ATH Prelude Hype Train! Now in FAQ Station!
I haven’t been hyping the Prelude train as much as I hyped the Big Special last year. That’s because until roughly two weeks ago I simply did not see the route to victory-that is, to getting it published on time on June 27.
In the likely (though not certain) event I should succeed, I present this FAQ to whet your appetites!
What Exactly Is the Prelude?
The Prelude is both the prelude to After The Hero itself and to the entire Curious Tale. This will be the only Prelude, ever. I imagine you’ll see plenty of prologues along the way, plenty of interlogues, plenty of epilogues-but never another prelude. There is only the one, and it is one half of the bookends to the entire Curious Tale.
I talk more often about the Interludes, which are standalone works that intersperse After The Hero to broaden the larger Curious Tale. The Great Galavar is Galavar’s Interlude. Mate of Song is Afiach’s Interlude. Other Interludes are planned.
The Prelude is similar to an Interlude in that it’s a standalone work-roughly between one section and one chapter in length-that tells its own, self-contained story but also ties into the larger story of After The Hero. However, the Prelude differs from the Interludes I mentioned in that it can’t be spun as “Character X’s Prelude.” Benzan is the character who gets the most point-of-view time in the Prelude, and Galavar is the central character plotwise, but it’s not a story that’s quintessentially about either of those characters, or any other character. It’s a story about the night that Galavar sets in motion the fate of the world. It’s the story that embarks the master plot.
Functionally, the Prelude introduces Galavar, the full Guard of Galavar (including Benzan), the Aedes of Gala, the Galan Aedens of Sele, the Galance Ideal, the Galan Conquest, the Great Davoranjan Mindwashing, and, in a sense, the wider world of Relance-particularly the Gods, the Relancii version of magic, and the Kingdom of Davoranj.
Why Should I Read the Prelude?
That’s a good question. Over the years, longtime readers of my journal have encountered every argument and pitch I know how to make. Nothing I say here could trump all that.
Here’s my elevator pitch:
It’s a story about a mate who sets out to rule the world, and the hero destined to stop him gets defeated right at the beginning. (Then, if I haven’t been thrown out of the elevator yet…) Emotionally it’s a folk song, with a loving and bittersweet focus on momentous events both great and small, and on the rich world that surrounds them.
Here’s my extended pitch:
After The Hero tells the tale of Galavar, the ambitious stranger from the desert, who defeats the Hero who was destined to stop him and sets out to fulfill his life’s dream of ruling the world of Relance-not to plunder it, but to lift up civilization into something finer. Can such a thing be done? Can such a dream be made real without becoming a nightmare? Much of the answer rests in the care of the left-handed Silence Terlais, a Guard of Galavar and the person most responsible for achieving their shared ambition. Helping them are many other extraordinary people from the realm of Gala. Yet no such story could ever be complete without also telling of the lives of the people of Relance themselves, the people who would become Galan.
The Curious Tale, of which After The Hero is the central part, is an even bigger story. It’s a story about journeys of persuasion, and acts of wild creation, all told with an aggressive love of language that doesn’t make for the easiest reading but which rewards those who have a strong imagination, the will to become all they can be, and, when they die, a desire to leave the world a better place than they found it. It’s a story about the nature of power, and the wonder of living and dying. It is a romance in the old sense-with marvels, pageantry, pomp, and incredible adventures, set in the lush world of Relance where the scenery is as important as the characters. It is a folk song masquerading as an epic fantasy, with a loving and bittersweet focus on momentous events both great and small, and the rich world that surrounds them. And, ultimately, it is a story about the end of that world.
Here’s my back-of-the-book tagline, specifically for the Prelude:
IF’NS YOU DON’T BAI THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW IMMA COME OAR YOUR HOUSE AND BEETCHOU UP!!! YOU BEEN ADVISED.
At any rate, the Prelude is special. It isn’t a side project. It is literally the opening of After The Hero, my life’s first magnum opus. It’s the ripest and sweetest fruit to date of a creative journey now sixteen years old.
What Kind of Story Is It?
Set at the end of the day of the invasion of the Galan capital of Sele by the Hero of Davoranj and his army, the Prelude to After The Hero is a plot-rich story with a mood of urgency, anger, and despair. Galavar and his people have spent decades preparing to take over the world, only to be attacked preemptively. Even though they have repelled the invasion, they stand to lose everything they have worked for. It is up to Galavar to come up with what others might call a miracle.
The Prelude features quite a lot of introductory descriptions-of characters, places, and folkways-but is also cognizant of not overdoing the beginning of a story with too much explanation, as it both bogs down the narrative and spoils some of the surprise. It also features a moderate amount of action, concentrated at the beginning and especially the end. But most prominently at all, there is a high quotient of adventure, mainly as expressed through Benzan’s exposure to the heights of Galan power. The prose sets a tone of epic high romance that reads more like Greek philosophy than pulp “epic” fantasy. There’s just enough introduction of Galan concepts and venues, and characters, without overloading the reader or coming across as preachy. (I hope!)
The Prelude is very different in tone from The Great Galavar as you have seen it thus far. The Great Galavar is supposedly an epic, although I don’t think I’ve done a good job of establishing that yet. The Prelude is also an epic, but in every sense I am confident that its epic quality will be much more apparent to you right from the onset. For one thing there is the storyline itself. For another, over fifteen years of planning and worldbuilding are evident in its pages. For a third, the style itself is epic. There’s a reason I wrote that narrative point of view miniseries in Curious Tale Saturdays recently: The Prelude uses a full-strength Joshalonian dynamic POV, which has an epic quality.
There’s an important reason for all this bandying about of the word epic: The Prelude marks the beginning of The Curious Tale and the Tale’s central work, After The Hero. It obviously isn’t the earliest work in chronological terms, either from Relance’s viewpoint or from our own-though it will be the first canonical work to appear on CuriousTale.org, since The Great Galavar isn’t running there yet. As the opening work to such a vast tale, the Prelude carries upon its shoulders an incredible responsibility to convey to a reader just what they’re getting into. To me as the author this is a prospect of daunting difficulty, offset only by the many years I’ve had to prepare for it.
Which Characters Are Prominently Featured?
Owing to the nature of the setting, only Galan characters (and the Hero of Davoranj) feature in the Prelude, so unfortunately most old-timers reading this will not find their erstwhile characters, such as Thanatos, Grave, or Grieve, mixed into the fold. However, Lilit DeLatia and Maris Diva-characters who were originally Lee’s-are present.
Benzan and Galavar are the most prominent characters in the Prelude, with Silence in a distant third place, owing to the special care I have taken to introduce her to readers as a major figure. DeLatia is the fourth most prominent character.
Taken as a whole, the Guard of Galavar is highly prominent and is central to the story.
What Is the Storyline?
The Prelude begins with the death of Rennem, the Hero of Davoranj, at the hands of Galavar atop his fortress of Galadrim. The Hero had staged a surprise invasion and caught Gala completely unawares, devastating it. Even though the invasion was defeated, the story opens with Gala lying in ruins and Galavar fearing that his life’s work may be lost.
Benzan witnesses the final duel, and shortly thereafter Galavar meets him. For no discernible reason, Galavar takes Benzan along with him down into the fortress. Along the way, we meet the Guard of Galavar, one at a time: Jemis (the wounded), Zirin (the vanquished), Arderesh (the weeping), Gregor (the stoic), Silence (the brooding), and DeLatia (the frenzied).
Galavar announces a special council, something called a Vardas Council, where he and the Guard will convene that very night to determine Gala’s course of action. At that council, a course of action is indeed laid.
Beyond that, all I’ll say is read and find out!
Really? Is the Prelude Really Going to Be Published on June 27?
I am making every effort I can, and if there is any way I can possibly meet my deadline then I will do so, even if I’m still painting the damn thing after launching it into the open sea. Nevertheless, I can’t make a solemn promise.
Instead I estimate the chance of success at two out of three, meaning that I am optimistic but still have serious amounts of work to complete and can envision plausible scenarios where I fail to complete it to the necessary level of quality.
In these remaining ten days I will supersede any other commitments in my schedule as necessary, potentially including any and all of the weekly features and my Sunday Twitch livestream. Note that none of my regularly scheduled features is going to be canceled unless I specifically say so.
If I absolutely cannot make the deadline, fear not. It won’t be the end of the world: I’ll definitely publish the Prelude before my 33rd birthday a month later on July 27.
Where Does Production Stand Today?
On May 23 I completed preproduction and began working on the Prelude in earnest. This entailed ramping up to war-level magnitudes of attention, production, and energy. Since then I have begun uniting disparate scenes that I had variously written at points in the past, revising these scenes, writing new scenes, and adding story elements such as character relationships and thematic material.
As of last Friday, June 12, approximately 40 percent of the Prelude is written, with the remainder fully mapped out. I will definitely complete the crude draft by June 27; my biggest worry is the fine-tuning and thematic material thereupon; getting that stuff up to quality level is very difficult and may not be possible in time. My revisions thus far have been extensive, and I expect this to continue.
I haven’t done any work on it since then, but instead I’ve been clearing out paid work and other commitments, and as of today, June 16, I have cleared everything else off my plate.
Will It Be Published in Full?
Yes. The whole thing.
It’ll be closer in length to a Mate of Song section than to a full story chapter (e.g., Mate of Song in total is equivalent to one ATH chapter). I’m anticipating a word count in the vicinity of 30,000.
This is going to be a first draft. The definitive edition will remain for the future. However, unlike the Mate of Song first draft, which is a classical first draft, the Prelude first draft is going to be as close as possible to the final version. Therefore it’s more accurate to call it a “rough final draft.” For better or worse, the version that I’m going to publish will be very close to the definitive edition, and I am working around this necessity by omitting various details from the story that I’m not confident I won’t want to change in the long run.
Where Will It Be Published and How Much Will It Cost?
Initially, the Prelude will only be published at CuriousTale.org-not here at my journal and not anywhere else, though I will definitely link to it here and on my social media. Later on I expect to publish excerpts elsewhere, as a marketing effort, and will probably offer a full-length e-book version.
On CuriousTale.org (and possibly in the aforementioned e-book format), the Prelude will be free of charge, probably with an optional suggested donation. Charging no money has marketing value in the long term, as it is after all a prelude to a larger work, and hopefully a gateway for people to get enthusiastic about The Curious Tale as a whole.
Even if I were going to charge (which I’m not), I would offer a free copy for any of my regular readers, as a small way for me to show my gratitude to all of you for staying with me all these years.
Where’s the Hype Train Going Next?
This is poor planning on my part, but I don’t actually have time to write a lot of supplementary Hype! materials. Since this isn’t an organized marketing campaign, and only my regular readers are going to see it, I’m trusting that most of you already intend to read the Prelude (and that if you’re not I probably couldn’t change your mind with marketing anyway).
Indeed, after all these years, I think any further attempt at last-minute hype is superfluous! =]
In the likely (though not certain) event I should succeed, I present this FAQ to whet your appetites!
What Exactly Is the Prelude?
The Prelude is both the prelude to After The Hero itself and to the entire Curious Tale. This will be the only Prelude, ever. I imagine you’ll see plenty of prologues along the way, plenty of interlogues, plenty of epilogues-but never another prelude. There is only the one, and it is one half of the bookends to the entire Curious Tale.
I talk more often about the Interludes, which are standalone works that intersperse After The Hero to broaden the larger Curious Tale. The Great Galavar is Galavar’s Interlude. Mate of Song is Afiach’s Interlude. Other Interludes are planned.
The Prelude is similar to an Interlude in that it’s a standalone work-roughly between one section and one chapter in length-that tells its own, self-contained story but also ties into the larger story of After The Hero. However, the Prelude differs from the Interludes I mentioned in that it can’t be spun as “Character X’s Prelude.” Benzan is the character who gets the most point-of-view time in the Prelude, and Galavar is the central character plotwise, but it’s not a story that’s quintessentially about either of those characters, or any other character. It’s a story about the night that Galavar sets in motion the fate of the world. It’s the story that embarks the master plot.
Functionally, the Prelude introduces Galavar, the full Guard of Galavar (including Benzan), the Aedes of Gala, the Galan Aedens of Sele, the Galance Ideal, the Galan Conquest, the Great Davoranjan Mindwashing, and, in a sense, the wider world of Relance-particularly the Gods, the Relancii version of magic, and the Kingdom of Davoranj.
Why Should I Read the Prelude?
That’s a good question. Over the years, longtime readers of my journal have encountered every argument and pitch I know how to make. Nothing I say here could trump all that.
Here’s my elevator pitch:
It’s a story about a mate who sets out to rule the world, and the hero destined to stop him gets defeated right at the beginning. (Then, if I haven’t been thrown out of the elevator yet…) Emotionally it’s a folk song, with a loving and bittersweet focus on momentous events both great and small, and on the rich world that surrounds them.
Here’s my extended pitch:
After The Hero tells the tale of Galavar, the ambitious stranger from the desert, who defeats the Hero who was destined to stop him and sets out to fulfill his life’s dream of ruling the world of Relance-not to plunder it, but to lift up civilization into something finer. Can such a thing be done? Can such a dream be made real without becoming a nightmare? Much of the answer rests in the care of the left-handed Silence Terlais, a Guard of Galavar and the person most responsible for achieving their shared ambition. Helping them are many other extraordinary people from the realm of Gala. Yet no such story could ever be complete without also telling of the lives of the people of Relance themselves, the people who would become Galan.
The Curious Tale, of which After The Hero is the central part, is an even bigger story. It’s a story about journeys of persuasion, and acts of wild creation, all told with an aggressive love of language that doesn’t make for the easiest reading but which rewards those who have a strong imagination, the will to become all they can be, and, when they die, a desire to leave the world a better place than they found it. It’s a story about the nature of power, and the wonder of living and dying. It is a romance in the old sense-with marvels, pageantry, pomp, and incredible adventures, set in the lush world of Relance where the scenery is as important as the characters. It is a folk song masquerading as an epic fantasy, with a loving and bittersweet focus on momentous events both great and small, and the rich world that surrounds them. And, ultimately, it is a story about the end of that world.
Here’s my back-of-the-book tagline, specifically for the Prelude:
IF’NS YOU DON’T BAI THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW IMMA COME OAR YOUR HOUSE AND BEETCHOU UP!!! YOU BEEN ADVISED.
At any rate, the Prelude is special. It isn’t a side project. It is literally the opening of After The Hero, my life’s first magnum opus. It’s the ripest and sweetest fruit to date of a creative journey now sixteen years old.
What Kind of Story Is It?
Set at the end of the day of the invasion of the Galan capital of Sele by the Hero of Davoranj and his army, the Prelude to After The Hero is a plot-rich story with a mood of urgency, anger, and despair. Galavar and his people have spent decades preparing to take over the world, only to be attacked preemptively. Even though they have repelled the invasion, they stand to lose everything they have worked for. It is up to Galavar to come up with what others might call a miracle.
The Prelude features quite a lot of introductory descriptions-of characters, places, and folkways-but is also cognizant of not overdoing the beginning of a story with too much explanation, as it both bogs down the narrative and spoils some of the surprise. It also features a moderate amount of action, concentrated at the beginning and especially the end. But most prominently at all, there is a high quotient of adventure, mainly as expressed through Benzan’s exposure to the heights of Galan power. The prose sets a tone of epic high romance that reads more like Greek philosophy than pulp “epic” fantasy. There’s just enough introduction of Galan concepts and venues, and characters, without overloading the reader or coming across as preachy. (I hope!)
The Prelude is very different in tone from The Great Galavar as you have seen it thus far. The Great Galavar is supposedly an epic, although I don’t think I’ve done a good job of establishing that yet. The Prelude is also an epic, but in every sense I am confident that its epic quality will be much more apparent to you right from the onset. For one thing there is the storyline itself. For another, over fifteen years of planning and worldbuilding are evident in its pages. For a third, the style itself is epic. There’s a reason I wrote that narrative point of view miniseries in Curious Tale Saturdays recently: The Prelude uses a full-strength Joshalonian dynamic POV, which has an epic quality.
There’s an important reason for all this bandying about of the word epic: The Prelude marks the beginning of The Curious Tale and the Tale’s central work, After The Hero. It obviously isn’t the earliest work in chronological terms, either from Relance’s viewpoint or from our own-though it will be the first canonical work to appear on CuriousTale.org, since The Great Galavar isn’t running there yet. As the opening work to such a vast tale, the Prelude carries upon its shoulders an incredible responsibility to convey to a reader just what they’re getting into. To me as the author this is a prospect of daunting difficulty, offset only by the many years I’ve had to prepare for it.
Which Characters Are Prominently Featured?
Owing to the nature of the setting, only Galan characters (and the Hero of Davoranj) feature in the Prelude, so unfortunately most old-timers reading this will not find their erstwhile characters, such as Thanatos, Grave, or Grieve, mixed into the fold. However, Lilit DeLatia and Maris Diva-characters who were originally Lee’s-are present.
Benzan and Galavar are the most prominent characters in the Prelude, with Silence in a distant third place, owing to the special care I have taken to introduce her to readers as a major figure. DeLatia is the fourth most prominent character.
Taken as a whole, the Guard of Galavar is highly prominent and is central to the story.
What Is the Storyline?
The Prelude begins with the death of Rennem, the Hero of Davoranj, at the hands of Galavar atop his fortress of Galadrim. The Hero had staged a surprise invasion and caught Gala completely unawares, devastating it. Even though the invasion was defeated, the story opens with Gala lying in ruins and Galavar fearing that his life’s work may be lost.
Benzan witnesses the final duel, and shortly thereafter Galavar meets him. For no discernible reason, Galavar takes Benzan along with him down into the fortress. Along the way, we meet the Guard of Galavar, one at a time: Jemis (the wounded), Zirin (the vanquished), Arderesh (the weeping), Gregor (the stoic), Silence (the brooding), and DeLatia (the frenzied).
Galavar announces a special council, something called a Vardas Council, where he and the Guard will convene that very night to determine Gala’s course of action. At that council, a course of action is indeed laid.
Beyond that, all I’ll say is read and find out!
Really? Is the Prelude Really Going to Be Published on June 27?
I am making every effort I can, and if there is any way I can possibly meet my deadline then I will do so, even if I’m still painting the damn thing after launching it into the open sea. Nevertheless, I can’t make a solemn promise.
Instead I estimate the chance of success at two out of three, meaning that I am optimistic but still have serious amounts of work to complete and can envision plausible scenarios where I fail to complete it to the necessary level of quality.
In these remaining ten days I will supersede any other commitments in my schedule as necessary, potentially including any and all of the weekly features and my Sunday Twitch livestream. Note that none of my regularly scheduled features is going to be canceled unless I specifically say so.
If I absolutely cannot make the deadline, fear not. It won’t be the end of the world: I’ll definitely publish the Prelude before my 33rd birthday a month later on July 27.
Where Does Production Stand Today?
On May 23 I completed preproduction and began working on the Prelude in earnest. This entailed ramping up to war-level magnitudes of attention, production, and energy. Since then I have begun uniting disparate scenes that I had variously written at points in the past, revising these scenes, writing new scenes, and adding story elements such as character relationships and thematic material.
As of last Friday, June 12, approximately 40 percent of the Prelude is written, with the remainder fully mapped out. I will definitely complete the crude draft by June 27; my biggest worry is the fine-tuning and thematic material thereupon; getting that stuff up to quality level is very difficult and may not be possible in time. My revisions thus far have been extensive, and I expect this to continue.
I haven’t done any work on it since then, but instead I’ve been clearing out paid work and other commitments, and as of today, June 16, I have cleared everything else off my plate.
Will It Be Published in Full?
Yes. The whole thing.
It’ll be closer in length to a Mate of Song section than to a full story chapter (e.g., Mate of Song in total is equivalent to one ATH chapter). I’m anticipating a word count in the vicinity of 30,000.
This is going to be a first draft. The definitive edition will remain for the future. However, unlike the Mate of Song first draft, which is a classical first draft, the Prelude first draft is going to be as close as possible to the final version. Therefore it’s more accurate to call it a “rough final draft.” For better or worse, the version that I’m going to publish will be very close to the definitive edition, and I am working around this necessity by omitting various details from the story that I’m not confident I won’t want to change in the long run.
Where Will It Be Published and How Much Will It Cost?
Initially, the Prelude will only be published at CuriousTale.org-not here at my journal and not anywhere else, though I will definitely link to it here and on my social media. Later on I expect to publish excerpts elsewhere, as a marketing effort, and will probably offer a full-length e-book version.
On CuriousTale.org (and possibly in the aforementioned e-book format), the Prelude will be free of charge, probably with an optional suggested donation. Charging no money has marketing value in the long term, as it is after all a prelude to a larger work, and hopefully a gateway for people to get enthusiastic about The Curious Tale as a whole.
Even if I were going to charge (which I’m not), I would offer a free copy for any of my regular readers, as a small way for me to show my gratitude to all of you for staying with me all these years.
Where’s the Hype Train Going Next?
This is poor planning on my part, but I don’t actually have time to write a lot of supplementary Hype! materials. Since this isn’t an organized marketing campaign, and only my regular readers are going to see it, I’m trusting that most of you already intend to read the Prelude (and that if you’re not I probably couldn’t change your mind with marketing anyway).
Indeed, after all these years, I think any further attempt at last-minute hype is superfluous! =]