Where Ideas Come From - The Toltec Series
A headline in the morning newspaper caught my eye. I don’t remember what it said, but the topic of the article was our country’s poor treatment of our indigenous neighbors. That set me thinking, I wonder what would have happened if the events of history were the other way around. What if the original inhabitants of the Americas had discovered Europe first, and arrived with the bigger sticks? Of course, I asked myself, how would I go about writing that scenario?
I had to pick a time in history when Europe, or in this case the British Isles, might be more vulnerable than usual. One thing in my favor, when the Europeans succeeded in the Americas, they did it to a large extent with the assistance of local allies. I chose to copy that route. Once I had my approximate date, I had to go back and have a look at the Americas to decide who might fit the time period in question and fill the part of conquering adventurers.
In my research I came across the Toltecs. One of the sites I looked at was pretty vague. In fact they gave three possible theories of who the Toltecs might be.
1. They did not exist. The name was used to refer to a highly educated or civilized person. They were invented by the Aztecs to give themselves illustrious ancestors.
2. They were a bunch of magicians playing with crystal skulls.
3. They were a militarized nation who conquered most of what is now modern Mexico.
I chose version number three for my purpose.
My next problem was to figure out how much of history and nature I would have to change to give this mad idea any chance of success. I wrote an epic of something over 110,000 words and sent it to my editor. She came back and said they’d take it, but she had a suggestion. Cut the 110,000 words into two volumes, expand them, and write a third novel to give a better finish to the story.
So I did. The results are: Toltec Dawn, Toltec Khan, and Toltec Noon.
Next time, how a short story became a stand-alone novella.
I had to pick a time in history when Europe, or in this case the British Isles, might be more vulnerable than usual. One thing in my favor, when the Europeans succeeded in the Americas, they did it to a large extent with the assistance of local allies. I chose to copy that route. Once I had my approximate date, I had to go back and have a look at the Americas to decide who might fit the time period in question and fill the part of conquering adventurers.
In my research I came across the Toltecs. One of the sites I looked at was pretty vague. In fact they gave three possible theories of who the Toltecs might be.
1. They did not exist. The name was used to refer to a highly educated or civilized person. They were invented by the Aztecs to give themselves illustrious ancestors.
2. They were a bunch of magicians playing with crystal skulls.
3. They were a militarized nation who conquered most of what is now modern Mexico.
I chose version number three for my purpose.
My next problem was to figure out how much of history and nature I would have to change to give this mad idea any chance of success. I wrote an epic of something over 110,000 words and sent it to my editor. She came back and said they’d take it, but she had a suggestion. Cut the 110,000 words into two volumes, expand them, and write a third novel to give a better finish to the story.
So I did. The results are: Toltec Dawn, Toltec Khan, and Toltec Noon.
Next time, how a short story became a stand-alone novella.
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