel why I have added certain aspects of life and characteristics to the characters and the story, and hopefully it will peel back some of the layers to reveal a few of the hidden gems in this tale.
Heirs to the Kingdom has been an absolute labour of love for me to write, I started to organise it back in 2006 after many years of preparation, and I have pretty much worked on it every day since. Although it has been a long journey for me to write such and in depth piece of work, it has been a wonderful journey that has also taught me a huge amount about life and myself. 2017 will see the final conclusion of this story, which I am now writing, and even though it has remained a relatively unheard of body of work, for those of you who have encountered it, and supported it, I am truly delighted it has been something that has brought all of you pleasure. I look forward to sharing more of it with you before the end, so watch this blog over this festive period for more articles written to enhance your experience and add to your enjoyment, and hopefully you gain a little more insight into not just the tail, but also the man who wrote it.
My Thanks