Fun Book Facts

The Over Bridge

The story was inspired in 2012, when Deep Arya drove home during one of the stormiest nights in his hometown. As he drove over the local bridge, the rain made visibility near impossible and one of his headlights decided to die midway, which made it more dangerous and unsettling. This moment planted the seed for the creation of The Over Bridge.
The Over Bridge was originally over 35,000 words.
The book contained more details and backstory on each supporting character, before it was removed in favour of a more slimmed down narrative. The manuscript was more descriptive in nature, but Deep Arya felt it was becoming ‘too anal’ in how it was structured and redirected the author’s voice to be a mix of his own and those he admired.
The original manuscript was also a heavy R-rated story. Its tone was much darker, violent, and disturbing; Deep Arya decided to change the tone, in favour of a more atmospheric story.
Two chapters were removed during the second revise and edit session. One which involved a gruesome scene that even one of Deep Arya’s friend thought was too disturbing.
The novel wasn’t meant to be called, ‘The Over Bridge’. The title was a placeholder and an in-joke by Deep Arya. The final name of the book was supposed to be, ‘The Rothsbury Bridge,’ but the placeholder name had grown on Deep Arya and he chose to keep it.
The first manuscript was finished in 2015 and took four years (on-and-off) to revise and edit.
The ending was rewritten over fifteen times and caused Deep Arya a lot of angst to how he wished for the novel to end. One ending involved our main character turning out to be ghost himself, but this was dropped.
The story is set in 1989, because 1+9+8+9 =27, 2+7=9. The number which Japanese believe is bad luck. Deep Arya has a playful fascination towards numbers and their esoteric meaning.
During the writing of The Over Bridge, Deep Arya realised there was more to this world to be explored, which eventually evolved into the Aryaverse. The first novel laid the foundation into expanding the world itself.
Deep Arya wanted to write a story that was engaging, simple and somewhat straight to the point. He wanted his novella to feel like an easy read that didn’t bulk readers down and they could read in one go.
Deep Arya also layered his simple story with a lot of textual clues, for those who do re-read it. The subtle word choices were purposely placed to hint at a deeper meaning, for those willing to explore it.

Broken Rock

Broken Rock and The Over Bridge are connected but were written as standalone books. They are not a series, but stories connected by a shared universe, with minor and major Easter eggs.
The setting of the story was originally meant to be the sequel for another manuscript but morphed into its own tale.
Three chapters were removed from the original manuscript; one of these chapters revolved around a temple and took the story beyond weird and into the world of complete ‘batshit’ crazy.
Broken Rock was a working title. The original story had two possible names, ‘The Rothbury Lighthouse’, and ‘The Lighthouse of Rothbury’.
Deep Arya has a love for lighthouses and had always wanted to explore a story set within the location, even if it is considered a cliché setting within the horror genre.
The character, John, was a tribute to Deep Arya’s late-grandfather and shares many of his stern but loving traits.
The original manuscript was much bleaker, and the ending was completely—not slightly—different. The original ending ripped the joy out of the story and was changed to leave the reader with a sense of wonder.
Once again numbers play a part in Broken Rock. The story is set in 1917: 1+9+1+7 = 18, 1+8 = 9. A number in some cultures perceived as bad luck.
Deep Arya’s dreams played a vital role in specific scenes within the novel, these included the underwater and the moon scene.
There was a tonal shift with The Over Bridge and Broken Rock, and this was done on purpose. Deep Arya wanted each book to feel unique and different. He wanted the books to have their own characteristics, even if they are all ‘related’ to one another. He also wanted the narrative to be cleaner, as the first was meant to feel and sound disjointed, to add to the character’s state of mind.
Deep Arya wrote Broken Rock with the intent to not put any restrictions to the ‘weird’ aspect to the genre. The book is a love letter to his creative heroes.
The red door in Broken Rock, was the same door in The Over Bridge.