Backstory is part of the full story, but it's not the whole story

A peek into the prequel to Chronicles of the Twelve Realms with author Rachael Ritchey

Hello! Since some of you did reach out and say YES to a peek at the prequel and backstory to Chronicles, I’m going to share a bit here today. Thank you so much! It’s fun for me to share, and I’d love to hear what you think—good, bad, and indifferent. If you see something that could be improved or you have a question pop in your head, please speak up!

Book Review & Recommendation

Before I get to the excerpt from the Ismene & Othniel prequel stuff, I thought I’d share about a book that just came out that I enjoyed in a new New Adult Fantasy series by J. M. Archer. It’s called Betrayed.

Betrayed is book one in The Door of Exterrah series. The reason it’s considered a New Adult book instead of a YA book is because the characters are college age. I feel like New Adult category can be a treacherous category for books because some go beyond that coming-of-age period of life, the innocence of it, and go where characters are taking steps outside their young lives and treading into the waters of adulthood without parental oversight. I think YA books also have similar pitfalls, which is another subject altogether. Am I making sense?

Anyway, Betrayed is a Christian Portal Fantasy at its heart. You will not find any surprising or objectionable scenes, but you will find a lot of action, an interesting plot, a subtle enemies-to-lovers sweet romance (it’s also what is often referred to as slow-burn—as in in this book it’s almost nonexistent. :) ). Plus, there’s the introduction to a complicated world on both sides of the portal, and a variety of characters, some of which bring the drama, let me tell you.

I gave this book five stars for all those reasons. And here’s my review as seen on Goodreads:

Great series opener for an action-packed, magical, portal fantasy that follows Maggie, a college student just trying to finish the year strong amid family turmoil and moving to a house that may or may not be haunted.

Maggie is thrust into a new world full of magic, mystery, elves and shifters where she meets the royal family of an elven kingdom who have some secrets of their own. While some accept her, others do not, and soon she finds herself embroiled in an ancient battle between good and evil where not even her friends from the other side of the portal are safe.

If you enjoy Christian themes, strong friendships, blended families, lots of action, mythical creatures, and forbidden innocent love, you'll find all this and more in Betrayed.

You can find Betrayed on Amazon:

Backstory: What is it all about?

So, backstory is all the world and character development behind the story that you might see bits and pieces of sprinkled throughout, or never see at all. It’s the part of the story the author tells themselves to give the lives, actions, thoughts, and circumstances of the story its strong, deep structure—we’ll call it bones—to build the organs and flesh of the world upon.

I am so lucky to have my family be supportive of my writing. I often corner my eldest daughter and make her listen to my story ideas. She’s very good about honestly telling me what she likes and doesn’t like, asking tons of hard questions, and fleshing out backstory. She’s a voracious reader, and has been since reading ‘clicked’ for her back at age five. In 2nd grade, I’d often discover her laying in bed with a Mystery of History text book…reading ahead. haha

Anyway, she’s also incredible at analyzing plot and character motivations. Sometimes I think she’s too easy on me, but maybe I’ll break her of that eventually. But what I love about telling her my stories is she’ll ask a question she thinks might stump me about what motivated a choice or character trait, and then I’ll get to answer with all the backstory!

When I wrote The Beauty Thief, at the beginning, one of the characters tells a story about her own past that I had only just thought about on the surface, but the more I wrote in the Twelve Realms, the more her story—the one she told—begged to be told. It was backstory that didn’t need fleshing out to be useful to writing The Beauty Thief, but sometimes those backstories just make good stories themselves.

I’ve learned in writing this alternate world low fantasy fiction (Chronicles of the Twelve Realms series) that there is the freedom to have a lot of traditions and history that have affected culture for the people in it. In fact, I do this so much more than focus on magic or magical creatures. I love the ability to take our varied real-world cultures and historical traditions and merge them with the lore, history, and traditions of the world I’ve built, or let them inspire brand new ones!

I can get so creative, and I love the idea of making readers question if the history I’ve included is based on something from a real life culture or just completely made up! It could be either or a combination! :) That is something that plays a pivotal role in this prequel, but I’m not ready to give away too much yet!

This is a placeholder cover & title I designed, but probably not a finished book cover design for the prequel!

So today, the excerpt is not from the very beginning or even the big tradition that spurs on this whole epic love story, but it’s a fun look at Ismene’s arrival at Castle Taisce.

Here’s the (rough draft) excerpt:

Ismene yanked herself back against the carriage seat. Almighty, that man thought I was staring at him! The gall! How embarrassing.

“Isn’t he handsome, Issa?” Ketra asked, leaning out and staring at the retreating form of man and rider. She giggled and patted Ismene’s knee. “Don’t worry. I won’t mention to Mama how you stared so rudely.”

“Ketra!” Ismene said, exasperated but also amused. If anyone could help her laugh at herself, it was Ketra.

Her sister attempted to waggle her eyebrows and pursed her lips in a pert “I know what you were thinking” expression.

“I was admiring his black, Ketra. That stallion isn’t quite as big as Rising Wind, but he is so sleek and well-groomed.”

“Hmm, yes, but you have mistaken his color. The rider was blond.”

Ismene’s eyes grew wide at the jest. “Ketra! Hush. That was completely inappropriate.”

“But true!” she said with a laugh and quickly jumped out of the carriage, ignoring the hand of the groom waiting to help her disembark.

Ismene shook her head at Ketra’s antics and suppressed the smile forming on her lips. She glanced back to where the man had disappeared on his beautiful horse. Yes. He was definitely blond. Dark blond, but definitely still blonde with a honey undertone. Ismene! Enough.

She took the groom’s hand and climbed out of the carriage after her mother and sister and stretched as far as propriety would allow. They rarely traveled anywhere by carriage, so when her father insisted she ride with her mother and sister in it, she’d balked. But then she found out he was doing as her mother had asked. No one told Lady Victara Tenbow ‘no.’ No one. He had promised to bring Rising Wind, though, so Ismene gazed back over the procession until she saw her handsome steed prancing at the end of his reins that were held rather impressively by a young groom.

Maybe, she thought, I should go help him. She stepped that way only to be waylaid by a hand on her arm.

“My lady, you are wanted with your mother,” Helein said, indicating the top of the keep steps. The lady’s maid shook her head with a grin. “Your not-so-gentle giant will have to wait.”

Ismene looked back at Rising Wind wistfully but then obeyed, turning toward the keep entrance to join her mother and sister at the top. Their lady’s maid followed just behind.

“Helein?” Ismene said and hesitated, not sure she wanted to ask the question on her mind, especially not knowing why the thought even popped in her head.

“Yes, my lady?”

Ismene stopped on the step and waited for Helein to be standing close beside her. “Did you happen to see that rider a moment ago?”

Helein attempted to hide her smile. “Yes. Why?”

“Oh, no reason. I suppose I am curious who he is. And wasn’t his horse pretty?”

“I wouldn’t know a pretty horse from a mule, my lady, but his rider was dashing.”

“Do you think so?”

Helein laughed and prodded Ismene to move forward again. “Yes, and it would be a strange woman to not think so. Especially knowing he is our sovereign ruler’s son.”

Ismene stumbled up the next stair and grabbed Helein’s arm for balance. “The prince?”

Helein’s expression showed concern. “M’lady?”

Ismene bit her lip for a second and took steadier step, while in her mind she begged Helein to do the same to keep from drawing any attention. She lowered her voice. “Did you say that was the prince? How do you know?”

“I asked the groom when we disembarked. Since I was riding in the wagon that last stretch, I happened to see him talking with your father on the way in.”

“Oh.” Ismene blinked several times in rapid succession. Well, that won’t do. I certainly hope he didn’t take my admiring his horse the wrong way.

Ismene licked her lips and glanced back once more toward where the prince had disappeared. The prince! Oh, Almighty. She reached her mother—and Ketra, who hadn’t stopped giving her that inane grin—in time to be ushered into the entry hall and escorted by the castle steward to their rooms in the guest wing.

“Are you well, Ismene?” her mother asked.

“Yes.” It felt like the word came out as a squeak.

“Are you sure? Your cheeks are flushed.”

“It must just be the fresh air after being in the carriage all day.” Ismene inwardly reprimanded herself for telling such a silly fib. She could have said nothing at all and been fine.

Awkward! But so fun! I think the hardest part of making backstory into story is not adding too much backstory to the backstory. You know what I mean? haha

This is as close as they get to meeting at this point, and Ismene is certain she’ll never have to marry him, even if she does like his horse. But I have such a fun and interesting twist to this sweet romance tale that will surprise you, I think. My daughter was skeptical at first, I think, but I also think I won her over. I hope I do you too!

So, what do you think of this bit? Do you see something that you liked? Didn’t like? Thought could be better done? I’m truly open to any comments you have to make on it. My goal is always to write the best story I can, and I know that having fresh eyes and minds will inspire me to see the weak spots and eliminate mischievous plot sprites from wreaking havoc on the story!

Just Thinking

I don’t have any big thoughts this week. I’ve got too many other tasks weighing on my mind. Between my daughter heading back to her place today, my son’s upcoming graduations (he has finished HS and dual enrollment in Tech School), and finishing school strong with all three of my homeschooled kids, plus design work that needs doing and my own writing. I’m just a bit tapped out. As always, I can see all the good things in my life, all the precious things, and I’m full of gratitude, trying not to hold on too tightly to all the temporary things of this world but clinging to the eternal promises of God who sustains all things.

As my friend Sheila always says (at least in writing): Think eternally.

Amen (yes, I agree) to that!

I want to be praying for you, so if you have specific prayer requests, please let me know! You can reply to this email. Much love and have a wonderful week!

~ Rachael