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Cover Re-Reveal
Come one, come all and see the reveal of the rewrite of The Hydra Offensive — The Hydra Rebellion. Same art as THO, but I’ve changed the names of the Series and started with Uprising.
As soon as I’ve got a publishing schedule I’ll share the cover for The Centaur Offensive!
Cover Re-Reveal
Come one, come all and see the reveal of the rewrite of The Cerberus Rebellion — The Cerberus Uprising. Same art as TCR, but I’ve changed the names of the Series and started with Uprising.
The Hydra Rebellion cover reveal will be coming soon, and as soon as I’ve got a publishing schedule I’ll share the cover for The Centaur Offensive!
A New Sub-Plot Has Entered the Chat…
The first series in the Griffins & Gunpowder universe takes a lot of inspiration from the American Civil War. The technology and rapid development of what many consider to be modern warfare tactics, some character inspiration and loose basis for some of the battles.
As a kid I was a fountain of random facts and knowledge. In college, I took many classes about this period and the military history on my way to a History Minor.
So, naturally I think, I consume a great deal of American Civil War content. I’ve always had a love for studying this period of time.
Well, in doing so, last night my brain decided to poke me with an idea. After a quick session of bouncing the idea off the wall with my mom (thanks mom!) I worked out some of the implications and ways to integrate an anti-slavery thread into the Ansgari Civil War.
And I stayed up way past my bedtime sliding the initial concept into The Cerberus Uprising.
Should be interesting 😁
Building a Shared Universe
In letting Series2:Book 1 (which I haven’t totally settled on a title for yet, but I’m leaning toward “Loyalty Betrayed”) settle for a few months, I turned my attention to planning for another part of the Griffins & Gunpowder world. Typically I’ll take this time to write short stories that expand the world in some small way, or give background to a character or situation. This time it was all about world building.
The problem that I ran into was that I had two different story ideas that I wanted to work on: a political intrigue drama and a criminal empire story. They’re both set in Post-Series 2 Andivar, so they already shared a bit of the same storyline so it was a natural leap to have the two loosely connected.
What I’ve found in laying the groundwork for this shared storyline is that a timeline is essential, even if characters from the two stories never cross paths (though in this case, the two stories will cross over at least a couple times, though the interaction in the early going is minimal), it’s important to keeping everything straight. Especially in the age of the internet where readers congregate to put together theories and compare notes.
Have you read any good shared-universe stories? What were some of the things that you liked or disliked about them?
Took A While
But I’ve finally finished marking up the first round of edits for Series2:Book1. This was a “high-level” pass looking for story holes, missing information, too much information etc. I did a little line-by-line editing too, but it wasn’t the focus since I’ll be rewriting quite a bit.
I have to say, it felt good to get this done so I can move on to making the changes, but I’m always astonished/ashamed of the amount of red ink that I lay down in a first edit pass. It’s only a first draft, but I thought it was a lot better when I wrote it. I guess that’s why they tell you to leave a book set for a while before you edit it.
Now I have to go through and apply the changes and then I’ll make a second pass, which will be more line-by-line in nature.
On another note, I’ll developed half a dozen new story ideas (some set in the world of Zaria) that I think will have some promise. They’re WAY down the list, but at least they aren’t knocking around in the back of my head while I’m trying to work forward. =D
Another New Idea
While getting ready for work this morning I had an idea for a new series set within the Griffins and Gunpowder universe, though about 5,000+ years in the past. Here’s the bit that wandered through my head and demanded attention:
“We are the last of our kind, hunted to the edge of extinction by those who would have this power all to themselves. They call us abominations against magic. They burn our brothers and sisters at the stake, and entice our neighbors to surrender us to our fates. But we are not alone. The power of dragons flows within our veins and the Broods stand with us.”
That makes 6 (I think) different series that are set within this world. That’s a lot of writing, I guess I should get to it!
All of the Pieces
The Centaur Incursion is 10k words deep and The Hydra Offensive is nearly through Round 1 of Paper Edits. I don’t have classes this summer, so I should be able to tear through my workload on both of those.
There, I started with an update!
Constantly Evolving
Something that I’ve learned as I plot and write the stories of The Ansgari Rebellion, is that stories are more a living creation than a static work.
While the core of the series has remained essentially the same, many of the details have morphed and changed.
Characters have walked into the story from out of nowhere and insinuated themselves as cornerstones of the books in which they reside and those that follow.
Plot points have moved, from the beginning of the series, to the middle, and now to the end.
Even though I am a meticulous plotter, typically drawing up a book’s outline by chapter well before I start writing it, I’ve learned the benefits of being flexible with my story. My style has developed into a sort of hybrid: still heavily plotter, but with just enough pantser to allow for more story to develop and grow on its own.
In production news, The Centaur Incursion is underway! I’ve got 1,000 words written and more ready to come out as soon as I get a chance to sit down. Also, The Hydra Offensive is more than halfway through the first round of paper edits. I plan on putting it through a second round, in which I’ll break the chapters down by POV rather than by chapter order.
I’ll be looking for beta readers soon, so if you’re interested let me know!
Edits and Beta Readers
So having completed The Hydra Offensive last week, I’ve started my first round of edits. I usually go through 2 rounds of digital editing, get the novel printed and do 2 paper runs, and then finish up with a final digital run before I send it off to Beta Readers.
I’m going to treat my paper runs a little differently than I’ve treated other paper prints. I’m going to get it printed out by chapter rather than as a whole. I’ll read through once in full chronological order, and then for my second pass I’m going to read each POV group from start to end to hone in on any inconsistencies.
Speaking of which (! nice segue huh?) I’m looking for people who would like to Beta Read The Hydra Offensive. I’m definitely looking for people who read The Cerberus Rebellion, but I’m also looking for people who might not have read Cerberus yet. I’m trying to make Hydra as new-reader friendly as possible and I would greatly appreciate feedback on how I did.
The Hydra Offensive Blurb, Version 2
Having completed The Hydra Offensive last night, I’m going to give another try at the blurb. I trimmed it down, and tried to make it fit a little better into my strategy of making Hydra “new reader friendly”.
Let me know what you think!
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Gunpowder Fantasy 