FozzieBare: Blog

So. I've been working on the Reforged Edition of Champions, Craftsmen, Campaigns and Catastrophes (Long title, so I'm going to call it Arc 1). This will be the edition that's available when the Omnibus of Arcs 1-3 is released. (Tentative name: Becoming Reforged)

At first, the job was simple. Make sure that all the errors you guys have sent me are fixed. That was the original goal.

Then I started looking at sections with a more critical eye.

"Can this section be slightly expanded to explain something that might be obvious to me, but not to a reader"
"Can I add an interlude here to show how other people are reacting to the events that are happening?."
"Wait, I can use this to reinforce a mention in a later Arc that's already written."

And...

It got out of hand.

The Reforged Edition of Arc 1 has grown. Significantly.

SOL's word counter has Arc 1 at approximately 26,000 words

I did a word check on the completed Reforged version of Arc 1: 39,000.

Yes, 50% longer. Some of it involves the two interludes that show up after Adrian's section of Arc 1 (1-5), and one after Elias's section of Arc 1 (6-9). They're labeled chapters 5.5 and 9.5 in my current copy.

But I think it tells the same story. It just tells it BETTER.

Right now, plans of what to do with the Reforged Editions are up in the air. I'm currently thinking about having them be exclusive to the Omnibus edition on the store for approximately 60 days, at which time, I'll do either a repost of the story with the changes, or just create a Reforged Edition story separately. Not sure what the site will want/allow, so stay tuned for that.

I'm looking into services that will allow me to create an ultra-small print run, but that will be for friends and family. Any print editions of Reforged are so far down the road, I can't tell you when that'll be.

The first two chapters are in the queue.

We'll go for the 2x chapters, 3 times a week, and rather than start on Wednesday, I decided to get it started on Monday to get a rhythm going.

And since I have Arc 6 and Ronin finished, I'm doing a full rewrite/clarification of earlier arcs, as part of preparing the Omnibus edition (currently called the Reforged Edition) of Arcs 1-3 for sale in the ZBookstore.

I'm hoping that it won't delay arc 7, and I don't think it will. But I have to admit, editing and rewriting is not fun, but I want earlier stories to be just as good as the later arcs, especially if I am going to be selling it.

Alright. Arc 6 is complete, and is at the readers now. Assuming they don’t find anything catastrophically wrong inside, you’ll see it starting on Tuesday evening. One Step Away will deal with the Promotion Tournament. 8 teams. 3 rounds. 0 second chances. Winner goes to the Pro League. Seven non-winners have all off season for recriminations before they try again next year.

After that, we will deal with Ronin, a side story set in the same universe as the Reforged series. It will eventually enmesh some familiar characters, so don’t worry.

This will give me more time to write Arc 7. Trials and Tribulations. This one I’m thinking will be fully novel length or even longer. I finished my chapter by chapter outline and it’s like 25 chapters already. If it gets too long, we’ll make it a two arc special, but it will all deal with the events of Arc 6 and the aftermath.

How many more arcs are there? Honestly? As long as I can avoid burning out and you guys keep reading? There’s probably enough stories in the universe to go another six to eight arcs after Arc 7 is complete. I know how I want the stories to end, but it’s always interesting on how I get from point A to point B.

If anyone knows a good editor, please send them my way. I’d like to prepare the first six arcs for publication in the bookapy store.

And Arc 6 is just about completely written.

I just wrote the epilogue to Arc 6.

And I didn't like it.

I hated it.

Not from a writing standpoint, but from having to put myself into a character's head. it's not a nice place to be.

You'll get at least a couple more vignettes for King of the Fighting Street. I'm disappointed in the rating so far, but not everything's going to be a hit.

But first, time to drink something cold, and refreshing to get a certain taste out of my mouth, and then back to writing.

FB

Only one chapter today.

There's a good reason for that.

It's an important chapter for many reasons.

It's the finals.

And it's the moment we've been waiting approximately 4 arcs for.

What is that moment?

You'll have to read to find out.

Chapter 14 will be out on Friday

Epilogue on Saturday.

And almost done on Arc 6