The End of the Beginning
My latest release, Broken Brotherhood, has been published. This book is different because it marks not just the completion of a new novel but the conclusion of the whole Brotherhood of the Eagle series as well. The edits are over, the cover has been designed, the paperback and eBook are now formatted, advance reader copies have been distributed, reviews have been written (and they’ve been good!), the pre-order period is over, promotional podcasts have been recorded or booked in for the coming weeks, guest blogs have been written. In other words, there’s nothing left to do. It’s finished.
Naturally, the first thing people ask after they congratulate me is, “What are you planning to do next?” It’s a reasonable question and one I’m struggling to answer because I’m still processing what it means to have concluded the story of Rothgar Kolfinnarson and his friends, lovers, allies and enemies.
What does this series represent to me? I guess to try and answer that you have to go right back to the beginning. When I sat down in August 2011 and began writing the first chapters of The Brotherhood of the Eagle, which eventually became Hall of Bones, I had no idea I was embarking on a 13-year writing project. Looking back at the person I was in 2011 I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing and it took me a long time to find a creative rhythm and work out where this series was going.
I wrote Hall of Bones over a three-and-a-half-year period between 2011-2015 and it was very much written as I went along, with no advance plotting. The world and the characters appeared fully formed in my mind in a bolt from the blue – something which had never happened before or since. It felt freeing as new ideas emerged and those twists and turns were as much of a surprise to me as they would eventually be for my readers.
Back then independent publishing wasn’t as prominent or as popular as it is now. I was thinking about the project very much in terms of traditional publication and the independent option wasn’t something I was really aware even existed. In November 2015 I approached John Jarrold to ask if he would be interested in representing me as my literary agent. I still vividly remember John responding to those sample chapters and asking for the full manuscript. Those were tense weeks in the run up to Christmas until on 23rd December 2015 an email landed in my inbox which began with the glorious words:
Dear Tim
I’ve really enjoyed this and I’d love to represent you…
2016 was an exciting time as together we honed the Hall of Bones manuscript and I went on submission. That first edit was a massive developmental step for me, helping me see where my writing still needed work, understanding how to tighten the story and keep the characters consistent and believable. After years slogging away on my own making all the same mistakes as everyone else I was learning some important lessons about writing craft. I was also learning lessons in the art of patience, which I’m sure will be relatable to anyone who has been through the publisher submission process.
As I waited for various publishers to consider Hall of Bones I continued working on the series. This was a productive period for me and I have fond memories of writing Sundered Souls during 2016-17. The book was a joy to write from start to finish. It was another period of discovery, with more pieces of the plot falling into place as I expanded the world, developed the characters and revealed the magic at work in Amuran. In some ways Sinarr the Cold One remains my favourite villain of the series and it was also the book where Djuri’s storyline became clear to me for the first time.
On something of a high I moved on to write Lost Gods immediately afterwards in 2018-2019. This was a different writing experience. That first draft was much longer, coming in at 200,000 words and something wasn’t right, although at the time I couldn’t put my finger on why. Looking back now I can see my approach for this part of the project was wrong. Ending a series is a different exercise to writing the opening books, where you have much more freedom. As you approach the end you have to take control of your material and close things down, rather than adding more to the mix. I needed a deeper understanding of my overall plot and the story arcs of the various characters (and yes, I know, there were a lot of them). Without that plan I hit a wall of fatigue, didn’t know what to do with the book and experienced something of a creative crisis. For the first time I wasn’t sure I knew how to end the series and by 2019 I realised I had no choice other than to set it aside.
Something positive came from all of this. For the first time in 8 years I gave myself a break from Brotherhood and tried to write something new, partly to prove to myself that I could. Amuran was always envisaged as a fully realised fantasy world with a variety of settings, so I enjoyed exploring the region of Samarakand, taking inspiration from the Middle East and North Africa as I wrote A Quiet Vengeance from 2019 to 2020.
2020 was a turning point in a number of ways. Hall of Bones had been well-received by various publishers but landing a publishing deal is dependent on so many factors, including luck. I felt Hall of Bones was a story which deserved to be read and so, with some trepidation, I took the decision to self-publish that first novel in 2020 whilst A Quiet Vengeance took its turn in the submission trenches.
I had a lot to learn when it came to independent publishing and made plenty of mistakes, including accidentally releasing my paperback immediately by pressing the wrong button! However the positives far, far outweighed the negatives. Moving into this space led to so many new connections and friendships with other writers, bloggers, podcasters and readers. I discovered a world of new books to read which you’d never find in the local high street and Hall of Bones was propelled to prominence against all my expectations by making the finals of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off competition in 2021.
Working on A Quiet Vengeance also sharpened my writing and editing skills. I picked up Sundered Souls and Lost Gods once more, editing both and, in the case of the latter, re-writing a significant portion of that story. By the time Lost Gods was released in 2022 I had a clear idea of what was to follow, carefully plotting out Broken Brotherhood to complete those story arcs and I actually wrote the final chapters first, giving me something to aim for. The first draft was completed by the end of 2023 and I spent the second half of 2024 editing the book.
The experience of writing Broken Brotherhood was very similar to Sundered Souls. The book just flowed, although there were times when the characters pointed out they had a much better idea for the story than the one I had originally plotted. Between us all we reach the end and I’m really happy with this fourth book, to the extent I think it’s my favourite one of the series. Rothgar was no longer the callow youth of that first novel and amid all the intrigue and action there was something more reflective about Broken Brotherhood which I loved writing and I hope readers will appreciate and enjoy.
The book also involved showdowns and scenes I had envisioned writing years ago. It was a strange feeling to reach that point and see those pivotal chapters finally appear on the page. Broken Brotherhood was all about endings, although there are hints and ideas about new beginnings as well. There are definitely more stories to tell with some of these characters, when the time is right.
Looking back on all of that I can see this series represents many things. There have been the highs of becoming agented, developing my craft and the SPFBO Finals, together with the lows of rejection whilst on submission and reaching moments of despair on the series as a whole. It’s also fair to say that 2023 and 2024 have been really challenging years on a personal level for all sorts of reasons. Consequently, I don’t think the series would have been completed without the steadfast support of my friends and family, as well as knowing there was a readership out there waiting for these stories. This book was really for all of you as much as it was for me.
Ultimately there’s a lot of emotion wrapped up in such a personal project and I didn’t fully appreciate the amount of energy required to finish a series. I feel very proud of Broken Brotherhood and The Brotherhood of the Eagle, looking back on the whole endeavour with a huge amount of satisfaction. At the same time I’m mentally exhausted and since finishing edits at the end of October I haven’t written a single thing, nor do I want to. There’s also a sense of sadness because this is The End. Various characters die during this saga but for me as the writer there’s a certain amount of grief for the loss of all of them. I won’t be writing about Rothgar, Nuna, Etta, Jolinn, Djuri, Randall, Ulfarr and so many others again – at least not for the foreseeable future. They’re no longer in my writing life and, in time, I suspect they will begin to occupy my mind less and less.
I feel like I’ve scaled the mountain and now it’s time for a break and some much needed rest.
I do have ideas for various projects I want to work on during 2025 and I’ll be sharing my plans with you in future posts in the New Year. John and I have been in discussions about a novel which we think could be of interest to publishers. There are also a number of independent projects I want to return to as well. I can’t say for certain which tale is the one I’ll begin working on next nor exactly when. That’s going to depend upon which project calls to me when I’m feeling ready to begin again.
What I can say with much more confidence is I’m looking forward to finding out where my creative writing journey takes me next.
