Introducing The Werewolf of the Castle: What I Can Tell You So Far
Introducing The Werewolf of the Castle: What I Can Tell You So Far
Unlike my debut book, Life Through the Eyes of a Wolf, I want to start building interest in my next book long before it is published.
There is just one problem with that:
...I am notoriously protective of my work.
Especially in this day and age of A.I., I am careful about how much unpublished material I put online. I have spent a lot of time developing this story, its characters, its lore, and the world surrounding them. There are things I am simply not ready to reveal yet.
But I suppose I can answer one question…
What is The Werewolf of the Castle actually about?
Without spoilers?
Here is the current version:
A cursed werewolf king,
a human pacifist marked for sacrifice,
and a holy monster hunter
collide in a castle
where death may be
the easiest way out.*
*Subject to change.
Welcome to The Werewolf of the Castle ©, TM. 🐺🏰
How the Idea Found Me
This story is actually more than a decade old.
The original concept had heavy influences from Castlevania, Underworld, Van Helsing, Berserk, Beastars, Hellsing, and Bram Stoker's Dracula.
But the actual spark came from somewhere much less dramatic.
I’m gonna date myself here, but does anyone remember Shockwave and Flash Player? ✋
Way back in the day, they allowed people to play all kinds of games and animations through their computers and web browsers. At some point, I stumbled across a scene-making game based on another game I won't mention here.
It wasn't anything particularly sophisticated. It essentially allowed you to manipulate 2D sprites—almost like little digital dolls—and pose them against a static background.
I made a scene.
Then I looked at what I had created and thought:
"Huh... That looks like someone desperately trying to save the other, but two foes stand in their way..."
That was it.
That was the spark.
A little scene made with 2D sprites became an idea.
The idea became an outline.
And the outline became The Werewolf of the Castle.
I wrote the first outline and original draft in September 2015. By December of that year, I had finished an approximately 88-page draft.
And then?
I shelved it.
Eleven Years Later…
In February 2026, I rediscovered that old draft along with a collection of loose notes.
Initially, I wasn't planning some enormous undertaking. I started with a simple "What if?" question involving the Prologue.
One question became another.
Then another.
An old scene changed.
A character developed more depth.
The world got bigger.
The lore expanded.
And I've basically been running with it ever since.
What began as revisiting something I wrote more than a decade ago gradually became a full rewrite.
Interestingly, I'm approaching the story almost completely opposite from how I wrote it the first time.
With the original draft, I worked backward. I knew where I wanted the story to end, so I essentially backtracked from that destination toward the beginning.
This time, I started at the beginning.
I'm retracing my own footsteps through this world, reconsidering what works, expanding what deserves more attention, and slowly making my way toward a revised ending.
I've really enjoyed that process.
I already know where this road once led.
Now I get to discover where it leads when the person walking it has another decade of writing—and life—behind him.
This Is Not Just the Old Story With Better Grammar
One of the things that excites me most about the rewrite is how much the story has changed.
That doesn't mean the original draft was bad.
It means I'm not the same writer who wrote it in 2015.
My writing skills have sharpened over the past decade. I've written a lot since then. I've lived more. I've developed as a person and as a writer. In December 2024, I released my debut poetry collection, Life Through the Eyes of a Wolf.
All of those experiences inevitably affect how I approach fiction now.
The characters in The Werewolf of the Castle have more depth.
The locations feel richer.
The scale has grown.
The lore has expanded.
And the story is gradually shedding some of the influences that helped inspire its earliest incarnation.
More and more, it feels like my story.
That's perhaps the most satisfying part of this entire rewrite.
So... How Much Have I Written?
Please be patient with me. 🙏
The old Werewolf of the Castle draft contained approximately 47,800 words across roughly 88 formatted pages.
That's already a substantial amount of story—a good-sized novella, or perhaps a short fantasy novel if we're being generous.
The current rewrite?
I've written roughly 20,000 words so far.
That's approximately 60 pages of manuscript material, although comparing page counts between the two versions isn't particularly straightforward. The old manuscript was formatted, while the current draft is much more focused on getting the actual words, scenes, and ideas onto the page.
And here's the slightly intimidating part:
I estimate that I'm only about 20–25% finished with the new first draft. 😵💫
So, yes.
I still have a long way to go.
And that's just the first draft.
Once that's finished, I'll eventually need to step away from it for a while. I'll come back with fresh eyes. There will be revisions. There will be editing. Somewhere along the way, I intend to rehire my friend who edited my first book and begin getting this manuscript properly book-ship-worthy.
This is going to take time.
I'm okay with that.
Not Everything I Write Becomes Canon
I've also discovered something interesting about my creative process during this rewrite.
I write a lot of adjacent material.
Sometimes I'll finish a productive writing session, look back at everything I've created, and realize:
"Wait... How much of that actually advanced the manuscript?"
Whoops.
I explore hypothetical scenes. Character interactions. Alternative storylines. Bits of dialogue. Possible character developments. Questions about the world. Ideas that might happen much later—or might never happen at all.
Not everything survives.
Not everything becomes canon.
But I don't consider that work wasted.
Those experiments help me understand the characters and the world better. Sometimes an idea that doesn't belong in the manuscript leads me toward one that absolutely does.
Writing a novel, I'm discovering, isn't always a straight line from Chapter One to "The End."
Sometimes you have to wander around the forest a little.
What You Can Expect From Me While I Write It
First and foremost:
I want to talk about The Werewolf of the Castle. I want to introduce you to its world. I want to share occasional progress reports, artwork, character information, behind-the-scenes thoughts, and pieces of the creative process.
But I also want people to someday experience the finished story without already knowing everything that happens.
So there will always be things I keep to myself.
I also ask for patience.
Writing isn't the only thing I do as an author.
I work on my social media accounts. I maintain this website. I write these blog posts. I create material for my newsletter. I promote Life Through the Eyes of a Wolf. I design graphics and other content.
And somewhere in the middle of all of that...
I'm writing a Gothic dark fantasy novel.
I enjoy seeing the word count climb. I enjoy making progress. I absolutely want to finish this book.
But I don't want to rush it simply for the sake of saying it's finished.
I've already waited more than a decade to return to this story.
I can afford to give it the time it deserves. ⏳
Entering the Castle
There is still a great deal about The Werewolf of the Castle that I'm not ready to tell you.
Some of it hasn't even been written yet.
But I can tell you this:
The story has already come an incredibly long way from that little scene-maker game and the 88-page manuscript I wrote in 2015.
The world is bigger.
The characters are deeper.
The lore is richer.
And I am much happier with the direction it's taking.
Maybe that's what excites me most.
I'm not simply trying to recreate something I wrote eleven years ago.
I'm discovering what that old story can become now.
So, for the first time, I'm opening the castle doors just a crack.
There is a cursed werewolf king inside.
There is a human pacifist marked for sacrifice.
A holy monster hunter is coming.
And somewhere inside that castle, they are going to collide.
That's all you get for now.
🐺🏰
Coming eventually: The Werewolf of the Castle ©, ™, all rights reserved.
A human-written Gothic dark fantasy novel by A.T. Pike.
*All details are subject to change while the manuscript remains in development.
— A.T. Pike
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