| After I wrote Akithar’s Greatest Trick, I had an idea for a standalone book set in the same universe. It was going to release between AGT and Teshovar Book 2 without being an actual numbered part of the core series. I went through all the necessary steps of character building, outlining, and preparation that I’ve done for my other writing, and I launched into the first draft, confident that this would be the second book I would publish in the world of Teshovar. As it turned out, there were some fundamental flaws with the structure of that other book, and I realized while writing the ninth chapter that it wasn’t a workable novel, in its current state. That’s when I abandoned that project and wrote The Gem of Tagath instead. That process went much more smoothly and resulted in another book that I’m proud to have in my catalog. Even though I gave up on that book and started writing something new, I still like the core story and characters, and I plan to revisit it one day, after I’m able to figure out how to write it properly. In the meantime, you’re going to get to see some elements of that book early! As I’ve been writing Teshovar Book 2, I’ve imported two key characters from the unfinished book into this one, and they’ll be getting their introductions in this story instead of their original one. |
| Having an unfinished book in my back pocket has come in handy in other ways, too. This week I hit a bump in the road while writing Teshovar Book 2. I was having trouble figuring out how to transition from the end of one particular chapter into the beginning of the next one. After beating my head against the problem for a couple of days, I realized I’d already written my way out of it. I was able to lift the entirety of a completed chapter out of the unfinished book and drop it directly into this new book, between the two problematic chapters, without changing anything except for two references to a character who isn’t in this new book. Without any other changes, that transplanted chapter fixed the transitioning issue and provided a great introduction for one of those two characters I mentioned. At this point, I’m about 20% through the first draft of Teshovar Book 2, and I’m making steady progress by writing, on average, a scene a day. That’s the pace I kept when writing Akithar’s Greatest Trick, so everything is on target for where I want it to be. I will go back and rewrite that unfinished manuscript someday, but for now it’s providing some excellent material that’s helping propel Book 2 forward! |