Beyond The Forsaken

It's been a hot minute since I wrote one of these and I figured I'd better update how things were going for the second book in my Sixth Order series, The Forsaken. I think yesterday was exactly a month since The Forsaken went live on Amazon, ready for the world to see. Or, at least, a very small part of the world. I've sold a handful of copies on there, both e-book and paperback. I have no idea who buys them, but I can see what country they're from. Most have been from Canada and the States, as expected, but I did sell one in Germany, which is weird, because I don't think I know anyone from Germany. Last week, a big box of author copies arrived, allowing me to start selling around home. I make the most sales this way, with people who either know me or my parents wanting to buy a copy. I should have practiced my signature before the books came, because, oof, my signature is horrible.

Let's talk about the cover for a sec. It looks a lot more professional than my first one, and that's because I commissioned an artist to make it. She was awesome to work with, delivered quickly, brought my idea to life better than I could have and was surprisingly affordable. I really like how the cover looks, even if, when it's printed, it comes out a bit darker than it's supposed to. Still, I was so impressed with the artist that I decided to remake the cover of my first book, The Road To Blackthrush. Honestly, one of the biggest reasons for that is so the fonts and style match, to make the two look more like they belong in a series. When I get that done, I'll have to order a copy with the new cover just for me.

While Book 2 is being sold, I've been hard at work on Book 3. This one is gonna be quite the project. The story is getting bigger and people are separated. There are more storylines to follow and loose ends to tie up. To handle all this, I've decided to add more POV's, giving the spotlight to some characters that may have taken a bit of a backseat in Book 2. Of course, Levi still has a POV and so does Cody, but there are others to join them now. I hope it doesn't become too confusing, but hey, I guess that's what editing and beta readers are for. I have lots planned for this book as the characters try to find their way after the end of The Forsaken. There will be many new settings and characters in this tale, as many were left behind at the end of Book 2. It's kinda a relief to me, to write new places, as, for the first two books, I've mostly only written about 2 or 3 settings. Time to move on, change it up a bit. Another thing I want to include in Book 3, a theme, so to speak, is that everything isn't as black and white as the characters thought. There will be things that happen, that people do, that will give the characters pause, make them second-guess themselves. I think it should be interesting.

So far, I'm almost 50K words into the first draft, which is the quickest I've wrote so much to begin a story. I'd like to say that this one will be done sooner than the last two were, but I'm not sure if that'll be the case, as with the amount of content in the story and the different POV's, I expect this one to be a fair bit longer. The first two were both in the 125-140K range and as of right now, I'm guessing Book 3 to be closer to 180K, maybe 200K. But, I guess time will tell. Whatever the case, I hope I can keep up the pace and finish as soon as possible because I know with the way The Forsaken ends, people will want to know what happens next. I guess they'll have to wait.

The last few months have been really successful on the writing front. I hope I can continue to make sales, get the word out and pick away at the third installment in my series. If anyone reading this has read the first or second books, I hope you liked them and are looking forward to the rest.

That's it. That's all. See you in the next blog, whenever that is.