What do you get when you cross Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings with musical storytelling? Bygones, Volume I: Jome’s Secret.
Written by Villanova student Will Kleman, this debut fantasy novel is sure to be an immersive reading experience. Kleman is a senior studying economics, with a minor in computer science, but he has always had fantasy stories swimming in his brain.
Bygones, Volume I: Jome’s Secret is set to be released in mid-March. Kleman is self-publishing through Kindle, so the novel will be available on Amazon and Kindle for students interested in immersing themselves in a brand new world of fantasy and musical adventure.
“I came up with [the story] around Covid,” Kleman said. “We do a lot of family game nights, and we were doing one one night, and the idea was to come up with a fantasy map and present it to each other and vote on the best one, and that’s where it all started.”
Once he got to college, Kleman continued to expand on his fantasy world out of pure enjoyment, building the plot and backstories of the characters in his free time. He became invested in the story, sharing ideas with his mom on drives back and forth from school and going to the library after class to continue writing.
His story takes place in a land called Crybella, where eight clans reside, each with its own magical ability. Each clan also has its own relic, or sacred orb, called a bygone. These bygones are never allowed to come together, creating tension among the clans. The plot of the story revolves around two brothers, both called on different missions to help solve the mystery of the bygones and how Crybella can move forward.
The story has another unique element: Kleman has included seven QR codes throughout the book which link to original compositions that go along with the story. He comes from a musical family, and wanted to combine his love of music with his love of writing when working on this project.
“Over Winter Break and Thanksgiving my dad and I would just sit in our basement with our keyboard and just play around with sound effects,” Kleman said. “I would have him read a scene that I thought would be cool to have music in to enhance it and we would mess around and come up with something.”
He later got help from his childhood drum teacher, who brought in musicians to play the compositions created by Kleman and his dad and allowed them to record the songs in his studio. Kleman envisions the compositions as atmosphere-setting music to go along with the story, best listened to either before or during sections they complement. The music is meant to enhance the emotions in the story and set the tone for the section.
“You can either do it to introduce the section or read along with it,” Kleman said. “Time it with how long it takes to read the section, so you can have [the music] playing as you’re reading or just listen to it to set up the mood for the section.”
In terms of the story itself, Kleman took inspiration from the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series when writing his own novel and creating the world of Crybella. He hopes that fans of these books will also be drawn to his work.
“I find it cool that they were able to create a world that people could escape and go to when they’re feeling bored or just want somewhere to go, so I definitely took a lot of inspiration [from that],” Kleman said. “I tried to make it like Harry Potter, how adults really like it but you also have an eight year old who reads it and likes it, so that was definitely a goal when I was writing.”
When writing this story, Kleman always considered that he would want to write multiple installments, similar to the classic series he drew inspiration from. For those who will soon become fans of the book, Kleman has already started working on an outline for the second story in the Bygones series, which he hopes will be a trilogy.
“I kind of picture it as a trilogy, so I planned out a lot before I started writing what happens later on to set things up in this book so people would be interested to read,” Kleman said.
Though he plans to start his working life in sales, which he also enjoys, Kleman’s dream job would be to continue writing full time, as fantasy stories such as this one are a passion project for him.
“If it came to it where I was able to make a career off of it and a living I definitely would enjoy it because I definitely enjoy writing, it’s never me doing it as a chore it’s me just me doing it between homework or when I have really nothing to do and just want to have fun,” Kleman said.
Bygones, Volume I: Jome’s Secret is set to be released in mid-March. Kleman is self-publishing through Kindle, so the novel will be available on Amazon and Kindle for students interested in immersing themselves in a brand new world of fantasy and musical adventure.