The Characters, The World, and the Lore (Post #3)

"Before we can build the world we want to live in, we have to imagine it." - Simon Sinek, N/A date

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In October's blog post, we explored the foundational aspects of No Tears (Northern Company) and how that built from the original story of A Story of the Beginning (2016; out of print, still available via the Special Edition Hard Cover Edition of Northern Company). Essentially a soft reboot of both the character & story of Giovanni Salzano the Traveling Mercenary, the reboot labeled No Tears was a play on & reference to what Corradeo Salzano---Giovanni’s father---tells our main character both in the 2016 original and later in the 2022 edition, A Story of the Beginning (Revised Edition). I have included both the 2016 & 2022 versions of that touching and emotionally wrenching story segment below; for our eagle-eyed readers, they will notice the subtle writing differences, detail choices, deeper tones, and spelling & grammar differences between the 2016 & 2022 scenes play out.

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A Story of the Beginning, 2016 (pg. 13-14)

​​“NOW,” Corradeo Salzano said, kneeling down in front of his eleven year-old son and holding him by the shoulders, “You are my son. And I am proud of you. Very, very proud of you. Today, you become a man.”

Giovanni Salzano wiped a tear from his eyes and nodded.

“No tears,” Corradeo said gently as he looked into his son’s eyes, “No tears. Ever. You need to be strong. Determination. Strength. Honor. In these, my son, you will need to trust. You watch after your mother and you do what she asks of you. No complaining.”

“Yes, Papa,” Giovanni said, starting to tear up more, his little face struggling to not shame himself by showing too much emotion.
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“No tears, son,” Corradeo said, trying his hardest to keep his own eyes dry, “No tears.”

As his father drew him in close for a hug, Giovanni could feel his father’s leather armor, the belts that hung his various equipment, and most importantly that rough stubble of his. His father’s steady, calm heart beat calmed the young boy, his warmth and strength gave him reason to feel safe.

“Today,” Corradeo said softly into his son’s ear as he hugged him, “I am your Father. No longer Papa. But a Father.” --- pg. 13-14, 2016

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A Story of the Beginning (Revised Edition), 2022 (pg. 9-10)

“NOW,” Corradeo Salzano said, kneeling in front of his twelve-year-old son and holding him by the shoulders, “You are my son. And I am proud of you. Very, very proud of you. Today, you become a man.”

Giovanni Salzano wiped a tear from his eyes and nodded, trying his hardest to keep a brave face in front of his father. The cold air that raced through the town combined with the darkening afternoon skies made the experience all that much more horrible. The inpatient sounds of the two horses off to the side near the road by their large villa and the equally large man in his uncle holding the reins of the two horses just added to the misery that his father was, indeed, leaving and nothing would---or could---stop him.

“No tears,” Corradeo said gently as he looked into his son’s eyes, “No tears. Ever. You need to be strong. Determination. Strength. Honor. In these, my son, you will need to trust. You watch after your mother, and you do what she asks of you. No complaining.”

“Yes, Papà,” Giovanni said, starting to tear up more, his little face struggling to not shame himself.

“No tears, son,” Corradeo said, trying his hardest to keep his own eyes dry, “No tears.”

As his father drew him in close for a hug, Giovanni could feel his father’s leather armor, the belts that hung his various equipment, and most importantly that rough stubble of his chin. His father’s steady, calm heartbeat steadied the young boy, his warmth and strength gave him reason to feel safe. But it did not stop the tears.

“Today,” Corradeo said softly into his son’s ear as he held him, “I am your father. No longer papà.” --- pg. 9-10, 2022

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If No Tears was as much as a play on and reference to Giovanni's own childhood circumstances, then equally so, it could be predicted that No Tears to be a foreshadowing element to the early and foundational challenges and events that would shape Giovanni into "The Traveling Mercenary". With the foundational and reboot aspects of our story drawn and laid out in No Tears (Northern Company), and our characters established, it was now time to dive into the lore and stories of Giovanni's world that Northern Company established. To this end, we turned to No Tears (Inheritance).

To the extent that I am able to say this without sounding less civilized in my demeanor, the writing of No Tears (Inheritance) was hell. Absolute and utter hell. It was, to put it politely and not to risk my standing in such gentleman circles, an experience I wish to never, ever repeat again. Ever.

And yet, at the end of it all, it could very well be one of my most beloved books as an author.

Where Northern Company reintroduced us to Giovanni's world in 2021 and gave us a fresh beginning and paint job verses the 2016 original story and the Revised Edition reestablished the reboot to connect to the character's early beginnings in 2022, then Inheritance rightfully so had to go forward. It could not go backwards as in the Revised Edition or be able to establish new canon as in Northern Company, instead, Inheritance had to take both of the previous works and move the story forward. This task of simply moving forward was more complicated and difficult than I would have ever imagined.

Why?

Northern Company's scope was limited yet had the hallmarks of a wide-ranging story. Inheritance had to have a wide-ranging story, yet with the hallmarks of a limited story. Reversing the storytelling was difficult. Inheritance had the difficult task of having to feel deep, in both story and world, yet be flexible enough to be isolated in locale and temporal scope, and still yet still connect all the emerging and different storylines from both the Revised Edition and Northern Company. Was it successful?

With different storylines and characters at play, the author manages to organize and connect these storylines, each contributing significantly to the main plot. The book was divided into three sections that focused on different parts of their journey as mercenaries. The author provided references to other series of the book and also narrated some terms and the origins of some items. This made the book easier to read. Even though this is the third book in the Mercenary series, there was no confusion. --- Online Book Club; Flourish Sunday, April 2023

You decide for yourself. As for me, personally, the writing of Part III, or the Third Act, in Inheritance was one of the most rewarding experiences thus far of being an author. It was essentially a massive rewrite of the last 1/3 of the book, spanning from December 2022 when I was originally done writing the book through to that January and early February of 2023. Without that rewrite and the, now, infamous events of Mont-Cenis Pass from page 333 through to the end of the book on page 550 (the Epilogue runs from pg. 551-556), I do not think the book would have been successful, let alone the No Tears series to continue where it is today. And it is from that deep rooted embodiment of No Tears in the Third Act of Inheritance that I truly believe we get the deep, emotional, and artistically expansive introductions of No Tears (Reckoning) in Chapters One & Two.

Back to the beginning point of it being hell to write, since the previous explanation was brief in both nature and detail. Simply put, I had the structure & the foundational concepts of Giovanni's world from Northern Company and the lore behind it all from the Revised Edition. I had yet to put both of those different books and stories together into a singular series; until Inheritance, each book had---to that point---been more or less a stand-alone story on its own merits. Inheritance was the first attempt to not only bring both it and Northern Company together as part of the No Tears series, but also integrate the Revised Edition's story & events into the cornerstone and prelude to the No Tears books. As the title of his blog suggests, Inheritance took the pivotal jump from Characters & World to giving the Lore some teeth to flush everything else out set before it and pave the way going forward for both the No Tears series and future books with Giovanni Salzano the Traveling Mercenary. It was this Herculean task that Inheritance had to balance that made the writing so difficult yet, still, so rewarding especially with the final Third Act.

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“Death comes for us all, Lafontaine. You. Me. The peasant. The king. The slave. It spares no one and strikes with utter consistency. But what lives beyond our death is what we lived for.”
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Duke Karl von Egmond
pg. 179; No Tears (Northern Company)