...and how my inaugural book lays the groundwork for all my writing projects going forward.
It was during the summer months of 2017 when I first had the idea for the story that would eventually become the Legacy of the Ascendants, the series title for The Gatekeeper books. I was 14 years old at the time, and had already been writing since I was 12. From the beginning, writing full-length novels was my goal, but for the first two years, I wrote short stories, usually fanfiction of some sort, while brainstorming and coming up with my own universes and stories to tell. Over time, I had developed a couple different book ideas, and even began to write some of them, but none came to fruition. It wasn't discouraging at all, I was gaining more experience through trial and error, though all my original book ideas have now ceased to exist.
When the idea for Legacy of the Ascendants first came to mind, it started out as a simple, single idea, of a golden dragon. Yes, there was a time before the order of the Gatekeepers, before the Ascendants, before the Realm of Marroland, when all I had was a vision of the character that would eventually become Gallardo, the golden dragon who stars in the series. All fictional worlds and stories begin with a single idea, and mine was no exception.
What allowed the idea to grow, however, was actually largely due to the fact that I developed as a writer while I brainstormed my new world and grew the story of it. It would be an understatement to say that my entire approach to writing changed after I began the making of Legacy of the Ascendants. It was the first time I myself grew and learned to hone my ability to write creatively.
It was a journey for both me and the series, and not a short one. Beginning from the golden dragon, it took over three years for Book 1 of Legacy of the Ascendants to look like what it does today. It was constantly evolving at a fast rate, every time I settled down and began to write the story, it changed dramatically and grew in size and scale. Every aspect, from world to lore to characters, transformed and became something bigger than it was before. While I would never like to have to write the same book six times over the course of three years again, it helped me to understand the art of writing and find my strengths and weaknesses. It taught me how to be better in all areas, from my brainstorming approach and organizing the pieces and parts of a story, to how I actually put the ideas on paper in the personal style I cultivated over time. The personal growth went hand-in-hand with the growth of the series. Eventually, I learned how to lay down the proper groundwork for the series and find the core foundation I wanted it to have. In other words, I thought about and decided exactly what kind of story I wanted to tell.
Legacy of the Ascendants was always going to be fantasy, through and through, but early on, one of the most important goals to me was to try and distinguish it from what I felt was the "mainstream" kind of fantasy. Having been a reader for most of my life, I had read enough fantasy books for the genre to become one I looked down on. Most fantasy novels I was surrounded by seemed to have an overdose on things like spellbooks, wizards, magic systems, time travel, mysterious caverns, cackling witches, and evil creatures like ogres or goblins. I wanted to take a step away from that, and shape my world in such a way that I could lean much more heavily on making it feel "Epic" in every sense of the word. Epic, to me, meant creating a story with a higher level of intensity, an emphasis in dramatic, powerful moments, raw character emotion with strong impact, and making a world that was very large and vibrant for the intent of hopefully entertaining readers. Some of the chief ways I attempted to accomplish this was by trying to make "magic" feel less like traditional magic, and more like power. I also sought to avoid including anything dumbed-down or add things for the sake of a corny joke. No magic libraries filled with spellbooks and wands, only beings with incredible, aweing elemental power. No goofy dragons providing comedic relief, only majestic dragons worthy of their reputation as powerful, intelligent beings. Of all the goals and rules I set for the series, making it feel like true, Epic fantasy over anything else was the primary mission.
The themes were also a large part of making the core of the story go the direction I wanted it to go. There were a couple of major themes that I developed early on, one of them being the simple yet important trope of good versus evil. During the three years of planning and writing, I had seen a shift in the storytelling of movies and tv, video games and books. Many stories I was familiar with discarded the conflict of objective good and evil, and traded it for a washed-down morally inept story with endless grey areas. I still feel it's become much overused and hence an irritating trope, so an objective of Legacy of the Ascendants was to return to the familiar roots of what makes so many stories great.
This also meant the character arcs and journeys had to be themes that were familiar to readers. And since the books are aimed at a younger audience, making the characters feel relatable and understandable to that crowd was very important. But to balance it, I also wanted to include some emotions and messages that older children might be new to, such as endurance and the responsibility to press on for the sake of others when you're the only one who can. My characters had to be a combination of relatable and yet able to be teach new things to kids, boys and girls alike. I wanted people to be able to find a favorite character, so trying to make them as vibrant as possible was huge. There had to be something for everyone, yet all tied together.
Inspiration for the series was crucial in a lot of ways. I took inspiration from classic storytelling in general for the good vs. evil aspect, and the common character tropes, however, there was never really any one particular franchise or story that inspired me as I made Legacy of the Ascendants. Many of the world's concepts, like the Realms and their Gateways, or the powers of the Ascendants, were all more original ideas than anything else. But the same time, there were various tv shows and movies I watched as a kid that contributed to me being able to learn how to write within the fantasy genre. Stories like Lord of the Rings and Ninjago helped launch my creativity. During the process of writing the first book of the series, The Gatekeeper: Book 1 in the Era of Awakening, music helped my concentration, and kept me inspired throughout. Composer Thomas Bergersen was, and still is, my favorite to listen to.
My personal experiences had an influence on Legacy of the Ascendants. Some of the character personalities were inspired by things I myself have been through, and looking closely, one might see who the Ascendants themselves were based off of.
As I mentioned before, it took me a total of three years to finally complete book 1 of the series for the sixth and final time, after writing it five times over. The first five drafts combined were not as long as the 129,755 words that are in the final version, but they took up the majority of those three years. The only positive thing that came from those five failed attempts was that I learned the importance of fully planning before putting a single word on paper. Plotting, fully developing, and charting the course before the actual writing is vital to having success when the writing begins, which is exactly the approach I take now. It saves both time and effort to brainstorm beforehand as opposed to doing it during the writing. For the future books of the series, I write out the entirety of the plot and scene structure in notes, along with all the other essential information about the character arcs, themes, settings. It is not until I have everything organized and ready that I begin the writing of the story.
To close, I write stories for my personal enjoyment, but I also hope that others will be able to enjoy the Legacy of the Ascendants series as much I do. There were many goals I had for the message, themes, and elements of the story, and I hope it lives up to what readers would consider success. Ultimately, it's my take on what an Epic fantasy story should be, and it's only the beginning step of my journey as an author.
The first book of the Legacy of the Ascendants series, (The Gatekeeper: Book 1 in the Era of Awakening) is available now as a kindle e-book on Amazon. To find out about my other writing projects, visit the Projects page of my website, and to see what I'm currently working on, check out the February Writing Update blog post. As always, feel free to contact me at my email address for any questions concerning my writing.
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