Spinward Fringe: Big Duality in Broadcasts 10-12

Writing every novel is a different journey. While every Spinward Fringe novel has similarities to others in the series, I can remember how each book felt to write. No two felt the same. Every novel was its own journey.

There are no spoilers in this post for anyone who has read Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9: Warpath.

Good, now that the non-spoiler announcement is there, I can keep writing this post. Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground is a journey on two simultaneous paths.

Alice has entered an Advanced Officer Training Program with Triton Fleet. The learning curve is steep, made even more difficult because she's tying to discover who she is without framework technology and the limitations it placed on her. So far, writing this journey has been a pleasure, and I'm almost finished the portion that will appear in Freeground. So far I've written forty days of her journey into and inside the program, and I'm happy with it so far.

The other side of this book happens light years away in the Iron Head Nebula, where the Triton and Revenge attempt to assist Freeground as it tries to leave the nebula and survive the space beyond. There are no guarantees as the Order of Eden are in hot pursuit, using an entire fleet of ships to search the nebula and watch its borders. This is the side of the book I'm about to start writing.

What's interesting about the writing of this book is that it is a small part of the Order War which will run as the main story of several books. Alice's training is not completed in Broadcast 10, but the feeling from test readers is that her journey is interesting because the reader is learning with her (but only the really fun and interesting stuff). All the while, there is a war going on, and her class is keenly aware that they are going to have their chance to serve in the new Triton Fleet.

Meanwhile, the Revenge has to cope with a crew that has little experience on the ship, and the stakes couldn't be higher. I feel the next few books you'll have a chance to read are the ones you've been looking forward to all this time. I love what I did with Warpath, and the reception couldn't be better, but for everyone who has been reading or will start reading the whole series, the upcoming books are the culmination of the ten behind them. Now is the time to get off the fence if you've been holding off on reading Broadcast 0: Origins, because I feel like I"m tossing doubloons into the pot of gold at the other end every day.

While every book was a different journey in the writing, I would say that I enjoyed every one, and I'll enjoy revisiting all the books again next year.

RL

[What was your favourite Spinward Fringe Broadcast or moment in the series? Spoilers are encouraged in the comments, anyone who hasn't read up to Broadcast 9: Warpath should avert their eyes.]

Improving the Spinward Fringe Series Going Forward

Mondays should only be for good news, so that's all  you'll find here. If you haven't read Broadcast 9, there are some things that won't make much sense at the moment, but you'll get there. There are NO spoilers ahead, so don't worry.

My plan for 2016 originally was to write two Spinward Fringe novels, a Spinward Fringe side novel and a short about Carnie, a pilot who who was featured in Broadcast 9. I also scheduled time to write a novel outside of Spinward Fringe, and that hasn't changed.

What has changed is that I'm already tightening up the story for Spinward Fringe. The short featuring Carnie is being written right now, because it's become a part of Broadcast 10. It's going to really improve a section of that book that (according to two local test readers) was already pretty good.

The other Spinward Fringe side novel I had planned also fits in with the events of the main story, so, instead of finishing two Spinward Fringe novels and a side novel, I'm going to finish three Spinward Fringe novels and another book outside of the Spinward Fringe universe - it may be Brightwill, it could be Dark Arts, I'm not sure yet.

All of the upcoming books are entered around the nine sector war, and we'll get to see the universe as it is after the holocaust virus in a very direct way. I'm very excited about this phase of the Spinward Fringe saga.

So, the Spinward Fringe series gets less confusing today, you'll be getting bigger, better books and more of them!

Now, back to work on Broadcast 10, I'm almost a quarter of the way through it at this point. The January 28, 2016 release date is written in stone at this point, I'll definitely hit it.

RL

[You can track my progress on Broadcast 10 on the National Novel Writing Page.]

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground Will Be Delayed

This is a larger book than I anticipated. My initial goal was to plan and write a book that came in at around 100,000 words in approximately 30 days.

While I know I can still make the word count goal, I am sure that once I reach it the book will not be complete. That means there will be no way for me to publish this novel on December 21, 2015.

I need time to write a novel that will probably come in at 150,000 words minimum. This is an important book in this story, so I'd also like to slow down a little and take the time to do more planning so the final story is more refined and enjoyable.

Another important factor in all this is editing. The last book went out without a final check because it was rushed out, so there are errors that will be corrected this December or sooner. Thankfully Broadcast 9 is a much loved volume in the series, but it still deserved a little more time. I don't want the same thing to happen with Broadcast 10, so giving myself some more time to do editing is really important. Backtracking, correcting errors in previous books slows work on new books and other projects down.

I'll be honest, I really wanted Broadcast 10 out right before or right after the new Star Wars movie, but rushing things will only result in an inferior work, so that's not going to happen.

So, what kind of delay are we looking at?

I expect to have a very good, longer version of Broadcast 10: Freeground out on January 28, 2016.

The good news is that work on Broadcast 11: Revolution will already be underway by the time Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground is out, and both books will be much longer than originally planned. Both books tell the story of our favourite characters in a time of absolute war, and will offer the kind of stories I've been looking forward to telling for years.

I am sorry that things are going to be delayed, but the results will be so much better this way

RL
[Thank you for your continued support, and your patience!]

Track the Progress of Broadcast 10!

This week work on Spinward Fringe Broadcast 10: Freeground began, and I have to say I'm enjoying myself immensely. The correlation to how much I enjoy writing a book to how many five star ratings it gets is pretty clear to me at this point. The solution? Only write stories I find worthwhile, dramatic, emotional and that are fun in many places.

The war continues in Broadcast 10, and I can't wait to finish this so I can have this in front of you. It's good to be back from writing horror, which was a very interesting departure for a while. I plan on returning to that genre, but I think I'll finish writing a couple more Spinward Fringe novels first.

I hope that's all right with everyone!

Now, thanks to National Novel Writing Month (and my participation in it), you can track my progress as I write this draft of the novel. The normal requirement to "win" NaNoWriMo is to complete 50,000 words in 30 days, but I'm doubling down, shooting for at least 100,000 words in November. By clicking the link below, you can see how I'm doing, and how many words I'm putting down per day. I'll be updating the count until early evening every day until I'm finished the rough draft.

My National Novel Writing Month Page

RL

[I'm excited, are you excited? I'm excited!]

The Dark Arts Playlist

Dark Arts is set in 1976, and while I was writing it I only listened to music that the characters would be able to hear in their cars, while they were partying, or that they could play on stage in various scenes. It really set the mood, and I shared a song I was listening to on the Facebook page daily as I was writing it.



The next natural step was to put a playlist of all that music together, and I think there's a great collection of pre-disco tunes on offer. Enjoy!



RL