Evolution of Demiurge
“Demiurge” started quite a while ago. Writing on the book began around 2008, published now, nearly 15 years later.
It was my first completed novel. Starting out, I had NO idea I could finish one. I remember celebrating after the first draft of the first 50 pages. Before this, I had written a lot of poetry and thought that was my thing (it wasn’t). Learning how to write poetry did help teach me how to refine my words but the first finished draft of Demiurge had 40 thousand extra words that were whittled down in the many drafts to come. I rarely cut full sentences; this 40-thousand-word reduction was only a product of decreasing the words of each sentence, or refinement-editing – like you might do with a poem.
Earlier than that, I attempted to write the book around 1998, and left it unfinished. (As a personal Easter egg, just for me, a paragraph of that original story survives in the current, finished novel.)
Even EARLIER than that, a handful of the character names generated from a dip I took into the world of Dungeons and Dragons, during the sixth grade. To add an extra layer of nerd over this - I remember our quirky DM at the time, combined creatures from the original Star Trek series with D&D—we each carried our own purring tribble. That’s where Haot-fote, and Firleggs were born.
After the game stopped, I continued to make character sheets for un-played games. (D&D was a niche interest at the time. Very few people in my sphere were even aware of it.) Terina, Harps and Arc were all born through this.
I reinvented the characters in 1998, and again when I outlined the now existing novel, in 2008. From the start, Firleggs and Hoat-fote were brothers but they were also friends in the same campaign (both thieves). Terina was a mage but inexperienced and Harps was a young ranger. Arc was a rotund sheriff. Harps started with the name Kat but this name became so popularized through the “Hunger Games” series, I decided to change it. Instead, I named her after Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Sometimes I thought of Atticus Finch when I was figuring out Haot-fote’s tone and demeanor. I tried to make his voice of reason a soothing one, at least to Terina.