Today I am finally excited to share with you all the new title of my second book in the Rise to Dust Trilogy. Rise to Dust: The Reign of Malice!
This book means so much to me. While the first one started the adventure like a tasty appetizer, this book gets into the meat, the entree of the story. While some may have been sad and frightful at the loss of certain characters in the first book, I can assure you, that had always been part of the plan and was not a last-minute decision. And besides, it gives new room to focus on other characters in new and exciting ways we have not yet seen.
This book takes place immediately after the events of the first novel and will continue from the main viewpoints of Amelia and Xaqara. However, there will be a few sections where some other characters really take the screen. We can expect to see some familiar faces in expanded roles and some new ones. There will be the continued themes of epic fantasy, mental health, adventure, found family and action, but the second book will really begin to explore new things like gothic fantasy, horror, existentialism, military tactics, war and who is behind all the darkness in the world.
For this book, I really want to show the whole process of writing the book and getting it published with you. I know there are a lot of readers of mine who aspire to be writers as well, so I wanted to at least let you know how that process works for me.
At the time of this announcement, I currently have about 83,000 words written. I don't have an exact number because some of the text in my writing document is notes or parts to be deleted or moved. I am looking for the book to be about 20 chapters long and between 110,000 and 120,000 words long. I always assumed this would be the longest of the three books. I currently have the complete writing done for 6/20 chapters. But I do write them out of order as I feel like it and many are very close to being completed. I will keep you all updated on my progress.
I have really fallen in love with my writing in this book, and I have worked hard to listen to all the feedback from the first book and improve that in the second book. I know I could have started small with a few short stories or something and worked my way to a full novel to avoid some of that, but that is just not how I work. When I want to do something, I go for it, no matter how big or small or impractical it may seem. Maybe my first book is not perfect, but hey, I wrote a whole book and that's something. And I do still care for it, I am just ready to talk about the next one because I have been working on it for a while.
If things keep on schedule, I will finish the entire rough draft by Feb 1, 2023, the send it off to my editor. This takes a few months to edit. Then I accept or reject the changes. After that it is off to the typesetter who designs how the text will sit in the book and adds the chapter artworks and so on. This is my favorite part to be honest. If all goes well, I will have it in time for Gen Con 2023 in August. But if things take a little while longer, then my goal for release is October 31, 2023.
I began writing the second book officially on January 10, 2020. Though of course my notes had started before then. I have also made a promise not to hold back in my writing as I did for some moments in the first one. This means you can expect heavier twists and turns, and more dramatic and intense moments.
I am truly excited to share this process with you all, and hope you follow it through until the book is finally in your hands. This book is nothing quite like anything I have ever written before, and I am so very dearly in love with it. I know I won't be able to make this gothic masterpiece again, so for those who have been here to watch and read, and will keep being here, I thank you. Happy Holidays to you all!
