The Narrative Must Be Obeyed.
Everyone in the Taskmaster’s Realm knows how the story goes: the boy of destiny goes on a quest, defeats the dark lord, and gets the swooning princess. It’s a great story, if you happen to be a knight or a wizard or a hero. But it’s pretty odious if you’re Ordinary: a barmaid who has to inflate her bosom and have her backside pinched, a homely prince who can’t buckle his swash because his face doesn’t fit, or a soldier who gets killed over and over and over again just to progress the plot.
Fodder of Humble Village is one of those soldiers, and, frankly, he’s sick and tired of getting speared, decapitated, and disembowelled twice a day so the good guys can look glorious. In fact, he’s not going to take it anymore.
No matter what The Narrative tries to make him do.
Targeted Age Group:: 16-100
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The Disposable came from my own experiences as a reader and a writer. As a writer, I’m sure every other writer out there has come across a character who simply refuses to conform to their plans for them; a minor bit-part who scene-steals so violently that they end up a major character, a lead who refuses to act as the plot demands they should because they don’t agree with it or two characters that spark up a knockout chemistry that you’d had no intention of pairing up. Characters have a mind of their own and the idea of seeing those minds at work and having a group of characters stage an overt takeover of a story was very appealing. And as a reader, my problem is that I’m a terrible cynic – well, not that’s not entirely accurate as I’m actually a very good cynic, but you know what I mean – in that while I love the fantasy genre, I’m also very aware of its flaws and clichés. It was when I realised the fun I could have by playing off these fundamentals of fantasy with a group of world-weary characters who viewed them as the facts of life that it all came together.
