We all have our favorite shows. Mine happen to be, in no definitive order, Archer, Rick and Morty, Breaking Bad, and The Wire. South Park on a good day. However, I watch more than just my favorites. Otherwise, how would I ever discover the new ones being produced? American Dad is one such show, and though it is not among my favorites, it occupies a strong second tier.

Whether it be Stan’s cartoonishly conservative ideologies – which are terrifyingly close to some actual living people’s – or Steve’s borderline unwatchable teenage angst scenes, American Dad consistently brought a smile to my face. Family Guy fell off after the first couple of seasons, and we’re not even going to address the abortion that was The Cleveland Show. 

Roger, though, represented the best of the best that American Dad could offer. Egotistical, utterly self-absorbed, amoral, and sociopathic, Roger was great. HIs costumes and characters kept the show running when it should have been taken off the air years ago. And, to this day, still do.

One episode always comes to mind when I think about American Dad. For all the years he stays on Earth, Roger thinks – nay, knows – that he is The Decider. In his mind, Roger is only on Earth to determine the fate of the human species. They live and die on his word.

His world, not to mention his self-confidence, crashes when Roger realizes that he was only on Earth because his own species couldn’t stand him. He was essentially a prom-night dumpster baby. This idea, this conviction that he was important was removed from beneath him like the figurative rug. And with his loss of “The Decision,” Roger becomes lost. The rest of the episode is spent repairing his confidence and giving him decision making capabilities again, which leads to all sorts of crazy shit. But that’s another story. Here’s the clip if you’re interested. 

That’s how I felt when “deciding” to produce Lies and Allies. I regarded it as my “Decision.” It was a big deal to me, but what about other people? In case some of you guys are interested or wondering or just downright aggravated with me for pushing the second book back, I’m going to explain my reasoning for the rewrite and the trilogy’s bump to the Adult Fantasy market (leaving YA) – separated by neat little bullet points for the OCD among us.

Grammar and Sentence Construction:

If you know much about book publishing, you know good and damn well that it’s a team project. No matter how talented the author, he needs a content editor. And no matter how good the two of them are, they need a copyeditor. And regardless of that trio’s talent, they need a proofreader. Etc.

For Lies and Allies, I saved up and ensured I had the best team I could afford. Thus, the ideas, metaphors, analogies, sentence construction, and overall grammar are worlds better than what is displayed within Fallen Victors. This seems like a small point, but a simple comma is the difference between saying what you mean and becoming an Internet Meme.

Plot:

It took me until the end of the first draft of book two before I realized that I had a problem. And not a little problem. Not one of those things you can switch with a sentence chance or a change of viewpoint. No, this was one of those problems so colossal that you toss your laptop into the sewer. The kind of problem where you just want to give up and say to hell with it all. The kind of problem that would change getting hit by a bus from a tragedy to a relief because at least you don’t have to deal with it any longer.

I begged with this draft. Pleaded. Offered bribes in bloody hands. Slid money under its doorstep. Took its puppy for walks. Whatever I could do.

Nothing. My life on the line, I could not get the second book to line up with the first. Not in a way that did the trilogy justice.

I was a rookie when I wrote Fallen Victors. Hell, I still am, but I’m at least a sophomore now instead of a freshman. Fallen Victors had holes and suffered from the fact that I didn’t plan it in accordance with its follow-ups. Instead, I wrote it like I would a standalone novel, then tried basing books two and three off it.

Which did not work. At all.

Eventually, after a tantrum that would have made Angelica from Rugrats proud, I decided that the only way I could get the plot to line up was to rewrite the first book.

As you probably know, that made me deeply, Camus-istically unhappy. But if I wanted the trilogy to be a success – in my mind, not including number of copies sold or whatever metric others measure success with – then I needed to rewrite Fallen Victors. Thus, Lies and Allies was born. And with that reversal, confusion was lifted and clarity restored for the following books. You know, if I do my job properly.

Violence:

No one has ever described my writing – nor, particularly, me – as being cuddly and soft. Violence is a part of life, whether it be in view or hidden behind curtains. Accordingly, I write along that philosophy. That isn’t to say that Lies and Allies is stock-full of nothing but blood and guts and beheadings and the like. It isn’t.

But when it’s called for, the book doesn’t shy away from the spectacle. Indeed, one of the main characters – Slate – is a mercenary. Violence doesn’t bother him overly much. Additionally, Alocar is a retired general, equally used to bloodletting on a large level.

To shy away from depicting that, so long as it was organic, would be a disservice to the trilogy. If the characters did as was natural, then the YA level would force me to write them with restrictions. In essence, I was putting on artificial limit on my characters due to the age limit and maturity of its audience.

That fault can be directly traced to me. Obviously, there are tons of YA books out there with fascinating characters. Had I recognized from the get-go that my characters belonged in the Adult Fantasy genre, this would not have been an issue. I didn’t, though, which meant I could either limit my characters, giving them a ring of inauthenticity, or I could bump it up a more mature genre.

Again, I went with the latter choice. Now, if Slate needs to put a knife through someone’s face, he can do it, no questions asked. If i had left Lies and Allies as a YA book, I would have had to tell the reader about that scene, not show it.

Here is a review for Fallen Victors that focused specifically on the level of violence on display:

I thought that a YA rating was for teens. This book was chosen by our teen book club mainly because of where the author is from and because of it being rated young adult. Mr. Lengthen is a gifted author and I am sure we will be hearing more from him in the future even beyond this trilogy. In recent years books for teens have become darker more violent, filled with what could be considered bad language and disregard for human life. This novel is like that. At times it felt a little disjointed like some of the information that would be helpful to the storyline was left inside the author’s head. I have already recommended this book to some adults that I think will like it. As moderator for the teen book club I felt compelled to give a heads up to the parents about content. Ultimately parents are responsible for what their children read. Some teens are mature enough to read this type of book others are not. As long as YA books are considered appropriate for teens I would prefer that books like this be rated for adults. PLEASE PARENTS, BE AWARE OF WHAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE READING

Parents are protective. I understand that. Stephen King was my favorite author in fourth grade, so I guess I was a little different than most kids. But with that review corroborating my feelings that my writing was probably more well-suited for adults, it was another nail in my brief YA career.

Length:

Fallen Victors was 89,000 words and some change at its debut.

When I finished the first draft of Called to Thrall, it was sitting at a solid 192,000 words.

Nowhere in this world will you find a book – no matter the genre – that literally doubles itself from one book to the next. Most Adult Fantasy books fall comfortably above 150,000 words.

If I wanted to keep Called to Thrall anywhere close to its predecessor, I would either have to drastically cut it or make it into two separate books, the latter choice creating a series of four where a trilogy once preened.

Rather than being a deciding factor in my decision to rewrite Fallen Victors, this was just the straw that broke that poor camel’s back. I plan on the second book in the trilogy to be anywhere between 145-170,000 words. Still a goodly jump from the 111,000 of Lies and Allies, but a far cry from the original 89,000.

Language: 

If you read the review above or are even passingly familiar with my real persona, you know I curse. A lot. Call it a vice if you will. I prefer to think of it as realistic. Even the whitest unicorn in the land has an F-bomb fall out of his mouth occasionally, so don’t expect me to twist the language into something “acceptable” for others.

It’s weird. People have a tendency to forget what life was like growing up. They cursed like sailors just hitting dock as teenagers, but those same people, once they’ve grown up, gasp and grow wide-eyed at the thought of younglings cursing.

So, to me, if a mercenary says “Fuck,” then he’s probably just being authentic to his person. Of course, there are exceptions, but military people usually don’t have the cleanest mouths. I write accordingly

Personally, I think anyone should be allowed to read anything. Period. I was reading “Adult” contented book by second or third grade. Knowledge doesn’t come with an age limit. However, I also realize that I’m bucking the trend with that viewpoint. Thus, if I want my books to appeal to the “proper” audience, I need to take the language into consideration when designating the genre. And, the fact is, most YA books don’t curse as freely as my characters tend to do.

And, again, this is solely on my shoulders. If I bumped Lies and Allies up to an adult designation, though, the conflict resolved itself. Easy choice, all things considered. Another reason to leave YA behind. 

Depth:

This one is more difficult to explain. I’ll try my damnedest, but it may be like a fish trying to flop its way across the Sahara.

At twenty-six years old, I understand a whole helluva lot more than I did at fifteen. And that’s not because I was dumb – no more dumb than any other teenager – but it was because immediate understanding isn’t how life works.

So when I watched A Beautiful Mind at fifteen, I thought it was a cool movie. But when I watched it at twenty-three, I understood it in ways that I could not have comprehended during my first encounter.

Roll with me here. What do authors want? Different things, I’m sure. Some want money. Others want to be great. A few enjoy writing beautiful scenes and some like creating a book’s gorgeous scenery.

Me? I love characters. I want to create people so deep you can drown in the motherfuckers. Of course, I want to excel at the other things as well. The plotline, structure, climaxes, fight scenes. Everything. But if I had to choose the first among equals, it would be characters.

And, maybe this is just me, but I feel like that’s one quality YA cannot quite overcome with regard to Adult books. And it doesn’t necessarily need to. Or should even try. Can a sixteen year old appreciate the same depth of character a fifty year old can? Probably not. A parable read from the Bible holds more significance for a Bishop than an altar server. A younger person’s ability to understand and interpret things just isn’t on the same level as an older person’s with more experience. That goes for all of us. For more proof, I wish you could be there to witness my decade-separated reactions to A Beautiful Mind. 

This acknowledgment pushed me to leave the YA genre. I want to create characters that can be fully appreciated. This works both ways,though. If I end up creating cardboard characters, the Adult readers are going to crucify me. There is definitely more leeway in the YA genre. But that’s a risk I was willing to take. And a goal I was willing to strive for.

Verdict:

When April 1st ticks around and Lies and Allies is released, I will have officially joined the Adult Fantasy market and left the YA genre behind. This route is rife with dangers. For one, no matter my desires or work ethic, I’m still a newbie in this game. If I screw up badly enough in the Adult market, I may never get another chance to climb the ranks. If I had stayed in YA, though, that danger would not have been nearly as significant.

Plus, the Adult market is harder to break into. I can’t tell you how many times people told me that in an effort to make me change me mind. Or play devil’s advocate. Adult readers like who they like, and anyone new is unexpected. YA, conversely, blazes through authors like Andre the Giant guzzles beers. It’s way easier to catch fire and become mega-popular in the YA genre than it is in the Adult world.

There’s a bunch of other shit I could throw your way, but for now, I think this will do. Lies and Allies was not the only way to go, but it made the most sense. I hope the rewrite was worth it.

Jonathan

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