Author Insight: Episode 1
Bump in the Night
I’d been playing with the idea of doing an online serial for several months before I wrote “Hunting the Beast”. Even after that, I debated holding an online poll to decide which of my stories people wanted to see turned into an episodic format. But there was something about Keltin that kept bringing me back. I think what it was that made him different for me was the scene at the end of “Hunting the Beast” when he mentally divvies up the bounty money for his various expenses. I liked the idea of someone who was not only a deadly hunter, but also a sensitive man who sends some money to support his mother and sister as well as providing for his church offerings and living expenses. Keltin felt more like a real human being to me because he had mundane problems, but more than that, Keltin seemed to be the kind of man I wanted to know more about because he was a good person trying to do what was right.
I wrote this story while I was still debating with myself about making “The Beast Hunter” into an online serial. The idea of Mr. Paulsen coming to solicit Keltin’s services, and then being convinced to take him after Keltin successful thwarts a thief, was pretty firmly in my mind from the beginning, but the way it eventually played out changed subtly during the revision process. In my first draft, Mr. Paulsen was already a “fan” of Keltin’s, seeing him as a kind of local hero, and Paulsen’s hesitancy to take Keltin to Krendaria came from Keltin insisting that Paulsen increase what he would be paid. I eventually changed the scene because I realized that it made Keltin sound too much like a mercenary, which is the opposite of what originally attracted me to his character in the first place. In the end, the scene evolved to its current form of Paulsen being skeptical of Keltin because he has not personally seen Keltin’s abilities.