I Took a Bit of a Break on "Book IV"

...because sometimes you just need to chill

While Book IV (the 7th overall) of the Barbarians of the Storm series is not the biggest piece of fiction I have ever written, it is the biggest that I have decided to publish. An old manuscript from 20ish years ago called Belial is an absolute behemoth, but that will never see the light of day. Especially, since I’ve borrowed several ideas, concepts, and characters from it for the Barbarians of the Storm series.

Getting back to the topic at hand, Book IV is the biggest piece of fiction I have written that will be published. It is packed with of a lot of stuff. Also, I have been in absolute beast mode with my writing over the last few weeks. However, as I have been blasting forward, my brain has been reassessing certain things that I have written, as well as additional scenes that should be added for context.

Some scenes and characters may also need to be removed, as there is one set of characters that I feel is sort of forced in, who don’t necessarily have to be at the big fight in the climax. Narratively, I think it makes more sense to not include them, as there are already narrative reasons to have them off doing their own thing due to the ending of Book III - Swords Against Bastards. There are definitely enough characters in Book IV that it would be best not to include another narrative point-of-view, even if it is a relatively minor one.

Besides, I need to add more to some of the already existing points-of-view. Many scenes also need to be expanded on, as far as really painting better visual pictures of new locations, and emphasizing a lot of the more emotional exchanges between characters. I still have to include a major conversation chapter between Fenrik and Erzulyn, who stand united, but have a lot to discuss after everything that happened to Fenrik on his quick trip to 1984 Miami and the things that happened because of that regarding Elizabeth, Gina, Redblast, and more. It’s one of those chapters I hate writing most, because it takes a lot of time to get right. Although, these type of chapters are the ones that I end up being the most proud of in the end. I also think that these moments are the glue that holds these books together and are more vital to the story than epic/insane battles, villains, and monsters.

Additionally, I need to go back to the beginning again, and fine tune all the details and get everything really tight. This book has a lot of details, new reveals, a lot of new lore, multiple villains, and points-of-view. Granted, this brings all the POVs back together into one big climax.

So, needless to say, a lot is on my mind with the book and I want to fix these things before I write the big Fenrik/Erzulyn convo chapter, and then the climax itself. Initially, I planned to try and do all of this over the long Thanksgiving weekend, but I was also starting to feel some burnout between this book, real world work stuff, some recent social stuff, and not getting the quality holiday family time I was kind of relying on, as it helps re-center me and reset my battery.

By the time I got to Wednesday, the day before the holiday weekend, I just wanted to shut down and not do a fucking thing. So, I took the four days to do nothing but mostly ignore social media and the book stuff. I needed a break from it all, and I needed to spend good quality time with some friends I see less often due to my recent move. I also hung out with the new group of men I like spending time with at my new cigar lounge. The weather in southwest Florida was also so nice that I sat in my backyard for hours, smoking a cigar, sipping some bourbon, and reading the first omnibus edition of Berserk and the latest volume of Goblin Slayer.

Sure, I could not help but think about the book, and I always had my notebook with me to jot down ideas, but not obsessing over it was nice.

Ideally, I would still like to have the book out before the end of the year. Preferably in time for Christmas. However, I’m not stressing over that, even though I think it is certainly doable. I want this book to be as good as it can be more than anything else.

Going into this new week, mini vacation over, I feel a hell of a lot better than I did five days ago. Sometimes we just need a break and we should listen to what our bodies and minds are telling us. I’m going to take another day before I get knee deep in reworking the book, but tomorrow morning I will start the process of fine tuning, adding, subtracting, and enhancing what’s there.

Lastly, the cover and title reveal will probably happen pretty soon. The cover is done.