The Anniversary of Trench 1915 — How It All Began (Part One) Aug 23, 2023

I know we passed that day. 

Allow me to share a tale on the anniversary of my very first book — the one that started it all.

The origins of Trench 1915 trace back to the release of Battlefield 1. The game took the internet by storm, and for me it brought to life what had been a lingering concept in my mind since high school. After watching the trailer, I began to research relentlessly: weapons, vehicles, gadgets, everything. Even if people already knew about them, I went deeper. I wanted to understand what could be expected in the game — and in the process, I fell in love with the World War I genre.

Yes, the game wasn’t historically “accurate” in every respect, but its perspective opened my eyes. In multiplayer, you could even change history itself — Germans winning Amiens, Operation Michael turning out differently, and so on. Not just but the idea that one specialized squad from both the Central Powers and the Triple Entente wielding weapons and utilizing tactics not found in common soldiers.

That spark became a decade of research and world-building.

Finding a Publisher

When I finally found a publisher, it was through Dr. Turley he mentioned/ introduced Silversmith Press. At the time, they were a fresh new house, led by a celebrity ghostwriter named Joanna Hunt (her writer’s name).

Silversmith were patriots in their own right and had noble goal — their goal was to help new authors publish their very first books, hence their slogan “Publish and Go.” Their catalog at the time was small, mostly three or four fantasy/adventure stories. I never read them myself — not my cup of tea — but it was clear they were carving out a niche.

War fiction, however, was completely absent from their lineup. When I presented Trench, it was something new and unexpected for them, and the reaction was shock. My manuscript, at 1,400 pages and half a million words, wasn’t just one book — it was the start of an entire series. That realization changed the course of everything.

Early Struggles

The first book’s journey was anything but smooth. I didn’t know what I was trying to promote, and I clashed at times with my editor. She didn’t always understand my vision — wanting to change things like how I wrote ranks or how I used languages in dialogue. And at times i had to go in to explain what military culture or lie is whether its a hundred years or present. She considered foreign phrases “distracting.”

But eventually, Silversmith came around to my decision to keep them. The languages stayed. That immersion was too important to strip away. I wasn't writing a fast food version of my books that caters to one group.

At times it felt like Silversmith didn’t have high hopes for me. More like they thought I’d be a one-time wonder. But I came back the next year, saving money to fund services for the second book.

My Writing Style

I don’t write “flowery” prose. I don’t dance around the point for pages. Some readers even praised that I cut to the heart of the story quickly, sometimes within a chapter or two instead of waiting three or four.

My style didn’t come from a workshop or course. I learned by reading and memorizing different approaches from famous works — old and new, classic and modern — and eventually blended those influences into my own voice. It’s direct, immersive, and tailored to the brutal pace of war.

While I skipped the “author training” course Silversmith offered (and charged extra for), I kept learning my own way. Along the road I found incredible support, like Monica Leskanich on Upwork, who reviewed and edited my work when I started out before meeting Silversmith. Her words still fuel me today:

“This is a great breakout chapter for a great series.”

That was the encouragement I needed to keep going.

From Short Story to Series

What many people don’t know is that Trench wasn’t originally envisioned as a sprawling saga. It began as a short concept — something compact, almost experimental. But as the research grew, the characters deepened, and the scope of the war revealed itself, that “short” quickly evolved into a massive 1,400-page manuscript. What started small became a series too big to ignore.

Early Character Evolutions

Even the characters went through major transformations before becoming who readers know today.

• Victor Maxis was the first name I gave to my protagonist, before changing it to Friedrich Maxis.

• His comrade Lothar was originally Schulte, with Lothar intended as his first name before the change to Ludwig Lothar.

• Arina was a very different character at first. She was meant to appear much later, in 1917, as part of the historically accurate Women’s Battalion of Death. In those early drafts, she didn’t have violet eyes or crimson hair — just a shaved-head woman. Her original name was Alena, but that never stuck, and eventually she transformed into the Arina readers know today.

These shifts weren’t arbitrary. They reflected the way the story kept reshaping itself, how new ideas and influences came in, and how my own vision matured over time.

Closing Thought (Part One)

From Battlefield 1’s trailer to Silversmith’s shocked reaction at my manuscript, the journey of Trench 1915 was never straightforward. But it began here.

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