Now that Pride Before a Fall has been released into the wild, I’d like to discuss the future of the Eirenic Verses and temper expectations about what the series holds.

There’s only one spoiler here, don’t worry. And you’ll like that spoiler anyway.

The Scope Changes Significantly

9 Years Yearning, Pride Before a Fall, and the upcoming Funeral of Hopes are low stakes, focused on interpersonal conflicts. While the mood grows increasingly somber with Funeral of Hopes, there is little discussion of larger power structures, and the interest remains solely with the main characters.

This shifts with the fourth book, What Is Cannot Be Unwritten. Here, we receive our first inside look at the other country, Sina, through the eyes of one of its inhabitants. Mordrek Willets, a Sinan spy, also provides us with an outsider’s perspective on Breme, which we have only seen from its citizens.

We finally widen the lens and see real, long-lasting repercussions for both countries. While all the books are powered by the narrators’ perspectives, they now become actors in greater schemes rather than personal dramas.

We Move from Light and Low-Stakes to Grand and Adventurous

9 Years Yearning is a teenage drama, while Pride Before a Fall and Funeral of Hopes introduce more somber elements and discuss the hard parts of relationships.

What Is Cannot Be Unwritten and the fifth book, Absent All Light, move into the adventure category, which is where the series mostly stays throughout the second half. You can expect intricate plots, more moving parts, and higher stakes.

By the last book, Plexity, we are dealing with major, world-changing events that entirely restructure both countries. The arc has gone from a simple focus on two characters to a wider network of many players, all with their own personalities, relationships, flaws, and motivations.

The Tone Darkens Throughout the Series

9 Years Yearning is simple and light. I tell readers at the very beginning that they can expect a happy ending, so they don’t need to worry about whether I’ll kill the gays.

Pride Before a Fall is also relatively low-stakes, but the tone gets melancholy in Funeral of Hopes.

By What Is Cannot Be Unwritten, we experience heart-wrenching crises of conscience, plus the first real sense of danger. The fifth book, Absent All Light, puts the main characters in life-threatening situations, as does the sixth book, Poesy.

Everyone remains at risk throughout the rest of the series, leaving readers fearing tragic consequences.

Each Book Remains Firmly Character-Driven, Though POVs Change

This is not to say that personal relationships aren’t important. The characters’ decisions and their loyalty to one another shape the plots. Most of the books simply wouldn’t happen if Uileac didn’t love Orrinir, or if Cerie didn’t love her brother and brother-in-law, and so on.

These main characters remain key players throughout the whole series. Spoiler alert: none of the three die. Take a deep breath and relax.

Not too deep a breath, though. We do a lose few characters along the way.

But, while Uileac and Orrinir are POVs in some of the later books, they are not necessarily the most important characters. By the fifth book, we have started to move toward Cerie’s perspective, where she comes into her own.

High Poetry Becomes a Stronger Focus

With Cerie’s maturation comes more of an interest in High Poetry, which completely molds the plots. While Pride Before a Fall gave us a first-hand account of High Poetry, it was almost incidental; there was not a consistent interest in its workings.

This was because Orrinir, the POV, isn’t a High Poet and would not be seeing it all the time. When we move to Cerie, we can enjoy a greater breadth of poetry, viewing all its functionalities.

So, if you’ve enjoyed the brief glimpses of High Poetry, you’ll be even more delighted by the later parts of the series.

Why I Chose to Structure the Series in This Way

Part of the reason I did this is that I wanted the first few books to be shorter. I understand that few people want to read a long book from an unknown author; they won’t waste their money or time reading something they wouldn’t like. Short books are cheaper and easier to manage, leaving readers wanting more.

By doing simpler plots that naturally take up less space, I could hook readers’ attention and sell them on my writing style. Then, as the series continues, the books get longer and more involved. I hope that readers will trust I can tell a good story, and thus they are willing to invest their time and emotional energy into what I am saying.

I also wanted readers to bond with characters and the world in low-stakes situations first. Lighter plots allow for deeper characterization and encourage more worldbuilding so that by the time heavier elements are introduced, readers understand the characters, world mechanics, and magic system. They’re ready to play around with these elements and will not need as much exposition, allowing for more involved plots.

I Want to Leverage My Entire Literary Range

While I do care about the reader’s experience, this structure was also for my own self-satisfaction.

Writing the same story over and over again is boring to me. Though I respect those who can churn out dozens of romantic comedies, mysteries, or thrillers, I can’t. I’m too restless and curious to stay in one lane.

During my practice phase, I wrote every subgenre I could: romantic comedies, mythological retellings, speculative fiction, political thrillers, sci-fi, time-travel mishaps, supernatural adventures, and more.

I developed an entire alternate canon of over 100 different stories, comprising 1.6 million words, for my favorite fandom. All the stories were interconnected, with callbacks from one story to another more than 30 stories earlier. Each story had a different subgenre, tone, character focus, and even structural style. Some were serial flashbacks, like 9 Years Yearning, while others were told entirely through dialogue, news articles, emails, and journal entries.

While the books in the Eirenic Verses don’t get quite so experimental, they allow me to employ my experience writing various genres.

For me, the joy of writing is learning as much as I can. It is breathtaking to me that every English-language writer can have access to the same words but can use them in such wildly varying ways.

The human experience is so vast, as are the types of stories people like to read. I want to explore all of that. If writing wasn’t fun to me, I wouldn’t want to do it, so I have to challenge myself.

This Shift May Not Satisfy All Readers, and That’s Okay

I understand that some readers only want one fantasy subgenre and will ignore other types of stories. I may lose some readers along the way, or I may gain some later on, when the stakes get higher.

Though it may surprise you to hear an author say it’s okay to stop reading, I always remember that I am not entitled to your readership.

Don’t grit your teeth through every chapter if you don’t like a book. Once you’re out of school, reading fiction is meant to be fun. This is your leisure time; you should spend it how you want to.

The structure of Eirenic Verses enables you to give up wherever you like without feeling you have missed something. While you’ll have a more satisfying experience if you read the full series arc, it’s also not required.

I do hope that you will find my writing style compelling enough to follow along, but I also understand if that’s not true.

Ultimately, I want to bring the very best products to you, meaning I must challenge myself. I’m not satisfied by writing formulaic, same-old-same-old. This may restrict my readership, but it also means those who stay on can enjoy a breathtaking experience written by someone who is excited to share this world.