I went through a creative crisis that prevented me from continuing with The Path of Vengeance, and as a result, I found new inspiration to write a prequel to the story, where I would introduce Aglarion and other characters. By the end of 2008, I finished what would have been my first book and sent the manuscript to my best friend for review. He printed out the text and made countless negative notes along the pages, and in the end, he handed me the marked-up volume and said something like, “It’s a great RPG adventure, but it’s not good as a book.” He also pointed out that I was too attached to the rules and features of the Dungeons & Dragons universe and gave me an interesting perspective: that it would take many years to learn to write a good book, just look at the ages of established writers. So, despite being frustrated with the result of the first book, I decided to change my perspective and work harder — and without rushing.
In the end, I decided to take a step back in the timeline and write a pre-prequel to The Path of Vengeance in order to build Aglarion’s story from the beginning. That’s how I began writing The Archmage’s Apprentice.
