I’m 25% of the way through the rough draft of book 4, The Encounter. That’s 30k words done. My spreadsheet says I’m right on schedule (maybe a few hundred words ahead of schedule), so it’s coming together nicely.

I spent some time thinking about the remaining books in this series. I don’t have anything set in stone yet, but I do have a list of books that must be written to support pieces of the story that I want to tell. After The Encounter, I need to write at least 7 more books to support the critical points of the story. Or, I could combine a couple of major critical parts into a book for some parts, but that would be pushing it. If I write all the books that I have story ideas for, the set will be 18 books. I’m still on the fence about how many books will appear in the set. Ultimately, if I plan to write 18 books, I’ll noodle on two more major stories to round up the set. Because why not?

If you’ve read the first three books already (no spoilers here), then you probably already guessed that there will be a story around Nathanael. In fact, if you download the free Tome on this site and skim through it, Revelations has a whole section on him. I’m already working on notes about what I want to do with that book. I figure I have to work out the details of it over time so I have enough time to let it percolate.

In addition to that story, there must be additional stories about the temples. Again, skimming the Tome will reveal that. Then there has to be a story that ends the series. I’m not sure of the exact specifics of how it’ll end, but I have ideas that I jotted down when I wrote the first book. The remaining stories will deal with struggles that the fleet will endure along the way. I’m purposely avoiding anything that is too similar to Battlestar Galactica. I want to make sure that these stories are not something that is expected.

I’m still planning to write book 2 of The Traveler series in December. That’ll delay one book from the Abyss series. Nothing major though. I’m also on the fence about the number of books that series will contain. It has the potential for 10 books and a spin-off series. I could also shrink it to 5 books or even 3. If I do one a year, then that series will finish at the same time that the Abyss series ends. Approximately.

Lots of work to do.