Progress Underway on the Immortal King
Progress is underway on Cassan Astor and the Immortal King. For the past few weeks (really since getting Sea of Krakens out), I’ve been re-reading and editing my draft of the Immortal King. But what happens when I catch up to the end of my draft? It’s time to write something new!
Writing new bits to the Immortal King has been lots of fun. Because I’ve spent so much time editing content since the spring, I’ve had very little time to actually write new content. It’s been great to write stuff again.
What makes this more fun is that the part I’m writing is perhaps the most pivotal turning point for not just this book, but for the entire series as a whole. I would venture to predict it’s probably about the halfway point of both this book and the series. Everything after this is point will take the story and world in a dramatically different direction.
On the negative side, one thing I do notice about the Immortal King is how “drafty” and “disjointed” it feels. Where Sea of Krakens had a strong narrative follow-through, Immortal King cuts quickly between characters and locations, and often has jumps in time. I do wonder if this draft is going to need an extensive polish afterwards in the same way Sea of Krakens did.
As someone who likes to write “ensemble” stories, it is hard for me to write a story all revolving around a main character. I like to bounce around with characters in the vein of George RR Martin. I feel sometimes like I want to take the story away from Cassan Astor and it is hard to reel it in at times and keep him the focus. This part of the Immortal King especially deals with that issue.
When I’m done with all this, I might hire the same copy editor I used for Desert Empress. Like Immortal King, Desert Empress jumps to a lot of characters and perspectives. And while the editor only reviewed the first several chapters, not the whole book, her input was helpful in aiming the direction of the story.
Below is some art I haven’t shared yet. This is art from Justin Davis and it will become the cover for Cassan Astor and the Immortal King:
In the meantime, it’s writing time for me! I’m going to have fun and go write a bit. Talk to you later!
