As an author you never know how readers are going to react to your story. Which characters will they like? What twists will surprise them? Often what readers like most about an author’s work isn’t what the author expected. Morgan and I experienced this during the launch party for Shadow-Spun. We both did a reading from the book, and Morgan’s was a scene that included Prettan, Hegrahn’s apprentice. Following that reading everyone started asking us questions about Prettan. “Are there more scenes with him in the book?” “I hope we get more of him later.” To say that Morgan and I were surprised would be an understatement. We never would have expected that a minor character with roughly three appearances in the entire book would be so popular! Yet, here we were.

In light of Prettan’s unexpected popularity, Morgan and I thought it would be fun to share some interesting tidbits about his character and the role he’s played in the story’s various drafts. So here are some fun facts about Prettan:

1. In early drafts of Shadow-Spun, Prettan actually fought alongside Hegrahn and Abavla during a major battle. During the fight Prettan’s arm gets badly damaged, but a healer repairs it after the fight. Originally we had planned for the damage to Prettan’s arm to be permanent, but we threw that out pretty quickly and never used the idea.
2. In another early draft Prettan had a spirit he was bonded to. We thought it would be a good way to introduce human-spirit bonds, but ultimately dropped the idea.
3. Prettan’s name is a cameo of my and Morgan’s family name: Prettyman.
4. In one version of the book Abavla had a one-sided rivalry with Prettan. Abavla was jealous that Prettan was a good blacksmith and his father’s apprentice. It didn’t add anything to the story, so it was dropped. 

Hopefully all you Prettan fans out there found some of that interesting! If you liked this blog post, you should sign up for our monthly newsletter. In every newsletter we share exclusive lore about Siraden and its characters, like Prettan, that you won’t read anywhere else!

— Duncan