I finally finished Chapter 11 this morning of the newly titled book, The Dark Thorn. At the beginning of the chapter I had a fairly strong epiphany about the third book in the series, and I realized the perfect place to plant a seed for that third book was in Chapter 11.

It took me a while to straighten out all the details for that third book so this chapter took a bit longer to write than I had originally thought. But the results make me happy and that's all that matters.

Word count is as thus:

Prologue: 3045
Chapter 1: 4075
Chapter 2: 2973
Chapter 3: 3241
Chapter 4: 4144
Chapter 5: 4547
Chapter 6: 2793
Chapter 7: 3598
Chapter 8: 4939
Chapter 9: 4257
Interlude: 2372
Chapter 10: 3346
Chapter 11: 3185

Now on to Chapter 12, which is another Bran chapter. After that comes a Cardinal Cormac chapter, which is going to be great fun to write. All I know is I keep having more and more fun as each chapter is started and I don't think a writer can ask for more than that other than a contract, great cover art, a publisher behind ya 100%, lots of readers, and meeting fans. Oh wait... guess I have a ways to go!

Labels: The Dagda King, The Dark Thorn

Sometimes artists really scare me. Their talent is scary enough, usually, but this is a case where I am befuddled.

First off, the below piece of artwork is the cover of a book. It is wholly conceivable that this other writer and I are channeling from the same source in the cosmos. If so, that's pretty damn cool. But the reason I am blown away by the below painting is how eerily similar it is to a scene in The Winter Scion, my now halted sequel to Song of the Fell Hammer.

Here it is:



For those of you who have read Fell Hammer, you'll probably recognize the character standing with the book open. Remember the Dym, up on the mountains high above the city of LOCKWOOD? Remember the dark book of magic in the Dym? Remember Kieren and his dragon Rashykh and their desire for more power? Even though the painting has a gargoyle in it—which Song of the Fell Hammer has as well but in a different context—the resemblance to Kieren's dragon is pretty unmistakable, at least how I imagined it. Eerie, eerie, eerie how similar the visions are to me; there is a scene in The Winter Scion where Kieren steals the Dym's imprisoned book, and looking over the Giant city below knows their time is about to end.

I've known Todd for two years. Super nice guy, fanfrickintastic artist. Perhaps he was channeling my work somehow? If so, he might have to be my personal artist because the man sees into my mind and he deserves to at least get paid for that horror.

Labels: Artist, The Winter Scion

I finished Chapter 10 this morning. It was a Bran chapter, the first of several in a row I will write, and oh boy... is he in a mess now. Chapter 10 was a very fun chapter to write, as it allowed me to discuss some of the back history of the series and why Bran should even care at all about his situation. Plus, this is the first chapter where I felt like I had a firm grasp on the dialogue for the two characters in the chapter, and that is a comforting feeling for someone who has a hard time with that aspect of storytelling.

I've already outlined most of Chapter 11. And Chapter 12 is fully outlined and won't take long to write. I plan on having these two chapters finished within a week. Then I'll be at the halfway point and every chapter I finish thereafter will feel great as there will be less in front of me than what came before.

The word count as it stands right now is:

Prologue: 3045
Chapter 1: 4075
Chapter 2: 2973
Chapter 3: 3241
Chapter 4: 4144
Chapter 5: 4547
Chapter 6: 2793
Chapter 7: 3598
Chapter 8: 4939
Chapter 9: 4257
Interlude: 2372
Chapter 10: 3346

Chapter 11 will be of a similar size to that of 10, perhaps a bit smaller. Chapter 12 should be a bit more than Chapter 10. We'll see. By now, all aspects of the Celtic mythology I am bringing into this story are rearing their nasty little heads and hopefully all of the mythology, British history, and Arthurian legend will intrigue people by this point in the book. Those first 10 chapters were the massive set up not only for this book but for those to come after it; I only hope I've done a good job of building that foundation.

Plus I plan on writing a few posts here that don't relate to my book but about the industry and some of the things I get to do on the side. I've had a few people write me wishing I'd spend more time writing about what it's like being a webmaster for Terry Brooks or getting to know some of these writers I get to meet. Might be fun to talk about that too for a while.

Anyway, I plan on reading your work Aidan sometime this weekend. I'll definitely get to it once The Signed Page has settled down a bit. Lots going on and so little time to do it! But as many of you notice, I keep writing despite life intruding; I think that is an important lesson for all of us to take on. Write when you can, even if it is for only 15 minutes. It never hurts to placate that beast inside your head called The Story!

Labels: The Dagda King