Teaser Tuesday is on a break for now while I drop some background info on The Mercenary Prince. First, a preview of the cover:
Sketch by Jason Pedersen
Back at the beginning, Legends of Windemere was only 12 books long. Then came Book 14, which has nothing to do with this. The Merchant of Nevra Coil and The Mercenary Prince came about at the same time. Oddly enough, it was the reasoning behind the latter that helped bring about the former. While Merchant brings Yola Biggs the Chaos Goddess to the forefront and evolves her, The Mercenary Prince does the same for another character: Delvin Cunningham.
Prior to the creation of this book, Delvin never had a story to call his own and was simply the ‘stable’ character. He grew, but I had him as solid and there wasn’t anything to challenge him besides his own temple. Even that story focused a lot on his relationship with the others. So poor Delvin was the odd man out since the others each had their own big story. He didn’t even get his own book to do a solitary debut in since he shows up near the end of Family of the Tri-Rune. This is something that I played into his character, which I’ll get into next Tuesday . . . or Thursday if I can’t think of any connected questions for the usual fun.
I never realized this was a problem until I was working on outlines for fun and noticed how often Delvin was in the background. I tried giving him more in the other books, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was robbing him, and myself, of a fun character. Then I was goofing off with a test scene and a phrase appeared:
The Mercenary Queen
Bet you thought I was going to say ‘Mercenary Prince’. Well, the Queen came first and it was Tzefira at the time. Then I realized that it would have been Selenia before her and my mind ran with the mercenary side of Windemere. Given his connection to Selenia, Delvin was the obvious choice for the Prince. The Princess shows up in the upcoming book and people can guess who the King is in the comments. This all rolled into the idea of Delvin’s personal quest and venturing into his past, which has only been hinted at. An entire section of Ralian came about because of this story too. Yagervan Plains, Crysvale Tundra, and Pynofira Forest didn’t exist until this book came about. I’m always surprised by what came from this story since it came late to the party. Dawn Fangs, Darkmill, the mercenaries, and the Yagervan Tribes have all benefited from this. In a way, it works as a test run for the next series.
With all of that, the focus is still on Delvin Cunningham and the past that has finally caught up with him. Sort of. Part of the story is how his future as a champion and past have converged. Delvin is at a point in his adventure where he could fall off the path or leap forward. Up until now, he hasn’t been tested to this level and the situation even has a sense of sacrifice in it. He will have to lose some things before he can evolve, which is another reason I had to make this story. Delvin truly needed to be on his own before he could return to the champions. Otherwise, he’d fade away or be nothing more than a silhouette of a character.
Legends of Windemere 
Writer’s thought are always interesting. Thanks for giving us all some insight. It’s cool how entire geographical features evolved into this one.
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You’re welcome. The characters and story definitely help build the world, which ends up returning the favor. Think the term is synergy, but that might be a Disney thing.
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You might like this. I get dozens of emails at my real job from various promoters. I auto delete any that use the word synergy.
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Living around Orlando, I heard the word all the time. Disney uses it to explain the entire corporation.
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I think it was borrowed by everyone who ever put on a seminar. It’s like they think the word will automatically make me register.
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Betting it works more often than we realize.
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Um, Kevin?
I’m glad you know where Delvin’s story fits. I’m sure the cover will be as great as the others.
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The answer will appear next week. 🙂 Took a while for Delvin’s story to come about too.
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I’m glad everything worked out to bring this story about. It’s so interesting, isn’t it, when a character who was mainly in the background, comes into his own. I wrote a novel years ago with a character who appeared in only a couple of scenes. Very much in the background. Anyway, someone read the novel and asked to see more scenes with this character. I was shocked. I was never going to write anything else with the dude. So, I’m glad you realized that Delvin was deserving on his own story.
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Thankfully Delvin wasn’t too far in the background. He got some evolution in the other books, but his story has always been hampered by his past being so far away. Did you find a story for the character?
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I have enjoyed Delvin’s “walk-ons” and am into the Compass Key where Delvin plays sidekick to Luke. I think there is much more story with this character and look forward to it.
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Poor guy gets put in the role of sidekick. 🙂 He has a hard time getting flushed out in that book since it’s a lot of action.
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Great sketch. Isn’t it funny how one thing leads to another? I always liken writing to pulling a thread 🙂
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Good analogy. Never know what will happen when you pull at it.
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Charles, to answer your question, yes, I wrote a book told from three points of view. That character is one of the main characters. Still deciding what to do with the book. 🙂
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Don’t feel like it’s publishable?
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It needs help. I put it down in favor of my middle grade series.
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It amazes me how you keep up with all of your characters in such a long fantasy series and do so in such a loving way, respecting everything that each one brings to the story. I’m at the beginning of a series, so I’ve followed along listening to how these things have mapped out in your mind. Another crime author has a series of book where an ancillary character was so beloved by his audience that he became central to the series, sort of like Carl Hiaasen’s “Skink” did.
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I write a lot of notes and do a lot of preparation to make sure I know where I’m going. 😀 One thing I try to do is give some wiggle room for characters that become popular without expecting it.
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It’s always fun when a story surprises us.
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That it is. Many times we realize the pieces were there all the time.
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