My paranormal fantasy tosses the tragic backstory into the bin

The tragic backstory is one of the most overused tropes and it appears way too much. So I went a different route in Catenarian Chronicles.

I was listening to Harry Potter Theory today, and man was it a dandy. This one talked about Sirius Black’s tragic death, but in the original draft. Here, Sirius was a supporting character in Order of the Phoenix, but without much of a backstory.

And his death in that original draft? Oh, come on, J.K., I know you needed “payoff” or whatever, but wow. Did it beat the living shit out of what happened in the final draft, or what?

At least from my perspective. And the fact that there wasn’t a tragic backstory involved initially? Oh, that would’ve been a sigh of relief.

This is why I’d rather self-publish than go the traditional route. There are a shit-ton of reasons behind it, but keeping things close to their original storylines has always been my forte. These days, if too many characters have a tragic backstory in a single series, I’m gonna stop caring.

Like I said, it’s overdone and boring. I’ve read those books more times than I can count, so give me something fresh, damn it.

Or, I could just write something fresh.

No tragic backstory in Catenarian Chronicles…mostly…

Only two characters have a tragic backstory in my dark paranormal fantasy, and one of them belongs to the girl in the starring role, Kaija Jokiharju. I’m keeping the other character redacted since I’d be giving away spoilers.

Since Kaija’s our main girl, I’m more than fine with making her personal history as fucked up as I’d like it to be. As for Satu, Ella, Heikki, Kaarina, and other major characters? Hell no. But I’ll give you a little teaser: A few characters get tragic stories. That means nobody’s lost their entire families before you meet them.

Tragedy strikes them how, exactly?

Oh, don’t worry, I got something good planned out for quite a few characters not just here, but all over my Renegades Epic shared universe. You’ll find the same mindset in my post-apocalyptic dystopian fantasy, Sentrys of Terrene. Ditto for my paranormal thriller series, Terrian Chronicles. 

The same thing will happen with just about any book series I write. Skip the tragic backstory for seemingly everyone because I’d rather read shit that at least somewhat resembles real life as opposed to something that would rarely, if ever, happen.

Get insight into what I’m getting at

If you want to see this style in action, then look no further than Cursed Mage, Book I in my dark paranormal Catenarian Chronicles series. You’ll meet Kaija and learn why her life sucks within the first few pages.

And guess what? Tragedy ain’t done screwing with her. So, whether you read Cursed Mage or any of my other books, just remember, I’m deviating off the beaten path.

Main character gets tragic backstory. Other characters get, well, rude awakenings.

As I’ve said so many times: If I’m craving something different, then I ain’t the only reader who is. Wannabe genre sticklers would probably hate my guts for it. But you know what? A lot of sticklers do, so I’m not exactly shaking.

But do you know who is shaking? Kaija. Because some strange-ass shit’s going on with her and she don’t know why that is. Catch her story at my personal store, The Rebel Lore Vault, if you’re into twisted dark paranormal fantasy.