Fear not! I am still busy working on the details of a new series. There are a lot of sub-plots that will be woven between books. There will be several characters, beside the antagonist, that will play pivotal roles in the series. The antagonists will be fully developed characters with a history as well as complex motivations and emotions. The planning of this series reminds me of the planning that goes into a complex murder/mystery story. There are events that will have to happen along the way to make sure everything culminates in the last few books.
For each book, I’m focusing on the events that will occur to make sure I don’t produce the ugly event-connecting boring book in the middle where nothing really happens (nobody wants that). In other words, each book will be a piece of the larger puzzle that will connect everything together.
When will the planning end?
I will wrap up all of my planning and notes before the end of January. At that point, the rough drafts begin (I’m really itching to start the rough drafts). I plan to have two rough drafts completed before editing the first and publishing. Then I’ll rough in the next book before editing the current book. That will allow me to keep the overall story tightly coupled between each pair of books, and I can drop in foreshadowing. There is nothing worst than publishing a book, then realizing that I should have mentioned a plot point coming up before the next book begins. I hope my plans to keep two rough drafts in progress will fix that issue. Detailed pre-planning should also help solve that problem.
I don’t want to give away any surprises, but I am working on a companion “book” that will be free. This “book” will contain Easter eggs about the story, but you’ll have to read the series to catch on to what they are. I am hand-sketching the diagrams that will go into this book. In other words, this series will be a little more interactive than a straight series of books.
Tell me when the first book is coming!
I know, I know. I don’t have a deadline nailed down yet. But… I estimate that the first book should be ready by the end of April. Once the first book is publish, I should be able to publish one book every two months. I’ll keep readers posted with updates on this website.