Hello everyone!
It’s been quite some time since I’ve last given an update, almost half a year now actually. It’s safe to say a lot has happened since then, especially with regards to editing the second draft and why it took so long. There’s the obvious answer that there was a lack of focus and direction but there’s also some interesting realizations I had about the balance between discovery writing and having an outlined plan. It’s a delicate balance and becomes increasingly difficult as the complexity of the story grows. The unfortunate reality was that I was confronted with questions I wasn’t too sure about that had ramifications on other established characters and concepts. It was an interesting conundrum that added to some of the issues delaying the second draft. Now my publishing schedule is delayed and probably won’t be able to publish book 3 by the holiday season like I initially planned.
While the disappointment was rather palpable, I did come to recognize it was ultimately for the best. I would rather delay book 3 so that it’s at a quality I’m happy with rather than rushed out for the sake of being done. That being said, I am looking into updating the current editions of books 1 and 2 of The Legend of Nariko series. This has been something I’ve wanted to do for a while so that I could recreate the covers to be more appealing as well as correct some cultural errors that are in the books. Valoria being based on ancient Japan, there’s a few things that I realize I had gotten wrong or could have described better that I would like to correct. That being said, as always, anyone whose purchased a copy of the books can reach out to me at RaphaelTheAuthor@gmail.com with a picture of the older edition and I’ll send a copy free of charge. It’s my way of saying thanks and making up for my error.
Thankfully the second draft was a lot faster than the first draft but also ended up being surprisingly arduous. The difficulty came with the task of discovery writing one of the story arcs for the book. Now normally when I write my story arcs, there’s a loose outline I have that I write according to. There are core plot points that must happen, and everything in between comes from the character’s actions and development. There’s some deviation here and there but the core of the story stays on the path set. This story arc was a bit of a problem as the outlined plot I had, while initially seemed good, upon rereading felt inconsistent. The core of what I wanted the story to be was there, but how the story got there felt ultimately lacking. Rewriting that entire arc took a lot of time and thought as I had to carefully consider the worldbuilding already established so I didn’t end up writing something nonsensical.
Ultimately though I realize I could have finished sooner had I been more focused and disciplined in my routine. There was an old approach I once had where I would make sure that every day I dedicated at least 1 hour to writing, 1 hour to reading, and 1 hour to doing art. Lately I’ve been focused far more on the art side of things as I want to improve to create these new book covers, but I realized it caused my writing to suffer and ultimately feel bad as a result. Writing makes me happy, gives me purpose, so ultimately, I can’t forgo that for anything else. Not to say I’ll abandon my other interests solely for writing, but to remember that writing is still the core of who I am.
Aiming to publish book 3, The Legend of Nariko: Hellfire Rising, in the first half of 2024. Ideally I’d like to publish it by February but that might be a bit too ambitious. Book review schedule will continue with next week’s post.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts and my work. 😊
– Raphael
Raph's Cozy Musings 