Declan Conner's Blog

Anatomy of a Post-Apocalyptic - Dystopian trilogy by Declan Conner

For those who have time to read, here are notes from the author as to how The Prepper's Son trilogy came about, from the initial idea to the completed trilogy.

I had to think long and hard when I wrote my new Post-Apocalyptic - Dystopian thriller trilogy. I decided to set it in a very near future USA that everyone would recognize, so I could destroy it, divide it, and then rebuild the governance along factions of racial, religious, and political ideologies. It was fun to write. I hope it is equally entertaining and thought provoking to read. The idea was sparked initially by the political division in the US and the consistent racial disharmony that blights the nation.

I stopped writing for 2 years, and during that time, I developed an idea for the trilogy in the Post-Apocalyptic - Dystopian genre that festered as I have mentioned, until in Covid lockdown, I had the basics in my head of all three books and time on my hands to fill. I published the trilogy in full in March this year, all on the same day. The detailed outline and research took me a month glued to my computer and making notes to add to the research of the project. Additionally, I'd kept coming across articles in the news and YouTube short film clips on climate change during that 2 years that I had saved to memory. The outline was so thorough it only took 5 months working full time on the draft manuscripts to write all three books at an average of 95k each. One thing for sure, it was too big a project to have authored it by the seat of my pants and to have left it to chance of coming out the way it was intended. Each book was crafted with a three-act structure and with a change of direction at the midpoints.

During that 2 years downtime from writing, I'd read two books, One on General Bolivar, a biography of sorts, where he defeated the Spanish to form various nations in South America under his dictatorship, until they divided into the independent nations we know today. Bolivia is named after him. The other was about the African Queen Nzinga, who fought the Portuguese for forty years in Angola against their slave trade. Besides a great warrior, she was also a renowned negotiator. Both had aspects that I used in the book, without copying. Difficult to explain without giving the story away. Suffice to say both books are mentioned and are a big influence on the main female character, Rosa, and partner to the Prepper's son, Rob Bell that affect the outcome in the last chapter of the third book.

Each book had its own plot and theme, but I managed to have an overall plot arc for the trilogy. The Dystopian element takes place on two fronts. In the first book, it unfolds in the bubble of a gated community, whereas in book two and three, that element is on a wider scale throughout the US.

Much of the idea as I said, was borne out with the political and the racial division in the US, watching both CNN and Fox news in good measure, together with the Chinese posturing on the world stage and skirmishes with India and them annexing the atolls in the South China Sea. The perceived threat the Chinese pose to the US figures largely in the last book. Religious dogma also figured in my thinking. I knew it could skirt contentious subjects in the political, racial, and religious arena and alienate some readers, but I ploughed on anyway. Because of this, I felt that some readers would downgrade it with their star ratings in doing so. Still, I reckoned that I wasn't preaching, simply writing a fictitious-speculative fiction based on a "What if?" premise. it was an itch I had to scratch.

I started out splitting the idea into three. The destruction - The division - and the rebirth of the US from as it is now but with the constitution later dead in the water.

I then developed three log lines for each of the three books and titles, together with the trilogy title of: The Prepper's Son trilogy, as the story was to unfold through his eyes in first person, with faction leader characters in third person for the wider world view. All faction leader POV chapters had their own plot line as part of the whole that converged in the last book, intertwined with events that caused conflict with, or had an outcome that affected the MC and the overall plot arc.

Book 1: Earth’s Fury: Our last Thanksgiving,
WHEN THE SUN FLARES -- EARTH’S MANTLE HICCUPS -- SOCIETY SUFFERS

Book 2: Secession: The Last Fourth of July
WHEN DISASTER STRIKES - THE GOVERNMENT HIDES - CHAOS RULES

Book 3: Invasion: Alliance of Nations.
A NATION DIVIDES - THE WHOLE WEAKENS - STRENGTH WINS

From there I wrote the back-jacket blurbs for each book in order to know each book had legs for the genre. Something I have never done before, was to write a two-page synopsis for each book to include the endings before starting. I found it easier to write both the blurb and the synopsis beforehand than if I had tried to do it once the books were completed. I know that many authors leave this until the work is completed for submitting to agents, but then find it difficult to cut through the spaghetti of subplots and minute detail to be able to condense it into what is required. While a synopsis is not really needed for self-publishing, I found it gave me a good framework to know each plot had all the elements I needed. It also served to reduce writer’s block, knowing the direction for each story. I’m not suggesting this is a definitive method as each author will have their own method, it’s just that it worked for me for the complexity of this project before I decided to invest my time in authoring the three books.

The research was perhaps the hardest part, but also the most rewarding, as I wanted the disaster to be plausible, and for that I drew on forecasts for the outcomes of events involving natural disasters, both in the US and around the world. I also looked at historical disasters. There were maps I found that showed changes to the landscape of the US territory, and the World after a ginormous disaster. Political and racial demographics of the various states was needed, and the hardest of all was studying the Constitution. I also found an interesting new discovery that NASA had just put out on a scientific discovery regarding the cycle of sun flares and their effect on the Earth’s mantle, which I put to good use. There's much more to do with such as prepping, and experimental food production taking place, but as hard as it was, the knowledge gained was interesting and a good motivator as a good background to the emotional content of the plot involving the characters.

I also had every character's background and plot arc, including the dog that features, fleshed out in the outline. I wanted each character to have their own fears and misbeliefs, especially the main characters, for them to be able to face their individual truths that would lead to change in how they faced deliberations and actions, both in moral and practical situations. To do that, I wrote out their backgrounds based on the old adage of "Show me the child, and I'll show you the man or woman." Even so, all depictions are subjective and maybe my main character will initially not be liked as he could be perceived as something of a wimp to start with and not your all out action hero, but trust me he discovers his inner hero as the story progresses over three books.

I have a special thanks to mention to Natalia Gomez my development editor, who worked with me on all three books and for which I am eternally grateful. Her thorough insights into the development edit ensured my characters and scenes popped off the page. It is now down to you the reader to determine the value of the reads as entertainment in what is speculative fiction for a situation I hope never comes to fruition. One thing is for sure, there are scenes and moral dilemmas throughout that are maybe not for the squeamish.

If anyone has any questions regarding the process, I would be pleased to respond.

Kindest regards

Declan Conner

Earth's Fury: Our Last Thanksgiving - Book 1

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