When I finished "Aleksertac," I did not realize that I would ever hear from Sonia or anyone in "The Shadow Dragon" again. (There is a reason I never put "the end" when I finish a story, and this is it.) My oldest son and I were listening to a song by Imagine Dragons, "Radioactive". And I was commenting on how this was one of the few times that I could actually say that I liked a band since I was in high school. I usually only like songs. On a side note: Evanescence and One Republic are probably the only others in recent time: Evanescence because the music put into words how I felt, and One Republic because I admire that they used piano and strings in their music. So what does this have to do with "Darkness"? Well, my son (who also really likes Imagine Dragons too) says this is one of my favorites and puts on "Demons". As the song played, I saw what I can only explain as what would be a trailer for this book if it were a movie, and it took my breath away. My mind couldn't let it go, and within the week I continued writing "The Shadow Dragon" story.
Now when I first started this story I was focused on a certain part of the story, which happens often. However this time, characters from Aleksertac - who at the time I had no idea were going to be a bigger part of the story - reappeared with a strong presence in my mind. Kind of like Percy from "Orbs of Fire" became important character in "Aleksertac"... and yes, he remains important in this book as well. Todd, Callie, and the Alpha (the Ortal from "Orbs of Fire") are example of characters that I didn't expect to hear from again. Percy, Marty, Ceeaira, and Phillip, I did expect. And then there's this new guy, the Sorcerer, who was just suppose to be a bit part, but instead I realized because of this "bit part" in the story, he changed everything, made a bigger part for himself, and extended the story, leading me to believe this was going to be two books. However, after letting a few people read what I thought would be book three they gave me their opinions. It was unanimous that I should make it one big book. I re-read
book 3 and I agreed. There was so much build up and no resolution. I knew there was another book coming, but... the story read better by making the two manuscripts one book. And as far as the title went, it worked out beautifully for me.
One of my favorite things that happened while I wrote "Darkness" was that I had set up all kinds of little foreshadowings in the first two books that are discovered in this book. One in particular - the one that left me in awe - is how Aleksertac communicates. Personally, I've always loved re-reading books to find the bread crumbs that an author puts in their books, but read right over, or misinterpreted, because I didn't know any better in the first read through. I just never expected to be so surprised by a book I was writing, but I was. Once I realized what was going on, I was happily blown away... Excited is probably a better word.
Writing "Darkness" was a fun and exciting adventure, but not all of it came easy. I had struggles with how I wanted to write in a few important events in the timeline of Sonia's life. Plus there's always at least one someone who likes to change how I wanted to write their story. I really do love the end product of "Darkness", of the trilogy as a whole. And I am still extremely grateful that my son made me listen to "Demons".
