The Story Behind The Story
Introduction
Welcome dear reader,
If you’re here, it probably means you’ve read/are currently reading the Chronicles of Galadria, and you’d like to know more about their origin and the writing process. Or perhaps you intend to get started, but would like a bit more context first?
Whatever the case, you’ve come to the right place! But before going any further, let me briefly mention my blog post “10 tips to write a novel“: it’s exclusively based on the experience gathered during the writing of my novel and as such gives a good overview of the backstage behind my work, on top of providing (hopefully) useful advice for those interested in writing something.
Anyway, let me now tell you more about the story behind the story of the Chronicles of Galadria…
Seven Years in the “Other World”
It took me seven years to write the novel “Chroniques de Galadria” (Chronicles of Galadria), from 13 to 20 years old. I completed it a couple of months before moving to Sweden; the start of a “new life”…
The story has of course been modified many times during that period, and so has the phrasing, as my French evolved. But multiple elements remained the same:
- The dream come true as a starting point
- The philosophical dimension
- The Magg/Protector idea
- …and other key points I won’t reveal here so as not to spoil the surprise!
During those 7 years, the “CG”, as we called them, took more or less all of my time; I was focused on adding to the story everything I lived through, saw, discovered or experienced. I was living in this world rather than reality, in a way.
The core idea of going to another world as a dream come true was actually inspired by my own situation since, as a teenager, I wanted more than anything to live in this “Other World” and escape a reality that didn’t make sense and didn’t have any appeal. And the answer to this burning desire took the shape of a book…
It’s not until the very end of the writing process that I finally understood it was my job to make my life a dream come true.
I should also mention the surprising synchronicity between events unfolding in my life and the parts of the novel I was writing when they did, allowing me to enrich the story with real-life teachings.
The most obvious example of this was the discovery of the book “Le Guerrier Intérieur” (The Inner Warrior) by Thierry Pasquier, and the deep impact it had on me, just as I was beginning work on the last part of the tale: while I was slowly understanding how I wanted to live the rest of my life — with the departure to Sweden in the background — Glaide was also reaching the end of his adventure, and it was time to draw conclusions and summarize what had been learned. And this is just one example among others; all of my personal evolution naturally found its place in the story.
The Other Authors
While I did write the entire novel by myself, I was not alone in my work. I indeed started when I was 13, motivated by the publishing of the book “La Prophétie des Pierres” (The Stones’ Prophecy) written by the — back then! — very young Flavia Bujor (I wanted to be a very young published author too!), but it’s only when reaching 17 years old and after receiving support from my French teacher Sylviane Bouvier, who loved the first chapters of the first volume (the only part written at the time), that I truly got to work: I wrote a minimum of one page/night, reworked what would become the first volume, etc.
Even though the idea of the “Other World” and my dreams associated with it had always been there, until that point, the book itself had only been a vague idea in the background (I first had in mind a short tale of under 100 pages!). Yet suddenly, it became a central part of my life, and while I began working on this project seriously, one of my childhood friends slowly became one of the most important persons to me.
Indeed, Arthur Clément spent his time discussing with me every single aspect of the CG, discovering each character, giving me ideas when I was stuck, drawing sketches of the world map and, in the end, living the adventure just the way I was living it. He is probably the only person able to understand what this journey means, and I’m happy to say that he’s still by my side, now that we work on translating and spreading that story.
Although I tried to thank him at the end of the 6th volume, along with others who had a key role in the making of this book, I’m afraid there is no way for me to do him justice… Thanks again, old friend!
The Place of Music
Finally, I can’t discuss the writing of the Chronicles of Galadria without talking about music. The general outline of the novel came to me after playing Final Fantasy X and while listening to music; the game’s soundtrack, other soundtracks from movies, animes and other games, and also other kinds of music.
I’ve always loved music, and it turned out to be a very important element in the making of this book. So important, in fact, that I ended up composing my own pieces related to the CG (the “Chroniques de l’Autre Monde” albums).
Initially, I used the story as a base to find inspiration, but now listening to my compositions allows me to experience once more the intensity of this adventure: I see the images, feel the emotions, relive the journey…
So feel free to have a listen to expand the adventure or to make it more intense!
Online Publishing and the Beginning of a New Era
At first, I thought I’d be satisfied with keeping the completed novel in a shelf and only sharing it occasionally with friends and close acquaintances. And for 2,5 years, that’s exactly what I did (probably also because I needed to leave that phase of my life behind me and build something new in Sweden).
Yet the idea of publishing the story and making it available to the public never really left me, and while looking for alternatives to traditional publishing (which I had tried once early on, but it had turned out to be too much trouble and I didn’t like the idea of handing over the rights), I stumbled upon Smashwords, on its mission to pioneer e-book self-publishing.
The company’s vision, their arguments in favor of e-books (at a time when e-readers started popping up everywhere) and the ability to retain my rights convinced me. They also reminded me of how I had published my music — something I never regretted doing — and so far, I’ve never looked back!
What I didn’t know, however, is that rather than being the final step in the creation of the Chronicles of Galadria, this reawakened my interest in the story. Indeed, I had to read it again several times to correct mistakes and even adjust big chunks that didn’t make much sense (thus improving the book as a whole), and in doing so, I realized just how much I wanted to share the messages it contained with the world.
In a sense, I discovered that this novel wasn’t just a teenager’s way of dealing with his teenage years; there was something in there that I thought could appeal to a broader audience — both as an adventure or journey to experience, and as a source of teachings and thoughts over one’s life.
And Now?
Today, the Chronicles of Galadria are being translated into several languages, and I’ve put together videos that combine the texts with their soundtrack. Other ideas include creating audiobooks (or even an audio saga!) and the creation of paperback versions. Yet these are very time-consuming tasks that compete with my other activities, so I’ve put them aside for now.
What I do focus on, however, represents perhaps the ultimate version of that story (the one that truly tells the tale I wish to tell): the production of an animation series based on the novel, which also happens to be one (the most important?) way for me to work on my personal Mission in life.
I should also add that I do not see myself as an author; I simply wrote a story I deeply cared about, which I think was necessary for my development as an individual, but without the aim of becoming a professional. And today, I would like the CG to be a source of entertainment but also thoughts, inspiration, and maybe even teachings for some.
There’s no doubt the background of Galadria is rich enough to give birth to multiple sequels, prequels, and other side stories, but this is not meant to be; I leave to my audience — readers, listeners, or viewers — the responsibility to make this world their own and to create the missing parts, as my role ends with the tale of the life I would have liked to have at the time — the life of Glaide, a man whose dream came true…