What I Have Learned from Writing an Anthology

...and what's to come in the future

So, I wanted to write something that I thought would be a nice break from the process of writing a novel. So for my third book, I went with an anthology. For some absolutely stupid reason, I thought that a half dozen short stories were going to be a cakewalk compared to a full novel. In the end, it was a much bigger challenge. Especially, because all of the content was written by one author: me.

Another reason for the anthology is that I wanted to build up the Barbarians of the Storm world, and to provide more character development to core players in the book series, as a whole. It definitely achieved that and allowed me to flesh some characters out without having to devote a lot of time to it in the larger “saga” books, which are chock full of characters and need to move at a brisk, action-packed, pulpy pace.

Additionally, the anthology allowed me to work on my short story skills. Since short stories are a necessary part of the Barbarians of the Storm mythology, I’m very glad that I did put in the immense work to make this happen.

The biggest thing I learned from the anthology process is probably the most important. I initially thought that short stories were just going to come easy and I’d crank them out painlessly and quickly. The reason I probably assumed this is because I wrote The Forging of Foolpuddle, the first ever Barbarians of the Storm short story, in a single day, using just a handwritten note of plot points.

That story was just a special case and came very early in the creation of this book series.

The six tales in Eyes in All Shadows & Other Stories were absolute beasts to prep for and bullet point out. Now, I had to consider all the information and details written about in the previous books and what prior knowledge I needed to attach to or reference in some way. I had to make sure that things in these new stories, many of which are origins for characters, didn’t conflict with what was already established.

Ultimately, writing these six short stories was like preparing for six different novels. With that, the process became much more lengthy than I anticipated. This is now something I have to consider with the other anthologies I plan to write in the series.

Knowing this now, I wouldn’t call it a deterrent. I really enjoyed writing Eyes in All Shadows and seeing all the pieces come together. If anything, this just allows me to plan better.

Plus, I have lots of ideas for future anthologies. There are more with specific genre themes I’m thinking about, as this book was themed more around the subgenre of cosmic horror. I also want to do character specific anthologies, the first of which would be for Fenrik. I also have a lot of stories in my brain for Frank Murdock, which will take place over the years between his arrival in the strange world up to the events of Dan the Destructor. Those will have more of a Mad Max feel than a standard sword & sorcery or sword & planet tale.

For now, though, I am moving on to Book III, which is technically the fourth, but is the third part of the “saga” series and a direct sequel to Atomic Beasts and Where to Kill Them.