From Idea To Bestseller: How Author Christopher Dean Brings Stories To Life

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED | DE MODE OF LITERATURE SEP 2025 GLOBAL

Article Published on: 04TH OCT 2025 | www.demodemagazine.com

'Trankarri', the Boy with a Magical Pen - By Author Christopher Dean

Trankarri – The Boy with a Magical Pen is the first book in a sweeping epic series titled, The Inkworld Sagas. At its core the book is a coming-of-age story about Nathaniel Hancock and his life growing up in the suburbs of Boston. His life is anything but normal because his family has its roots across the Atlantic in the beautiful English country town of Yeovil. It is here that Nathaniel’s imagination begins to open up under the wise guidance of his great-grandfather, who, like Nathaniel also has a great imagination. Here is an excerpt from the back blurb.

An epic adventure is set in motion... When talented young artist Nathaniel Hancock receives a new drawing pen for Christmas, he promises his great-grandfather that he'll prepare him a Masterpiece for the following year. But Nathaniel is unaware for the Pen is magical - and as he finishes his Masterpiece it comes to life before his very eyes.

Upon entering the drawing he discovers he has added new territory to the enchanted land beyond: the Inkworld, a pen-and-ink realm shaped by imagination. After Nathaniel rescues an elf from a cruel prison of ink, he realizes the Inkworld is far more complex than he imagined. For dark forces lurk beneath the idyllic surface. In saving the elf, Nathaniel accidentally unleashes an ancient evil that threatens to destroy all that is good. And it is up to him to set things right...

Trankarri is a fun, imaginative and adventurous story that will engage readers from the age of eleven and older. It has elves and dragons and whimsical characters like Tick and Tock the Clockmaticians and Olan and Ingvill the Timemakers and Mapkeepers. The pacing quickly moves the reader from the woods near Nathaniel’s house to the Inkworld where reality is only limited by imagination. Trankarri – The Boy with a Magical Pen is followed by the second book in the series titled, Secrets of the Masterpiece, then Inside the Outside World, The Marring of Innocence, Oliver’s Graveyard, Trov Nevo and finishing with Ink Wars.

DIRECT LINK TO BUY 'Trankarri', the Boy with a Magical Pen' - CLICK HERE 

JOURNEY OF THE AUTHOR CHRISTOPHER DEAN

Christopher Dean’s journey as a writer is a story of discovery, resilience, and imagination. He began his career in nonfiction in 1998 at the age of twenty-seven, publishing two books over two decades. Yet something was missing. The pursuit of making statements on leadership and personal growth felt premature, so he set nonfiction aside. Then, in the fall of 2009, a spark changed everything: the idea of a boy who receives a magical pen from his great-grandfather. That single vision unlocked the world of Trankarri and set Christopher on the lifelong journey of storytelling.

From his earliest days, art had been a source of wonder, a fascination that began in high school art class and returned decades later with renewed force. The premise of that first story was so powerful he wrote nearly 27,000 words in a single month. Each chapter brought new questions and deeper mysteries, and he soon realized storytelling required not only instinct but mastery of pacing, structure, dialogue, and character development. Landscaper by trade and father at home, he carved out spare moments to read and write, determined to grow into the kind of novelist his stories demanded.

Beyond simply finishing a manuscript, he pursued the craft with persistence, embracing the trials, errors, and revisions that refined his voice. His writing evolved into a narrative both imaginative and technically sound, blending literary devices rarely seen in fantasy with characters and worlds full of originality. Today, Christopher is confident that Trankarri is not just a good story but a unique contribution to the genre, born of years of perseverance, discipline, and love for the written word.

At the heart of his work is the sheer joy of creation. Every word that appears on the page is intentional, a reflection of vision rather than obligation. Writing, for him, is not merely an act of storytelling but an act of freedom—an invitation to shape worlds, craft meaning, and share wonder with readers of all ages. With each book in the Trankarri series, he reaffirms his belief that stories, once sparked, have the power to ignite imagination, inspire growth, and endure far beyond the page. Trankarri – The Boy with a Magical Pen is the first of eight books in Christopher Dean’s completed series, with the second installment, Secrets of the Masterpiece, scheduled for release this October.

FOLLOW THE AUTHOR ON INSTAGRAM -  christopherdean_author

INTERVIEW OF AUTHOR CHRISTOPHER DEAN WITH DE MODE

Q: What does storytelling as magic mean to you?

A. Magic inside of storytelling allows me to play around with the, ‘possibility of possibilities.’ What is actually possible and how far can I stretch the imagination no matter how quirky it may be or how ridiculous it may sound. The magic of time delineation and what is up and down and what is sideways, and portals to new lands are all fascinating topics for me that I incorporate on some level throughout the series.

Q: Why a “magical pen” as the saga’s core idea?

A. In the saga the reader finds out that it is more than just a magical pen. There is a twist to the tale in the fifth book, Oliver’s Graveyard that turns the idea of the magical pen into something far more profound.

Q: Is Trankarri’s tale more adventure or allegory?

A. Trankarri is a highly adventurous story but like all great stories there is a substructure of allegory that holds the entire saga together but it has been woven through the narrative and the dialogue so intricately it may be hard to tell where allegory ends and the adventure begins.

Q: What real-world truths lie beneath your fantasy?

A. The real-world truth is that imagination in all of its various forms is one of the main driving forces of our lives and that there is real-world imagination wars that are always going on.

Q: How do you balance imagination with logic in world-building?

A. All great world-building needs a set of rules or laws or the story becomes untrustworthy and unbelievable. That proper frameowork of what things are possible and what things aren’t is what allows the imagination to flourish in the Inkworlds. All things become possible within the confines of rules. In the first book, Olan the Timemaker says, “Logical, smoligical… does this world look logical to you, Nathaniel?”

Q: What transformation should readers take from the story?

A. This story will take the readers on a journey with Nathaniel Hancock as he goes from thirteen to fourteen and from playing pretend king in the woods near his house to being a central figure inside the Inkworld. I don’t want to use the word ‘savior’ or the ‘chosen one’ trope because it is not that kind of a story. The real transformation is that Nathaniel’s imagination is actually real, he just has to figure out why and how.

Q: Do all writers carry a “magical pen” within?

A. This is a great question that is hard to answer because of the twist that happens in book five. I would say yes in a way but some writers have a greater ‘magical pen’ than others. I often think about the classical musicians during the renaissance. There were hundreds of composers at the time but only a few handfuls are embedded in our conscious like Mozart, Beethoven and Vivaldi. They must have been in possession of a pen that was more magical than their peers. Think of Mary Shelley and her novel Frankenstein. She wrote that when she was just eighteen and it has been reimagined several times over the past two hundered years. She must have had a magical pen of some sort.

Q: How has writing shaped your view of identity and destiny?

A. This is another great question that would take much longer to fully answer, but here’s the short version. In 2009, while creating an English garden for a client, I came up with the premise for the book. Once the idea took hold, I dedicated all my spare time to writing. I had no idea then that I’d still be working on this series sixteen years later with seven more books planned. What fascinates me is how quickly my identity shifted—one day I was landscaping, the next I was writing. One day The Boy with a Magical Pen didn’t exist, and the next it did.

Q: How do inner and outer conflicts define Trankarri?

A. In some ways, many ways, the outer conflicts are a mirror to the inner conflict. Thoughts of doubt and unbelief are changed to faith in the Inkworld. The inner battles Nathaniel faces always manifest in some way in the outer material world. Nathaniel cannot exactly tell the truth of where he is going and what he is doing. Thoughts of being discovered or his magical pen found out haunt him which means he has to keep secrets, something that is not always that easy.

Q: How should the saga resonate with readers of different ages?

A. Years ago, in a writing group, a man asked me, “Where was this book when I was a kid?” C.S. Lewis once said there is a boy in every man, and a man in every boy. To me, the best fairy tales endure because they speak to that place where youth and age meet. If you are young, Trankarri brings inspiration, imagination, and adventure. If you are older, it reminds you of the days when your whole life was still ahead.

Q: Does fantasy have a moral duty beyond entertainment?

A. That is a tough question to answer. I think it is up to the author. I do not feel any moral duty to preach what is right or wrong because some things are just too grey and convoluted. The only moral duty I can see in writing fantasy is that you have to be true to the story you want to tell and you have a moral duty to do the very best work that you can do. As far as the fantasy itself, I think it is nearly impossible to separate who the author is internally with what he or she writes.

Q: If you had the magical pen, what story would you create today?

A. There are three additional stories I would really enjoy writing. I would write a screenplay titled, The Providential Baseball, a young adult book called, The Boy with a Magical Pocket and a Tim Burton-like story titled, Inside the Velvet Ring that has carnvial-like characters with a major plot twist.