It is not always that easy to explain the thought process behind writing, I do get asked a great deal of questions about why do this or that, and the simple truth is, I have a long list of strings that need to be tied in each book of which I am aware, I am just not certain at what part of the book I will insert them in.

Heirs to the Kingdom has now evolved into an organic process, and once I sit down at the keyboard, I have a pretty good idea of what I want to include, it’s just that as I go into that almost dreamlike state of complete and deep concentration, the story takes over and has a life of its own. Book Five is probably one example of when I completely zoned out and let the natural instincts within me flow out through my fingertips. I will add it was not always that way, especially in the early days, as I grew frustrated with it and deleted the first 22 chapters that I had written and started the whole thing from scratch. Second time around having spent a further two months combing through my notes, I began again by revisiting the past of the story to set up what would become the continuation of the last page of book four.

I sat out in my garden on some beautiful sunny days and started to write the continuation of the discovery of the king in Loxley, and this time, I think Mother Nature gave me a lift, as I found it an inspirational way to work. The birds were chirping and the bamboo’s were swaying slowly below the trees and I think it just tapped into my inner consciousness and out came the first rough drafts of chapters 5 to 12, it was an absolutely inspiring few days in my writing, and I have to say it is something I have adopted on a few other sunny days since.

The biggest drawback of book five is that within the story there were two quite fast paced events, both involving confrontations with the Dark One and Runestone, and after several weeks of inspired writing I came to a sudden halt. I blocked myself as the two scenes were much too close together, and both would provide a wonderful climax and surprise. In a brief moment of doubt, not un-similar the earlier experienced where I deleted the original manuscript and started over, I found the story was exciting enough, but I felt it lacked depth, and for a good month I tossed ideas around looking for a solution.

The answer came when I dipped into the mountain that is the notes of explanation to each area of the story that I have. Some writers make a few notes to guide them, but being me, I went against that and I have written history’s and reasoning behind many aspects within the story, and also the first four books have raised many questions which need to be answered before the story moves forward into another phase, and so here I finally found my solution. I made the very deliberate decision to just write and see where I ended up, but to make sure that everything within the tale made sense and had a good grounded explanation woven throughout the story. The result was a fantastic book which I felt was the best writing I had done to date, it was fun and rich with more of the characters who also faced plenty of action and both the spikes of action within the many smaller spikes gave the story a very powerful theme.

It was as I finished the first rough draft I hit yet another huge problem, the book was just far too big to publish. It was huge and with the page count it would have doubled in price from the accustomed size of the previous books. Of course the answer was quite simple as my Wife pointed out, “why not just cut it into two books?” Obviously I do not want to put in spoilers which would ruin it for those who are reading this and have not read the book, but I knew straight away that a certain confrontation would make for an explosive ending, and luckily it was around the right amount of pages in to create a good finish.

By halving the manuscript and then polishing the two, I suddenly found I had two books, one planned and one unplanned, as all the notes I had used had only been allotted for the one book, I still had a fresh pile of what was to happen after in the next book, so suddenly what was waiting in the wings to become book 6, was now book 7. I actually blame my Wife, because in this section of the writing I let her add to my notes and create a new character.

Taking into account that my Wife is probably the most authoritative person on Heirs to the Kingdom as she sees everything, including all those deleted bits, she appeared to just know exactly what I would love to write and created a character who I instantly fell in love with as I added to her notes and brought him to life. Fagan is a very old member of the Fae Ofmoon who lives deep within a magical forest and takes up his role in the early chapters of what is now Book 6, and through him I was instantly able to take the story forward with great depth. I cannot really say much of the story until it is published, but I can say to those who have messaged me that yes, there is a reason for the way book 5 ended and it will all become apparent in the first quarter of book six, and if you were caught in the thrills of the last chapter of the fifth book, I definitely know you will take great enjoyment from book six and its ending, which provides a stunning platform from which to launch the seventh book.

For me this experience has been a very big learning curve, because it has taught me yet again, to trust my instincts when writing and go with what feels natural. As I write this I am now close to the completion of Heirs to the Kingdom, although I probably have enough notes to continue writing for years to come, I do think the curtain needs to fall at some point, and I am also working on a few other unrelated ideas for other stories (Single book stories) but I will admit the whole process of writing which began back in 2006 has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life to date. Heirs is very special for me, and I hope one day everyone who reads it will feel it is too. I have many more adventures, twists and turns to come, and there is some truly wonderful moments with all my favourite characters, especially Harry who has been the biggest surprise of writing HTTK, as all who have read the books have shown him some wonderful support.

So the best news is that one book became two, and it has increased the amount of the books the series will eventually contain before the close, so all is not lost as I head to the finish line and then pastures new.

Many thanks to everyone who has written in to me and expressed their love and joy from reading the books, I am working hard to add to that joy and will have another copy available soon. RJM