Reflecting on Tales from Kingswood (Patreon)

Warning: This is likely a long, rambley post that is incredibly self-inudlgent and probably isn't an interesting read. You have been warned! Also, contains massive spoilers for the whole Year 7 story.

So, with Tales from Kingswood finally posted in full, this felt like a good time to do some reflecting on the story, both in terms of the story itself and my own process for writing it. While some of you might be interested to see more of my thoughts and feelings on it, this is largely an exercise just for myself, but I figured why not share it here anyway.

In the Beginning

The basic idea for Kingswood as a story has been knocking around in my head for at least twenty years. It started back when I was actually at school myself and was very much my own way of fantasising what my personal experience had been like. It always stayed with me, even after I stopped writing in my late teens and lingered in my head right through my twenties until I actually started writing again shortly before I turned 30.

Kingswood remained a potential story idea all through time time I was writing my other tales, but it just felt a bit too big. An entire school to create, full of hundreds of students, with thousands of stories, how could that ever be manageable? So I put it off, over and over again. My other stories gradually grew. The Benny Saga had originally started out intending to be a simple two-part story about a boy who enslaves his babysitter, yet suddenly there I was with three very long novels and still more ideas for sequels in my head. I had produced other stories too, all of quite grand scale, but still nothing quite as large as Kingswood would probably be.

After I concluded The Benny Saga and Jack Hamilton, I took a break from writing. Not necessarily by choice. I've always struggled with my mental health, even before I realised it, and my thirties were very much a time of self-discovery and the first steps towards healing a lifetime of neglected issues. As I began to heal and enjoy things again, the urge to write returned and, emboldened by my own progress, Kingswood suddenly became the goal. It was big, it was ambitious, it would take years of my life... but if I'd been thinking about it that long, I knew I just had to do it.

So with my 40th birthday less than a year away and the world descending into chaos as the pandemic began, I went for it! I made a plan. I couldn't tell the whole story of Kingswood, but I could tell the story of one group and their time at school. It was still big, but it was achievable, so the writing began.

The Failed Attempts

With my previous stories, I did very little planning. I just sat down, started writing and was almost always happy with what came out. I never thought ahead, I never edited, I just wrote a chapter and I posted it and it worked. I started writing Kingswood and something about it didn't feel quite right. I kept on writing, but didn't start posting because it just felt... off!

I reached the end of chapter 10 and I realised what had started off intending to be a fun, light-hearted character drama, with some sex thrown in had become a dark angsty story that was more likely to depress than entertain. It suddenly hit me that I didn't like the story I'd written. I didn't hate it. The characters were great and I liked some of the storylines, but as a whole, I simply didn't like it... so I scrapped it entirely.

I started over, which was a bizarre experience for me. I got writing once again and... bam, it happened again. Not happy with it. This time I felt things were just happening too fast. The boys got to the school and suddenly were at it like they'd been sexually active for years. As progressive sexually as Kingswood was intended to be, it still didn't feel right considering the characters' age and experience... so I scrapped it... again!

And so began attempt number three. I had learned from attempt number one that not every chapter needed dark twists and turns to be entertaining. I had learned from attempt number two that I needed to slow the pace. That was when I got the idea for chastity. I know the enforced chastity feels mean, and some readers outright dislike it, but it served an important story purpose in slowing down the sexual lives of the characters, something that continues right through book two.

So attempt three was a success... almost!

The Half-Term that changed everything

So I was on attempt number three and actually managed to make it to chapter 10 with a story I liked, and pacing that felt natural. Admittedly I was 10 chapters in and only covered half a term, which would mean a 60-chapter story unless I started speeding things up, but that was a problem for later. I got to half-term and knew I wanted to tell a story about it, but didn't want to prolong Tales from Kingswood even further (as it was already looking to be 60 chapters as just mentioned). That was when I decided to make it my first 'side story'.

The plan had always been to expand the Kingswood world further, though the use of side stories and spin-offs. This was a great opportunity to try that, but telling a story with an entirely new cast, when readers were only just getting used to the main cast felt a bit too confusing, so I kept Chris and Kyle there to be a continuing strand throughout it. What I didn't expect was for them to start dating!

I often talk about not planning, and being surprised by what happens, and this was one of those times. I told the half-term story and the two naturally gravitated together, though mostly through Kyle's anxiety and the need for comfort/safety and Chris' fear of being alone. It was not the best basis for a relationship... whcih is probably why they ended up breaking up. But either way, it happened and I found myself going back into the main story with Chris no longer single!

I had planned for Chris and Danny to get together, and in earlier drafts it had happened very early on, but here I was with my 'main' pair, no longer able to be a pair! How would Danny react? Well that brings us onto why attempt number three was only 'almost' a success.

Dark Danny

Chris and Kyle were kissing... Danny walked in and... all hell broke loose! Danny was devestated. He ran out, distraught. He didn't take the relationship well. He began to spiral. He got bitter, he got hateful, he began throwing himself into extreme, meaningless sex to handle things! Yeah, sounds pretty horrible, doesn't it? Well that was how attempt number three originally went!

I'd done it again. Made it into a story that I wasn't happy with. The thought of starting over entirely was heartbreaking... so I didn't. I went back to the chapter right after half-term and restarted from there, effectively making this attempt number four.

The dark timeline was gone, Dark Danny disappeared. He had to. Danny is not a dark person. He is the light in the story and aside from his natural tendency towards optimism, Danny loves Chris! If that means supporting Chris as he dates someone else, Danny would do it, because that's just the kind of love they have, the kind where the only thing that matters to them is each other's happiness.

So the Kingswood you have read is technically my fourth attempt at it, and I'm happy to say I have no regrets about the path I chose, or the versions I left behind!

The storyline that stuck

Throughout all four versions of Kingswood, there was one particular storyline that continued to be a key element - Josh and his abuse at the hands of his brothers. It changed a lot between versions.

In version one, it all plays out much more quickly. In fact, it's the cause of me scrapping it. Chapter 10 concluded with Josh stood up on the roof ready to jump. Being only 10 chapters in (and the chapters were shorter at the time) that just felt like too big a thing to happen so early in the story.

There was also more of the actual abuse shown throughout the story. While it did help to convey just how evil Josh's brothers were and how much he was suffering, it did not make for enjoyable reading. While I'm not shy about having bad things happen to my characters, just graphically portraying terrible events felt a bit too grim and it got removed, which led to the whole idea of the abuse being secret, even from the readers.

Considering my aversion to the bad stuff then, it probably seems weird that I was so adamant about keeping the storyline at all, right? Well there is definitely a reason for it, and that reason is Benny! No, you haven't missed a character, I mean Benny Harrison from The Benny Saga. One of the things I loved about writing him and his journey was that I got to really see him change from the power-made boy he was at the start of Benny Takes Control to the more sensible, cautious, considerate young man he had become by the end of Benny's House. That was the kind of development it's rare to be able to show in a story and I wanted more. I always imagine for future sequels how much I would be able to rely on the stories of his teenage life to determine the man he became.

So how does that relate to Josh and the others? Well simply put - trauma! Trauma is something that takes a long time to play out and even longer to heal, and it always leaves a mark. I wanted something very early on in the story that I could use as a 'learning' moment for the boys; something that would impact them for the many years still to come in the story. Being able to play out the impact of trauma over a period of seven years is a rare and valuable opportunity.

To COVID or not to COVID, that is the question

Considering the pandemic was already underweay when I started writing Kingswood, yet the timeline of Year 7 started the boys six months before it kicked off, I found myself with an opprtunity to have COVID show up in the story... or not. It would have been easy to just not mention it. However, I had decided quite early on that I would include it mainly because it gave me another one of those moments that can impact on the boys for the rest of their time at the school.

However, what I had was the luxury of hindsight. I could look at how the pandemic was (mis)handled in the real world and do it better. While real schools were closing, I had Kingswood in its own little bubble, already isolated from the world. Not only could I show an establishment taking the right safety measures, it also gave me a chance to lock the boys in, to keep them at school and keep telling their story while the world outside shut down.

Returning from the term two half-term break was always going to be a challenge, because of the way chapter 25 ended with Josh verbally assaulting his friends. The fact they had the pandemic to handle too just made things worse... but also presented an opportunity. That was what led to the bizarre occurence that was chapter 26!

Chapter(s) 26

When talking TV, they call it a bottle episode, where the characters are contained in a single location for the duration of the episode. I took inspiration from that when planning the Kingswood's quarantine. The idea was perfect for my needs as it:

• Allowed me to get the quarantine period out of the way in one go
• Let me give all eight boys a fair share of 'screen time'
• Let the boys have time to process what had happened with Josh, without chance of actual confrontation
• Gave Josh a brief period of happiness (to just make his potential death even more tragic)
• Let me try something a bit different, by telling the same period of time from four different perspectives

It was always planned that Josh's suicide attempt would happen after the lockdown, but it soon became obvious that I had the potential for a cliffhanger, in that each of the four versions had a character who was having a hard time and may have gone up onto the roof.

Writing chapter 26 was a bizarre and unusual experience and one I will always cherish. I might revisit the format in a later year. I am doing something slightly similar in book two, in that I tell the same period from four perspectives, but it is being done as a side story (like half-term) and they do not really overlap, they just happen to be set at the same time.

You want the trauma? You can't handle the trauma!

Chapter 27 was a tough chapter to write and, based on feedback, just as tough to read! So much so that I actually removed it. Instead, I wrote the next few chapters in a way that gradually revealed the main gist of what happened on the roof, without getting into too graphic detail about Josh's suffering.

In the end, I decided to put it back in, but left the descriptions in the following chapters and put a warning on chapter 27 to say it's not a fun/sexy chapter and that it could be skipped if too unpleasant.

I'm so glad I put it back in though. As I mentioned, the feedback I got said it was a tough/emotional read, but it was all overwhelmingly positive feedback, praising it for telling a good story. It was genuinely wonderful to know that the story can carry itself without the sex, as that is a genuine concern for myself and probably many other erotica writers.

While I don't necessarily plan lots of other sex-free, dark chapters, it's good to know that if/when they come up, I'm good to leave them in!

A romance written in the stars

Okay, it wouldn't be possible to reflect on Year 7 without mentioning Danny and Brian. When I first introduced Brian, I had no intention of him becoming a regular character. He was there purely to annoy and embarrass Danny on the particular day, then not really show up again... but something just clicked.

The longer the story went on, the more the two seemed to meet each other and much like Brian, I didn't even realise what was happening until it was too late. The name calling was supposed to be fun, the teasing nothing more than an antagonistic teen teasing another student, but as they started to have the moments of genuine connection, their attraction to each other became obvious.

I know there are a lot of Chris/Danny shippers out there. I started off as one of them, and I know many still hope for it to happen, even after the events of chapter 40, but Danny/Brian just make such a wonderful pair.

Their first fuck in the science lab was written just to start showing their sexual relationship developing, but when the idea struck me for the star display, it suddenly became their first bit of romance too. From there, Brian's idea to write his message in the stars quickly formed  and, along with the revelation of why he uses for the nicknames made for one of my favourite romance scenes I've ever written.

While I won't give spoilers about the future, one thing that has yet to be explored but will inevitably have a huge impact is having students from different years dating. What happens when the older one leaves?? Safe to say there will be challenges!

Who's the boss?

The story was started with the intention of being an ensemble cast and this remains very much the case, but certain characters have taken the spotlight. I do a lot of analysis of my stories and one of the things I monitor is how often character names are used. It's a good indicator of which characters have more going on. 

Below is a chart that shows the breakdown for book one, showing the main eight, as well as Kyle, Adrian, Joseph, Brian and Alex. It really shows just how much more Danny was featured than anyone else, followed by Chris.

This likely seems like utterly useless info... and I suppose in many ways it is. It's not like I'm going to go back and write extra stuff for the less-used characters. However, what it did was let me know that I might need to give more screen time to other characters. With book two finished, the figures don't change a huge amount from book one, but are slightly more balanced. 

Danny was never intended to be the 'main' character, and I still say he isn't, but he is undeniably more active than most of the others. By book seven, I hope to have this significantly more even though, but even if it's not, all of the main eight have their own storylines to enjoy.

Outside influence

Shortly after I started posting book one, I got an email from someone who, over the course of the last year, has become exceptionally important to me. Just for ease of reference, let's call him Floyd. Aside from being a wonderful friend and confidante, he has also been a huge influence on my writing and, more significantly, my approach to when I post.

As someone who has never undertaken any kind of formal studying in creative writing, I'm quite oblivious to a lot of techniques and tools, so I love to pick up advice and tips anywhere I can. With previous works, I wrote chapters and then just posted them on Nifty as soon as I'd finished them, with no editing (sometimes not even proof-reading) and no regularity or plan. Floyd helped me understand the importance of editing, but I also copied his style of completing a story before posting it.

At the time, I had posted chapters 1-10 of book one and was working on the half-term story, so it was too late for me to write the full book before posting, but I did hold off posting any more chapters of book one until I had the full thing finished. I was then able to edit the chapters before posting, which really allowed me to polish things up and ensure better continuity and consistency. It also allowed me to post on a regular schedule and Friday became my regular day.

Now, with book one just finished posting, I already have book two fully written and ready to edit before I even start posting it. It's a much more relaxed way of working as I know I can take a few days off of writing without leaving people waiting. It's also resulted in a much better quality of writing. 

Character drama or one-handed reading?

I've mentioned to a lot of readers that Kingswood is not like my other stories. They were all started from a sexual fantasy and eventually developed interesting characters and plots. Kingswood was always intended to be a character drama that just happened to be set in a place where a lot of sex happens. That likely sounds like the same thing and I suppose it is, but really chanway I approached writing it.

My goal was to write an interesting story based around the main characters and, based on feedback I've had, I managed it. While the story will always involve both character drama and graphic sex, it's nice to know that the story itself is appreciated as much as (or possibly more than) the smut.

Writing book one... of seven!

I have written a multi-book series before, but at the time I didn't know that was what I was doing. By the end of Benny Takes Control, I knew I was going to have sequels (I actually planned a third story, in addition to Dangers of Desire and Benny's House), but even then I kinda figured that was as much as I was doing, so every story I wanted to tell, needed to be included. Kingswood is very much not that!

When I realised I was going to be telling the full seven years at the school, it became apparent I would need more than one book. Sure, I could just post it all as one and end up with a 280-chapter story, but that felt like it would be inaccessible to readers, but also just a very intimidating thing to write. Looking ahead at a 40-chapter story is a dauting task. 280 feels insurmountable!

That meant I had seven books to play with. While each one does/will have its own storylines, I get the wonderful luxury of knowing that I don't HAVE to conclude each storyline at the end of each book, as that's just not how things would work. As a character  (who I won't name) says near the end of book two, “Things don’t just suddenly get better cos you’re all going home!” Being able to plan what things to conclude within each book and what things to carry over to other years is a challenge, but a fun one.

There's also the added luxury of knowing that any storylines I don't use now, I can take note of and include later. 

The admin... SO much admin!

It amazes me how much administrative work I end up doing for each of these books. One of the things I pride myself on is the sense of continuity and management of time. Each chapter is usually set in a single day, and with so many characters it can be hard to keep track of who is where and what they should be doing.

I end up doing a full class schedule, so that I know what classes the boys have had each day, or what class they might be in at a specific time. As below:

On top of that, I then have to plan out all of their extra-curricular activities and who else does them so I know who the boys spend their time with, and who has free time, as this often determines which characters will have scenes together. As below:

Add onto this the full student list of all 224 students at the school, birthdays, who they mentor/are mentored by, relationships, dorms and any activities where they show up and it's a lot to keep track of. On top top of that, I have a cast of boys who are all growing up and developing, so as they age up through the years, I have to plan out how much they've grown, how their appearance changes, how tall they are, how much they weigh. And for the school, staff come and go, so planning new/retiring teachers has to happen each year too. I swear there's as much planning involved in a fictional school as there is a real one. 

However, don't think of all the above as complaining. I genuinely love the planning stage and it makes me so happy when I complete a new class schedule. Yes I'm a geek and I don't care who knows it!

In conclusion... (yes, I'm finally shutting up)

Writing Tales from Kingswood has been a unique and exciting experience for me and I can honestly say I have loved every moment. Whether it's planning classes, writing scenes or talking to readers, every bit of what I've done has been a wonderful and rewarding experience.

Looking ahead, the main series will likely not finish posting until 2026, which is absolutely insane and should probably feel like a terrifying prospect, but as I move into posting book two and writing book three, I can see no signs of my enjoyment or enthusiasm dwindling. I love this series, and the fact I have so many amazing readers who love it too is just the best feeling.

Long live Kingswood