Fourth Draft for Book 4 Complete

While my oldest two daughters have been visiting over winter break, beta-reading the latest edits to the prequel to the series, I've been making use of my time editing Book 4 of the Stormfall Chronicles.

I've now completed the fourth draft of the book, with the text growing from 111,000 words at draft three, to 114,000 words at draft four. It's been good to see the story arcs of Lynette, Baxter and Eirlon (among others) finally drawing to their conclusion. It will still need another couple of rounds of edits - but it's getting close.

The prequel to the series, meanwhile, should be released on Vella later this month. Looking forward to it.

It's been great having all of my daughters at home over the break. Sharing stories, movies, and games again. I'll be sad to see them returning to their respective campuses at the end of this week.

Fifth Prequel Draft Complete

With the fifth draft complete, the prequel is nearly ready. The text has grown yet again, from 60,000 to 63,000 words, and the number of chapters has increased from 43 to 44. The sixth draft will be the one which goes to Vella. Have to get the cover design completed too.

I'm looking forward to having my two older daughters, who are also my beta-readers, back home next week. They'll be returning from university for winter break. It will be nice to talk with them in person, and not just over FaceTime, about plans for the prequel's release.

Fourth Prequel Draft Complete

I've had my first reader feedback on the Stormfall Chronicles prequel, mostly centering around the pacing and a couple of the side-characters in the story. My middle daughter's feedback has been invaluable in refining the storyline.

A few of the chapters have undergone some rearranging as a result - particularly closer to the end of the story where a lot of things are happening at once. It has not been the edit cycle I might have originally envisioned for the 4th draft of this novel, but it was the edit cycle which was needed.

The text has grown from 55,000 to 60,000 words, and the number of chapters has grown from 40 to 43.

It's coming along nicely, although another round of edits and beta-readers is still needed to polish the story before release.

Third Prequel Draft Complete

Each successive edit cycle tends to take less time, with fewer additions and changes to the text. Having now completed the 3rd draft of the Stormfall Chronicles prequel, the text has grown from 52,000 to 55,000 words. The number of "chapters" or "episodes" has likewise grown from 39 to 40.

Ordinarily, I would continue to complete multiple edit cycles at this point, and begin to seek beta-reader feedback on the draft novel as part of this process.

In this instance, however, since the story is expected to be released as a serial, on Kindle Vella, I'm planning to begin honing the story on a chapter-by-chapter basis. In other words, Chapters 1 through 4 might each undergo multiple edit cycles and beta-reads, before I even begin additional edits to Chapter 5.

Getting more excited to see how this story shapes up.

Second Prequel Draft Completed

I've completed the 2nd draft of the Stormfall Chronicles prequel I've been working on, with the text growing from 43,000 to 52,000 words.  Along the way, I ended up sub-dividing one of the longer chapters, so the "episode" or "chapter" count has grown to 39. I'd like to see at least one more edit cycle completed before I'm ready to submit the draft to my beta-readers.

This prequel is very different from the books in the series. It's shorter - about half the length of most of the novels in the series. It's also a different tone. This is the story of Callisto, and how she came to be the person we're introduced to in Book 3 of the series. As such, this prequel takes on the air of a tragedy.

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.