Why Samantha Shannon returned to the world of ‘The Priory of the Orange Tree’

A story of dragons and queens that sprawls throughout a whole world (and over a number of hundred pages), The Priory of the Orange Tree has develop into a contemporary fantasy traditional in the eight years since its launch. It was initially billed as a standalone novel, so followers had been shocked and thrilled when Samantha Shannon introduced not solely that she was writing a prequel, A Day of Fallen Night, but in addition that much more books had been to observe. In this essay, Shannon explains how the subsequent installment in the Roots of Chaos sequence got here to be.

When I began The Priory of the Orange Tree in 2015, I supposed for it to be a standalone novel. Ever since I used to be younger, I had dreamed of dragons—and from the begin of my life as an writer, I knew I wished to write about them. It was only a query of when, and the way. In 2015, I had my probability. 

That yr, I submitted the first draft of The Song Rising, the third installment in my ongoing Bone Season septology. My editor was taking an unusually very long time to get again to me, which left me with out a undertaking to work on. I might later uncover that this was as a result of I hadn’t fairly hit the mark with the draft: The Song Rising would require a complete overhaul (and stays the most troublesome e-book of my profession to date). Unable to transfer on to the fourth installment till I knew the tough form of the third, I had a window of alternative to work on a e-book about dragons.  

I had by no means meant to write something however the Bone Season sequence till all seven books had been completed. I wished to get every installment to my readers as swiftly as potential. Yet as I thought-about my scenario, I spotted that if I spent too lengthy utilizing only one voice and residing in only one world, my craft may start to stagnate. As a author, I contemplate it essential to push myself out of my consolation zone each infrequently, to guarantee I can adapt and develop. For the sake of each the sequence and my very own capacity, I wanted to department out. 

I made a decision to return to third particular person—the perspective I had at all times utilized in my teenagers, earlier than the protagonist of The Bone Season took me abruptly along with her voice—and to take my first steps into a brand new subgenre: excessive fantasy. By doing this, I hoped to strengthen my inventive muscle groups and domesticate a extra lyrical and mature writing type, which I may then use to develop my protagonist’s voice in the Bone Season books. 

Between powerful rounds of edits on The Song Rising, I labored on the manuscript of The Priory of the Orange. It quickly ballooned in scope. Fitting an epic journey into the area of a single novel was a problem, however I used to be resolved to do it. By the time it was performed, I had constructed a number of international locations, an unlimited forged of characters and a backstory that stretched again for hundreds of years. And I knew this world had extra tales to inform. 

I used to be nonetheless decided not to commit to one other lengthy sequence. Ten years into writing the Bone books, I’m nonetheless in love with the story and characters, and I’ve to weigh my schedule fastidiously every time I contemplate engaged on one thing else. Despite my finest efforts, writing Priory and its prequel, A Day of Fallen Night, has brought about important delays in the Bone Season sequence. I really feel a terrific deal of guilt as a result of of this, and it has, understandably, annoyed some of my long-term readers. At the similar time, I can’t remorse the dragon books. The Mask Falling, the fourth and most up-to-date Bone Season installment, is by far the strongest—my favourite e-book of my profession. I firmly consider this was as a result of Priory improved my writing, as I suspected it could. Working on Priory was an alchemical course of, permitting me to unlock one other stage in the lifelong course of of being a author. 

When I made a decision to write one other e-book in the world of Priory, I did it with a transparent imaginative and prescient. My purpose with the Roots of Chaos cycle is to write a sequence primarily made up of standalone novels. They will work collectively to inform an intergenerational story that spans 1000’s of years, however every might also be learn as a self-contained story, hopefully in any order. This means readers aren’t left ready for the story to proceed—every e-book is its personal journey. 

A Day of Fallen Night begins 5 centuries earlier than Priory and covers the interval often known as the Grief of Ages, or Great Sorrow—a devastating struggle between wyrms and humankind. When I wrote the first e-book, I discussed this era incessantly and thought that exploring it additional could be helpful for demonstrating the magical imbalance that types the bedrock of the sequence. During this period, siden (one of the two branches of magic, related to flame and earth) spun out of management, birthing the fire-breathing wyrms. Showing this period would additionally enable me to discover components of the world I had by no means managed to attain in the first e-book, corresponding to the lovely Queendom of Sepul and the snowbound North. 

I knew it was a raffle to begin afresh with a brand new forged. Many readers have instructed me they linked with the characters in the first e-book. I initially frightened that they could solely need to see this world via these characters’ eyes—that even I may not have the option to think about it with out them. By the finish, nevertheless, I cherished the new forged much more than the first. I can solely hope they develop on readers, too.

Photo of Samantha Shannon by Louise Haywood Schiefer.