Ajax Lygan's Blog, page 2

Post Sprint Update

Hey everyone! I hope you all are doing well. For those of you that celebrated Easter, I hope you all had a good holiday weekend. Below is this week’s update.

Weekly Progress:
I was able to meet my goal of getting five chapters completed last week. I’m feeling really motivated right now and want to continue hard with my writing this week. I finished some really awesome chapters which reveal some major threads that were created all the way back in book 1. I hope you find these revelations as exciting as I did. It’s awesome to see things you planned for years ago finally come to fruition.

Art & Audiobook:
Below are Saïgra’s and Sophia’s character sheets. I posted the single images of the character sheets to Patreon yesterday for those that are interested. The audiobook for book 2 is scheduled to start recording sometime this month. I’ll keep you all updated on when recording begins and when it concludes.

Patreon:
I wanted to give you all an update on upcoming Patreon content. Many of you have asked about preview chapters. These will go live at the same time I send the book to the editor. That will give you several weeks to read ahead of launch and let me know what you think. In addition to preview chapters, I am going to try something I think no one else is doing. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I’ll be working with some voice artists to create a standalone story which will take place in Iðna, years after the Aspect. It will follow a silent protagonist (YOU), as you venture through the world itself. Every episode will give you a short prompt to read before the audio sets up the scene. Each episode will be highly NSFW and focus more on the erotic side, leveraging some of the scripts I have written in the past. I will be starting this series off with three episodes which will be exclusive to Patreon. The plan is for them to be fifteen minutes to a half hour long. Please note that while these are not time consuming to write, they are expensive, so depending on if this helps draw more interest toward the Patreon or not will determine if I can keep doing them. I just want to put that disclaimer out there before things start, as I think you all will REALLY like them. The episodes should start late April, early May, depending on how busy things get.

That’s it for me this week. I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Saigra Character SheetSophia Character Sheet

Preparing for the Blitz

Hey everyone! I hope you are having a great week. I have a couple of updates for you, which you can find below!

Writing Progress:
I’ll be starting Chapter 10 of The Aspect Book 3 this week and continuing to write throughout the weekend. This weekend will be the start of my vacation, which I will spend getting some solid writing done every day. My hope is to be past the 3/4 mark of completion by the end of it. Based on how my writing is going, that seems very doable. It should put me in a great spot and I may, MAY, finish this one earlier than planned. It all depends on how next week goes. I will not be posting an update next Monday unless I get some fun stuff to share with you (art related). Once I finish book 3, it will follow the same process I used for book 2. That involves sending it to the editor first and then submitting to the beta readers for feedback.

Art:
I should receive Saïgra’s and Sophia’s character sheets sometime next week. Once I have those, I will send them out via the newsletter, post them on the website, and share them on social media. I also sent Chloe the idea for book 3’s cover. Just like the first two, there will be two new harem members on the cover. One is someone you probably can guess if you’ve read book 2. Another is one that is introduced in book 3. The new character goes through a lot in the book, is a lot of fun, and has a ton of spunk, but isn’t quite as crazy as the other short member of the group. I know it was kind of up in the air from last week’s post, but it is confirmed that Alyndra’s character sheet will get pushed back to a later date so Chloe can prioritize book 3’s cover. I have also started discussions with multiple artists last week for content for the next series. I’ve settled on two artists who will design the ship and deck plans. They are getting started this week. Then I have settled on two artists for the cover art. One I have heard from, and the other I will hear from when they have an opening in mid-April. Hopefully, I’ll have two covers to share with you in May.

Patreon:
For those of you who wish to support me further, I wanted to update you on the Patreon. The page is currently under review and should be set to go live sometime this week. I am planning on adding content as we go. I do not plan on setting any specific tiers. It will be pay what you want. I believe the minimum allowed by Patreon is $1. This is not at all required or expected. It’s just an option for those of you who would like to support me further. The only thing you are getting is earlier access to things. All the content there will eventually find its way freely available or up on Amazon.

That’s it for me this week, but I did want to leave you all with something I have been working on. This is an early WIP of the galactic political map of the next series. The names, shapes, and locations may change. I have a lot of cool ideas for this series, so I hope it does well. I hope you all have a great week.

Galactic Map WIP

You All Are Amazing!

Hey everyone! I hope you all are having a wonderful week. Let’s jump right into it, shall we?

Writing Update:
First thing I want to jump into is regarding my shift on weekly posts. Starting this week, I will move my weekly updates to Mondays going forward. The reason being is that the bulk of my writing progress happens on the weekend, and I want to maximize my writing time, uninterrupted, so I can get the stories out to you all quickly. I’m currently working on chapter 7 of The Aspect Book 3. Everything is going pretty great, and I’m still on course with my release schedule. I also did some cleanup work on the minor factions within the next series which will be a sci-fi space opera/fantasy.

Art/Audiobook:
Chloe is hard at work on the character sheets, which should be ready later this month. Alyndra’s sheet might be released later than originally planned as the priority in May will be Book 3’s cover. Depending on how booked Chloe is, she may not get to Alyndra’s cover until late May. This may be a bit of a spoiler, but once she is done with Alyndra’s there will be 3 more character sheets, I have asked her to complete. That “should” be all the character sheets we’ll do for The Aspect. For the Sci-Fi book, I am scouring for another artist who would do the art for those books. Book 1 will include a galaxy map and a breakout of the spaceship the MC will eventually fly. I’m currently in negotiations with an artist who specializes in deck plans, and I am super excited to show those to you all once they are finished.

Patreon:
This is a pretty hot topic as of late, with me receiving multiple requests to set one up. First off, I just want to say thank you for those of you who have reached out wanting to support me further. It really means a lot. Now onto the ask, my hesitation with setting one up is that I do not want to diminish the quality that is offered to you, and I do not wish to slow my progress on my current works. For me to be able to provide quality content for you all on Patreon, would pull my time away from me to get the stories out to you sooner. Because of the overwhelming level of support I have received as of late, I think this will be only a matter of time. Here are my current ideas on things I would like to offer, let me know what you think.
– Early access to preview chapters (will be removed upon release)
– Early access to character art (will be posted on Patreon 1 week before public). If we get enough subs, we’ll get monthly art.
– Patreon exclusive stories/spin offs (likely one chapter a month, we’ll vote on it)
– Discord access with exclusive channels with polls
– Patreon exclusive audio
– Read access to my world building site (it’s like a wiki where I keep stuff in order)

Finally, I just want to say, thank you all for your continued support. This week I have received so many shares of my books on social media, direct messages telling me how much you love the books, and questions about the stories. I LOVE this, so don’t hesitate to reach out. That’s it for me this week. I hope you all have a great week!

The Aspect: Journey to the Firegrove Audiobook Live!

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay on this week’s update, however, per last week’s note I had a 64 hour work week this week with my weekend shift, completely exhausting me and preventing me from getting a note out yesterday. If you didn’t recognize by the title this week, the big news is that the audiobook for The Aspect: Journey to the Firegrove is live. You can get it HERE.

Weekly Progress:
I didn’t manage to complete a lot of writing last week. I was able to finish chapter four and begin working on chapter five. I need long stretches of sprint time for me to knock out serious words, so I held off on that and instead focused on my world building for the upcoming space opera/fantasy series that will be coming out later this year. I was able to outline the eleven major races and factions and outline eleven minor races and factions. I’ll probably add a few more minor factions and end it there. I’ve also reached out to several artists to get quotes on building a galaxy map and ship floor plans for the ship the MC will own. Hopefully, I hear back from them this week and that’s something I could share with you.

Question: Would you all like to see the factions, planets, and characters before a series comes out, or would you find that too spoilery?

Art:
Below are the final roughs from Chloe for Saïgra, Sophia, Alyndra. Based on the timeline, the first two will be done this month and Chloe will complete Alyndra’s in May. I hope you all enjoy these as much as I do. It’s always cool to me to see these characters come to life in other media.

That’s all for me this week. I have today off, so I am going to try to get some solid writing done. I hope you all have a great week!

Saïgra Character Sheet RoughSophia Character Sheet RoughAlyndra Character Sheet Rough

Keep Cruisin’

Hey everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend. This week’s update is below.

Weekly Progress:
I have begun working on chapter 4 for The Aspect Book 3. I had an awesome weekend of sprinting with Chase Danger and Atlas Kane. It was a lot of fun getting through the beginning part of the book and getting me back on schedule. This week’s progress will probably be minimal, as I have an on call shift this upcoming weekend. However, I will be taking some time off during the last week of March for my birthday and to get some solid writing in for the month.

Art Update:
I spoke with Chloe on the next batch of art coming out. She’ll be working on the character sheets for Sophia and Saïgra this month, with the hope to get Alyndra done as well. If not, then it won’t be released until May. Once the art is available, I will release them on the website and social media. My way of saying thanks for joining me on this journey. As long as people keep reading the series, I’ll plan to continue to get art created for each of the harem members.

Audiobook:
Nothing on this front. Like I said, it probably won’t release until sometime in March. I will keep you all updated on book 1’s audible release.

That’s it for me this week. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Book 2 Post Launch

I hope you all are having a wonderful week. This is a light week this week, but I didn’t want to go without giving you all an update.

Book 2 Launch:
If you didn’t see last week or hear the news, The Aspect: The Cessation’s Harbinger launched last week. You can find it here on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08WJZFG9W. Along with book 2’s launch, book 1 received an updated cover to match. If you have read book 1 or book 2, please consider reviewing them on Amazon and Goodreads. They can literally make or break a series.

Writing Progress:
This week was rather slow regarding progress, mainly because of my own decisiveness on what to work on next. I have written the first chapter of book 3, but because I was uncertain of how well book 2 was going to do, I decided to wait and see how this week went before committing myself 100% to book 3. This gave me an opportunity to continue to work on an outline for another book which will go into the archive, and hopefully be something that releases later this year. I also had some fun creating a few new races and major characters for book 2. One race were subtly hinted at near the end of book 2, and will play a major role in book 3. All that being said, I am thrilled with how well book 2 is being reviewed, and I am going to commit to working on book 3 with all of my free time starting this upcoming week. Once book 3 is finished, my plan is to release book 3 and then book 1 for a new series, alternating with The Aspect until its conclusion.

Audiobooks:
The audiobook for book 1 is still in Amazon’s hands for QA. It will probably not release until March at the earliest. However, I do have good news. Rebecca Woods has signed on and committed to book 2. Recording for book 2 will conclude by the end of April so that would be probably be looking at a June release at the earliest. I wish there was a way for these to both be profitable and still get them to you all sooner. Unfortunately, all other options I have looked into are not profitable for a small author such as myself.

That’s it for me this week. I hope you all have a great week. Stay warm, and stay safe.

Roller coaster

Hey everyone! I hope you all are having a wonderful week. As you can tell from the title, this week has been full of ups and downs. Honestly, it has been one of the most stressful weeks since I have started this journey. I will detail some of those below.

Weekly Update:
My initial plan was to release the updated cover for book 1 and book 2 this week. However, due to a delay on the typography for book 1 and book 2, which as of this moment is still being corrected, I was only able to release book 1’s new cover. The good news is that the delay of book 2 needed to happen. One of my beta readers helped identify some issues with book 2 that needed to be addressed. While rather small, they are critical to Tempest and his harem’s development. As such, I am waiting on him to finish with some formatting issues and letting me know of any issues in the final three chapters. The good news is based on his review, the book is good and I trust him not to b.s. me.

So where does that put us? I get the final typography corrections tonight, and I will have the manuscript with feedback today as well. I will spend the week going through it making adjustments and hopefully should be ready by, fingers crossed, next weekend. I’ll post an update midweek if anything changes.

Audiobook:
I have spent most of my time this past week listening to the audiobook and helping Rebecca Woods with feedback. The good news is we’re 99% done and should be sent off to audible sometime this week. I am so excited for you all to get your hands on it. As a book listener, this has been what I have been most excited for. I am sure her magnificent performance will please you. Attached here is a sample of the audio I have uploaded to YouTube. Please enjoy! https://youtu.be/0Vq2sJblONM

The Aspect Book 3:
When I wrote the first chapter of book 3, it felt hollow. I could immediately tell what the problem was, it needed a different perspective and needed to go back a bit. After a rewrite, I think it’s in a much better spot. Once book 2 is released and the work on the audiobook is done, I can put all of my focus into book 3 to start turning out chapters. I am hopeful that once I am back in my groove, I can meet my self-imposed goals of releasing a new book every 4 months or so.

Final Cover Art & More

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Below, you’ll find a few updates from me this week.

Weekly Progress:
This week’s writing comprised of building out outlines for future books. I have continued to expand The Aspect Book 3’s outline, written an outline for the sci-fi fantasy book, and written an outline for the new fantasy series I plan on writing. I’ve also been working with my betas on some changes to book 1 and book 2 manuscripts to get them ready for the upcoming release of book 2. The changes for book 1 are mostly formatting changes to make it easier to read on mobile and kindle. The content is largely the same. Once book 2 releases, I will update book 1 around the same time with the updated cover which you’ll see below. Here is a link to an article to make sure you’re getting the most up-to-date version of your ebooks: LINK HERE.

Art and Audiobook:
Chloe has been hard at work crafting the book 1 art redesign and book 2 cover art. Today she sent me the final art for both, which you can see below. Next will be the character sheets for Saïgra and Sophia. Depending on how well the book does, there may be a third one as well. I’m sure you’ll be able to guess who once you’re done reading book 2. The audiobook continues to make progress as I review the audio once Rebecca completes them. I am super excited for this to be completed and I will keep you all updated on the progress.

What’s next?:
Right now I am jumping into The Aspect Book 3. Based on some initial feedback from my beta’s about how much they enjoyed book 2’s story, I’m going to take that as a sign to continue with the series. However, with book 3 being the next release, I do plan on jumping into another series afterwards. The plan will then be to alternate releases for each series until The Aspect is done (either 4 or 5 books, depending on how well book 2 and book 3 do).

That’s it for me this week. Please enjoy the cover art below!

Final updated cover art for The Aspect: Journey to the FiregroveFinal cover art for The Aspect: The Cessation’s Harbinger

What’s next? New Series?

Hey everyone! I hope you all are having a great week. There are a few updates from me this week listed below:

Weekly Progress:
I spent this past week editing book two’s manuscript before sending it off to the editor and beta readers on Friday. They will have the book over the next two weeks to provide summaries and suggestions for improvement. Once I have that in hand, I’ll be able to make the necessary changes and we’ll be ready to publish. ETA is looking late January or early February. I’ll keep you updated on the progress.

Audiobook and Artwork:
Audiobook has begun production, and I have approved voices of several of the main characters. I am super excited about this you guys; you have no idea. I’ve always been a big fan of audiobooks, and hearing the characters come to life is something that is very special to me. I know Rebecca Woods will kill it and you all will have an awesome book to listen to. The new cover art for book 1 and book 2 are coming along. Below is the latest rendition for book 1’s cover art. You can see more detail come through for the characters. These should be delivered by the 24th, so I am hopeful to share this with you in next week’s updates.

Book 1 Cover Progress Update

What’s next:
This is something I am undetermined on. Currently, I have three books that I want to write. The first one should be obvious which is The Aspect book 3. The second one is a sci-fi opera akin to star wars. The third is another epic fantasy, but with a revenge twist. The basic outline for The Aspect book 3 is complete, as well as the sci-fi opera story. So, in the immediate future, I will work on the basic outline for the third book on the list. I want to see how well The Aspect book 1 and 2 do with the new cover and release of book 2 before I jump right in to book 3. If it does really well on release week then I will jump into The Aspect book 3. If not then I will probably choose one of the other books and then alternate between those two series.

Website Update:
As you all have probably noticed, the website went through an overhaul. I spent most of the weekend redoing it to prepare for having multiple titles and multiple series. I hope you like it!

Book 2 Blurb:
The last thing I have for you this week is book 2’s blurb. I hope this gets you excited about things to come in book 2:

Are you willing to save those who seek to destroy you?

Tempest traveled to the Firegrove and discovered he is The Aspect; however, the world does not work on the word of a secluded dryad queen, and the last thing the Iðnan Ruling Council wants is to give up their power.

Tempest must use his wits to survive the world of political espionage, all while safeguarding himself from abductors, uprooting secret organizations, and defending the world from the growing threat of horrors that spawn from unknown planes.

While the burden of responsibility and loss weighs heavily on the man born to be its savior, he must lean on Riika, Ella, and a new band of allies and companions to defend the world from those who seek to destroy it.

This book contains harem elements and explicit content.

Book 2 Manuscript Complete!

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful week. I have a couple of important updates for you this week.

Weekly Progress:
The big news, as you can tell, is that book 2’s manuscript is complete! The book clocks in around 125k words. This week I plan to do a couple of edits and changes to book 2 that I marked in the comments as I wrote it. Once that is done, I will do two more self-edit passes as I go, one read and one audio, before sending it out to the editor on Friday.

Editor Changes:
In speaking with my current editor, she was clear that she is currently working on another large project. This means that she might not get the book back to me before the end of the month. In an effort to get it sooner, I am currently speaking to a few editors to determine if I can get it sooner than the estimated 30 days my current editor gave me. I’ll keep you updated on the progress.

Title Reveal:
This may seem familiar to some of you who paid attention to my Easter egg image I left a few weeks ago. However, I wanted to share the final title with you all: The Cessation’s Harbinger.

I plan to share the blurb of book 2 in the upcoming weeks, which will give you all an idea of what occurs in book 2. That’s it for me this week. I hope you all have a great week ahead.