In the last few days I've finished off the first draft of Sir Edric's Kingdom. Mostly. I do have a few rough patches that need sanding down, but that's mostly small technical stuff or areas I deliberately left grey in case the storyline developed a certain way and I had to come back and change stuff [that has not occurred, meaning less work for me, huzzah!].
It's currently just over 80,000 words, so more than Temple and Treasure combined. The structure is a little less episodic and has some longer arcs, which is a slight shift from the first two books, which have a more chapter-by-chapter approach [not to say there aren't also longer arcs, just that they're more prevalent in Kingdom].
Writing comedy is different in many ways to 'serious' fantasy. The first draft is usually much more fun (you're basically trying to make yourself laugh), but redrafting's much harder. The lack of novelty robs the jokes of humour, and trying to assess them is very difficult.
And that's where beta readers come in. Beta readers cast a constructively critical eye over a work that isn't finished but is quite close to being done, and point out the many ways in which it's awful (in a nice, encouraging way, of course). Occasionally this can be tricky (one joke in Temple was highlighted by two beta readers, one of whom loved it, one of whom loathed it) but mostly it works well.
Kingdom Asunder's redrafting is ongoing, and I am starting to contemplate future full-sized projects. The most obvious is Kingdom Asunder's sequel (it's the first part of a trilogy), and then there's the question of whether I write the fourth entry in The Adventures of Sir Edric or try my hand at a steampunk/sci-fi novel.
And don't forget that as well as the fifth episode of Zodiac Eclipse due out this evening (all episodes available here) May will also see an extra short story, by me, on the excellent Kraxon Magazine website.
Thaddeus
It's currently just over 80,000 words, so more than Temple and Treasure combined. The structure is a little less episodic and has some longer arcs, which is a slight shift from the first two books, which have a more chapter-by-chapter approach [not to say there aren't also longer arcs, just that they're more prevalent in Kingdom].
Writing comedy is different in many ways to 'serious' fantasy. The first draft is usually much more fun (you're basically trying to make yourself laugh), but redrafting's much harder. The lack of novelty robs the jokes of humour, and trying to assess them is very difficult.
And that's where beta readers come in. Beta readers cast a constructively critical eye over a work that isn't finished but is quite close to being done, and point out the many ways in which it's awful (in a nice, encouraging way, of course). Occasionally this can be tricky (one joke in Temple was highlighted by two beta readers, one of whom loved it, one of whom loathed it) but mostly it works well.
Kingdom Asunder's redrafting is ongoing, and I am starting to contemplate future full-sized projects. The most obvious is Kingdom Asunder's sequel (it's the first part of a trilogy), and then there's the question of whether I write the fourth entry in The Adventures of Sir Edric or try my hand at a steampunk/sci-fi novel.
And don't forget that as well as the fifth episode of Zodiac Eclipse due out this evening (all episodes available here) May will also see an extra short story, by me, on the excellent Kraxon Magazine website.
Thaddeus
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