Let me introduce you to how this story was created. About three years ago I was thinking about a story which would be like one of the original Twilight Zone episodes. A western based in space and the punishment of a young girl for something she didn’t do.
The story opened up as the young woman was lashed to a post and whipped to death as bystanders watched. At first with glee and then with horror as each lash of the whip tore the life from the poor woman. As in the end each of those who watched felt the lash themselves as their own sins are exposed.
Not a bad concept. Nowhere near as good as the ones Rod Serling created by one I liked, nonetheless.
I buckled down and wrote out a small storyline. Added some character refences and created a small story from them. Then I shelved it as I tend to. Let it brew in the back of my mind. After about a year I took it out and shopped it around to my core group of writers. A group who can speak freely with me. And speak freely they did.
Some liked it, others hated it, and some saw potential in the idea. Each submitted their own take on the concept. Most crafted interesting stories and then one of them asked if it could become a series. This got my mind to bubbling with the potential of a serial story type.
I have always been a fan of the serial style story. A piece of the story each month published in some small magazine. I particularly liked Ellery Queen Mysteries. Anyways, the idea took root. I tossed several ideas back and forth with several of my core authors. Offered to let them run with it but each had their own projects in the works to take on another series.
The stories stayed with me. Soon, a main character emerged. Someone I felt was different. I like different. She becomes a hybrid created out of combined human and animal DNA. The main character is created and conditioned to become an investigator for the military of an empire. An empire I had no idea about. All I knew was she was a slave to the empire.
The main character was formed. Then the background stories built up and formulated. Then the five pieces of this series found their plots on paper. The best way for me to go from one story to the next is if I know what those stories are before I even write them.
Yes, I decided this series would be mine. I normally write in the darker realms of Christianity and horror, but this series tickled me. I liked the main character. I liked the idea behind what she would be tasked to do and the fact that she wasn’t worthy to perform the final job.
I took the plot and ran with it. Let it move from point to point and scene to scene in the free writing form. Then I began the hard content editing and then I let my best beta reader/proofreader/content editor/polisher have at it. My Wifesty – Yvonne.
What emerged was the story of how a human hybrid is tasked with obtaining a weapon so powerful it makes the emperor afraid. A weapon no one knows about. A weapon which killed a god.
The Whipping Post publishes on July 20th. Look for it in our bookstore. Have a go at the read and tell me what you think.
I’m Ross, The Editor-in-Chief at The Pyrateheart Press and I’m out.
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