Last week marked the publication of the final part of my fantasy web novel, The Shadow Over Fandelran. In total, its contents sit at around 69,000 words, 27 chapters, and 44 parts on Hive.
I started writing it in May of last year (2021), during a period of leave from work because of stress and anxiety (yay, covid!). Work meetings and meetings with family were sending me into nasty panic attacks, mainly driven by a period of severe stress and worry during the Christmas period of 2020.
Thankfully, after a regimen of CBT provided free by the NHS, I was able to push through the panic attacks and get back to work at around September 2021. But Hive, creative writing and this novel helped keep me occupied during an especially dark time.
!SPOILERS AHEAD!
Ifan's struggle with the death of his sister very much mirrored my feelings of hopelessness but the requirement to push through regardless, especially after my grandfather passed at the beginning of 2021. This theme seemed to seep through into my work, as Fendrick deals with his internalised trauma from his childhood, and Thron struggles to get to grips with their death and rebirth and their failure to fulfil their purpose.
Each of these characters are driven to continue, but in very different ways.
Ifan pushes forward for his countrymen, a sense of purpose imbued in him by his father, and the friendships he made in his tenure with the guild. Mental ill health threatens him throughout the latter half of the novel, but with the assistance of his comrades he manages to pull through.
Fendrick is almost indoctrinated, trapped, in this corrupt system and army, pushed to try and improve the living situation of the beleaguered and malingerers from his home nation. His loss of his mentor leads to him having a mental break, hallucinating Tristan back to life, to try and work through the trauma and find a way to continue what he feels as his duty.
Thron, however, driven by bloodlust and shame, lashes out at this new, foreign world, using their overwhelming power to destroy civilisation and right the wrongs they permitted while they were alive.
!Spoilers Over!
I don't think this was intentional. In my planning and outlining, none of these rather integral plot points and character traits had manifested, they very much naturally occurred over the months as I wrote. The initial outline very much had Fenerra in a more central role, a more direct antagonist to Ifan, rather than the scheming puppeteer she is in the current rendition. The Warrens evolved as an antagonist through the development of a McGuffin that Fenerra wanted her hands on. They then became more and more oppressive in their power in the world, shaping the creation of many of the integral elements of the world of Eden.
Right now, I'm working on polishing up this first draft with a chunky printed manuscript and a red pen, old school style. I've reached chapter 3, so nearly 10% of the way through over the last week, so at this rate will hopefully have a second draft done around May/June, besides any bursts of inspiration that push me to work faster!
I'm planning on self-publishing the completed second (or third, or fourth, depending on how I feel with the completed project) draft, probably on Amazon. Completing the first draft was an important step in my development as a writer, and I'm looking forward to having a polished product ready to send out to the wider world.
The new working title, reflecting the emergence of the Warrens as a key player in the world, will be 'Warren: Reawakening'. I'm still not completely sold on it, but 'The Shadow Over Fandelran' was coined right at the start of the project, and has definitely outlived its stay, considering some two thirds of the novel do not take place in Fandelran!
Hope you've enjoyed my ramblings, needed to write a new post for Saturday what with the lack of another new part of the novel to publish. No more lazy weekends!!
If you'd like to read The Shadow Over Fandelran, you can find the full collection here: @zedcell/the-shadows-over-fandelran or on my profile.
