If you’d just like to jump to the Alfheim sneak peek story, CLICK HERE.
I’ve been quiet the past month or so because I’m currently in the middle of a big move two states away and I’ve barely had time to work on writing. But I’m almost done with the first draft of a novella introducing a character I’ve been working on for about six months now: a young bounty hunter named Torin Keth.
The Wolf Who Stands Watch
I say I’ve been working on the character for six months—and not just working on a book—because I actually wrote a novel starring Torin Keth this last fall, then decided I wanted to write some short stories to lay some groundwork for the novel. I wrote a short story about him on a job, and then decided THAT wasn’t good enough either. I needed to start at the beginning. So this novella, tentatively called The Wolf Who Stands Watch, is about Torin Keth’s very first job as a bounty hunter working for the Confederation of Unified Planets and Systems.
Brandon Sanderson once said that fantasy writers have a problem with brevity, and I can attest (sheepishly) to that being true. I wanted this story to be between 10,000 and 15,000 words, but as I got into it, it’s grown to about 23,000 as of this writing, and I’m not quite done yet with the first draft.
I estimate that I have about 6,000-8,000 more words to write for this novella’s rough draft before I can get to work on editing. Normally, this would only take about 3-4 days; but since packing/painting/repairs/moving takes up a lot of brainpower, I’ve only been writing about 500 words a day when I manage to write anything at all. So if all goes well, it might take me up to two weeks to finish the draft and another week or two to edit and revise. Hopefully, I’ll have it in your hands by mid-May or early June.
The Road Ahead
So if I’ve written several shorts and a novel about Torin Keth, when will you get to see those?
I’m not entirely sure. I could either just publish the novel as soon as it’s edited, and fill in the short stories prequel-style, or I could write the shorts first and then the novel. I like that idea better as it’ll give you a much better understanding of various nuanced elements of the novel. The downside is that it will take me time to write the shorts, and probably a fair number of you will skip the shorts to get to the novel. So I’ll see. If the shorts end up taking longer to write than I anticipated, I might just go ahead and get the novel out so it’s not bugging me.
Alfheim Story Sneak Peek
Since this “short” story-turned-novella has taken longer than I anticipated and prepping for a move is sucking the life out of me, I’ve gotten a little emotionally burnt out. Having my head in societal rot and ruin is interesting but draining, so to cope, I’ve also been jotting down a few character sketches and scenes in preparation for other shorts and novels I have planned. A couple of them have spoilers, so I won’t be posting them here.
But the last one that I wrote last night is perfect for giving you a little sneak peek into the realm of Alfheim, one of the sister realms of Muspelheim, the setting for my epic fantasy book Muspell’s Sons and Shackles of a Mountain Lord, the first two books in The Realm War Chronicles. (You can read the first chapters of Muspell’s Sons for free HERE.)
Taking place before the events of Muspell’s Sons, this story will follow the adventures of Leif, an orphan who has been raised by dryads. His jungle home hides the mysterious ruins of a long-dead civilization that may hold the key to saving his people—and possibly give him answers about who he is and where he came from.
If you’d like to read this short teaser, you can find it HERE.
I hope you enjoy it!
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