I don’t like doing cliffhangers because I feel like it’s a cheesy attempt by authors to get you to buy another book once you’re invested in the story. But that is sort of what happened with Prism. The Prism story had a fantastic ending that literally came out of nowhere for me. And yes, it was a kind of cliffhanger in that we needed to find out what happened to the people at the end. I think it wasn’t so much a cliffhanger in that it was a really good setup for the next series of events within the epic.

I began writing Travada almost as soon as I finished Prism; the books are essentially a continuation of the Prism part of the story with a few new people. But what really surprised me about Travada was that the Awakened series had take a huge turn; the epic story was maturing, rapidly. While Paradisus and Deception introduced us to a bold new expansion, Travada kicks the epic into high-gear by an order of magnitude. There were a number of plot twists that happened I was not expecting as well.

“What do you mean there were plot twists you weren’t expecting?? Jeez, Harley, you’re the one writing these books!” No, I’m not. The people in the story are the ones writing it. I’m just the author writing down what they say and do. I keep telling people this and no one believes me. Yes, I guess the people and the story exist within my very fertile imagination, but at the end of the day, it is THEY who tell their stories and I’m just the guy writing them down.

I know, it makes people’s heads spin knowing I write my books shooting from the hip like this, but that is how I write. I have no idea when I sit down to write a book like Prism or Travada what is going to happen within the story. I mean, I sort of know when I start out who is in it starting out and what might sort of happen, but then the story and the people take over and the novel then takes on a life all its own. I’m merely the spectator sitting back watching as the events unfold from the page.

I have been shocked, stunned, amazed and thrilled by what happens within the stories I write as I write them. It is part of what makes me want to write. To see the people and their stories emerge from the page.

Perhaps what I have enjoyed most about the Awakened Chronicles is that they have begun to come into their own as a series what intertwines with the main books while expanding the story in ways the main series has not. I believe I am slowly discovering that AWAKENED is more than just a few books within a series, but that the story is capable of spawning many, many series, including the FIERCE novels and perhaps others to come.

I hope you enjoy reading Travada and the rest of the AWAKENED novels as much as I enjoyed writing them.

All the best.

~ Harley