Welcome to the end of the Hammer and Anvil author commentary. We made it! I hope you’ve enjoyed this deep dive into the work. If there are things you wanted to know that weren’t covered, please don’t hesitate to write at lou@loupaduano.com. Here it is, your final SPOILER WARNING!
Creating a Series Thread
Going into the prequels I knew there had to be some commonality between them. There had to be a thread, or else it would not be a proper trilogy. At the start of things, however, I had no clue what I was looking to do or where I was headed with subsequent books (for the most part – I did know Kali was going to be in Book 2, which I will be talking about in November and December).
I needed a sense of direction. More than that, I needed the character or incident that tied each book together in some fashion.
Enter: The Door
How did the Minotaur enter Portents? It was a question that plagued me for much of the writing. Mentor’s diversion to the home of the labyrinth wasn’t even a proper chapter in the book until the revision stage. Even then, it was more a red herring to make you think Karen Winters, the Luminary, was the menace behind the Minotaur’s presence in the city.
It was a fun gimmick to try, but all it did was make me realize that someone else must have brought him out. Someone else must have had the ability to open a door into the labyrinth and release this menace.
That was where the series thread was born. That was the moment it came to light just what this series might be about at its heart. (In terms of the plot, anyway… This was always meant to be Soriya’s journey to become the Greystone and take the mantle from Mentor.)
With the realization that someone had to be behind the door for the Minotaur, I had my starting point. Mentor’s chapter where he discovers the door suddenly took on a whole new meaning. I rewrote it several times, trying not to be too obvious with the hints laid out for the reader…
Okay, did you read it again? Good.
The Wiccan Shop
Did you catch the mention of that innocuous shop across the street? I put it there for a reason. There is always a reason when I add a specific detail to a scene, I promise you. Yes, the red herring was there to turn longtime readers toward the Luminary, but the Wiccan shop was listed to foreshadow what is coming next for the series:
The Final Gauntlet
Yes. This is it. The end of the trilogy and the book that owes everything to Hammer and Anvil for creating the series thread. Without the mention of the Wiccan shop, without the question being asked about how the Minotaur made his way to Portents, there would be no Book Three.
Everything was born in this moment and the culmination is coming your way October 13th.
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the commentary.
