Work in Progress: Call of the Crown (novel series)
Quan's take on a high fantasy epic.
Back in 2000-2001, I had just finished playing a bunch of epic JRPGs on my PlayStation 1 and Dreamcast. I'm talking some classics like Final Fantasy 9, Legend of Dragoon, Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 2, Suikoden 1 & 2 and Saga Frontier 2. Since I'm the type to get inspired by great stories, I started wondering how a JRPG would look if I put one together. And from that, the ideas started flowing. I took a bunch of my favorite Fantasy tropes (and also a bunch that bugged me) and crafted an epic RPG story treatment starring an African-styled hero. My main idea was to make the story a sequel to an untold tale. I thought that concept was clever and fresh. (turns out not so much. a LOT of stories are sequels to untold tales. I didn't let that stop me, though). Worldbuilding and lore ideas came pouring in after that. It eventually got to the point where I was thinking, "You know, I've got so much material, why don't I just start writing the thing?" It was originally a comic book script, but then I figured I could get more traction writing it as a traditional novel.
Over the time writing the first novel, I've made many changes to my original plans. Characters I originally planned on including got put on the shelf for other, newer characters that fit the narrative better. Plot points I originally had outlined turned out to be too "video gamey" for the novel and got scrapped in favor of new developments. And the new heroes I added spawned new villains and lore that needed to be fit in and explored. I wanted my story to have a global scope, so I had my characters come from tweaked versions of real world cultures, speaking real world languages (and I have an explanation for that in the lore, too).
Why is the series called Call of the Crown? because a huge focus is on the development of princess Aleka, as she first runs from her responsibilities as heir to the throne of her homelands, then accepts them as she becomes queen, and finally embraces them as she tries to save the world. The problem with that is, while Aleka is the strongest character arc, she is not the main protagonist of the story. In fact, there is no main protagonist. This is an ensemble cast, with equal screentime being given to each of the 6 party members (and one of the villains). So finding an angle to use for a query letter has been a bit daunting.
As of this post, I have the first book, Return of the Tyrant, finished. in ROTT, Runaway Princess Aleka and her farmer-turned-berserker husband Zion must team up with their archnemesis, deposed emperor Vladimir, to stop a rampaging death cult that worships an eldritch, world-devouring cosmic monster named Nagoth. They are joined by Vladimir's chief strategist Taima, an errant Cat knight named Amin, and Cora, a teenaged hunter wielding a cursed macuahuitl (a macuahuitl is basically a wooden sword that has sharp obsidian teeth on its edges). The plot of the first novel was that this party of heroes needed reinforcements, and the natural choice was to go to Aleka's kingdom and get help from her mother, the Queen Mother of her land. Aleka, however, was adamant about not wanting to go home, so instead they trek towards the hidden headquarters of Amin's order of knights to recruit them. The problem is that the cult sees those knights as a target and are also on the march to take them out, with a sizable head start on the heroes.
The first draft of the first novel has been finished, and I've written a sizable chunk of book two (The Queen's Betrayal), where the cult ramps up its offensive and Aleka finally decides her party needs to go get help from her homeland. Here I introduce and develop Aleka's mother, Queen Mother Beya Nissi, and Aleka's half-brother Tameng, both characters that will play a crucial role in how TQB progresses. It's a trilogy (book three's working title is Extinction), so I have a rough outline of where I want to go with the final installment. I also have a treatment for a Narnia-styled prequel trilogy focusing on a different cast of characters that leads directly into ROTT, two Conan the Barbarian-styled sword & sorcery tales that follow up the events of the third book, and a number of treatments for side stories and novels covering major events and people in the world's history. All in all, I have enough story ideas for this world to fill at least 12 books. This thing could be an entire franchise if I can nail it and get a publisher interested.
I haven't made a big deal of getting this story beta read or published, because I really don't want to push for this one until I at least have the second book done. But if any of you are interested in checking it out and giving me some feedback, I have no problem at all getting you a copy to beta read. Just make your intentions known in the comments and I'll contact you. I could also post the book in Inkitt and get open feedback on where the flaws are in the book.
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And if You’re interested in beta reading the first book “Return of the Tyrant,” let me know in the comments.
