Brightwill II Is Coming...

Work on Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9 is going very well, and there's more real news on that coming next week. This week I'm happy to bring other news to the table.

Great news for everyone who loved the first Brightwill novel: Work started on developing a second and a third book set in the same universe, featuring many of the same characters about three months ago.

What does this mean specifically? Well, right now I'm finishing "test chapters" wherein I try writing a good opening chapter and another chapter where the featured character begins telling a story, much like in the first Brightwill.

While that's being done, I'm figuring out what Brightwill II is about, specifically, what the ending is, and roughly how the story will go, beat by beat. These plans sometimes change a lot during the actual writing of the book, sometimes they only change a little, but it's important to have a frame to hang a novel on.

I expect all this work will be finished in a couple weeks, then I'll be able to actually start writing the text of the novel - the really fun part - when I'm not working on Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9. 

Why is there going to be a sequel? Well, I fell in love with these characters. Much like with Spinward Fringe, the characters are drawing me back into the world of Brightwill, and they have stories to tell. I'm certainly not doing it for the money, because the first Brightwill is not very popular and it just didn't sell well. I'm happy that it's free now so a few people have little to lose if they want to give it a try. It's also easier to point friends to Brightwill so they can give it a try for free.

I'm keeping Brightwill II short, and only writing it in my spare time, when I'm not focusing on Spinward Fringe, because I love both universes.

I'm proud of both universes, and taking time in each of them is a great deal of fun. I hope to have another Brightwill novel out sometime this summer along with a Spinward Fringe novel.

RL

[Brigthwill is free wherever Ebooks are sold. If you'd like a print copy, they are available through Amazon, and some signed copies will be available on EBay soon.]

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 9: The Gathering

The next Spinward Fringe novel, "Broadcast 9: The Gathering" is on it's way. This book picks up the story only weeks after the end of Broadcast 8, and begins the end of the main Spinward Fringe series.

There will be a few more books (I'm not committing to a specific number just yet), and each will have its own story to tell, and after the main Spinward Fringe series ends, there will be other Spinward fringe novels, that's something you can be certain of.

Back to the present, and the work that's being done on Broadcasts nine and ten. These books will chronicle the war as our characters experience it. The changes and challenges that they've survived until now are nothing compared to what they'll face in the violent times ahead.

There's no way to plan Broadcast 9 without planning Broadcast 10. The scope of the storyline we're going into now reaches beyond anything I've written, and while I write the final draft of Broadcast 9 I'll be writing chunks of Broadcast 10, so that book will be easier to write. I'm going to focus on one main story while two other storylines run along side them, much like I did in Broadcast 8.

Why run three storylines through two books?
The Spinward Fringe series has grown in complexity and there are still a number of unanswered questions about where some characters have gone, and mysteries to solve about parts of the past. I also want to continue to tell the whole story about this war, just as I started to in Broadcast 8: Renegades, so I'm going to need three storylines.

How is the writing going so far?
I'm being pushed into moving again, so I'm packing this week. While I pack I'm working out the final notes and plans I need to execute Broadcast 9 and 10. The more time I take to plan out what I'm going to do, the faster the writing goes, so I expect to be finished my draft of Broadcast 9 by the end of the winter or mid-spring. I am writing every day so even though I'm using a lot of time to plan, what I've already planned out is being written, so progress is good, and so far I like what I have. The opening of the book is still up in the air, but not because I'm short on material. I'm on the verge of completing a third possible first chapter, so the real question is which opening will I choose?

As it stands, I feel very good about the shape of Broadcasts 9 and 10. I'm having great fun putting this puzzle together and writing. I'll keep you updated on the blog, and hope to have several major announcements about the Spinward Fringe series as well as other projects for you in the near future. There will also be a preview here, but that won't be for some time yet.

Thank you for your support so far, this is going to be a fantastic year for book releases.

RL

[P.S. The first book, Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins is still free everywhere, and I've just made another novel free until February 14th, Brightwill, so check those out if you haven't already!]

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: We Have A Final Draft!

My editor and I still have editing work to do, but yesterday, I completed the final draft of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework.

That means the story in this novel is complete, and all the necessary scenes are written. The ending of the book caps off the series in a way I find satisfying, in some ways, most of the book is made up of mini-endings that pop up throughout.

A lot of what you'll find between the covers will be unexpected, and I'm fairly proud of that. After two and a half years, scrapping one draft entirely, and re-writing, I'm happier than I can say that I have something I can call complete and final.

Here's some extra info on the book:

181,388 Words (Almost as long as The Fellowship Of The Ring).

56 Chapters

Will be available in print, then in eBook form.

Editing is expected to take two weeks, and it began months ago while writing was under way.
This book brings the series to a total word count of over 1,069,500 words.

I'm afraid there won't be a preview of Spinward Fringe Broadcast 8 at the end of Broadcast 7, because I'm developing Spinward Fringe Broadcasts 8, 9, and 10 together. They will be smaller books, that's all I can say about that for now.

Once we're almost finished editing, I'll submit to my eBook formatting partners for a work date to find out when they can format the book. After I have that date, I'll be able to announce a release date, and I'm really looking forward to it!

The major work is done, and I'm very happy with the story and characters. I hope to have this in front of you soon, so you can enjoy this conclusion of Spinward Fringe season one. For some of you, this will be the conclusion of the series. I hope it's very satisfying.

RL

[Addendum: For other readers who aren't looking for a conclusive end to the entire series, Broadcast 7 is only the end of the first section of the series. The second section, or 'season' will begin with Broadcast 8, which exists in notes at the moment.]