Behind the Scenes: The Evolution of Maya Stone's World
Hey Tech Fund subscribers!
I’m thrilled to finally share some long-buried history behind one of my most personal projects—my fantasy novel, featuring Maya Stone, a character who has been with me since the early '90s. Maya’s story began during my college days, originally created for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. At the time, I was obsessed with world-building, and Maya’s character grew so much that I knew I had to give her a standalone story outside the confines of the campaign.
What started as a simple idea quickly became an ambitious project. I wanted to dive deep into her backstory, but I also felt intimidated by how complex the political infrastructure needed to be. So, I recruited a good friend of mine to co-write the novel with me. While I focused on the religion, languages, and social structure of the world, he crafted the intricate political machinations and introduced new characters that challenged Maya in fresh, unexpected ways.
For a while, we made great progress—we wrote about 50k words! But life, as it often does, got in the way. My co-writer moved out of state, and despite my attempts to get him back on board, our collaboration fell apart. Maya’s world went into the archives, though she never truly left me.
Fast forward to yesterday. After years of being haunted by Maya’s unfinished journey, I finally broke through the wall that had kept me from continuing. I’ve developed a completely new outline and expanded the scope of her story into a trilogy! Her core history will remain, but I’ve reimagined everything else—her homeland, the intricate details of her world, and the narrative threads that will bring everything to life. The novel is still a tale of revenge, but now it’s also about self-discovery amid global domination and catastrophic consequences brought on by the powers at play. And, of course, Maya is pulled into this chaos unwittingly.
This is no longer a D&D campaign or a Tolkien-esque epic—it’s its own unique story, full of vibrant characters, governments, races, abilities, and side plots that I’m so excited to explore and share with you. I’ve built a richer world than ever before, and I can’t wait to dive into it.
I’ll be posting more updates, sneak peeks, and bits of the writing process as I go. Stay tuned for more on Maya’s journey—I’m just getting started.
Thank you for your continued support!
~Sequel
P.S. Though I have painted Maya (aka Mai) several times over the decades, I thought it would be fun to give AI a try. The photos above were based on simple prompts. Props to the original model and photographers the engines used to create them.
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