The story of Dawn of Wolves recounts the start of the Nacatori Wars that The Tomb of the Tagosa Kings is set near the end of. It is told from two sides, on one a young, inexperienced Lieutenant Elraes, but also has appearances from other important characters, like Professor Halir, Harry Ban and others. It is the first meeting between Elraes and Harry as well. On the other you have Colonel Inkhumetekh, Haksetian advisor to the Nacatori. It is important to get the other point of view as it is an effort to help dissuade the notion that somehow they are the ‘evil empire.’ Also of interest is a character who makes an appearance, Tol Ventaro, who works alongside Inkhumetekh.

That is a name I have used before, in Tears of the Mountain. It is the name Prince Travanto gave himself. One thing about fantasy is you rarely see names used more than once – there can be a cast of thousands and each has their own unique name. This is a far cry from how we do it in the real world. Some names are far more common than others – one year in primary school there were six of us called Andrew in the one class. I know plenty of other people who share names as well, not to mention the fact that some names run in families. This is something I intend to happen in my stories.

One example is the name Heric – named after a legendary figure in Maedari history, Heric Jennet, it has become the most popular boys name in the setting, though for various reasons every single one is more commonly referred to as Harry (much as in our world Henry used to be known as Harry – Prince Harry’s real name is actually Henry). Of course they need to be differentiated and as such acquire nicknames, such as Red Harry, Tall Harry, Harry the Younger and the like.

Now back to the writing so I can get the story finished.

To start it off are the Maedari, about whom I mostly write. Strangely, though they are prominent in all the stories, I haven’t written one yet set in Maedar.

I will be slowly adding to this – and there are a lot of nations and cultures to add.

His story starts back with a novel I was planning (but never got around to starting). I needed someone to introduce the main character (Heric ‘Harry’ Ban, likewise a character that came about unexpectedly) to the adventure, and so I came up with Halir. he had been a friend of Harry’s father back during a war and was now a professor and historian. The novel was abandoned and the character would have been forgotten except for another novel I started sometime later, Winter Wolves.

Winter Wolves was my first serious effort at plotting and then writing a novel, and was designed to be a showcase for the setting and for Harry Ban. I even managed to complete a round draft. There was a need for a character who would draw Harry into events, and for that I went back to Halir and brought him along.

Though I finished the rough draft, I never got around to fleshing it out, instead, as is my want, I moved onto other projects and suddenly Halir took over somewhat. He got himself two lengthy short stories, Gifts and Sacrifices, and The Tomb of the Tagosa Kings, and then he got himself a full novel in which to star – Tears of the Mountain – which is the first novel I’ve completely properly.

It won’t be the last that Professor Halir is seen either.

I sort of hit a part of the story where my pre-plotting is rather limited which is half the problem. Fleshing out near nothing can be hard – but it did spawn a couple of ideas during the day that I hadn’t thought of before but will work when they are properly rewritten. Sometimes you have scenes and characters that just write themselves, which helps a lot.

And the next two days may be rather busy, limiting my chance to make real progress.

The next character we will have a look at is the Lady Eris Selanos, of House Selanos. Of a minor noble family, she is unconcerned by such matters as politics. A magian of middling power, her interests lie in history and the past, and she actively seeks them out, often going places where danger lurks. At times she can be a bit absent and not particularly subtle with her emotions.

There are some people who have already finished – I wish I had the time (and commitment) to manage that.

Now for a little about the story itself.

The main characters in it had their origins back in the mid nineties. I’ve been coming up with stories for them, writing about them and thinking about them all that time so I have a very clear picture of them in my head now, their looks and manners and characteristics. The trick is to be able to able to convey all that.

The first of the main characters in a man called Heric Jennet. Born to servants of the Queen of Kiashia, as he grew older he became one of the pre-eminent swordsmen in the land. A quiet, unassuming man, he prefers to fight only when necessary. He is also a man of intelligence, loyalty and a strict sense of honour and duty.

Yesterday was not a day conducive to writing. Between a nephew’s birthday, helping my brother work on building a deck out the back and other matters I didn’t get a chance to start writing until nine at night and could then only manage enough to hit the mark to stay on schedule. Today promises to be equally as busy, which only leaves me to wonder if I’ll make the 1667 words needed for today.

At least the story is making progress, having now reached chapter five.