"Book III - Swords Against Bastards" is Nearly Done!
...but there is still a short story to write
Looking back at what I wrote over the long weekend, I actually got more done than I thought I did. However, I still didn’t get as much done as I’d like. Regardless, I’m still pretty damn close to the end of the main story.
Day one of the three-day weekend allowed me to get some work done in the morning, but the afternoon and the evening were taken over by previous plans to celebrate my birthday, as well as a friend’s. So, I had cigars in the afternoon, his wife cooked for us in the evening, and then we went to a hockey game. Our team lost but the tendies and beer were on point.
Day two was the most productive day, as I just went into my zone and pumped out two monster chapters, back-to-back. Both of them being twice as long as my typical chapters.
Day three started off well, but after my lunch break, I got a migraine and was pretty much curled up in my dark bedroom hoping that the meds and Cuban coffee would kick in. They did with the assistance of a really hot, long shower in darkness, but by that point I was mentally drained, vegged out, and watched that CGI animated Beowulf movie for the first time. It was much better than I thought it would be.
So I wrote the first half of the two climaxes. I had a hard time getting those started, as both are big ass battles with lots of characters and subplots that all come together. While I initially intended to get these climaxes done, they are both pretty big mountains to climb.
That being said, I went back in the book, beefed up some things and added more context to some of the various characters plot threads. One of these plot threads, however, is kind of pointless and a waste, due to some plot alterations, so I am going to actually eliminate it in an effort to make the book less crowded and to help the flow.
The two big battles are fast-paced and action heavy, but trying to find the balance between all the characters and their own skirmished and objectives has been really time consuming. Ultimately, I need to fine tune it a bit more and make everything tighter.
I also need to do the short story for the end of the book. I was toying around with three different ideas, settled on one, but then, as of this morning, decided I’m going to do something completely different to help set up an idea I have for one character in Book IV.
So, the short story is going to actually pickup at the end of the Vasilia short story A Tale of Three Evils from the anthology book Eyes in All Shadows & Other Stories. It will show Vasilia and Fenrik working together for the first time, hunting down Cimmoarid, the Great Sand Dragon.
For now, that’s it! I need to get back to writing. I’ve got a beast to finish, a short story to craft, and a lot of editing and clean up to get things tight.
Barbarians of the Storm, Book III - Swords Against Bastards is almost here!