First Draft for Prequel Complete

I have finally finished the initial draft to the first prequel for the Stormfall Chronicles. As I had indicated in a previous post, it's my intention to publish this prequel as an episodic series on Kindle's Vella platform.

Before I can do that, of course, there is a lot of editing which needs to be done. At least I have a skeleton to work with now.

The first draft spans 43,000 words, arranged into 38 short episodes or chapters. My plan is to complete the second and possibly third draft, front-to-back for the series - getting the story's flow right - before beginning to edit and release the final draft for each episode on a chapter-by-chapter basis.

I can't deny that I'm excited to see this story take shape.

Changes and Episodic Fiction

This past month has come with a lot of changes. My two oldest daughters, who were also my beta-readers for the prior novels, moved to their respective university campuses. It's been quite an adjustment to not have them around. Tomorrow, my youngest starts her sophomore year in high school.

While we were preparing for the move, and my daughters were beginning their beta-read of Book 4 in the Stormfall Chronicles, I took a little time out to begin a new project. As those who follow the indie author scene might be aware, Amazon has launched a new Kindle service known as Vella. The new platform is aimed at delivering episodic series a chapter at a time rather than as a completed novel. It's a different, and intriguing prospect, which I thought might be a good match for one of the prequel novels I had been contemplating as a spin-off for the Stormfall Chronicles.

Ever since I first introduced the character in Book 3, I was convinced that Callisto was deserving of her own prequel (and likely a sequel) story. Being focused on a single character, it would be very different from the Epic landscape of the first four novels. It also might be well suited to a episodic format such as Vella offers.

I am currently over half way through the first draft of this prequel story, patching it together between preparations and moving my daughters across country. It will be shorter than the novels have been, and would likely be released one week at a time, chapter by chapter - once the initial draft is complete. It has definitely been a different canvas to work from. Hopefully it brings a little insight into the tragic beginnings which made Callisto into the figure she becomes.