Behind the Chess Pieces: Mid-Series Reflections on Grandeur

Ever wondered what it's like to write a story so dark it changes your own worldview? In this mid-series reflection, I take you behind the curtain of creating Grandeur, the most emotionally demanding storyline I've crafted for Gentleman's Journey yet.

Writing about a character who's lost everything—including the love of his life—has been an immersive experience unlike any other. "I'm literally in it with him," I share, explaining how I mentally stand beside my protagonist through every moment of despair. This creative approach has unexpectedly transformed my understanding of homelessness, giving me profound new insights into this real-world struggle.

For longtime listeners, I've dropped some exciting revelations: The Invisible King from The Relic Hunter and The Red King from Remembrance will both make appearances as the series progresses! Those chess pieces mentioned throughout the story? They'll all connect soon—I promise the payoff is worth your patience. We're currently halfway through this month-long journey, with another extended series coming in September, followed by shorter weekly stories for the remainder of the year.

Have ideas for future Gentleman's Journey storylines? I'd love to hear them! Reach out through the Let's Chat function, email me at anthony@gentsjourney.com, or connect on Instagram. A TikTok page is coming soon too. Thank you for your concern about my mental health during this intense creative period—I'm doing well and deeply appreciate your support. As always, remember: you create your reality.

"True mastery is found in the details. The way you handle the little things defines the way you handle everything."

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Series Review Introduction
• 1:27 Writing the Gritty Reality
• 2:55 Character Returns and Future Episodes
• 5:23 Upcoming Series Plans
• 6:03 Listener Messages and Contact Info

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Gentleman's Journey podcast. My name is Anthony, your host, and today, like we always do, we're doing a review of the series so far, where we're at with Grandeur. So let's go ahead and let's get into it. So how can I say this? You know this, past five episodes, you know five through ten, has been very gritty. It's been very it's. I'm going to be honest, guys, it's been a hard thing to write because not a lot of it's. I'm going to be honest, guys, it's. It's been a hard thing to write because not a lot of it's positive. You know, I mean until you know, until the end. Like you know, you look at episode. You know eight, nine and ten, but realistically, if you look at six, six, probably five, six, seven and part of eight, it was hard.

Speaker 1: 1:12

You know, this is one of those really gritty series and this is like the grittiest series I've ever written, where you have a guy who's literally on the edge of collapse at any moment. I mean he literally, in all things considered, doesn't have a pot to piss in. You know, and when you're writing this kind of stuff, like how I write things, I'm literally in it with him. I'm standing right next to him. I'm sitting on the bed, I'm in his. When he's having these dreams, I'm in it with him, you know. So, like in episode eight and nine, when, when the actual committee starts to come into play, it was, it's so much, it was a relief, to be honest, to to get, to be able to write that and to get to that point and perform it, just because the simple fact that when you're performing something as gritty and as dramatic as this, where you're talking about somebody who literally lost the love of their life and has literally destroyed them, it's nice to get that little reprieve where things start to go their way, that little reprieve where things start to go their way. You know, and as we're talking about that, one of the things I think a lot of people are missing with this and it's something that I missed too, you know, when I first started writing about this was actually how bad homelessness is, and I'm not going to get on a sandbox about homelessness, but writing this was a real eye-opener for me thus far and I have a completely brand new perspective on homelessness and homeless people. So you know, I just wanted to throw that out there Also, too, as we're talking about that, I get a lot of questions on this, so I'm just going to answer this right now. The pieces on the chessboard will make sense later. He's gathering them right now and I know there's explanations with the pieces, but when it all comes together it'll make sense. So please, please, please, stay patient with me and I promise you, once he gets all the pieces and the chessboard and everything else comes into play, this will all make sense.

Speaker 1: 3:36

Now, as we're talking about this, I wanted to give a little couple surprises here in this. Okay, two things there's two characters that are returning, characters from other series that will be in this series. So I'm just going to let the spoiler out right now. I mean, you're not going to know how that works. But the Invisible King yes, he has returned from the Relic Hunter. He will be in this series also too. The Red King will also be in this series from Remembrance. So again, two characters I love to write and I love to insert in here will be in this series. So again, look out for that especially. You're really going to start seeing them come towards the end, probably episode like 13. You're going to see in 12, 13, 14, them really start to come into play. But you know, I want to, I want you guys to have something to look forward to, so those guys will definitely definitely be in play.

Speaker 1: 4:41

And, like I said, this is going to be a month series. So right now we're square in the middle of it. We're starting. We just ended episode 10, so now we're going into episode 11. So, again, we're right in the middle of this series and as I talk about that, I also want and I'll, and I'll talk about this too I'm at the end of this series, but the next series that we're going to do so just so you can kind of mark your calendars for this is going to be another month-long series. So in september we'll do another month-long series and then after that, in November well, october, november, december they're all going to be short series, they're all going to be weekly series, so they're all going to be short stories. Well, short for Jen's journey, I should say. And so, just again, look forward to that.

Speaker 1: 5:32

And, like I said before we get out of here, because this is going to be really short, I just want to thank every single one of you for your support, for your viewership or listenership, for the messages I get. Oh, talking about that too. I got a message today about that too. I got a message today and I guess someone asked me if I was okay doing this series because I guess they said I sounded a little depressed as I was going through this. I'm fine, my mental status is okay and I do appreciate your guys's concern. I got actually a couple messages that said that to me. But no, I'm definitely definitely good and, like I said, I appreciate everyone's support with this. It's been just such a pleasure and honor to be writing this series and and, like I said, playing it out. It just I have so much fun doing this and I'm just so appreciative of you guys listening and, like I said, you guys, you know, if you actually here's, here's something I'll throw to you guys too.

Speaker 1: 6:41

If you have ideas for series, please do not hesitate to drop me a line.

Speaker 1: 6:49

Um, there's three ways to do that. First way is the let's chat function on the product. Three ways to do that. First way is the let's chat function on the product description. Jesus, On the what are we doing? A podcast, podcast description. You click on that. You and I can have a conversation if you have some ideas, or just in general, if you want to chat about, kind of what's going on in Jen's journey, some questions that you have about the series or other series that are out there. I mean there's 1,400 of them or 1,400, there's 14 of them and there's what 270-plus episodes out there now. It's a huge library, there's. That way, you can also always email me my email is anthony at gentsjourneycom, and also you can also go to my Instagram page, and there will also be. I'm also working on a TikTok page as well, too, and I'll release that here soon as well. So again, guys, like I said, this one can be just a really short review and again, I appreciate everyone listening today and, as always, remember this you create your reality, take care.