Commencing work on Sun & Moon Act II: A Crown Divided

Hello folks,

I've spent a bit of time outside of the spotlight ever since I finished What Society Expects from a Princess. I hope you don't think that means I've been slacking off though. Rather, I've been hard at work getting things ready for Act II of Sun & Moon, which is something that I know at least a few people are eagerly awaiting. I've got some good news and some bad news on that front.

First, the good news. I just finished up the master outline for the story yesterday, and got the approvals back from the editor today, which means that I should be able to start the drafting process right away. Rather than how Ascending Star went, this time I've got a reliable editor right from the start, which means we shouldn't get caught in loops like the last story did. If all goes to plan, it should be a reasonably straight line from start to finish.

Now, unfortunately, the bad news. For all of the stories that I've written up to now, I've posted chapters pretty much as soon as I've finished writing them, which meant content sooner for the readers, naturally. However, this also caused a few issues with long stories like Ascending Star, as outlines tend to change over the course of long story arcs. Act II looks like it's going to be even longer than Act I, and thus the risk that later developments will require the early part of the story to change is very real. For that reason, I'm going to hold off on publishing chapters of the new story until the whole thing is finalized. Now this means that there is likely going to be not much in the way of updates for a while, but when they do come, they will be regular, and I'm sure that people will appreciate that. An astute observer may look at Act I and see that it was three years from start to finish. While I don't want to promise anything, I believe that in the time between I've grown enough as an author that that won't happen again.

In the meantime, there is one issue where I could use some help. Since A Crown Divided will be a publication in the main line of Sun & Moon, it's going to require art. The current plans call for five pieces in total: cover art, two maps, and two illustrations. Naturally some of these will have to wait until we're deeper into the drafting process, but we could start working on the maps and cover art right away. So I'd like to open up this opportunity to any artists among the readership first. Of course I'll pay whatever commission is reasonable. PM me if you're interested in the offer, and we'll work things out from there.

In the meantime, remember that I'm still out there, no matter how dark the prospects may look. I'll do my best to post semi-regular updates of the process here on the blog.

cursedchords