In a nutshell, the Initiation Prelude is the first third of draft 1 of Faith in the Family.

If I remember correctly(no guarantees there) as I was writing draft 1 of Faith, I’d expressed concern the first third was too different in tone to fit properly with the rest of the story. As you’ll tell from reading it (you will, right?) it is much more ‘slice of life’ compared to Faith’s higher octane action. I believe my plan, at the time, was to attempt to retool it so it would be a better fit. I know ‘action’ wouldn’t work, but I thought I could up the ‘mystery’ of what was going on with the Frat and the guys there.

Once draft 1 of Faith was done, I checked with a Beta reader who had enjoyed Inheriting the Line, and they agreed to read this and give their opinion. The main one of which was how jarring the shift in tone was when Thomas went on the run.

I hadn’t come up with a workable way to bring the tone closer by then, so with that supporting my argument I suggested we start the official Faith book with Thomas going on the run. While Benjamin’s approval wasn’t ‘heartfelt’ he gave it, and I restructured the story into what you have read to get here (you did read it, right?)

Which left us with a third of a book that was decent floating about. I am confident the idea of making this a prelude was Benjamin’s, since I have a habit of leaving ‘the cuttings’ on the editing room floor. I probably didn’t need a lot of convincing, though. As I said, it was decent.

A decision made was to gloss over the scenes that were detailed in Faith’s flashback, and then add scenes that would expand on those that were only hinted at. I probably added scenes just because they popped into my head as I was writing. (so yes, you really should read Faith first.)

I’m pleased with the result. It expands on the cast of characters that show up in Faith, the scenes that matter, which didn’t quite matter enough to fit as a flashback, and builds up the frat as an actual place and people. Oh, and give me more places to write porn.

So I hope you enjoy.