Sometimes I write articles to answer questions in a place I can always point to later. And, lately, a question I’ve gotten a few times is “what made you write this book?” So, here’s the answer: to tear down an old cliché.

I make no bones about this, I am tired of stories with “being the chosen one” as the reason for a protagonist to be a protagonist. Characters that are talented, characters that are part of an elite group: that’s fine. Stories about average joes are not the only type of tale, and it would be boring if they were. But, specifically, what ground my gears when I began writing Just Another Chosen One were those tales of heroes who would always win in the end.

“Destined” to save the world.

Where’re the real stakes there?

And, since I started writing Just Another Chosen One, the world seemed to agree with me. Every new story that deals with the topic of chosen ones allow failure, even sometimes making it so that if the current one dies, a new one replaces them.

But, I wanted to go even further.

I wanted to write a story where being a chosen one wasn’t all that special, and, in fact, is a rather shitty life to lead. I wanted to write a story about the horror of being expected to fight all the time, and how that could fuck up a person mentally, emotionally, and even morally.

I wanted to deconstruct a very old trope. To take a classic power fantasy, the generic monster-slayer story, and slowly turn it into something horrific. A dark lesson of how ego can destroy, and the importance of checking it before it grows out of control.

And, going no further into spoilers: I think I accomplished what I set out to do.

But I’ll leave it to you to decide for sure.  

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Special thanks to: Bob Gerkin, Collin Pearman, Dylan Alexander, Jerry Banfield, and Michael The Comic Nerd. 

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