Inside ALEXEIN: Almost Finished with Volume One!
Inside ALEXEIN: Almost Finished with Volume One!
My friend Carol texted to reschedule lunch, and I replied, "Open all-day meets finishing ALEXEIN; it's perfect!" Her response? "I don't know how you do it!"
Well, let me tell you. It involves many early mornings, late nights, and very little sleep (4-6 hours a night).
My social life? Let's just say it's been on hold, replaced by reruns of my favorite shows as a rare treat. I’ve been channeling my inner Haruki Murakami, though I haven't entirely managed his legendary 50 pages a day.
When I wrote my second novel, Gay Vampire Chronicles - The Silver Bullet, Crimson Rose, Part 1, Awaken Dreams, I attempted the 50-page-a-day challenge. Impossible! My brain fried around 25 pages, and that 500-page novel took about two months of relentless staring at the monitor.
ALEXEIN Volume I, The Golden Dawn, covering the period from seven years before Alexander's birth to his third birthday, clocks in at 325 pages.
My initial goal was a 500-page biography covering his life up to his father, King Philip II's assassination. Clearly, that was overly ambitious.
I split it into two volumes – Volume One covers children up to age three and Volume Two covers children from age four to twenty—but even that proved too tight.
My early three-volume plan was scrapped in favor of a five-volume saga, and now, as I near the completion of Volume 1, I wonder if Alexander's Great Saga will be extended to ten volumes!
It all comes down to weaving a compelling narrative. Each volume demands careful consideration of its scope and depth.
For The Golden Dawn, I delved deep into the often misunderstood dynamics between Philip II and Olympias.
Multifaceted research was crucial; I was piecing together a giant historical puzzle to find the pieces that would bring Philip II and Olympias into clear focus under the Macedonian sun. It was like assembling a complex historical puzzle to accurately understand the relationship.
Alexander's conquests of Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia, and beyond were extraordinary, but his father's legacy laid the groundwork.
Philip II cleared the path for his son's ambitions, forging a vision unfortunately cut short by his assassination. At age 20, Alexander stepped into his father's shoes and fulfilled that vision.
Writing The Golden Dawn was a grueling, brain-frying experience that involved sacrificing my social life for a month. I didn't quite hit 50 pages daily, but I saw that golden dawn break through the clouds!
In writing this volume, I realized I was chronicling a story hidden mainly from the narrative of Alexander's conquests: the world of women behind ambition.
Olympias is at the heart of it, as are her relationships with royal and noble women, including her unnamed mother. So many women in Alexander’s life remain nameless in historical records—including Olympias's and Hephaestion's mothers—and I felt this was a profound injustice.
I gave them names, voices, and agency, to present a more complete and vivid picture of Alexander's life for female and non-binary readers.
I'm almost finished with Volume 1! A few more episodes, a final check for any missing pieces, and then it's on to Volume 2: King Philip II's assassination, Alexander's ascension, and his eastward march to conquer the Persian Empire.
Stay tuned! I aim to release Volume One: The Golden Dawn before the holiday season.
#AlexanderTheGreat #HistoricalFiction #AncientGreece #Macedonia #Olympias #PhilipII #ALEXEIN #TheGoldenDawn #NewRelease #HistoricalRomance #ComingSoon
Well, let me tell you. It involves many early mornings, late nights, and very little sleep (4-6 hours a night).
My social life? Let's just say it's been on hold, replaced by reruns of my favorite shows as a rare treat. I’ve been channeling my inner Haruki Murakami, though I haven't entirely managed his legendary 50 pages a day.
When I wrote my second novel, Gay Vampire Chronicles - The Silver Bullet, Crimson Rose, Part 1, Awaken Dreams, I attempted the 50-page-a-day challenge. Impossible! My brain fried around 25 pages, and that 500-page novel took about two months of relentless staring at the monitor.
ALEXEIN Volume I, The Golden Dawn, covering the period from seven years before Alexander's birth to his third birthday, clocks in at 325 pages.
My initial goal was a 500-page biography covering his life up to his father, King Philip II's assassination. Clearly, that was overly ambitious.
I split it into two volumes – Volume One covers children up to age three and Volume Two covers children from age four to twenty—but even that proved too tight.
My early three-volume plan was scrapped in favor of a five-volume saga, and now, as I near the completion of Volume 1, I wonder if Alexander's Great Saga will be extended to ten volumes!
It all comes down to weaving a compelling narrative. Each volume demands careful consideration of its scope and depth.
For The Golden Dawn, I delved deep into the often misunderstood dynamics between Philip II and Olympias.
Multifaceted research was crucial; I was piecing together a giant historical puzzle to find the pieces that would bring Philip II and Olympias into clear focus under the Macedonian sun. It was like assembling a complex historical puzzle to accurately understand the relationship.
Alexander's conquests of Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia, and beyond were extraordinary, but his father's legacy laid the groundwork.
Philip II cleared the path for his son's ambitions, forging a vision unfortunately cut short by his assassination. At age 20, Alexander stepped into his father's shoes and fulfilled that vision.
Writing The Golden Dawn was a grueling, brain-frying experience that involved sacrificing my social life for a month. I didn't quite hit 50 pages daily, but I saw that golden dawn break through the clouds!
In writing this volume, I realized I was chronicling a story hidden mainly from the narrative of Alexander's conquests: the world of women behind ambition.
Olympias is at the heart of it, as are her relationships with royal and noble women, including her unnamed mother. So many women in Alexander’s life remain nameless in historical records—including Olympias's and Hephaestion's mothers—and I felt this was a profound injustice.
I gave them names, voices, and agency, to present a more complete and vivid picture of Alexander's life for female and non-binary readers.
I'm almost finished with Volume 1! A few more episodes, a final check for any missing pieces, and then it's on to Volume 2: King Philip II's assassination, Alexander's ascension, and his eastward march to conquer the Persian Empire.
Stay tuned! I aim to release Volume One: The Golden Dawn before the holiday season.
#AlexanderTheGreat #HistoricalFiction #AncientGreece #Macedonia #Olympias #PhilipII #ALEXEIN #TheGoldenDawn #NewRelease #HistoricalRomance #ComingSoon
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