NaNoWriMo - Day 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 & 26

 

Day 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 & 26 

2nd December 2025

Today's total word count is 19861, an increase of 2724 since my last blog post. As you can see, I'm probably not going to reach 50 000 words within the next few days. I do have some free time tomorrow and the day after, so I'll see what I can manage. My new goal is to add an extra 10000 words before the 5th December 2025.

Today I want to talk about inspiration.

Inspiration for a story often comes from many places, some consciously and some unconsciously. I was at work when a flash of inspiration for what would become "A Fallen Empire" first came to me. I had stumbled across an online advertisement for a creative writing competition while on my phone. I was in the break room at the time, and I remember the contest required all entries to be less than 10 000 words.

As my break finished, I began thinking to myself. "What kind of story could I tell in less than 10 000 words?" And soon enough I suddenly pictured this scene in my head, of a city in flames, while a wizard walked through untouched by fire or smoke, looking down condescendingly on the soldiers and civilians who envied his magic. That single image is where this whole thing started.

As the day continued, new thoughts and ideas came to me. I pictured this wizard being entrusted with an important member of the nobility. I pictured chaos and rampaging mobs destroying the nation. I pictured the wizard holding on tightly to this small child as magic propelled both of them outside of the city. I pictured this wizard listening with hope to rumors of generals and admirals driving back the forces of revolution, only for news to then reach him that these imperial forces had been crushed. I pictured the wizard having to use subtle spells to create a distraction while a revolutionary officer performed blood tests in a local village, trying to locate those who shared a bloodline with the old regime. I pictured the wizard and child arguing, both now much older, over what they should do next.

None of these little threads are worth anything on their own, but weave enough together and you create a rich tapestry. 

The central concept is ultimately what pushed me to write this story. We often read and watch stories of evil empires being toppled, of heroes triumphing over villains. But we rarely see what happens afterwards. We don't see the everyday citizens of a fascist regime trying to rebuild their lives. We don't see the bloodshed and instability as new leaders and factions emerge from the revolution. We are usually just happy that good destroyed evil and choose to end the story right then and there.

To be clear, I am not trying to justify or excuse the actions of people who are part of these dictatorships in the real world. A fascist is a fascist, and should be treated as such. I simply considered this an interesting premise for a story. Nothing more. 

     

While I have so far only done some light study to help write this story, I have been trying to use real-world examples from history to help construct the world. The Roman Empire was certainly an inspiration, although its decline was far slower and more gradual than what happens inside my story. Still, most consider the sacking of Rome to be the nail in the coffin for their hegemony, which the wandering tribes of Visigoths hammered into the empire with extreme prejudice. So you can see some of the parallels there.

 

There is also the commonly repeated factoid that Adolf Hitler was in denial of just how bad the war had gotten for Germany during World War II, even right up until the end. While I have not been able to find any historical records that corroborate this factoid, I thought it an interesting idea and wanted to include it in the story, with the Emperor and his court unwilling to accept how badly they had lost, even as the capital was crumbling around them. 

It's only vaguely there in the story I have written so far, but I hope to expand upon it in future edits.

There are many other books, movies, and videogames that have inspired "A Fallen Empire." But those are inspirations I will have to save for another time.