Merry Christmas!
Today I'm introducing the first of what I hope is a number of posts discussing my upcoming novel. My current working title is “Rising”. There's much symbolism in that single word.
Many of the characters have secrets, and many of these secrets are rising to the surface. Once buried deep, they can no longer remain hidden.
“Rising” is book one in a series called “The Czar Chronicles”.
I originally wrote book 1 and book 2 together, and had planned to publish them as a single novel, but as I continued to rewrite and add to the work, it grew too large for me. I found enough of a story in the first half to separate the whole into two novels. Each one will be from 50-60,000 words, maybe longer—but not much longer.
There will be, as of now, five or six books in the series. I've finished second drafts of the first two and am about a quarter of the way through the rough draft of the third.
In “Rising” readers will discover right away that Czar, a former military general and current crime boss, is the key antagonist. You can guess what happens next.
Zen, Clara, and Amina are the three central protagonists. Zen and Clara are the same age. They're seventeen at the beginning of the story, and I plan to have them grow up as the series progresses. Amina is a little older in appearance, but because she's a vampire, she contains quite a bit more world experience.
Clara is the lead protagonist. The main plot revolves around her. Zen and Amina have their own important subplots that will eventually influence the main plot. What makes Clara so important is her magic abilities. She's a witch. Her power separates her from the other characters, but even as it makes her better, it can also get her into a lot of trouble.
There are several supporting characters, most of them a mixed bag of emotions, and good and evil. None are straight “good”, and only one is pure evil. They effect both the main plot and the subplots.
Hopefully that was enough to whet your imagination without giving too much away. Writing this has not been easy, but I have been consistent with it. At my current pace, expect the first novel to come out sometime in February, though I'm not sure if it'll be closer to the first of the month, or the first of March.
I'm excited about these characters, and how the story is developing. I hope to keep it up!
Posts
Great first tease! We get to see an excerpt at some point, no?
ReplyDeleteWhen I get closer.... I'm still working through rewrites and am about half way done. Hopefully in a week or two I'll post something :)
ReplyDeleteSounds intriguing.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I thought about self-publishing but got lucky on a trip I took by happening to run into a publisher. She liked a couple of short works I wrote and offered to do a read through of my book. And after trying to get published for more than 5 years, getting an offer for publishing (along with editing and cover design) was a welcome relief to years of work. Hopefully its just the beginning, so taking that into account, I wish you the best in your publishing.
Scott, that is fantastic - congratulations, and good luck!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to you in your endeavors! I'm working on a book to self-publish as well... non-fiction though. I'm not so imaginative as you are!
ReplyDeleteSounds like it will be a great read. Fantasy is my genre for reading, I read other things, but fantasy is where I am most comfortable. Huh? I wonder what that says about me? Oh well, doesn't matter. I'm excited to read your book, let me know when I will be able too! Good Luck.
ReplyDelete@lynne - You're just as creative, I'm sure of it! That's what it takes to write a book, any type of book. Creativity and a lot of hard work.
ReplyDelete@Jan - It says you're awesome! The most fantastic people read fantasy ;)
Good going nova, the best part is that you r uncoventional and confident.
ReplyDeleteM sure success is urs.
Love
Mani
Thanks so much, Mani! I love the sound of unconventional...
ReplyDeleteWell done mate ya on a super writing roll!! you constantly inspire me to get my skinny butt in gear and write!
ReplyDeleteMy job is done, then, Charles ;)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds interesting. Truly, perseverance is the central force in the act of writing a novel.
ReplyDeleteA great post...I'm really looking forward to reading the first novel in your series. The characters sound very intriguing!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Josh and Jess :)
ReplyDelete