Progress Report August ’25

A couple of weeks late, this progress report, I must admit, but I was in the US again at the end of August and there was a milestone I wanted to get to before posting which I’m delighted to say I have finally reached. Yes indeed, I’ve typed the last words of the first draft of the sequel to the Devils.

A really shit first draft, admittedly. Partly that’s because I wanted to crash through and get a rough version of the book, see where I was going before I went back to pull it all together. Partly that’s because this is a much more complex book, both from a plot and character standpoint, than The Devils was, so a lot of ideas have come to me as I’ve gone along and there are a lot of plot threads and character concepts that have worked their way into the final part that weren’t set up at all in the first. I’m someone who really enjoys revising, and in the past books have come together quickly once I’ve got a draft, but there’s a lot of work to do on this one. First will come a re-read, rewrite and cutdown of the third part and likely a discussion with my editors, then the long process of rewriting the first and second parts to bring them into line with the final vision, set up and pay off all the character arcs and plot lines that I didn’t when I first wrote them. The aim is to get a coherent second draft, with everything consistent and basically in the right place, by the end of the year. Then I can start the work of editing and improving what I’ve got. At the moment, no certain release date, but I will post it when I know it.

Thankfully the travel and events are over for the rest of this year. I’ve done some brilliant events for The Devils that really have taken things to a very different level for me, including an amazing visit to a packed Celsius festival in Spain in July where I did the longest signing I’ve ever done by a mile (about 6 and a half hours, for pushing 1000 people). Thanks to everyone who turned up to any of the talks and signings this year. I still distinctly remember giving a lecture to 2 people in Holland soon after first being published, so believe me I always appreciate it.

Quite a lot of other bits and pieces going on – The Devils won a Dragon award, which is nice, and Spider Rose, one of the Love, Death and Robots pieces I wrote the screenplay for was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding animated programme, which I guess if you really squint means I could call myself Emmy nominated, but I doubt I’ll make a habit of it, since it’s Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who directed the piece, who deserves the credit on that one. I’ve got a few film and TV irons in the fire at the moment which will be taking up time in the run-up to Christmas, including the aforementioned development of The Devils for the screen, but nothing I can actually announce at this point. You’ll just have to take my word for it that it’s all incredibly impressive and exciting. Honest. There is also some interesting stuff on merch and limited edition hardcovers in the works, so keep an eye out if that kind of stuff floats your boat.

And that’s your (late) progress report for August…

The post Progress Report August ’25 appeared first on Joe Abercrombie.