A Century of Wind, Fire, and Water (book two) is done

FLAMES OF WAR is finished…

The second in the twelve-part series is complete and the link can be found in the bookstore. Writing this was an interesting couple of months. I began with a basic idea, and I knew where I wanted the story to end, but the middle was left completely to my own devices.

I knew the inciting event that would drive the narrative would be at the end of the first chapter and I knew what that event was, and I knew what the final page of the book contained, but for the first time since I started writing regularly I did not outline the book in any kind of detailed way. Or, at least, I didn’t map out an outline before writing. Instead I followed about a dozen one-sentence notes that I sketched out months earlier when I mapped out the whole series. From those notes I tweaked the story, changed it, and improvised a lot of twists and turns along the way.

That lasted until about chapter 6 or so. It was about the end of the first act when I realized I was an outliner-writer for a reason. I quickly jotted down a paragraph for each of the chapters remaining and then followed that (loosely) until the end.

The end result, I think is a stronger story than part one, with more surprises and more “things happening.” It also sets up enough things for future books, both in terms of hints that are obvious and some that will only be obvious in hindsight.

Two books down, ten to go, and so far I don’t regret diving into such an ambitious undertaking.

Work on part three will begin next week, Lord willing, with a goal to finish the first (of four) trilogies sometime in September. After that I plan on taking the rest of the year off to write a few other ideas I’ve had stewing in my brain, before picking up with the second trilogy in January.

Until then,