It’s funny….I originally made Galarian Gaming as gaming, gaming and only gaming. While this isn’t specifically gaming related, it has a history rich through gaming its self, so there is still a correlation with the subject matter. I’ve wanted to branch off and do some pro wrestling articles and a couple of general geek culture subjects, but I am still resisting that urge (update – I failed and posted a wrestling related article).

I announced back in mid February that I was going to proceed with writing a book that I’ve wanted to complete for the longest time. I didn’t forget about discussing more about The Galarian Chronicles; I just spent some time catching up on gaming related pieces so that I could set myself up to have more time to dedicate to this. Now that I am caught up, I can proceed with sharing my vision, concept, etc.

I’ll break this down into a number of questions about the overall idea and concept behind The Galarian Chronicles, how long I’ve been at it, the metamorphism that went on, etc.

What is The Galarian Chronicles?

The Galarian Chronicles is a fantasy series, taking place during a time where orcs, gnolls, giants, knights, magic and similar themed settings apply. At the very heart of The Galarian Chronicles is a character study; it’s a journey of evolution, regression and reemergence of the main protagonist, Galarian, a half elf warrior. Moreover, although the story is named after Galarian, there’s a shared importance and notoriety between Galarian and his best friend, a wood elf druid named Aeriann. Together they embark on a myriad of adventures that spans the world, all the while, getting to know them better, and witnessing them evolve from where they started in the series.

Is The Galarian Chronicles based on anything in particular, or a concept you came up with?

Most of the protagonists throughout the series (oops, spoilers, but then again, it did say Book I) are loosely based on people and characters I’ve encountered in the PC MMORPG named EverQuest. There will be some liberties taken, with different personality quirks and such added to these heroes, as well as the world they inhabit. The world, while similar, will not retain the same names (that whole copyright thing) and the multiple themes throughout will have no kind of bearing or cohesion with any era of the game.

In short – the setting as a whole, and the protagonists were based on EverQuest (with liberties taken) but the actual story and everything else will be unique.

How long have you been working on The Galarian Chronicles?

The groundwork for The Galarian Chronicles began in the mid 2000’s, where the project name was under The Kestral Chronicles. The cast of characters have been somewhat altered here and there, though the concept, protagonists, direction, main story and sub-stories have been pretty much fleshed out since then.

Why now? Why has it taken over a decade to get to the point where you’re ready to fully produce this piece of work?

On two occasions, I actually tried to get a semblance of The Galarian Chronicles written, during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) back in the early 2010’s as well as three years ago, but I just couldn’t put aside the time needed. The first time I attempted, I got 3000 words done in one day, like nothing. Then each day after, I just couldn’t make the time, which is ironic, as I don’t have much time to even spend playing video games lately, let alone write a book. November has never been the best month to produce writing for me anyway, between work and other activities.

But why now? I guess it’s just a part of how life has been changing over the last two years. I have a sense of urgency to tackle this project and share it with the world. While I love to write, I don’t fancy myself an author in that sense, so this endeavor will push me to my limits to better my writing, be more critical, as well as micromanaging a ton. I’ve been chatting with a co-worker, who has a couple of self-published books under his belt, and trying to get a grasp of how to deal with any kinds of writer’s block that may redevelop, how to deal with certain things that aren’t clicking with the story, and more.

But ultimately, I feel that the time is right, and even though I don’t have a lot of free time, I am making the time to get this completed. I feel that almost two years should be a generous amount of time to finally complete the first story.

How long is this entire project going to take?

There’s the $64,000 question.

I’ve wanted to make this into a three part series, which culminates to another story arc, which focuses on a larger group of heroes (not unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe with The Avengers, though there’s only “one” character focused story that would culminate in the team-up). As mentioned earlier, this being a character study of sorts, readers will witness how Galarian, as well as how Aeriann, evolves from book to book, and from within each book as well.

So in essence, this may take several years to come to fruition, if I stay the course and go through each part. I want at least the first book done before anything else is really emphasized upon. Once that is done, I can reevaluate everything and see where to go from there.

How long do you estimate the first book being?

No less than 75,000 words at bare minimum. There’s really no magical number that I am aiming for, though I want to be thorough with any and all plot developments, plot devices, character development and just everything when it comes to developing the main protagonists’ history and evolution, while still making it a fascinating read.

When you say “Book I Coming in Late 2019” What does that mean exactly? Will it be ready to go? Will it be sold in some form?

That’s what I hope. The reality is, I am really just writing this all out first, fact checking, copy editing and making sure it’s in a condition that is suitable to share with the world. The means of which I’ll be sharing this and all? That’s yet to be determined. Ideally I’ll figure out a way to have it published when it’s completed. Even though it’s nearly a two year time limit on the goal, there’s so much that has to be sorted, completed, researched and everything. Regardless, Late 2019 is what it says, and dammit, I’m going to make that goal!