Unbeknownst even to myself, I originally wanted to write a story about the wounds left by an imperfect childhood. But by the time I actually started writing this story, something else was powerfully working in me. I was experiencing true freedom, true autonomy, and true connection, and it was only possibly because I’d finally learned one crucial lesson: Forgiveness. So, one story became two, and before I’d even finalized the outline for the first book (the original idea), the second book was born and blooming. I’ve published it now. It’s available here.
Now, it looks like I’ll have to publish the first story like a prelude.
Never mind, it will work. It’s better this way. I seem to do best with my theme and plot when they’re things that I already know at least a little about; ones that I’m still struggling with, they tend to drive me up the wall, and I get lost. I want to be able to make my readers feel understood by exploring their personal struggles with my characters, making it real and relatable through my own pain and experiences. But, ultimately, stories (especially fictional stories) are only fun to read because the weak become strong, the lost find or are found, the hesitant push forward, the hateful find love, and the dead are raised. That’s what I think, anyway.
That’s what Unforgivable is about. Ironically, that’s not what Inevitable is about. Unforgivable is about finding forgiveness. Inevitable is about creating your own destruction. Unforgivable is about a boy becoming a man, an enemy becoming a friend, the wayward learning the way, the war for hope, embracing love. Inevitable is about wounds that never heal, good intentions that result in terrible foolishness, unbending willfulness, pride, pain, madness, and despair.
I wrote Unforgivable in a grim tone, and pulled few punches with the violence or cruelty. I’m writing Inevitable in a dreadfully cheerful tone, as though the havoc that happens there has little more weight than the death of a Non-Player Character. Why? Because with Unforgivable, my goal was to capture the reader by making the darkness in the world so real that the reader will be desperate for the hope I offer in increasing portions as the tale progresses. But in Inevitable, I wanted the reader to be lulled into a sense of security, of normalcy, right up until the moment when they get across the bridge and look back to find that they’ve actually crossed a great series of bridges… and they’re all burning.
The only thing these two books have in common, other than Kirime and the world in which they occur, is this: I want my readers to close the book and reconsider the way they live.
So how about it? Ready to read these books? As a reminder, you can read Unforgivable here. You’ll have to wait for Inevitable, and I can assure you, the wait is worth it.