Writing Update: Vol. V | Draft 2.9

…And I’m back! This will be short, so let’s dive right in.

If you’re following me on Patreon, then you already know that draft two is complete for volume V. It’s a pretty short novel—for me—so, it was easy to get in and out. Since I know where the next novel is headed, I focused on the character details of their journey to make sure it matches where they’ll be at the start of the next.

While going through volume IV and V, I’ve decided both novels will be getting new titles, though to be fair, I’ll be reusing one. When I initially named book IV, it was a work in progress, and it signaled my end goal; however, it’s very disconnected with the overall story and doesn’t quite match. Going into volume V, I used a title that I’d always planned for, echoing back to passages in the first or second book. While it has merit, The Stone Angel, I’ll be dropping it, and going with volume IV’s old title: Lord of the Underworld. As for the new scrawl for volume IV, you’ll have to wait until closer to release date, which is slated for 2027, but we might be able to bump that up.

Here’s the final tally for the latest round of edits. I even managed to cut a whole chapter out and you can’t even tell.

Prologue: 1 / 1Chapters: 25/ 25Epilogues: 3 / 3Total Words: 95,910 / 95,910Percentage Done: 100%1.5 Draft: 95,2861st Draft: 75K

So, what’s next on the agenda? Well, I once spoke of taking a short jaunt from the fantasy series to get Maro 2—the sequel to Red Creek—ready for the editor. So, I’ll be doing that. As with novellas, my time away will be short-lived, a week at most. As we get to the end of March, I’ll have to take another sojourn for the final round of edits, and that will take two-to-three times as long, as this edit is the most grueling, going line by line, word by word, making it as polished as I can. It’ll be going to the editor around May timeframe and hopefully be out on shelves during the summer. Here’s the word count for each draft so you have an idea what I’m going into.

1st Draft: 31,5532nd Draft: 34,0123rd Draft: 37,094

If you enjoyed this content and want more or to support the cause, follow me on Patreon! If you want to read my works, check out my books on Amazon. All are available in eBook and print. Reviews can be found on Goodreads and Amazon. I shall return…