The Beginning of the end

This new year will see the publication of the final title in the historical fantasy Dragon’s Fire Series. I never guessed The Rose of Caledon would turn into an epic saga when I started writing it in 2016. By Book Five, originally the series’ conclusion, I was having too much fun to stop. Books Six through Ten present a new story running parallel to the first.

A photo of a dragon mask inspired the concept for Book Six back in 2017, and the plot fell into place within two hours. But the idea of how to use that dragon mask to complete the series bloomed as I wrote Book Five in 2018.

One Saturday morning, for two hours, I talked my husband’s ear off about Book Ten’s plot. I explained how the mask would tie Caledon’s story together over centuries, and culminate with an epic adventure that would cement the entire series. I was excited. He’s patient with me.

To carry Ten’s story, I planned to create a new character, but a minor player in Book Five tapped me on the shoulder that morning and said, “This one’s mine.”

Her name was Aerona: an actress at the living history museum in Book Five, where she had about five lines of dialogue and no surname. She was unimportant. But the more I considered her plea, the more she fit into the role I needed to fill. Well-versed in Caledon’s history because of her employment at the museum, she wanted much more than the “nobody” role I had given her in Five.

She was perfect.

But I didn’t relish working with a main character named Aerona. Since I hadn’t published Five yet, she got a name change and became Holly. Her surname materialized when I started writing Ten, and she needed one. Holly O’Hannon opens the tale discontented with her lot at the museum, trapped in Caledon because of a global pandemic, grieving the loss of her mother and a breakup with a boyfriend, and desperate for a new perspective on life.

Enter the Saorsa Mask.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Coming later this year!

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