The Inspiration Behind Serpentus
I’d like to say Serpentus was the result of something profound, or an epiphany of sorts, but that’s not the case. The reality is simpler, if a little strange at times.
If you’ve followed me or my blog for any length of time, you’re probably aware that I rewrote my Relics of War series a few years ago, pretty much from scratch. The Serpentus were always a feature in those books (though with a different name), and back in my teenage years, I had no ambition to continue writing anything based in that universe. After the third book was complete, I was “done.”
Well, time changes one’s perspectives, as it so often does.
After twenty years, I decided there were aspects of the series worth keeping and the rewrite commenced. It was a major project, one that put The Mage War Chronicles on hold, but one that I felt was worth doing. And this time around, I had every intention of publishing my work. This is all captured in several older posts, so I’m not going to rehash it here.
So back to the original topic… While I was rewriting War of the Nameless, the last book in the series, I was confronted with the Serpentus once again. Their story is only touched on in the trilogy, but it’s one I was ready to explore further. It’s not a happy story, but it’s one I felt needed to be told.
I put the idea in the back of my mind for a while and finished the series rewrite. I decided I’d wait to see how the series was received before publishing any more content related to that universe, and was pleasantly surprised when it did pretty well.
I moved on to other projects (most notably The Mage War Chronicles), until I was driving home from work one day and inspiration struck. (A lot of my story ideas happen while I’m commuting. I don’t know why.) I knew where the Serpentus story needed to start, but the question remained: Which character should be featured?
I debated that question for a couple weeks before settling on Owen Greenwaters. He’s seen briefly in War of the Nameless as part of Vardak’s story arc, and fans of the series would recognize his name. My hesitation about using him as the focus of Serpentus was due to his status as a knight—I’d already featured one of those in the trilogy, and I didn’t want to oversaturate those stories with the same type of character.
But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. And as I developed his character, I realized I could go about his story in a completely different manner than the other knight in the series (Emra Castledowns.) Owen is older, has a vastly different background, and wound up being more cynical and less refined than his counterpart. And his personality fits well with the trials he’s forced to endure.
Once I figured all of that out, I had one of my 3 a.m. moments where the beginning of the story and the character’s voice just came to me. I had to get up and write a few paragraphs so I wouldn’t forget it later—I was working on a different book at the time, and I’m incapable of focusing on more than one with any measure of success. So, I saved those paragraphs for later, finished the other book, and jumped into Serpentus.
So when I say there was “inspiration” behind Serpentus, it wasn’t necessarily a life event or something I learned that drove the story. It was just the realization that this story needed to be told… And that once my 3 a.m. moment happened, Owen would not leave me in peace until his story was complete.
Serpentus is currently available for preorder and will release on February 27, 2024. You can learn more about the book and preorder information here: SERPENTUS
And I’d like to thank Cat Bowser for the inspiration to write this post. She asked the initial question on social media, but I thought the topic was worth further exploration as a blog post.