stevenpiziks | BLOOD STORM and the Changing Protagonist

When I wrote IRON AXE, the protagonist was Danr, sometimes known as Trollboy. The book centered around him and his need to come to grips with his human and troll heritages--and with the long-ago loss of his mother.

When it came time to write BLOOD STORM, I knew things would have to change a little. I've read a number of series books in which the author conjures up a brand new emotional or mental problem for the series hero to deal with, and it always feels forced. I didn't want to do that with STORM, and in any case, I already knew that STORM would focus more on Aisa.

Danr is still the protagonist, make no mistake. It's HIS story and HIS series. But Aisa is enormously important, both to him and the world of Erda, and this time around I wanted to bring her a little more into the forefront. A large part of Aisa's background was left in mystery in IRON AXE, and in BLOOD STORM, I explored those mysteries. Why was her mother always so ill? Why was Aisa's father so uncaring toward her? What does it mean in IRON AXE when Grick tells Aisa she's "earned her face"? How does AIsa, a newly-powerful woman who clawed her way out of slavery, deal with a government that buys and sells people?

Also, Aisa lived through a brutal battle at the end of IRON AXE. This doesn't leave you unscarred. I did quite a lot of research into PTSD and used it in a fantasy world.

So BLOOD STORM shifts a bit from dealing with Danr's personal problems to dealing with Aisa's.

For all the Danr fans out there, Danr still has issues to work out. But that's another blog post.