Hello friends.
Another year, another volume of the Hesitant Hero. When I started writing my very first draft for volume 1 of this story, all the way back in November of 2021, I had no idea I would ever get to this point. I had tried a couple of very different approaches to this story before but none of them felt right. The idea that the hero would just be someone with anxiety and without any real talents – at least none that are generally ascribed to a heroic figure – was almost a last minute addition but I think it made for a much more interesting setting than what I initially planned. After three volumes, we have seen quite some improvement in Mana’s general mood. Although she definitely struggles with anxiety, I didn’t want to make it the main focus of every part of the story. We as anxious people have good moments too so she does get to play the hero a little bit in this volume. She is also completely in her element in a city like Marsolin, so that definitely helps.
Speaking of Marsolin, let’s immediately dive into some things I want to change before this becomes a final draft. Marsolin as a city has some places described and some early descriptions about what it looks like, but when I first started writing this volume I didn’t think the entire thing would take place here. So for that reason, I want to develop it a bit more than I already have. It’s important that a setting feels lived in and I believe I did a pretty good job for both Milinia and Ravadier, but not nearly as good a job for places like Saphestan and Marsolin. That’s a big point of order for me when rewriting these two volumes. I also want to work out the magic system a lot more – either in detail or keep it vague but consistent – but I’ll talk about that in another afterword. I can talk about magic systems for hours on end and if you don’t stop me, I will do so.
Let’s instead look at a character we learned a lot more about in this volume, including her name: Petriya Solin.
As one of the last heirs of the once prestigious Solin family she has become an antagonist in our heroes’ story. Her goal seems to be to revive one of the old gods and then with this powerful ally wipe out any people who were summoned here from another world. We’ve seen her a few times in volume 1 – not in the version on my blog, unfortunately, but in the new version that will hopefully be in stores one day – and she was also present in Eliana’s backstory. Alongside Sapher and some other allies we have yet to reveal, it should be a fun bunch of antagonists. They aren’t quite bad guys – at least not all of them – but the things they want to do not line up with the interests of our protagonists. I have some more heinous villains planned for much later in this story, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
I’m going to have to teach another couple of classes in a few moments so I’d like to keep this post a little bit short. That works out well since I don’t have too much content planned for the upcoming weeks, so I can take my time and really get my thoughts in order. Besides magic systems in all three volumes, I also still want to talk more about volume 2, and I have some things to say about the different races I’m introducing in this series. For now, I’m going to eat something before the kids start walking in, I’m starving.
Thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 