{"id":8819,"date":"2013-08-24T18:09:49","date_gmt":"2013-08-25T00:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=8819"},"modified":"2013-08-24T23:11:23","modified_gmt":"2013-08-25T05:11:23","slug":"laying-the-ground-for-a-couple-new-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/laying-the-ground-for-a-couple-new-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Laying the groundwork for a couple new series"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I just got back from vacation at Cape Cod, which turned out completely different from what I’d expected. \u00a0When I left, I said that I’d probably just write like I usually do, except in a different place. \u00a0Instead, I took a break from my WIPs long enough to catch a new vision for my career and come up with a really good idea for a new spin-off series in the same universe as\u00a0Star Wanderers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The story idea is really awesome. \u00a0I don’t want to talk about it too much, since I haven’t even written it yet, but the main characters will be Isaac and Aaron from <\/strong>Benefactor,<\/strong> and the basic premise will start out fairly similar to\u00a0Outworlder.<\/strong> \u00a0From there, though, I expect it to take shape in some very different ways, turning into much more of an epic space opera.<\/p>\n

I plan to stick with the novella series format, since I’ve had a lot of success with that so far. \u00a0I know that some readers complain about shorter works, but when doing a series of this type, it’s important to put out new titles regularly, and I can do that much easier with novellas than with novels. \u00a0Besides, there are a lot of other reasons why I prefer novellas, as I pointed out in this post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That said, I expect these ones to run a little longer, such as the 30k-40k word (90-140 page) range. \u00a0But I won’t really know until I’ve written them.<\/p>\n

Before that, I’ve got two more\u00a0Star Wanderers<\/strong> stories to put out:\u00a0Reproach (Part VII)<\/strong> and\u00a0Deliverance (Part VIII).<\/strong>\u00a0 Both of those are already written; I just have to run them by my first readers and make some revisions before putting them out. \u00a0If all goes well,\u00a0Reproach<\/strong> should be out in September and\u00a0Deliverance<\/strong> should be out in October.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

So that’s the plan. \u00a0Career-wise, what I really need to do is replicate the success of\u00a0Star Wanderers<\/strong>\u00a0by starting some new storylines that follow the same series format. \u00a0It’s a little unnerving, since I don’t know what will stick, but I don’t want to be dependent on just one series–you’ve got to have multiple entry points. \u00a0Besides, this new series is a spinoff, so hopefully readers from the first one will carry over.<\/p>\n

It’s at this point that I’m hitting myself, because what I\u00a0really<\/em> need is to have three books that I can release before Christmas. \u00a0In general, I’ve found that it’s better to wait until you have three books out before you make the first in a series permanently free. \u00a0I wish I’d spent a lot more time this summer writing new things, rather than revising old stuff or finishing up old series. \u00a0But oh well–better to start now than wait until next year. \u00a0And who knows? \u00a0Maybe I can still pull it off.<\/p>\n

For this new series, I plan to invest a little more in cover art. \u00a0The NASA images have been good for\u00a0Star Wanderers,<\/strong> but to really hit the publishing trifecta (title, cover, blurb), I need to commission some original art. \u00a0I have the money now, and probably the best thing I can do at this point is reinvest it. \u00a0Expect those covers to be awesome.<\/p>\n

Oh, and the other elements of the trifecta? \u00a0I don’t have a blurb yet, but the working title is\u00a0Sons of the Starfarers.<\/strong>\u00a0 Pretty cool, eh?<\/p>\n

So there’s that. \u00a0I’m currently revising\u00a0Reproach,<\/strong> but I think I can finish that on the train and send it out to my beta readers before the end of August. \u00a0As for\u00a0The Sword Bearer,<\/strong> I’m going to put that project on hold again, mostly so I can focus on this. \u00a0I’ve also been running into some problems with that project, mostly having to do with the worldbuilding.<\/p>\n

For that reason, I’m thinking of doing a series of prequel novellas in order to flesh out that world and the backstory. \u00a0If it goes well, that should turn into its own thing, kind of like how Star Wanderers<\/strong>\u00a0fleshes out the background for my Gaia Nova books. \u00a0I’m thinking of something along the lines of David Gemmell: heroic fantasy with a real focus on courage, valor, and unlikely heroism. \u00a0I’ve already got the first scene of the first book in my head, and it’s pretty dang awesome.<\/p>\n

So many stories, so little time … I’d better get back to writing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I just got back from vacation at Cape Cod, which turned out completely different from what I’d expected. \u00a0When I left, I said that I’d probably just write like I usually do, except in a different place. \u00a0Instead, I took a break from my WIPs long enough to catch a new vision for my… Continue reading Laying the groundwork for a couple new series<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"I didn't write much this vacation, but I did get a lot of story ideas--here's what you can expect to see soon!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[855,857],"tags":[89,671,46,858,440,757,856,373,290,72],"class_list":["post-8819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ssf","category-sw","tag-career-decisions","tag-ebook-covers","tag-goals-and-plans","tag-prequels","tag-sequels","tag-series","tag-untitled-sk-prequels","tag-titles","tag-vacations","tag-worldbuilding","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-2if","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8819"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8821,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8819\/revisions\/8821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}