September / October Writing Update
Oct 17, 2024 5:01 pm
A Wild Fall Season (again)
Last year, in October I ran a Kickstarter for the Shadow Watch, AND released the final installment of the Pantheon series, literally days after the KS finished.
It was wild. It was stressful and hectic. I would not recommend it.
I swore I would not let two big writing things happen at once again.
And the gods LAUGHED!
Due to a big move over the summer, and some unavoidable shipping and printing delays on the production of the Shadow Watch Deluxe Edition, the Book Two Deluxe launched later than I expected, and of course, wound up coinciding with a critical moment for other writing-related things.
Namely, the completion of the first draft of Children of the Gods, which I was hoping to finish in September.
That did not happen. Due to the hectic summer and the busyness of running a Kickstarter and collaborating with artists and so on. And the fact that this new epic book is TURNING OUT LONGER than I initially expected.
So it goes.
Children of the Gods Update: 88% complete
I always hate pushing back deadlines, but sitting with the ending of this first book in the new dragon series (which is now tentatively titled AGE OF FIRE), has turned out really good for these final scenes.
I'm sitting at over 400 pages of book. Which is already longer than most of my first drafts, save for my longest book, Rage of Saints, since I generally under-write my first drafts (light on descriptions and some of the filler beats transitioning between scenes and that sort of thing), which I flesh out during the editing process.
I think this first draft of Children of the Gods will wind up around 125k words by the end. And probably like 135k by the time I'm through with edits. In the end, likely well over 500 pages, and assuredly my second longest book to date.
All that being said, I'm feeling REALLY GOOD about it, even in first draft phase, and I think you all are going to love it!
By this time next month, I think it will actually be done. And I will on to edits for the rest of the year.
ICYMI: Rage of Saints Funded at 359%
Anyway, that pesky cause of my writing delay was certainly a success. The campaign blew past the first book's funding, winding up at $28,787 total raised for the deluxe edition of Book Two of the Shadow Watch Saga.
I just sent off my concept sketch to Sebastian Breit to create a city map of Maro'El, capital of the Oshan Empire. One of our Stretch Goals.
Thankfully artists are amazing and turn my rough sketches into incredible works of art.
Speaking of...
All the other final artwork is in progress for Book Two. I'm working on assembling the bestiary sketches as well and formatting the book.
And plotting out the bonus short story, "Wolves of the Citadel."
Which I plan to write next month.
Hopefully, I'll have everything set to send off to the printer by the New Year.
**fingers crossed**
I'm so grateful to all the backers, and very excited for how everything turned out!
And now it is the long push, once more, toward putting the finishing touches on all the pieces that will go into the book. Including one last read-through / light editing pass on the original manuscript.
A couple books to check out:
The most excellent Ben Galley just released new books, and the first book is currently $0.99 for a limited time!
And if you love the Shadow Watch books, then there's a fine chance you may like the Fatemarked series by David Estes, which currently has a KS going for deluxe editions of the entire series. Includes artwork from several artists who worked on the Shadow Watch as well. So you know I'm a fan!
Alright, that's all for now
Stay warm, stay nerdy!
-- Stephen
The Shadow Watch Saga (a complete epic fantasy series)
Pantheon Online (a complete LitRPG fantasy trilogy)
