Elbakin.net

What is in my hands is ENDLORDS and getting the book started again after a six year break. I know I can write now, though I appear to be slower than before. Perhaps it's just old age. What I do know is that ENDLORDS will be a different book than the one I began six years ago. I've changed. Which means the book will change too. I may start from the beginning. At this point I'm not sure. I'll let you know what happens.

I've been taking time this week to think about the long picture of the Sword of Shadows series. While writing the first four books, I held the entirety of the series as a possibility in my head. I didn't necessarily know what was going to happen to the characters on a chapter-by-chapter basis but I did know their general direction. I knew the shape. I no longer know the shape so I'm currently writing the chapters sequentially: Raif, Raina, the Dog Lord, Effie etc. Moving the characters forward to gain momentum, whilst unsure of their endpoints (finales). I have enough confidence in myself as a writer not to worry about the plot too much--I haven't outlined a book since A Man Betrayed--but I have seven POV characters here, that's seven plot lines (eight if we count Baralis which we really should) and it's time I got Planet Endlords spinning in my head. Once it's spinning everything will work out, plots will overlap and intertwine, characters will meet unexpectedly or be reunited, and the series as a whole will move forward. Breaking my wrist and the ensuing slowdown has hampered the process. To get and keep a book spinning requires daily application of force.