About Warren and Connor (Contains SPOILERS for Devil's Chaos)

The warning is in the title but it's here again for those who have not read the Devil's Chaos duet. This post contains huge spoilers for the series (including the prequel, Devil's Desire), which is available to download for free on the website.

Again, final warning if you don't want the duet spoiled, don't read this post.

It's hard to explain to people what happens with the side characters without giving away spoilers. There is an explanation about Warren and Connor at the end of the bonus epilogue, Devil's Kiss, but I know people still want more information, so figured this was the best way to provide it.

Forgive me, I'm a writer, so my posts are long. If you really want to hear about W&C, hopefully you are ready to buckle in.

My first proper, proper romance story I wrote was Sky Full of Stars, my rockstar romance. But it wasn't the first book I released as a new indie author. Devil's Chaos was the first. I'd completed book 1 by the time I learned all about lead magnets (this is a perennial freebie that you give to readers to give them a taste of your writing, and to sign up to your newsletter and get updates, exclusive content and more).

That was when things changed. That was when I decided to write the a small prequel to the MC duet featuring the characters when they were younger. It was meant to be short. I am apparently incapable of writing short. It ended up being a full novella that is eleven chapters long with an epilogue that leads onto the duet. Devil's Desire came to be.

To make the story more interesting I added more about Waverley's twin, Warren and their new friend Connor. And as I wrote that book, I knew I had to completely change the ending of the duet.

(SPOILERS INCOMING) Go no further unless you want the books spoiled.

Remember that cliffhanger, the one where they take Waverley and hurt Connor. Well, originally, Connor died. Yes. He succumbed to his injuries and died. When I tell you I sobbed writing that scene, it was ugly crying, face like a burned tomato, snot, head on table, broke-down sobbing.

But, it was for the good of the story, for the progression, the vengeance and the biggest impact. Because that was what all the things I was learning about writing told me to do.

Then I wrote him as a teenager, as Waverley's confidant and Warren and Hudson's best friend. He grew inside my head as a character, I fell in love with him. So how could I kill him? Seriously, my hope was that people loved the book and if I was devastated by Connor's death, then maybe the people who read it would be. Maybe they'd be angry with me and I didn't want that for my debut book.

I also didn't want it for Connor, or his three best friends. He'd already suffered a trauma that Warren and Hudson were trying to cope with. He'd already lost the ability to be an active member of the MC and felt like he was being pitied by the other members - how could I kill him? For a cliffhanger plot twist....

Well, if you've read the book you know I couldn't do it. Connor was saved from his fate by his younger self and his origin story in Devil's Desire.

But... I couldn't rewrite what happened to him to make him the way he was either. It was too much a part of the story, it was weaved through everything the main characters did, but he was alive, and that was what mattered, right?

As a writer, saving Connor was only the first part. Being realistic was the second. Yes, he's alive but he spends most of Devil's Daughter in hospital. He was very seriously injured and to remain true to reality, he had to be in a very, very dire situation, given what he went through with his second attack.

So that is why during book two, he starts to push Warren away. His brain injury, combined with the trauma of almost dying and the knowledge he was never really a part of the MC anymore, all came to a head. He couldn't go back. To write that he makes a full recovery and just goes back to where he's suffered his own personal hell, well, it made no sense.

If he wanted to stay with Warren, that meant staying by the MC. Can you see where this is going? I was heartbroken but it was the only way this could work. So, I did what I had to. Instead of killing him, I gave him his best version of a HEA. And yes, it tore Warren apart, it upset Hudson and Waverley but it was the only way for his story to conclude.

AND - all of that said... Connor and Warren were never supposed to be this big a part of the story. The duet was always about Hudson and Waverley's relationship. It was about what they went through to get to their HEA.

A big part of my writing style is to incorporate people around the main characters, to flesh them out more, make them believable and have them lead on to their own book. But Warren and Connor took on a life of their own and people loved them. My bad. I made them too real, too big a part of the storyline - but I don't think the duet would have been half as good without them.

So what to do about it. How can I disappoint so many people, and myself? And my characters? Truth is, I haven't decided where it goes next. I thought I had, I knew what is coming for Warren, but... Am I doing the right thing?

Warren is getting a book. He has always been getting a book. I wouldn't leave the Devil's Chaos world without writing about the other characters. His story is mapped out in my head and in my writing plan. It's based off what happened at the end of the duet. My dilemma is, staying true to what I've written and drawing a line under it, or bringing Connor back in some capacity - is that giving readers what they really want?

Sorry, but, you won't find out until the book releases. That isn't helpful, but I'm a pantser when I write. A story goes where it takes me in the moment, so although it's mapped out, it can go off in a million different directions. So I can't give you a definitive, concrete answer. (Being an evil writer, I also don't intend to, that's part of the excitement, right?)

I'm not leaving the Devil's Chas world, I won't leave the characters hanging. There were other characters I fell for. I always wanted Handlebar to have a book and I knew who his love interest would be. Then I wrote Mace... Another conundrum for me. Devil's Falling has been released so if you've not already done so, you can read that one to continue in their world.

I wanted Handlebar's book to release before Warren's. Not because I wanted to anger people, because that was the order of the storyline. And messing with the muse can lead to writer's block, which means I move onto something else to get my mojo back and they fall to the background.

Maybe I made the wrong choice with Connor or, maybe, you agree now that it really was the only way it could ever work. Me, I stand by the reality of a situation, even if it is fiction and this was always about Waverley and Hudson. Maybe I ought to stop having such in-depth side characters? Or maybe not, cos that wouldn't be me.

This might have helped clear things up, or it might have befuddled you even more. I don't know. I'm grateful to every single person who has read, loved, hated, wanted more of the Devil's Chaos characters. Warren's book will be next in that series and I'm toying with the idea of writing a prequel origin for King or a mini love story for Ballistic and Rosa but these are all my wild ideas as a writer that might never work in my schedule, or one night when I can't sleep their story may come to me.

The beauty of things now is - I'm full-time writing so what is really holding me back....

Have a good day whatever you're doing or reading!

Chris x