on the future of DISHONORED
Work progresses very nicely on this first of many Dishonored books. This evening I finished the sixteenth chapter out of twenty-two, which means I have just a couple weeks left before I’m finished with the first draft. After that there will be extensive proofing and revising, especially since this is a large book. My goal when I started was 3,000 words per chapter, with twenty-one chapters in all (plus a prologue and epilogue). That would have put it at around 65k words, which is right in line with a standard novel for me. Not too big, quick and simple chapters, and a brisk pace.
Well nope. Not this one.
This book is basically two-thirds of the way done is currently over 77k words. I’ve averaged about 5k words per chapter, which means I can expect about 25k-30k words left to write, putting it over the 100k mark. That’s not a big deal, generally speaking, but for me it’s not a common occurrence. I’m not complaining though as, for the most part, I’m really enjoying the story as it unfolds.
On the side, I’ve also been sketching some digital watercolor pictures that will become the basis for the cover art for future books. I actually have ten more stories that will be set in this world, each with its own theme, characters, and plot, and only broad elements carrying over.
It’s sort of like the way the Legend of Zelda stories are almost always entirely different and stand-alone, yet almost always take place in the land of Hyrule, with a princess named Zelda in danger, and a villain named Gannon causing trouble for the hero named Link. In those stories there are Zora, and Koroks, Kakariko Village, and Death Mountain, etc. Elements return from story to story but they’re used in different ways and look and feel different as well. Sometimes a place like Death Mountain is a major part of the story, and sometimes it’s just a landmark.
That’s the same idea in the Dishonored stories: Each tale stands alone, but the world is the same. It may be an entirely different era, and the map may look different with different borders and kingdoms, but the same code of honor that defines the culture will remain in tact. This allows me to play around with different genres. This story I’m writing now is very much a classic fantasy/quest tale. Another is a revenge story. Another is a pirate-adventure romp. Still another is kind of western-feeling story. And another is a war story/epic. In all, there will be eleven stories, with the last one being a collection of short stories that will tie all the stories together and bring the anthology to a conclusion.
This is an ambitious project but it’s one I’m excited to work on for the foreseeable future.