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Seeing the Story Through Other Eyes: Why I Use The Mythic Chronicle

/ Author Simon Phillips / Leave a comment

One thing I have been thinking about while working on The Veil of Kings and Gods is how much of a fictional world exists beyond the people carrying the main story. A book has to stay focused on the characters, problems and consequences that matter most to its plot, which means there will always be people standing nearby whose experiences remain largely unseen. They might be servants, guards, clerks, priests or ordinary people who witness part of an important event while knowing very little about what is really happening. I have found myself increasingly interested in those people.

The Unmarked Path, the first book in The Veil of Kings and Gods, already has a lot moving through it. Simion returns to Bremyra under orders from the Order of Magicians, Prince Patrick is trying to govern during his father’s absence, Princess Elana is preparing to leave for an arranged marriage, and pressure is beginning to build far beyond the kingdom itself. The Order and the Church distrust one another, trouble is developing in the north, and Simion gradually discovers that his reason for being in Bremyra reaches further than he expected.

Those are the people and events the book needs to follow closely. While writing around that story, though, I kept wondering what the same period looked like to people who stood several steps away from it. I wanted to know what the servants thought when they were suddenly ordered to reopen an old Order manor above the city, what a castle clerk made of a sealed letter arriving beneath gold wax, and what the people working inside the cathedral noticed when Archbishop Alaric prepared to receive a magician he clearly distrusted.

That became one of the reasons I started using The Mythic Chronicle alongside the books.

Looking Beyond the Main Story

The current Chronicle cycle is called The Sealed Road of Bremyra. It surrounds the events of The Unmarked Path, with some accounts taking place shortly before the book, others during it, and others dealing with what remains immediately afterwards.

I wanted the distinction between the two to stay clear. The Unmarked Path carries the direct story, while the Chronicle follows fragments around it. Those fragments can come from servants, clerks, chapel attendants, guards, household records, later copies of old accounts or people trying to understand something after the event has already passed.

That difference has given me far more room than I expected because I can stay inside Bremyra while changing where the reader stands.

The first Chronicle, The Manor That Waited, follows the servants sent to prepare the old Order manor before Simion arrives. In the book, Simion reaches the manor and finds an old house that has been out of regular use for years, still carrying traces of the Order’s former presence. The Chronicle allowed me to go back to the hours before he reached it and spend time with the people ordered to reopen those rooms.

They climb the hill carrying keys, linen, lamp oil and instructions from the castle. They open shutters, lay fires and prepare the western suite for a guest whose name they have never been given. As they work, small things begin to feel wrong. A lock seems to turn before the key has fully moved, marks appear in dust, doors behave strangely and a lamp is found burning where nobody remembers lighting it.

The servants have no idea what Simion is involved in, and they have no reason to understand the larger events beginning around Bremyra. They only know that an old house has suddenly been ordered back into use and that, somewhere during their preparations, it begins to feel as though the manor was already expecting someone.

I probably would never have followed those people inside the main book because Simion’s story has other places to go. The Chronicle gives that quieter part of Bremyra somewhere to exist.

What a Sealed Letter Means to Someone Else

The second Chronicle, The Letter Beneath Gold Wax, gave me another way of looking at the same period.

For Simion, the Council of Five belongs to the structure of his life. He was trained by the Order, he understands its authority, and the instructions sent to him affect his future directly. A clerk working inside Bremyra Castle has a very different relationship with the same event because, from his position, the Council arrives as an object carried through the door.

He sees a cedar case bound with dark cord and sealed beneath gold wax. He sees senior officials become unusually careful around it, watches the receipt entered formally into the castle record, and notices that people who usually deal with royal paperwork suddenly measure every word. He cannot read the wider story behind the letter, although he can tell from the behaviour around him that something important has entered Bremyra.

I have enjoyed working with that kind of limitation because the person recording an event does not always understand what the reader may later come to know. A clerk can preserve the hour, the condition of the seal, the names of the witnesses and the route taken through the castle, yet still have no idea why the letter matters so much.

That feels right for the Chronicle. History often survives through people who saw one small part of something larger and recorded what their position allowed them to see.

Standing at the Edge of a Scene From the Book

The Cathedral Warning pushed the idea in another direction because it sits close to a scene that already exists in The Unmarked Path.

Simion is summoned to Bremyra Cathedral by Archbishop Alaric, and their meeting makes the tension between the Church and the Order very clear. From Simion’s position, the encounter is about suspicion, authority and the limits Alaric intends to place around him.

The Chronicle moves away from Simion and spends its time with the people preparing the cathedral before he arrives.

Sister Maelis notices candles behaving strangely. Brother Osric is given responsibility for the undercroft key. Parts of the cathedral are restricted, doors are watched and Archbishop Alaric makes preparations that suggest he is worried about something deeper than an awkward meeting with a visiting magician.

When Simion finally enters, those people hear the same formal conversation, although they experience it from the edges. Their attention moves towards the locked doors, the keys, the candles and the sounds beneath the floor. They have no access to Simion’s thoughts, and Alaric certainly gives them no explanation for his concern.

I like being able to return to a moment from the book in that way because I am not rewriting the scene from another camera angle. I am looking at what the scene disturbed around it and asking what the people standing nearby might have carried away afterwards.

Remembering Simion Before He Became the Lord Magician

The fourth Chronicle, The Boy Remembered in the Kitchens, has probably been one of my favourite examples so far because it looks at Simion through a very different kind of memory.

By the time he returns to Bremyra, people see the black robes of the Order before they see the person wearing them. Servants lower their eyes, officials address him by title and even people who knew him years earlier have to reconcile the man standing before them with the person they once remembered.

The kitchens carry a different version of him. Their memories are connected to bread, work, illness, cold rooms and the ordinary routines of castle service. They remember a boy who once carried food through the halls and slept close to the hearth during a winter fever, long before anyone expected him to return as a magician.

That interested me because institutions remember people according to their own needs. A court remembers rank, the Church remembers authority and the Order remembers its own position, while servants may remember who was hungry, who worked beside them or who disappeared from their rooms one winter.

The Chronicle lets those memories sit beside the person Simion has become. It adds something to Bremyra without asking the main book to stop and explain every part of his childhood through exposition.

Leaving Some Things Uncertain

Another part of the Chronicle that I have come to value is that the records are allowed to be incomplete.

A servant can misunderstand what happened. A clerk may record only what his office required. A later copy of an account might remove a detail found in an earlier one, while someone writing years afterwards may decide that an unexplained event was caused by damp stone, winter weather, frightened servants or an old building settling in the cold.

I do not want every Chronicle to provide a final answer because that would weaken what makes the format interesting to me. The book remains closer to the direct events, while the Chronicle preserves what other people thought they saw and what later records chose to keep.

Sometimes the difference between those accounts matters as much as the event itself. A formal register may describe a perfectly ordinary household preparation while a lesser copy remembers that a lamp was already burning. A church record may describe proper restrictions during a formal reception while someone in the margins remembers candles bending towards a locked stair.

That leaves room for the reader to decide how much of each account they trust.

Another Way Into The Veil of Kings and Gods

There is a practical reason I like this approach as well because I want the website to give readers several ways into the fiction.

Someone who has already read The Unmarked Path can enter The Mythic Chronicle and return to Bremyra from places the book only passed briefly. They can stand inside the old manor before Simion arrives, sit beside a clerk as the Council’s letter enters the castle, or wait inside the cathedral while Alaric prepares for a confrontation the reader already knows is coming.

Another reader may discover the Chronicle first. They might begin with an abandoned manor that appears to be waiting for an unknown guest, a sealed letter that makes an entire chancery uneasy, or a cathedral locking its lower doors before a magician arrives. They do not need to understand everything about Simion, the Order or Bremyra before those accounts can work.

If the records make them curious about what is happening beyond the edges, The Unmarked Path is there to carry them into the main story.

I prefer that to repeatedly telling readers that I have another book available. The Chronicle can offer something worth reading for itself while quietly opening a door towards the larger series behind it.

The People Standing Nearby

I think that is what I have loved most about The Sealed Road of Bremyra so far. It gives me the chance to stay inside the world for longer and follow parts of the story that the main book could never reasonably stop to include. I can spend time with a housekeeper opening rooms that have stood empty for years, a clerk examining a seal with unusual care, a chapel attendant watching candles lean towards a locked stair, or a cook looking at a feared magician and remembering the boy who once worked beside the hearth.

That kind of thing has always appealed to me. When I was a child, I could spend hours, sometimes days, thinking through parts of a story that might never actually be used. I would imagine places beyond the main setting, work out what happened in rooms the characters never entered, think about people who only existed at the edge of the story, or decide what might have happened years before the part I was actually telling. Most of it never needed to appear anywhere. I simply enjoyed knowing it was there.

I still write that way now. The more time I spend inside a world, the more real it begins to feel in my own head, and I enjoy following those smaller threads even when they sit outside the central plot. They help me understand the place, the people and the history around them, and they make writing the main story feel less like moving characters through a constructed setting and more like returning somewhere that already has its own memory.

The Mythic Chronicle has given me somewhere to put some of that imagination instead of leaving all of it hidden in notes or in my head. The book can stay focused on Simion, Patrick, Týrnan and the larger events moving around them, while the Chronicle can step sideways and spend time with the people who only caught a glimpse of what was happening.

None of those witnesses understand the whole story. They see enough to know that something is changing, then carry away their own version of it as memory, rumour or record. For me, that makes Bremyra feel larger than the central plot because the world continues beyond whichever character happens to be on the page.

That is probably the part I enjoy most. I get to write the story I need to tell, while still giving myself permission to wander into the corners that first made me love making up worlds in the first place.

If you would like to see Bremyra from some of those quieter corners, The Sealed Road of Bremyra begins with The Manor That Waited, before Simion has even climbed the hill.

Why I Am Treating WordPress as Its Own Author Platform

/ Author Simon Phillips / Leave a comment

I have been spending a great deal of time working out what my WordPress website is supposed to be. The obvious answer is that it is an author website, although that answer leaves most of the important questions untouched.

An author website can be little more than a collection of book covers, sales links, a short biography, and an occasional update. That structure is tidy and easy to understand, although it does not match the amount of work I am trying to bring together or the kind of relationship I want the website to have with readers.

The more I have worked through the site, the clearer it has become that WordPress needs to function as a platform in its own right. It needs to give the books permanent homes, make the Chronicles easy to follow, provide free ways into the fiction, support paid reading, and give me somewhere to explain what I am building as it develops.

A Static Website Was No Longer Enough

There is nothing wrong with a simple author website. For someone with a small catalogue and only occasional news, a few book pages and a purchase link may be all that is needed.

My own work has grown beyond that shape. I have several series in development, four Chronicle branches, free stories, paid material, book updates, and a growing amount of author-side writing that needs to sit somewhere sensible.

Putting all of that on a single blog feed would create a different problem. A reader interested in science fiction could easily find a historical Chronicle beside a publishing reflection, followed by a fantasy update and then a website post. Everything would technically be available, although very little would feel properly organised.

I wanted the site to help readers find the parts that interest them. That meant thinking beyond individual posts and asking how the whole platform should work over time.

The Books Need Permanent Homes

The books remain the main reason for the website. Every other section has to support them rather than compete with them.

A basic books page can show a cover, a description, and an Amazon link. That works for a small catalogue, although it becomes difficult once several connected books belong to the same series and each series has its own setting, reading order, themes, updates, and related material.

I am therefore treating each series as something that needs a permanent home. A series page should explain what the books are, show the current releases, make the reading order clear where necessary, and give readers a direct path towards buying or reading them.

Those pages should also remain useful between releases. When I publish an update, a behind-the-scenes post, a related Chronicle issue, or a piece about developing that series, the relevant material can appear on the series page automatically.

This matters because a series page should not feel finished once the sales copy has been added. It should continue to gather the work connected to that story world while the main description remains stable.

Giving the Chronicles a Clear Place

The four Chronicles create another layer of the site. The Forgotten Chronicle, The Future Chronicle, The Mythic Chronicle, and The Modern Chronicle each have their own identity, subjects, and style of presentation.

They need to be easy to recognise and follow, although they cannot be allowed to divide the website into four unrelated sections. The site still belongs to one author, and the books remain the centre of the work.

I see the Chronicles as reading and discovery branches. They give me room to publish substantial ongoing material, build regular points of contact with readers, and connect certain runs to the book series they naturally support.

That connection needs to be handled carefully. A Chronicle may introduce readers to a historical period, a speculative setting, a mythic theme, or a modern concern that leads towards one of my series. Even then, the Chronicle should retain its own identity while the related series remains clearly presented as the main body of fiction.

WordPress gives me the structure to do that through permanent Chronicle pages, clear categories, and filtered feeds. A reader can follow one Chronicle branch without having to search through every post on the site, while still seeing the wider author platform around it.

Free and Paid Reading Need to Sit Together

The previous Author Journey post looked at the balance between free and paid work. That decision affects the shape of the website as much as it affects individual stories.

I do not want every path through the site to lead immediately to a payment request. Readers need space to understand the books, sample the writing, read selected stories, and decide whether they want to continue.

At the same time, paid work needs a proper home. The Chronicles, archive material, and longer reading sections require time to write and maintain, and WordPress needs to support that work as part of the author business.

The solution is not to separate free and paid material into two disconnected websites. They need to sit beside one another in a way that feels clear and fair.

A free story can lead towards a related book series. A Chronicle opening can introduce the subject and atmosphere before a paid continuation. An author update can explain why a new archive section exists. A series page can show the books while also gathering related free posts beneath them.

When those parts are connected properly, the reader is given choices rather than being pushed in one direction. Someone can read freely, buy a book, follow a Chronicle, or support the paid archive according to their interest.

Building Around Reader Paths

One of the most useful changes in my thinking has been to stop looking at every page in isolation. A page may look complete on its own and still leave the reader with no clear idea where to go next.

I now think in terms of reader paths. Someone may arrive through a search result, a shared Chronicle post, a YouTube link, an Amazon author page, or the homepage itself.

The site needs to help that person understand where they have arrived and what is connected to the page in front of them. A Chronicle post should lead towards its Chronicle branch and, where relevant, a related book series. A series page should lead towards the current books and a small selection of connected posts. A free story should offer a natural route towards further reading.

This does not mean filling every page with links. Too many choices can be as unhelpful as having none.

The aim is to provide one or two sensible next steps. Readers should be able to continue with the subject they have already shown an interest in, rather than being sent back to the homepage to start again.

Keeping the Homepage Active

The homepage has also changed in my mind. I once thought of it mainly as a fixed introduction, with a short biography, a few featured books, and links to the main sections.

It still needs to introduce me and the work clearly, although it should also show what is active now. A returning reader ought to be able to see a recent Chronicle, a current book or series update, the latest Author Journal post, and a route towards free or paid reading.

The difficulty is keeping the homepage current without rebuilding it every week. That is where filtered post sections become useful.

Instead of manually replacing every item, the homepage can pull the latest posts from the correct categories. The main structure remains stable while the visible content changes as new work is published.

This allows the site to feel active without turning website maintenance into a second full-time job. The homepage can continue to introduce the overall platform while reflecting the work I am actually doing.

Keeping the Author at the Centre

With several series and four Chronicle branches, there is a risk that the website could feel like a group of separate publications sharing the same address. That would make the structure harder to understand and weaken the connection between the different parts of my work.

The author identity has to remain visible throughout the site. The Chronicles can have distinct visual styles, and each series can have its own atmosphere, although they still need to feel connected to the same body of work.

The Author Journal has a supporting role here. It gives me somewhere to explain the decisions behind the site, share progress, discuss publishing work, and record the practical steps involved in building a long-term catalogue.

That does not mean the Author Journal should take over the site. Readers are coming primarily for the books, stories, and Chronicles, and the author-side posts should help them understand that work rather than distract from it.

This is why the Author Journal will sit lower in the overall structure. It adds context and a human voice, while the fiction remains in the stronger position.

The Work Behind the Visible Pages

Much of this work is quiet and repetitive. Categories need to be decided, pages need to be connected, old posts need to be routed correctly, images need proper descriptions, and each series needs enough structure to remain useful as the catalogue grows.

None of those tasks produces a new book. It can therefore feel difficult to justify spending time on them when there is always more writing to do.

The problem is that an expanding catalogue becomes harder to use if the supporting structure is ignored. Books can disappear into a long list, older posts can become difficult to find, and readers may never discover that two pieces of work are connected.

I am trying to build the structure before that problem becomes larger. The site does not need every possible feature, and I am avoiding additions that would make it harder to maintain.

What it does need is a clear foundation. Pages need defined purposes, categories need to route posts correctly, and each section needs to lead readers towards the work that belongs there.

What This Means in Practice

In practical terms, WordPress is becoming the main organised home for my author work. The books will have permanent series pages, the Chronicles will have their own branches, and ongoing posts will appear in the correct places through categories and filtered sections.

Free stories will give readers direct access to the fiction. Paid material will have a clear place inside the same platform, with enough free reading around it for readers to make their own decision.

Substack will continue as a parallel publication and discovery channel. YouTube and shorter visual work will provide additional entry points. Amazon will remain the place where the books are sold.

The difference is that WordPress will connect those parts. It will explain the catalogue, preserve older work, show what is current, and provide a stable place that is not dependent on a single external platform.

Building It Slowly and Properly

The site is still developing, and some parts will take time to complete. There are many series pages to build, older material to organise, and several sections that need to work together before the structure feels settled.

I am trying to resist the temptation to rush through it simply so that everything looks finished. A page that exists without a clear purpose can create more confusion than a page that has not been built yet.

The slower work has helped me decide what each part of the site is meant to do. It has also made me remove ideas that sounded useful at first but did not support the books or the reader.

That is probably the most important change. I am no longer treating the website as a collection of things I should have as an author. I am treating it as a working part of the writing and publishing system.

What Readers Can Expect Next

As the structure develops, readers will begin to see clearer series pages, more organised Chronicle sections, regular free reading, and a paid archive that is easier to understand and follow. Each addition should make it simpler to move between the books, stories, Chronicles, and author updates.

The Author Journal will continue to record the practical decisions behind that work. Some updates will be substantial, while others will cover a small change that has taken longer to solve than expected.

The next stage is to keep building the permanent homes for the books and connect the ongoing posts to the correct places. I will continue adding updates as those sections take shape, and the latest free reading can always be found through the main story areas of the site.

Why Free Fiction and Paid Reading Both Belong on the Same Website

/ Author Simon Phillips / Leave a comment

Finding a Fair Shape for the Website

One question has kept returning while I rebuild my author website: how should complete free fiction and paid reading sit beside each other?

I want the website to give readers a genuine way into my writing. I also want it to support the time, planning, writing, editing, publishing, and maintenance behind that work. Those aims can appear to pull in different directions, especially when an author website is trying to welcome new readers while becoming part of a long-term independent income.

For me, the answer is to give both forms of reading a clear place.

Monthly Free Stories offers one complete free story each month. The Paid Reading Archive gives selected continuing work, particularly the Chronicles, a place where it can help support the wider platform. Each area serves a different purpose, and the distinction needs to remain honest.

Why I Wanted Complete Free Stories

I never wanted every route into the website to end at a payment screen. A new reader may know very little about my books, the Chronicles, or the different series I am building. Asking that reader to subscribe or pay before they have had a proper opportunity to read my fiction would place the decision too early.

Monthly Free Stories provides a simpler starting point.

Each month, I will publish one complete story on the website. The genre may change according to the idea. One month may bring horror, while another may lean towards science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, mystery, modern fiction, or something that sits between established genres.

The important part is that the story should feel finished. A reader should be able to arrive, choose a story, and read it from beginning to end. There should be no missing conclusion or sudden payment gate before the final section. The free story should give the reader a complete piece of fiction, even when the idea later proves capable of growing into something larger.

This also gives me room to write beyond the established series. Some ideas clearly belong inside a book project from the beginning. Others are smaller, stranger, or still uncertain. A complete standalone story gives those ideas room to exist before I decide whether they deserve a larger future.

Some may eventually suggest a series or book. Others may remain single stories that achieved exactly what they were meant to achieve.

Monthly Free Stories

Why Paid Reading Still Matters

Writing carries practical costs that readers rarely see directly. The time spent developing a story is only one part of the process. There is also revision, proofreading, formatting, cover preparation, website maintenance, image work, archive management, platform subscriptions, and the regular work required to keep everything organised.

A paid reading section gives part of that work a direct way to support itself.

The Paid Reading Archive is intended for material that benefits from an ongoing home, especially Chronicle issues and other selected work connected to the regular publishing structure. Readers may begin with an open section, understand the subject and tone, and then choose whether they wish to continue.

That choice needs to remain clear. Readers should understand which material is free, which material requires payment, and what access provides. Clear labelling matters because trust can disappear very quickly when the boundaries between free and paid material become uncertain.

Paid reading also allows WordPress to function as a full author platform instead of acting as a collection of links pointing towards other services. The website should hold fiction, organise it properly, give readers reasons to return, and contribute towards the continuing work behind the books.

Paid Reading Archive

Different Forms of Reading Serve Different Needs

Free fiction and paid content are sometimes discussed as though one must weaken the other. I see them as serving different readers and different kinds of work.

The free stories help readers discover my fiction. They show the range of genres I write, the kinds of atmosphere I return to, and the human pressure, uncertainty, history, strange systems, or hidden danger that often sits inside the work. They also give existing readers something complete to read between book releases and Chronicle posts.

The paid archive supports regular and continuing material. It gives readers who want to follow the work more closely a clear place to do so, while helping with the practical cost of keeping the website active.

The distinction matters. Free fiction should feel complete and worthwhile. Paid reading should offer enough depth, continuity, or regular material to justify the cost. Each side can remain clear about what it offers.

Avoiding the Feeling of a Sales Funnel

I am wary of turning every free piece into a carefully disguised route towards payment. Readers can usually sense when a story exists mainly to push them towards a purchase, and that approach would make the fiction feel secondary on an author website.

Monthly Free Stories needs its own integrity.

Each story should provide a full reading experience. A closing link may guide readers towards the books, another free story, a related series page, or the Paid Reading Archive, yet the story itself should already have delivered what it promised.

One reader may finish a story and leave the site. Another may return the following month. Someone else may move towards a book series, a Chronicle branch, or the paid archive. Each response is reasonable, and those choices should grow naturally from interest.

This means the website has to be organised carefully. Free stories need a clear home. Paid material needs equally clear labelling. Series pages need to remain focused on the books. Chronicle pages need to explain what readers can expect, while the Author Journal should remain a supporting area where I can discuss the work behind the fiction.

Clear structure helps readers understand where they are and what each part of the site offers.

Giving Readers Several Ways Into the Work

Readers will arrive with different interests and different levels of familiarity with my writing. Some may already know one of the books. Some may discover the website through a Chronicle post. Others may find an Author Journal article, a free story, a social post, or a short video.

Trying to force every reader through one route would make the website too narrow.

The books remain the main body of the work. The permanent series pages give each larger project a proper home. The Chronicles provide regular themed reading. Monthly Free Stories offers complete standalone fiction. The Paid Reading Archive holds selected continuing material. The Author Journal explains parts of the work and the decisions behind it.

These areas can connect to one another while still making sense individually.

That is particularly important for a website covering several genres and many long-term series. A reader interested in historical fiction may have little interest in science-fiction horror. Someone who enjoys a free ghost story may later discover one of the darker historical series. Another reader may prefer the Chronicle format and spend most of their time within that part of the site.

The website needs enough structure to support those different reading habits while keeping the overall author identity clear.

Keeping the Balance Honest

The balance between free and paid reading will probably need adjustment as the website develops. Some monthly stories may grow longer than expected. Certain Chronicle strands may suit the paid structure better than others. Some experiments may prove manageable, while others may demand too much time beside the books and existing publishing work.

I prefer to make those decisions through actual experience instead of pretending the whole system is already settled.

The main principles are clear enough to begin. Free stories will remain complete. Paid material will be labelled properly. The books will remain central. The Chronicles will keep their own identity. The website will offer several entry points, with each one connected to the wider author platform.

That gives me a structure I can develop while respecting the fact that readers use author websites in different ways.

What I Hope to Build Over Time

Over time, I want the website to hold a growing body of fiction that readers can move through at their own pace.

The Monthly Free Stories archive should become a shelf of complete standalone work across different genres. The Paid Reading Archive should become a deeper collection for readers who want regular access to Chronicle material and other selected pieces. The books and series pages should remain the main route into the larger story worlds.

A reader might begin with a free story, browse the books, follow a Chronicle, read an Author Journal post, or support the paid archive. There is no expectation that every reader will use every section.

The purpose is to respect different ways of reading while giving the work a practical chance to support itself. Free fiction gives new readers an open door. Paid reading gives interested readers a way to follow the work further and contribute towards its continuation.

Building the Sections Through Regular Work

The next stage is straightforward, even though it requires steady work. I need to keep adding the material that gives each area a reason to exist.

That means publishing the monthly stories, building the archive carefully, connecting posts to the correct pages, and making sure readers always understand where they are and what they are being offered.

The balance will develop through use. Some parts may change as I learn what is manageable and what readers choose to follow. The central idea will remain the same.

Complete free fiction and paid reading can belong on the same author website because they support the same wider purpose. They keep the fiction available, organised, and moving forward, while giving readers the freedom to decide how deeply they want to follow the work.

The Work Behind the Books

/ Author Simon Phillips / Leave a comment

Why I Wanted to Start This Section

Most author websites naturally place the finished book first. That makes sense, because the book is usually the reason someone has arrived on the site. A reader wants to know what the story is, what kind of world they are entering, where to begin, and whether there is another book waiting after the first one.

I still want that to remain true here. The books, stories, series pages, Chronicles, free fiction, and paid archive are the main parts of this website. They are the reason the site exists. They are also the work I want readers to find, follow, and hopefully return to over time.

Even so, there is another side to the work that does not always fit neatly on a book page or a story page. It is the planning, the testing, the rebuilding, the slow decisions, and the small corrections that happen before a reader ever sees the finished result. That side is quieter, but it matters.

This Author Journey section is where I want to write about that part of the work.

What Readers Usually See First

By the time a book appears on a website, it can look fixed and simple. There is a cover, a title, a description, a purchase link, and perhaps a short note about the series. Everything seems clean because the messy part has already happened somewhere else.

The same is true of a Chronicle issue, a free story, or a new page on the site. The visible result is only the final layer. Behind it are choices about structure, timing, categories, images, links, tone, format, and how the piece fits into the wider author platform.

I have been thinking about that more as I rebuild the WordPress side of my author work. A website can easily become a list of books with a few links attached. There is nothing wrong with that in a basic sense, but it does not give much sense of the author behind the work, or the shape of the larger project being built.

I wanted a place where I could talk about that without turning every update into an announcement or a sales post.

The Work That Sits Behind a Finished Page

A lot of the work behind the books is not dramatic. It is often a matter of deciding where something belongs, what it connects to, and how a reader might find it later.

A story has to sit in the right place. A series needs a page that can grow over time. A Chronicle post needs to connect to the right branch without overwhelming the fiction it is meant to support. A free story should be easy to find, but it should not confuse the paid archive. A writing update should help readers understand what is happening without pulling attention away from the books themselves.

These decisions are small on their own, but they add up. They decide whether the website feels clear or scattered. They decide whether a reader has a simple path through the work, or whether everything becomes a pile of posts with no real direction.

That is one reason I have been treating WordPress as a serious part of the author platform rather than a spare noticeboard. I do not want the site to exist only as a bridge to somewhere else. I want it to hold the books, the story worlds, the Chronicles, the free fiction, the paid material, and the author updates in one organised place.

Building the Website Around the Fiction

The website is being built around the fiction first. That matters to me because it keeps the whole project honest.

The series pages are there for the books. The Chronicle branches are there to support discovery and give readers another route into the work. The free stories are there to let readers try the fiction without needing to pay first. The paid archive gives some of the longer material a proper home. The Author Journal sits beside those things, but it does not replace them.

That balance is important. I do not want the website to become a general blog where the books are pushed into the background. I also do not want every post to feel as though it is trying to sell something. Readers can usually sense that, and I do not think it helps build trust.

For me, the better path is to show the work clearly. Some posts will be about new stories or releases. Some will be about changes to the website. Some will be about what I am learning as I publish, organise, and keep going. The fiction remains the centre, but the process around it can still be worth sharing.

Why Every Update Should Not Be an Advertisement

A book advertisement has its place. A release post has its place. A paid archive update also has its place. Those posts are useful because readers need to know what is available and where to find it.

Still, if every update is only about buying, subscribing, or clicking through to something, the author begins to disappear behind the promotion. That is not what I want from this section.

I want some posts to feel quieter than that. I want room to write about decisions that are still forming, changes that have taken longer than expected, and practical lessons that might not sound impressive but are part of building something that lasts.

There is also value in admitting that not every part of the work is clean or fast. Some pages need rebuilding. Some ideas need sorting out before they make sense. Some stories take longer to place within the wider structure. Some plans look clear at the start and then need adjusting once the real work begins.

That does not mean the project is failing. It usually means the project is becoming more honest.

Writing Around Real Life

Another reason I wanted this section is that writing does not happen in a perfect empty space. It happens around work, family, tiredness, time pressure, and ordinary responsibilities. I do not want to turn that into the main subject of the website, but it is part of the truth behind the books.

There are days when the work moves quickly. There are other days when the most useful thing I can do is fix a category, update a page, make a note for a future story, or check whether the website still makes sense from a reader’s point of view. That kind of progress does not look impressive from outside, but it keeps the larger structure moving.

I have learned to take those smaller steps more seriously. A finished story matters, of course. A published book matters. A complete series page matters. Still, the quiet maintenance matters too, because without it the website becomes harder to use and the work becomes harder to follow.

The long-term goal is not to appear busy. The goal is to keep building in a way that readers can understand.

The Value of Small Progress

One thing I have had to accept is that slow progress is still progress when it is moving in the right direction. That sounds simple, but it is easy to forget when there are several books, several story worlds, different content streams, and a website that needs to hold all of them properly.

Small progress might mean writing a post like this. It might mean making the Author Journey section clearer. It might mean giving the Monthly Free Stories page a proper place. It might mean making sure a Chronicle issue links back to the right series page. It might mean writing a better excerpt, choosing a cleaner title, or deciding that a page should not try to do too many jobs at once.

Those things are not as visible as a new book cover, but they shape how the whole site works. They help the fiction feel less scattered. They also help me see the project more clearly as I build it.

That is one of the main reasons I want to write these posts. They give me a place to record the practical thinking behind the work while giving readers a clearer sense of what is being built.

What I Will Share Here

This section will mostly be about the writing life behind the books and the author platform around them. I expect to write about story progress, series planning, publishing decisions, KDP lessons, website building, WordPress changes, Substack reflections, YouTube experiments, mini-reads, free stories, paid archive updates, and the slow discipline of keeping a large fiction project organised.

Some posts may be simple progress notes. Others may look at a decision in more detail, such as why a page was added, why a series needs its own hub, or why free fiction belongs beside paid content. There may also be posts about setbacks, tiredness, false starts, and the problem of trying to build a writing career in real life rather than in theory.

What I do not want is a section full of empty advice. I am still learning many parts of this. I would rather write honestly about what I am trying, what has helped, what has been slower than expected, and what I am changing as the work develops.

That feels more useful than pretending everything was planned perfectly from the beginning.

Where This Fits on the Website

The Author Journey section is a support layer for the main website. It is here for readers who want to know more about the person building the books, the choices behind the site, and the practical work that sits around the fiction.

It should not take over from the books themselves. The series pages, Chronicle branches, free stories, paid archive, and main book pages remain the main paths through the site. This section simply gives those paths some human context.

I think that matters, especially with a site that is carrying several types of content. A reader might arrive through a free story, a Chronicle issue, a book page, or a post about the writing process. However they arrive, I want the site to feel connected rather than random.

That means building slowly, making careful decisions, and accepting that some of the less visible work is still part of the author life.

A Quiet Starting Point

This first post is not a major announcement. It is simply a starting point for a section I think the website needs.

There will still be book updates, story releases, Chronicle posts, free fiction, and paid material. Those are the main reasons the site exists. This section will sit beside them as a place for the quieter work: the planning, the lessons, the adjustments, the doubts, the useful mistakes, and the small steps that help the whole platform become clearer over time.

If you are here for the fiction, that remains the best place to begin. The books and stories are the centre of the site. If you also want to follow how the work is being built behind the scenes, this is where I will write about it.

I will keep adding updates as the site develops.

When Writing Becomes More Than a Hobby

/ Author Simon Phillips / Leave a comment

You know what I’ve realised lately?

Writing, not just novels but short stories, flash fiction, even blog posts, has become more enjoyable to me than watching TV. More than movies. Sometimes, even more than reading.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love a good story in any form. But there’s something different about sitting down with a blank page. Something alive. It’s not passive, it’s creation. Every sentence, every scene, is something I get to build. To breathe life into.

It’s strange, isn’t it? We spend so much of our lives consuming stories, but when you start creating them, time shifts. You stop watching from the outside and begin shaping the inside, the heartbeat of the world you’re building.

And it’s not just about finishing something. It’s about the act itself, the quiet joy of shaping a world from nothing, of following a character you didn’t plan to meet, of reaching a line and thinking, Ah. That one was honest.

Writing has become my pause in the noise, a place where time disappears, yet I feel more present than anywhere else. It’s where I find myself again.

So I wonder, does anyone else feel this? Has writing ever felt more fulfilling than bingeing a series? More grounding than scrolling through a feed?

If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Because for me, writing isn’t just a pastime anymore. It’s where life slows down just enough for meaning to take shape.

Watch the video here: Why Writing Feels Better Than Watching TV | Life as an Author

The Unexpected Challenges of Being a Self-Publishing Author

/ Author Simon Phillips / Leave a comment

There’s something rather thrilling about building a world from scratch. You craft your kingdoms, shape your gods, breathe life into characters who, over time, start talking back to you. But once you decide you actually want people to read what you’ve written, that’s when the reality sets in.

When I first began writing The Veil of Kings and Gods, I wasn’t thinking about publishing at all. I was just trying to write the story I’d been carrying around in my head for years. But now, with the second draft taking shape and the word count tipping well past 200,000, I’ve had to ask myself the real question: do I go down the traditional route, or do I take the leap into self-publishing?

For now, I’m leaning toward the latter. Not because I don’t believe in the traditional path, it has its strengths but because I believe in the world I’ve created, and I want the freedom to build it my way. That said, the journey to self-publishing isn’t all late-night writing sessions and dreamy cover design mockups. There are challenges you don’t quite anticipate until you’re knee-deep in them.

One of the trickiest is time. I work multiple jobs, juggle family responsibilities, and still try to make space for the novel. It’s not glamorous. Most of my writing happens in brief snatches, at school during breaks, late in the evening when the rest of the world has quieted down. Managing that with content creation for YouTube, blog writing, and building an author presence online is like spinning several plates while plotting a civil war between two kingdoms.

Then there’s the learning curve. Book formatting, ISBNs, metadata, newsletter tools, SEO, and reader psychology, none of it has anything to do with actually writing, and yet all of it matters if you want your book to reach readers. I’ve spent more time Googling “how to not look like an amateur author” than I care to admit.

Another odd challenge: sharing your work in public before it’s finished. Through Shorts, blog posts, and early lore reveals, I’ve let people peek into the world of The Veil of Kings and Gods before the final draft is done. It’s exciting but vulnerable. You’re inviting feedback, forming connections, and trying to grow a following, all while the foundations of your novel are still shifting beneath your feet.

The last thing I didn’t expect? The silence. Sometimes you pour yourself into a post, a video, a piece of lore, and it gets a handful of views, maybe a like or two. No comments. No shares. And that’s when you realise: you’re not just writing stories. You’re building faith. Quietly. Steadily. On days when no one is watching.

So yes, I’m leaning towards self-publishing. Because despite all that, I believe in this story and I believe in the long game. Traditional publishing may still be an option one day, but for now, the creative control, the direct connection to readers, and the freedom to pace this journey in a way that suits both the book and my life, that’s what I need.

If you’re also on this path, or thinking about it, I’d love to know what’s been the hardest part for you so far. Or maybe the most rewarding. Feel free to share it in the comments or just quietly know that you’re not the only one spinning the plates and chasing the dream.