Where EoN Is Going (Patreon)

There are already a lot more of you here than I expected this early, so first of all, thank you. As always, I really appreciate the support and the trust you’ve put in the story.

Because of that, I feel like I owe you a little look behind the curtain. A few people have asked where EoN is actually going, how much of it I have planned, and how I approach writing it, so I figured this was probably a good time to talk about that.

The most important thing is that EoN is a finite story.

I don’t want it to become an endless serial where one adventure simply leads into another because the story needs to keep going, or where a new villain appears every time the previous conflict is resolved just so Arien has someone new to fight. There is a larger story being told, and it has an ending.

In fact, I already know what that ending is.

I haven’t written it yet, obviously. A lot can still grow and change along the way, especially because of the way I write, but I know where everything is ultimately heading. I even know what I want the final page to look like.

The central thread of the story probably isn’t completely visible yet. Some of you have already made guesses that are getting uncomfortably close, though. :D

One of the things I’m looking forward to most is reaching the point where seemingly small things from the early chapters suddenly gain a second meaning. Details that might currently look like simple worldbuilding, character moments, strange bits of history, or background information are not always as innocent as they seem.

Hopefully, at some point, there will be quite a few moments of:

Oh. So that’s why that was there.

The same applies to the major arcs. I don’t want an arc to exist simply because Arien needs something to do for another fifty chapters. Each one is supposed to contribute something to the larger story.

The first major arc was largely about laying foundations. It introduced parts of the world and its rules, but more importantly, it gave Arien time to actually become part of Erador. I wanted him to develop attachments, relationships, habits, and a sense that this is his life now rather than treating the world as a game he happened to be dropped into.

The next stage opens things up considerably. There will be more worldbuilding, much more progression, a larger cast, and several characters who will matter later. You’ll also start seeing more pieces of the central storyline appearing in the background.

I currently have the next four major arcs broadly outlined, and each of them gradually increases the pace and scope of the story.

That doesn’t mean EoN is suddenly going to stop being a slow burn and turn into nonstop action. It just means the foundations don’t need to be rebuilt every time. The world gets larger, the stakes grow, and Arien gets less and less time to simply figure everything out at his own pace.

There will also be occasional time skips as the story progresses.

I want Arien to actually grow up alongside the story rather than remain a child indefinitely. The early years matter because they establish who he becomes and how he sees Erador, but they are only one stage of a much longer journey.

I want his power, responsibilities, and place in the world to grow with him.

So no, the long-term plan is not an eight-year-old Arien staring down ancient archmages with the overwhelming power of his very serious child eyes. :D

As for how I actually write all of this, I’m somewhere between an outliner and a discovery writer.

Before starting a major arc, I work out what the arc is about, roughly where I want it to go, and, most importantly, what it needs to contribute to the larger story.

Once I have that, I stop planning quite so tightly.

Then I write the chapters almost as if I’m standing beside Arien and experiencing the story with him.

That means the route sometimes changes. New scenes appear. Small ideas turn into subplots. Characters who were supposed to have three lines suddenly decide they have other plans.

And strangely enough, that uncertainty is one of the things that gives me the most energy to keep writing. I know the destination, but I don’t always know every road I’ll take to get there. Sometimes I’m genuinely curious about what will happen when I put certain characters in the same room and let them talk.

Dialogue and new characters are probably my favourite things to write for exactly that reason.

Sari is probably the best early example.

Originally, she wasn’t supposed to be much more than Arien’s older sister during the first arc. Then I started writing her, she apparently disagreed with that arrangement, and somehow carved out a much larger place for herself in the world. Her choices and problems became things I wanted to follow rather than background details attached to Arien.

There are already a few characters in the next arc who have done something similar to me.

Sometimes a character enters a scene as a minor part of the world and leaves it with considerably more future than I had intended.

The world and the System work a little differently. Most of their fundamental rules are already established on my side.

One principle in particular matters a lot to me:

The world did not begin when Arien arrived.

Erador already had its religions, conflicts, politics, history, ambitions, grudges, and problems. People are doing things for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with him. Events will happen whether Arien is ready for them or not, and the world has no obligation to politely wait until he is strong enough to participate.

That leads into one last thing I’d like you to always keep somewhere in the back of your mind while reading EoN:

Characters are not the author.

Someone can explain something with absolute confidence and still be wrong.

They might know only part of the truth. They might be repeating something they were taught their entire life. They might deliberately leave something out. They might lie. They might genuinely misunderstand what happened.

And sometimes they may simply want Arien to believe something because it benefits them.

The same applies to enemies. I’m not particularly interested in villains conveniently explaining their entire plan so that the protagonist knows exactly what needs to be stopped.

So whenever someone in EoN tells Arien that something is absolutely, unquestionably true, that means one thing for certain:

They told him it was true.

Whether it actually is... well, that’s a different question. :)

I probably won’t do posts like this constantly because I’d rather let the story answer most questions itself, but I thought some of you might enjoy seeing a little of what’s happening behind the curtain.

And again, thank you for being here this early. Seeing so many people already invested enough to discuss theories, characters, the world, and where all of this might be going has been incredibly motivating.

Hopefully, a long time from now, when we finally reach that last page, some of you will look back at these early chapters and realise that quite a few things were staring you in the face all along.