"Book II" Surpasses the Halfway Point
Just to give a weekly progress report, Book II of the Barbarians of the Storm series has surpassed the halfway point in the first draft. It’s crazy to think that I was struggling to get the first chapter done less than two weeks ago.
While last week I moved at breakneck speed, this week has been a bit slower due to being overloaded with projects at the real job, as it enters its busiest, craziest time of the year. Regardless of that, I still made some progress and I’m happy with how everything is going, thus far.
I’ll probably take some time this weekend to proofread the first half of the first draft in an effort to clean it up and to massage out any potential plot issues.
This has been a tougher book to write than the first one. That one was originally written as a comic book script with the intent of releasing it as a graphic novel. Turning it into a book wasn’t too difficult and the story was pretty much locked in, minus the scenes I added to it to make it a richer, better story.
Book II is heading towards a specific conclusion that I’ve had in my head since Book I - Dan the Destructor. It’s the bits in-between that are taking some time to figure out, especially with the introduction of new characters and cultures into the story.
Additionally, Book II doesn’t just follow Dan and Fenrik on their journey, it also has a plot thread for the group of Frank, Merith and Killer, another one for Erzulyn and the Black Iron, and two other minor threads focused on the series’ primary antagonists, as well as Vasilia and her small kingdom.
The main reason for the multiple plot threads is to develop all of the core characters. Plus, I have a much larger plan for the series after the third book, which should pretty much wrap up what I’m seeing as an opening trilogy that lays the foundation for a much bigger universe.
I’m not trying to put the cart before the horse, but I do have plans that could see this series go on for quite awhile, branching off in interesting ways. That’s probably all I should say on it for now, though.
So that’s it, for the moment. I’ve got to get back to finishing up chapter 12.