The Dragons of Dorwine

A brief Dorwine note

A focused update from the Dorwine desk—kept clear, concrete, and worth your time.

Hi —

I’m keeping this email centered on The Dragons of Dorwine, since that’s the world many of you joined this team for. Dorwine still matters to me, and I want to treat your attention with respect—meaning: I’ll share what’s real, and stay quiet when there isn’t anything meaningful to report.

Here’s where things stand.

Dorwine Status

• Dorwine remains part of my long-term plan, and I’m maintaining continuity notes to keep the world coherent. Still plugging away at the 'hinge book' (book 4), but less of my time is spent on this project.
• When I return to drafting in Dorwine, I want it to meet the same quality bar you expect—tight, immersive, and worth your time.
• I’ll share clear milestones (draft start, revision start, publication plans) only when they’re concrete.

If you ever prefer fewer emails, reply and tell me. I’d rather adjust than burn goodwill.

THE REASON FOR THE SHIFT

Story problems: I blame Anuka. This is Ember's book. Or it's supposed to be. But Anuka's story is crushing me. It's way more interesting to me and is stealing the attention from where it's supposed to be. I've considered leaving the Red Rebel out of this book altogether, but that doesn't feel right.

Pacing problems: The three sets of characters in the four books are moving at vastly different paces, and it's making the book clunky. I think I need a story doctor, to be honest. I've shopped my struggles with some authors and editors and I don't like their advice. More on that later.

For now, I'm shifting my writing focus to Nolan Keller to let Anuka and the gang chill out. A sort of story time out. I'm attending a wonderful conference in June of this year. At the conference I will have 15 minutes to discuss story things with a big time editor. I plan to use that time to get Book 4 back on track.

A small personal note

For transparency: my day-to-day drafting focus right now (about 80% of my writing time) is a modern techno-thriller series called The Devil on Klack Mountain. If you’re curious, there’s a free, no-obligation intro. If not, feel free to ignore it entirely. This story is on Royal Road right now as Mission Zero: The Devil on Klack Mountain.

Link: https://bookfunnel.authorjackadkins.com/joroi8g3xc

Author Swaps & Promotions

Transparency note: the following is a newsletter swap / promotion. I only include these when they look genuinely relevant.

Saved by Fae by Layla K. Wood

Lottie bought a house in the woods, not knowing that danger lurked around the corner.

Get it here

Thanks for reading—and for giving me the room to build stories carefully. I’ll keep updates clear, honest, and worth your time.

— Jack