Brief post.
Edits continue. Revision occurring to patch holes, clean up messy parts, and punch up weak passages. Still don't have my cover; this is the thing that's worrying me right now. Will deliver to backers in December, aiming around Christmas, cover or no cover.
I had a thought late last night while doing something else regarding a plot thread for Book Three. It regards one of the major villains introduced in Reavers, whose plot arc comes to its end in Book Three (but gets set up in Reavers). Once I wrote down what the full scheme for this character's end was, in High Concept format, what struck me wasn't that I squared a circle but what I was doing when I had the thought.
I was watching a video by one of my regular Blizzard people ranting about Diablo Immortal and the scummy business model Netease uses for its games, so I was doing something completely different. This was one of those Out Of Left Field things.
I'm used to this. I expect a lot of writers are. For some reason shifting one's apparent attention to something unrelated to a question or problem frees up any blocks in the process and produces useful solutions on a reliable basis. Details for this plot thread need to be worked out, but as it's two books from now I'm safe in just putting this on a 3x5 card (so to speak) and filing it away until I get to that point. Until then, I just need to ensure that what leads to it properly sets the expectation that this result pays off.
And more such things I expect will occur as I write #StarKnight. Another that's already occurred? That I may well have a spin-off of the main sequence featuring the many battles and campaigns where Our Heroes either aren't present, or they are but the events proper are not the focus, in a relationship akin to The Clone Wars has to the Prequel Trilogy.
More to come.
Derek Murphy below asks a very important question for we indie authors with our footprints at Amazon.
Yes, he doesn't share the perspective that some of us do, but he's got skin in the game--he too is an indie Amazon author, and tries to spread what he knows (some at a premium)--and he's got something worth listening to.
There is not much for me to say this week. I am still doing edits for Reavers. I await my cover art's colored version. Once all pieces are in my hands and ready, I will put it together and get the parts formatted into a complete ebook and deliver the result to backers. Outline for Book Two will be complete before the end of the year, with manuscript beginning in earnest by the time Reavers goes live on Amazon.
Not Pulp Speed, I know, but I'll get there with time and practice.
