Book 2 First Draft Complete...And a long way to go

Just over a week ago I completed the first draft for my second book. Hooray! When I finished the first draft of The King’s Gambit (TKG), I had a tremendous sense of accomplishment. I’m not feeling that now. Maybe it’s because I’ve already finished a book (though finished may not be the best word. More on that another time). I actually think the anticlimactic feeling comes from the fact that The Scorched Earth (TSE) isn’t really one story, but four.

TSE will take the reader on a much different journey than TKG. While TKG followed Ben for 21 of the 23 chapters, TSE follows an additional 3 characters for about half the book. I’ve decided to move on from the third person limited point of view following a single, main character and switch to a rotating point of view. I’m still using third person limited, but I no longer think Ben’s journey is sufficient to tell the story I’m writing. As of now, Longinus, Arynn, and Rose all have multiple chapters written from their perspective. One of the many challenges I’ve had in writing TSE has been adopting four separate personalities. Hopefully, by the time the editing process is over, the reader will be able to notice a difference in the way each character is written. While Ben is modest, friendly, and a bit dramatic, Longinus is callous, angry, and resentful.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved writing TSE. It’s just been so much more difficult than I anticipated. I wrote TKG at the most emotionally challenging time in my life, and I channeled that into my work. I’m writing TSE during the most mentally demanding time in my life, and I think the experience reflects that. By the time TSE is released, I’ll be in an entirely different phase of my life. Who knows what struggles I’ll face as I write book 3. Boy, I don’t think I can even think of that right now. The task of finishing TSE is daunting enough. I want it to live up to everything readers of TKG expect of it…and then some. The scale of everything, the intensity of it all…everything is magnified in TSE. It’s really only going to get bigger from there.

Here’s a reward to those dedicated few who read this post: an unofficial synopsis of TSE.   

The king is dead, long live the king. Following the death of King Xander of Ænæria, the known world is in disarray. Randolph has taken the crown for himself after the mysterious death of Legate Rivers, who was named King Xander’s successor when he announced his plans to become emperor. The new king has proven more tyrannical than Ænæria’s founder. His Rhion army is training harder each day. He’s enslaving more people and conquering new lands. Perhaps most concerning of all, Longinus, now legate of Bacchuso, has been tasked by the king to search for a Vault that holds something more powerful than anything any living human has ever seen.

The Miners Guild and Alliance leaders have decided to declare war on their neighbors to the north for their aggressive behaviors. Warriors from all five settlements gather together as a single army. While they don’t hold the numbers, they have a better fed army with men and women united under a single cause. They even have a powerful weapon of their own: someone with a better claim to Ænæria’s crown.

Fresh from his training with Mimir, Ben has decided to travel east to the land of Ney, where he hopes to find more allies. The uncivilized wastelands between his home and the eastern territory proves to be just as treacherous as the roads he traveled in Ænæria just a few months before. Unbeknownst to anyone else back home, Ben is looking for more than just aid in the war against the Ænærians. His true focus is learning the fate of his mother and discovering a way to fight back against the Enochians. And while Ney may have reasons of their own to aid the Penteric Alliance, they may also have something Ben wants: another Vault.

TSE still has a long way to go. But, as I often quote, "it's not good when it's done, it's done when it's good." --Adam Jones, guitarist for the band Tool.