I was raised Amish. In spite of discouragement, I managed to read quite a bit of fiction.
Now I am a writer. My Dark West novels are written with the pen name
The Story About the Pursuit. Trilogy Story
Two years ago. Approximately. I did something on a whim.
I decided to write a short Western story to see if I would like creating fiction of that nature.
Today, two years later, that short story is the first chapter of the last book of the Dark West "Pursuit" trilogy.
In other words, I liked writing these types of books.
Soon after that short story was written, a plot that would extend the story appeared in my mind. "Oh, fun!" I thought. About a month was spent writing it. It ended up as something that read well. But it did not feel complete.
At that time, my thought was to write a full-length novel. It would give me valuable experience writing Dark West novels. But I needed a better plot.
Even with no plot, I felt compelled to write scenes. Most wandered off on tangents, but I didn't know it at the time. There was no clear path to follow.
One morning, about 6 months later, I woke up with the ending in my head. Within a week, it was written out as a first draft.
It was a good ending.
At this point, I realized the story needed a beginning. That early short story would not do. As on a map, in order to determine a route both the beginning spot and the ending spot needed to be known.
As an exercise, thinking perhaps it would lead me to a nice beginning for the story, I wrote the backstory of how Maim was raised. I wrote about his early years, what compelled him to escape his preacher father, and how he got that weird name.
It was fun. It felt good. In my mind, I was creating the character who would live in my novel.
Some time later, as I was pouring over the backstory I had written to see what else might be included, I suddenly sat back on my haunches.
"Wait!" I thought. "This backstory is not just an exercise. It is excellent for the first chapters of the book!"
The backstory suddenly became the beginning of the story.
I had my beginning and my ending. The middle pretty much fell into place, in my mind. I had a plot. It just needed to be written.
A year later, I realized I had too much story to fit in one book. Most full-length novels are under 80,000 words, although there are some with over 120,000 words. My story had about 170,000 at that point.
The story had to be divided up.
The first book would be about Maim, I decided. The second would be about Maude. And the last book would tie everything together.
The chapters I already had about Maim would fit nicely in one book, I figured.
The chapters about Maude, however, had half again as many words as the first book. The books of the trilogy needed to be of similar size.
Over 20,000 words of the Maude book were cut out and it still ended up with about 30,000 words more than volume one. Cutting more would have removed essential aspects of the story. I would make the paperback and hardcover versions of the trilogy novels similar in number of pages by making the Maude book text slightly smaller.
The last book, with the name "Caught", needed lots more writing. It was way too short.
I could have moved story chapters from the Maude book to expand the Caught book, but that would not be professional. My intent was to write novels that could be enjoyed without distractions. That type of unprofessionalism would be distractive to at least some readers.
Then, Maim fell in love.
Perhaps you have heard of authors saying their characters demanded this or that, or they insisted on being a certain type of person.
Well, Maim just plumb fell in love near the beginning of the Caught book and I did not have the heart to take it away from him. It was the woman he met in the very first short Western story I had written, the story that is now the first chapter of the Caught book.
Therefore, I let Maim have his pleasure, to feel his emotions and happiness. It couldn't last, though, because the ending insisted on being the ending it was supposed to be.
With Maim falling in love and, a bit later, it suddenly and unexpectedly being taken away, the third volume of the trilogy series was now the right length. Most important, though, Caught presents a surprising ending. Surprising for you. At least I think so.
It was surprising even to me, the author of the story, because the ending I had written demanded to be expanded. It insisted on a twist that the original ending did not have.
The trilogy is:
• Pursuit. Maim.
• Pursuit. Maude.
• Pursuit. Caught.
The story is engaging and a pleasure to read. The trilogy is composed of full-length novels. Immerse yourself in another world for a time and come back with a smile on your face.
Even if you generally don't read Dark West novels, let this story broaden your experience.
Copyright 2024-2025 Vern Harrison