ABOUT THE BOOK

Chaos sits at 110k words. It feels like thirty thousand tops to me, but that's because I wrote it between the hours of two and four in the morning. You can probably tell.

Chaos was written in less than a month! I wrote most of it in a week that I had off school, and then finished up the ending and did my rewrite the next week. I finished all my edits about a year later, though.

The mystery of Everson was one of the hardest tasks I've taken on as an author. I really wanted to make sure readers recalled at least his name from the first book, and I wanted them to figure it out before Archer did so they could experience the clues he was missing. From my feedback, I've had some clever mystery-solvers get it by the first chapter, and some people who just prefer to read that were taken aback. Since I've got a bit of both, I like it the way it is now.

JEANNE WAS ALWAYS SUPPOSED TO COME BACK. I had one accusation that it was a hasty return, but her entire character was designed as a reckoning from the beginning. The narration in the forth chapter of Uncertainty will tell you that she's not quite ready to die.

Silta's insanity arc was born from my experience with stress. I wrote this book on a break from school, where I was struggling greatly to achieve what I wanted. There was so much going on in my life that I often felt myself drifting out into a little 'world' where I could view things objectively. I was putting my memory under way too much pressure and had trouble distinguishing excellence from the health of my body and mind. After having a mental breakdown, I understood how it all happened. Naturally, my first thought was, "Hey—you know what would make a good story?"

When I read back the book for the first time, I was this close to scrapping it. I was shocked at how disconnected it was; the characters were so inconsistent, the events were not really paced properly, and there was no stability in anything. I liked the specific writing, and I liked the overall plot, but each individual chapter felt like it was written by someone on glue. They'd be screaming and fighting one paragraph, then laughing about it the next. Someone would do something atrocious and everyone would just let it go. I also tried to showcase the wacky effects of Bloodsea on the characters by messing with the timeline (someone would mention that an event occurred a week ago, and someone else would mention that it happened yesterday). I wanted it to be like this cool peripheral theme, but I don't think it was obvious enough, so in the end I just looked like I just didn't know how to count. I was attempting to put all this into words in a discussion about scrapping it with my sister, when I had the audacity to speak the words, "Honestly, it's just too chaotic." We both stared at each other for a pretty solid second, then started laughing. Of course the book should come off that way; that's what it's about. 

THE FINALE

Venture to Freedom was written during daylight hours, which means it's structured, consistent and paced properly. Lacking a (written) ending and any edits, it sits at 140 000 words. If you like long books, you're welcome. If you don't, oops.

The first chapter and prologue of the finale are published, but if you want to wait to read the completed version, I have something else for you.

THE PREQUEL

I wrote Silta for myself, so while I assumed some people would like her, I never thought she'd become everyone's key character. When I realized how loved she was, it opened up the opportunity to write her story. This project is a favourite of mine because everything that was just a small detail before became a huge part of the story, and I mean everything. The pearl necklace Bardarian wears, that guy named Trelly we can't talk about, the blood on the steps, the cat that hates Silta. The prequel also covers the big things like Canale, the Siren capture of the Avourienne, Everson's mutiny, Bardarian's alcoholism, etc. It's not necessary to read to understand the finale, but it will make it more vibrant!

- Tari