In just the last week, I’ve written 65-70 percent more than where the book was at with the last update. That’s actually more than I thought before checking the page and word counts just now. But let me rundown where I’m at, as well as an addition I made to the beginning of the story.
So, Book IV will be the first book in the series with a prologue. Initially, this section was going to be a short story at the end of the book, but since it is so action heavy and happens immediately before Chapter 1, I figured that I'd just put it in before Chapter 1. Also, the deciding factor was the lack of action in the first handful of chapters due to the narrative focusing on fallout from the previous three books while also setting the foundation for this new arc/phase in the larger saga. Plus, it reminds the reader that Fenrik is a ferocious fucking animal when he needs to be despite the much softer side he’s developing with age and experience. I just feel sorry for those poor goblins he finds snacking on his friends.
That being said, the prologue is done, and I have moved back into continuing on from where I left off in the story.
I got some writing done this morning, after I had an off-day, yesterday. As I’ve stated in a few updates now, these opening chapters are tough, man. But I only have two of these tough scenes left to write out of a dozen or so. I’m also trying to keep this book tighter than the previous few saga books that had multiple groups and points-of-view. That is something that will always exist in the saga books, but I plan to bring these groups together for what happens in the third act of the story. It’s an event that will legitimately change everything.
For now, I have left Agamemnon and its characters out of the story, as they’re not too important until Killer arrives home to witness the fallout from what he missed while away. However, there is a convoy from Agamemnon led by Dan and Steve in Big Bad Bitch (the teen hero Klive is there too). They arrive in Sha-Destino to setup some portal tech. The Sha-Destino focused plot will feature some vehicle driving raiders trying to take the city for their own ala the villains of Mad Max 2.
That being said, it's fun to have locations and characters back from the first book. There's also a lot of direct ties to things from the most recent book, A Crown of Furious Color.
As I progress through the opening act, a lot of the deeper plot is coming together in my head now. I just needed to get through these earliest scenes and set the stage. I already know what the final destination is, but the details of how to get from point A to point B are much clearer now.
And that’s it! As I progress, I will continue to give weekly-ish updates. I haven’t written too much other content for Substack lately, as the book (and real job) are taking up most of my time.
Awesome.
At some point I swore I'd never write a prologue because I usually hate them. But now I've just written a prologue for book 2. I have a tone/location shift 1/4 way through my book and I felt I needed a very small intro to set tone and expectations.