Behind Chapter 1 of Cthoma’s Fated

A Voice from the Past

The Behind the Chapters will have spoilers for the novel. You've been warned.

The chapter names were taken from song names from my favorite band, Marillion. I received permission from the band’s manager to use the song names in my book (Thank you, Lucy). A Voice from the Past is from their Somewhere Else album. I chose the name because this chapter is all about the history between Throug and Shaucrim.

“Do you have any weapons?” the imperial guardsman asked.

I love starting a story in the middle of a scene. It is more interesting to be in the middle of something and try to figure out what is going on than to spend paragraphs setting up the space and the characters involved. You can learn just as much about a character while they are doing something rather than describing them.

I don’t spend too much time describing Throug. To me, it does not matter what he looks like. The reader will put their spin on what the character looks like and it doesn’t matter what I say. For instance, despite Rowling describing Dumbledore as being very thin, I always saw him as being overweight. It is probably because of his name.

Throug Slagger looked the man in the eye and said, “Are we really doing this? I haven’t tried to kill him in nineteen years.”

The name Throug Slagger comes from a character I created for Dungeons & Dragons back in the early 80s. It was used for a character who was a bounty hunter and I liked it because it sounded like “throat slasher” to me. When I wrote the blurb that I would base the book on, I wrote in Throug Slagger as a placeholder but then decided to keep it.

I was ripped apart by a reviewer who hated the name of the character. I would’ve taken her criticism more seriously if my editor hadn’t said that she liked the name. Plus, the examples of better names that the reviewer supplied were all from science fiction and fantasy that all the normies know about like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. At least show me you know something about the genre and mention a name from Rothfuss or Hobb.

Note: This is not the character’s real name so that also made me less apt to change it. When you only read 700 words and base your comments on that, I also have less interest in your comments.

This is the first chapter that I wrote for this book as soon as I had the idea. I rewrote it to add a bit of humor. I thought that by adding some humor I’d be writing to my strength. Thus, Righty and Lefty were born (those are also the favorite characters of a friend of mine who doesn’t like fantasy because she can remember their names).

He sighed, then took off his belt, which held both his sword and the knife his grandfather had given him.

The relationship between Throug and his grandfather is important to the story. I wanted to introduce him early and this was the easiest way. The fact that Throug still has his grandfather’s knife on him after all these years speaks to their connection.

The first time Throug had walked through those doors he had left two guards like Righty and Lefty lying in pools of their own blood.

Just a bit of history about what happened before. I wanted to make sure that the reader knew that there had been consequences nineteen years prior. The emperor and Throug had not played Tiddlywinks to decide the fate of the empire.

After what seemed like an eternity, one of the smaller doors set into the giant ones opened. Raistle Millon walked out.

Raistle was the first of the emperor’s lieutenants that I developed. I could see him very clearly, but I did not know what his special powers were other than his loyalty. Raistle is the general of the emperor’s armies and has survived all these years while standing right next to the emperor.

His Ixafore sword hung at his side. The lieutenant wore mismatched gloves; the one on his right hand bore markings the same as those on his sword.

The Ixafore name was created by starting with the Roman numeral “9” and adding “fore” which means “situated or placed in front.” The “a” was added to give it a nicer sound. The nine is a reference to the nine rings that Throug had already found.

Raistle’s sword had no special powers until I needed it to do something special in Chapter 33. I’ll discuss that more in that chapter’s Behind the Chapter. It also added to the tension of the climactic battle at the end of the book.

The magic of this story is based entirely on items left behind by the Ixafore. I liked the idea that there are no wizards in this world. The people of this book find magic items. They don’t create them. This added an interesting dynamic of where the power of the world comes from.

Blood dripped from his weapon and the smell of burning filled the room.

William Wallace was described as having the smell of smoke follow him as he fought the British. I have listened to and read interviews with soldiers and they always mention the smell of burning. Throug is a destroyer but not on the same level as Shaucrim. I wanted to make that apparent with “the smell of burning” when the two faced each other for the first time.

“Throug is as much a victim of the prophecy as I was. He was born at the wrong time. He was poorly trained by people that would do me harm. He suffered challenges needlessly. He gathered rings to prove his role in this story. He came here that night for my enemies, who dared not show their faces. They have since been taken care of.”

I wrote out the prophecy. One version reflected a very good translation from the original and a version that reflected what was the more accepted translation. I am not going to share it. To be honest, I don’t like how it came out, but it gave me a good idea of how to move forward with the story. In the end, the prophecy is not as important as how the characters react to it. Their actions speak more than the words of the prophecy ever could.

The emperor motioned to the skulls that decorated the walls around the hall. Men and women who had been Throug’s friends and mentors. He stole a glimpse at the fallen. He could not tell the difference between the skulls, but the wise Pizeriah, the mysterious Longrabbit, and the hell bird that had been Dinder, among others, were all reduced to grisly wall art. Tiala’s skull was not up there; he had buried her himself.

Originally, this paragraph had no names, but my editor said that I should add some detail about Throug’s friends and mentors. Tiala became more fleshed out with that suggestion and her later mention in Chapter 18 is a direct result of that note.

Longrabbit might be one of my favorite names. I kind of want to know more about him. I’m not a big fan of prequels, so I probably won’t be writing that story.

Throug looked above the heads of those that packed the hall and said his one line. “I only had nine of the ten rings.”

I was worried about using rings in this story. I am more than aware of Lord of the Rings and the Mandarin from Marvel. The thing is I wanted there to be multiple pieces to what Throug had to collect. Armor didn’t feel right, but the rings made sense. I could tie significance to the stones in the ring along with which finger each ring went onto. Plus, rings are easy to hide under a pair of gloves.

The guards’ laughter followed him as he ran from the palace out onto the streets of Galadan.

I feel bad for Throug. He has to live with his failure and is reminded of it everywhere he looks. The focus of this chapter is to lay the groundwork of the story and to give a glimpse into his life.