Unknown Territory Reworked

Unknown Territory is the sequel to Mr. Regnante, which I believe I first wrote in late 2017.

The story follows Arcangelo and Rosalie’s son as he struggles with expanding the Mafia, securing his position as one of the youngest bosses, as well as a marriage.

It became this streamlined after multiple redrafting and re-editing efforts.

Much like all first drafts, I was trying to figure out what I was trying to say. Where do I want this story to go, what are my theme and message? For the longest time, I did not know.

The very first version was that of Salvatore becoming a Mafia Boss and having a secret daughter whom he stumbles across by sheer mistake during a vacation abroad. The second version was Salvatore’s wife dying, making him cold and uncaring, but later finding out she cheated on him. The third version was of him realizing that he’s overworking himself and going abroad with his secretary, where cue boss-and-secretary trope takes place. Then the fourth version was of that secretary actually being promised to another. That was a mess. The fifth version was that the secretary is now a Mafia daughter and Salvatore getting married to her through a political merger, but plot twist! She has a psycho obsessive ex! Who — wait for it! — is also another Mafia Boss!

That was hectic.

This version, number six (?) develops on the latest plot.

Salvatore gets married to another Mafia daughter for the purpose of expansion and securing his position, the main plot revolving around their struggles as a newly married couple along with Salvatore’s ambitions of putting the Regnante Mafia at the top of the food chain. The hurdles and obstacles in both their professional and personal lives along with the addition of a villain in the form of the top Mafia Boss wanting to hinder Salvatore’s ascension under every and all circumstance.

Sounds fun!

Yes, yes, it does. But writing that is the most grueling process ever…

The stakes are higher, the characters have to be different yet relatable and interlinked to the prequel, and don’t even get me started on character development! That deserves a blog post of its own!

I believe it is worth mentioning that along with streamlining the plot, I have also changed the name of this book — sorry!

From Unknown Territory, it will now be known as Regnante Dynasty.

Why?

Because it fits in better with the rest of the trilogy: Mr. Regnante, Regnante Dynasty, and Regnante Legacy sound so much better than Mr. Regnante, Unknown Territory, and Regnante Legacy. It reads like a series.

Then there is also the fact that the major aim of this book is Salvatore's struggle in building the Regnante Empire up from the foundation Arcangelo laid in Book 1. Salvatore is building their dynasty.

It took me four months to entirely rewrite Mr. Regnante into a more coherent and streamlined version of itself, and now I have started working on Regnante Dynasty, having worked on 7 chapters so far.

Sounds impressive, but it wasn’t. I cried and hit the keyboard and screamed because I didn’t understand what the hell i was doing. What am I trying to show? Who is involved? Where did this third romantic subplot spring from? Why are they so MESSY?

Like I said, writing is grueling. It sucks the soul out of you, and I swear, I felt like a breakdown by the time I had chapter 5 down.

I forced myself to sit down the next day and write chapter 6, but that did not help me. Especially since I typically write down the main crux of the chapter beforehand and then let my mind develop it on its own as I write. But, today, when I gave my creativity free-reign to chapter 7, I finally could breathe, because it feels like I am going somewhere with this. I don’t know where, but it’s somewhere!

For novice writers, let me just tell you that writing is one of the hardest things I have ever done, but then it is also one of the most rewarding activity as well. Because what springs from your fingers is a part of you, a piece hidden so deep in your mind that it took your subconsiouness taking the wheel to show you what you want to see, because, like Maya Angelou once said:

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

Keep an eye out for the next update where I talk about the emotional roller coster publishing Mr. Regnante and then seeing the paperback version have been.