I've always loved pirate stories, so I wanted to write a book with pirates. This book was originally called Child of Separation, and it was told in three parts. Part one was a prequel of Edward and "Princess Jasmine" (who later was named Rebekah), and it told how they met and their love story. Part two continued the stories from Child of Prophecy and Child of Beauty, telling what happened next with Sara and Faryn, specifically. Part three was the pirate part with Bree as the main character, her friendship with Sara and Faryn, and the story of the crews going after the prisoners and rescuing them.
This changed drastically many times to what was published. I ended up changing Bree's back story several times and her motivation for sailing. In the final version, she wants to join the circus as a dagger thrower. She went to Perso's Creek for a competition and the reward. But in earlier versions, she was looking for her father. I changed this because ultimately, it didn't make sense as to why she was randomly sailing around the world looking for answers about her father (something my editor pointed out). I changed her motivation to fit the story much better. The first five books of Prophecy Series can be read as standalones (but readers will pick up on characters and plots if they read it in order), but this book brings the final threads of books 1-3 & 5 (Child of Prophecy, Child of Beauty, Child of Destiny, and Child of Magic) together in a way which you need to read those books to fully understand the stakes and story. Books 7 & 8 will also continue this trend, and book 8 brings book 4 (Child of Hope) into the mix as well. The cover features Rickie, the leader of Ruccis. When I started writing the book, I didn't expect her romance with Oliver to unfold. It was unexpected and enjoyable to write his redemption story. I first saw Oliver as a rival for Craig and, ultimately, a bad guy who would betray Diane. Originally, he was not King Ethan's son, Diane's stepbrother, or Sara's half-brother. His role shifted when I rewrote Child of Prophecy in 2015. I was very excited to have a different position for him in the future of the series, and he quickly turned from a creepy bad guy (as he was portrayed more so in Child of Prophecy, especially early on) to a redeemed hero (as he turns into in this novel). As I said, I didn't originally plan on having Rickie and Oliver end up together, but as I wrote about them, they both had broken pasts and worked to change themselves and be better in the future. I loved that they were both on the same journey (Rickie longer than Oliver), and it made writing their scenes very fulfilling. My editor pointed out that it was unrealistic to have five people sail a ship. So, I decided to expand the crews and do more research on the positions and their jobs. Pirates of the Caribbean grossly exaggerated how two people can sail a ship... Lol. As I did, I changed the names of my ships with a name generator. I also added three crews and captains. When I first planned how this book would go, I planned that Rickie & Angie's parents would be prisoners on Ruest. That quickly changed, and I really liked how it did. The five main people on the crew of Mprozo Bon (Captain Jayna, First Mate Tina, Quartermaster Kia, Sailing Master Deven, and Kate the Cook) are people from my other series. I have plans to expand Mysterious Warriors Quartet with five other quartets into a series called Erde Chronicles. Deven is born in Mysterious Warriors: Redemption to Pearl and Ian Weastle. The other four characters aren't born by the end of Mysterious Warriors: Redemption. I am very excited to one day return to Erde Chronicles and write more books in that series. Also, Grey Hood in Child of Redemption and Black Hood in Mysterious Warriors: Alone and Mysterious Warriors: Redemption are the same person. |