Kings of Chaos Behind the Scenes: the Story

I’ve shared this story quite a few times, but it’s always been in casual conversation, and I don’t think I’ve ever officially been on record with it.  So, I thought it might be worth sharing with all of you to offer some insight about why I chose to write about bikers and how we ended up here.

When I first decided that I wanted to try writing a book, bikers certainly weren’t my first choice.  I’m a huge zombie nerd and my plan was to write a zombie apocalypse story.  Unfortunately, that idea rapidly grew way out of control and developed into a trilogy before I ever even wrote the first sentence.  As a first time author, the thought of jumping straight into a series for my first project and all the complexities that comes along with that was simply too daunting and intimidating.

So I decided to shift gears (sorry, I’m a dad and can’t resist a good/bad pun), and turn my focus to a different project – which I didn’t have at the time.  I wanted to do something simple just to get the practice and experience of writing a book.  I wanted to get a title under my belt, then I would return to the zombie trilogy.  I thought about things that I’m interested in and knowledgeable about, so I wouldn’t have to devote a lot of time to research.  With this logic, I could hit the ground running and jump straight into the story development/pre-writing phase.  I’ve worked in the criminal justice field for over a decade, and I love riding motorcycles.  It was natural to meld the two subjects and come up with a basic plot line for my first book.

I would write Crossroads as a stand-alone novel, check all the boxes that I’ve already mentioned, then move on to the zombie idea and start my first series.  I was even going to kill the main character at the end of Crossroads to ensure there would be no possibility for a sequel.  I got all the way to the end of the story, and as I was putting on the finishing touches, I was smacked in the face with the extended ending that was included in the book.  As much as I wanted to kill the main character and end the series before it ever began, his intestinal fortitude rang true and saved his life.  As soon as I realized he was going to survive his injuries, my brain kicked into overdrive (I know, I seriously can’t help myself with the puns) and I started thinking about possible story ideas for a sequel.  So much for that stand-alone novel, I guess…

After the second book, Crossfire, the door was left wide open for a third, and I couldn’t bring myself to close that door without walking through it first.  As you may already be aware, the third book in the series, Crossover, is due out in the near future.  What you may not be aware of, is that I’ve already started the fourth.  My intention is to wrap up the Kings of Chaos Motorcycle Club series after the fourth installment, but I also intended to kill the main character after the first and never have a series to begin with, so time will tell.

For somebody not wanting to kick off their writing career with a series, I sure ended up there anyway.  The difference though, was how the biker series came about organically versus how the zombie idea got out of hand before I even started it.  My current series just clicked and fell into place as I went along.  The fortunate side of that, is that my ideas didn’t get clouded by too much overthought or pre-planning.  I just had to make sure things stayed consistent as I developed more back story in that world.  If I would have thought about all of these ideas up front, then this series would have ended up on the same back burner as the zombie novel.

The beauty of all of this, is that now I have some experience, and I’ve had time to think of more ideas; I currently have plans for the zombie series (currently a trilogy), a dystopian series (currently a trilogy), and a superhero series (currently two books).  Now I just have to find the time to write them all.

Thank you, that is all.