Why Project X?

Welcome everyone!

Today, I’m going to explain why I chose to write a book outside my series. There are three main reasons. #1) I wanted to grow. #2) I wanted to explore themes I’ll use later in the Hunter’s Rose series. #3) I wanted something to work on while I went back to college.

So let’s tackle issue #1 first. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, when I finished The Huntsman and the Heretic, I knew I wasn’t ready to write book 4 in The Hunter’s Rose series. I 

needed to get better. I also realized that to get better, I needed to do something new.

Doing something new meant writing about new characters, a new setting, and a whole new approach. The important thing was the new approach. I made the hard decision to work with different coaches, editors, and beta readers than I did with my Hunter’s Rose series. In a way, I felt like I was betraying them. But the problem was, I knew the types of feedback they were going to give me before I even set down to expand my short story into a novelette. 

As appreciated and valuable as that feedback is, I needed to hear new perspectives. I needed to find out what I didn’t know. It had nothing to do with trust. I definitely still trust my Hunter’s Rose team and look forward to working with them again as I work on Book 4. For Project X, though, I wanted to hear things I’ve never heard before. And I did! And it worked! I’m a better writer now, and I can’t wait to show off my new skills to my old team.

I want everyone who I work with on my Hunter’s Rose series, all my coaches, editors, proofreaders, and beta readers, to know I have not abandoned you. I just needed to get away from my series for a bit in order to grow. I have succeeded at that.

Reason #2 is Themes. I want to quote K.M. Weiland for moment. She is a woman who has mentored many aspiring authors, including myself. In a blog post, she put, “I wrote earlier this year about shadow theory, and how a thing’s opposite is always inherent within it. There is no light without darkness; no day without night; no up without down. And so there is no hope without despair. (Indeed, what need is there for hope if there is no despair?)”

We’ve all heard this sort of thing many time: “A thing cannot exist without its opposite.” I happen to reject this point of view. You can hope for something better when you’re melancholy, when you’re bored, when you’re directionless, or even when you are successful. Many driven people who have achieved something great, hope to achieve something even greater. As another example, you can love someone without hating something else. I firmly believe that opposites don’t have to be present in order to facilitate the existence of the other.

That said, hope is most powerful when we despair. Love is most powerful when we feel most reviled. Goodness is most precious when we are the victims of evil. 

To be honest, there isn’t much despair in The Hunter’s Rose to this point. The closest I’ve come is in Book 2 with the characters of Tristan’s dad and with Thaul (Avoiding spoilers here. If you know, you know.)

So, if I was going to pull off despair in Book 4 of Hunter’s Rose, I needed practice. Project X has two key moments of despair. The first is intentionally trite. It involves leaving behind an old life and accepting a new one. The second is much more troubling. It involves a transgression that cannot be taken back. 

Tristan will face a similar challenge in Book 4, but if I’m going to pull off that moment correctly, I needed a dress rehearsal. I am very happy with how that moment turned out in Project X. I think you’ll like it too!

Reason 3 was just a practical matter. I wanted to go back to university to pick up another degree and an additional certification. While I was doing that, I just didn’t have time to work on something as complex as The Hunter’s Rose. So turning to a novelette that already had a good chunk finished (that being the aforementioned short story) seemed natural.

Alright, that’s probably enough teasing for now. Next week I’ll be back with pictures about the cover, plot, title, and more! Stay tuned!

And until then, take care of each other.

Peace,

-Troy