How Black Dawn Began (and Became Something Entirely Different)

When I first started writing Black Dawn, it was a completely different story. Honestly, if you’d told me back then that it would turn into a full-blown political thriller about the destruction of London and the fall of the government, I wouldn’t have believed you.

The original idea was much smaller, more personal. It was almost like The Prince and the Pauper meets The Crown. I had intended to explore a “what if” scenario. What if King Charles and Queen Camilla had a secret child? What if, after a massive disaster struck London, the line of succession was destroyed, and that secret heir was suddenly forced onto the throne?

It was going to be a story about identity and belonging. Or rather, of not belonging. About someone who’d grown up completely outside the royal world being thrown into it overnight.

I had written more than a few drafts on this original concept. Pages and chapters filled with palace intrigue, family tension, arguments, conspiracies within the royal family. A monarchy desperately trying to hold itself together with a newcomer that didn’t fit the mold.

However, the story shifted. Dramatically. The stakes got higher. The focus changed to the devastating attacks on London and not about the intrigues of the royal family. Well, not entirely. Some of that remains. And there will be a lot more in the sequels.

The quiet royal drama I had envisioned turned into Black Dawn. Now a story about the collapse of Westminster, the chaos in London, and the power vacuum that followed when everything we took for granted suddenly fell apart.
Black Dawn was now about hunting those involved in the attacks and about trying to find out why they happened, and what would come next if they didn’t stop the mysterious cabal known as The Black Dawn.

It became about survival, politics, and the shadowy forces trying to shape what comes next.

When I look, I can still see some traces of that original “secret heir” idea buried deep in the book’s DNA. The questions of identity, legacy, and the power struggles remain, albeit in a slightly different way. Plus, the questions about who deserves power, and what some would do to either take it, or keep it, are also there. But Black Dawn took on a life of its own. And I’m glad it did. It was a thrilling ride. I hope you choose to take that ride and experience the thrilling and explosive novel, Black Dawn.