As "Book II" Starts to Take Shape...
I started the second book in the Barbarians of the Storm series, this past Saturday. My goal was to get it going by the end of last week, after two months of reflection and preparation.
I know the gist of what I want to do with the book and where it needs to end. However, as my thoughts on the story expand, I think that the idea for Book II has grown into the ideas for Book II and Book III.
The story starts with the group of heroes that unite in the first book, still together in the second one. However, the group will be split up and both sets of characters will be on very different journeys that will eventually lead to the same destination.
Exploring both paths, I think that there just needs to be more room to let them breathe. Considering that I want each installment of this series to remain a nice, quick read in the vein of the old pulp novels that inspired me to read in the first place, I think that two books is necessary over just one that would be twice as thick as the first novel, Dan the Destructor.
I know the general ending point for the series and where I want the core characters to be. However, I also haven’t set what the final number of books will be, and I don’t want to rush to the end. I would rather flesh these ideas out, have fun with them, and provide several stories that stand strong on their own while also adding to the larger mythos and reading experience.
When I come to situations where I realize that there’s more I want to say, I don’t want to be confined or restrained by the limitations of setting a total novel count. Besides, there are also going to be short story anthologies, spinoffs and probably more books after the endpoint I envision now.
As long as I am motivated and enjoy writing these characters and exploring their world, I feel like I’ll always have something more to say. Additionally, if I am ever in a position where these stories have earned a fanbase, I’d always want to give the fans what they want in regards to their favorite characters and potential spinoffs or miniseries based off of that. Granted, that doesn’t mean that some characters aren’t protected from dying or becoming something very different.