About R.E.N/D

Not really sure what to say in this, so I’m just going to wing it and see where I end up.

First, I want to say thanks to the people who are reading R.E.N/D. There aren’t many, but every person who is, is a person I didn’t expect! I half expected for it to just sit on my website, unread, for pretty much ever. So it means a lot that, hopefully, at least someone else out there is enjoying it. 🙂

There are a couple of other things I want to mention about R.E.N/D though.

First, you may have noticed that I didn’t update for aaaages and then, all of a sudden, started posting updates almost every day. That’s simply because I’ve been working on some other stuff and it kind of fell by the wayside. When I start a new WIP, I tend to to pretty much focus entirely on that until it’s finished (at least draft wise) and then take a few weeks break before doing anything else. That’s basically what happened here, as well as the fact I did another round of editing on What Shadows Reclaim, and am still in the process of trying to query that to agents (to no success, so far 😦 ).

Second, I probably won’t be able to keep up this pace much longer. The R.E.N/D chapters uploaded so far, up to Chapter 15, are all edits of the original version. As a result, this last week or so I’ve been able to focus pretty hard on editing a chapter a day and then just uploading it as soon as it’s done. Once I finish Chapter 15, however, I’m pretty much in brand new territory. I have plans for what’s going to happen that I think are pretty cool, but obviously I have to write from scratch!

Also, some of you might have noticed that I actually re-edited some of the previously posted chapters, such as Chapter 6: The Hospital. Though I think I’ve grown massively as a writer since I posted the original version of R.E.N/D on RoyalRoad, the simple fact is that webnovels aren’t particularly conductive for extremely high quality work.

With a normal novel (I’ve now written… Gosh, 5 of those?), you pretty much write in draft form. You go from draft to draft until it’s finished, often taking breaks between them so that you can look on your work with as fresh a set of eyes as possible. Webnovels, however, are different. Ideally, webnovel authors are putting out consistent chapter updates multiple times a week, and this leaves little room in the schedule of a webnovelist for striving for perfection. Essentially, a webnovel sacrifices quality for quantity and consistency.

Though I try pretty hard to edit and ensure my chapters have the best possible quality, the unfortunate truth is that sometimes I will miss the mark. I will then go back with a fresh mind, weeks later, and realize that something just isn’t up to par with my own personal criteria for quality. Chapter 6 specifically was subject to a pretty major rewrite recently, and I often go back and find typos and other basic errors that I genuinely don’t understand how I miss!

As such, I thank you for your patience and encourage you to let me know if you find an error or think I should take another look at editing a specific chapter. 🙂

A New Novel!

Oh right! I mentioned earlier I started a new WIP. I didn’t actually announce it on here, but I started and completed the first draft of a new, unnamed novel. It’s also, excitedly, the first novel set in the Erlan universe that’s the subject of my Worldbuilding section.

The novel is a young-ish adult fantasy novel with elements of academia, politics and murder mystery. It follows Kaessen, the son of a Black Lord who wants to take over the world in relatively traditional BBEG fashion. Kaessen, estranged from his father but raised in his courts, is sent by his mother to the city of Resdane, where he must attend the world famous Resdane Academy of Sorcery and Martial Excellence.

Resdane, however, fought against Kaessen’s father in a previous war, and many aren’t too keen that the prince of their enemy is being taught there. As a result, Kaessen struggles with the social isolation stemming from the fear and the distrust most of the others have for him.

Things only get worse, however, when students who look like him begin turning up murdered.

At 90,000 words, it’s the shortest novel I’ve ever written, but also one of the most fun. It’s essentially a magical college story from the perspective of the son of the evil king, who has to balance school life, friends and his own identity, all the while trying to find out who’s trying to murder him.

It definitely needs to go through the editing paces, but I’m pretty happy with it. It’s probably one of the novels I will try to query to agents.

Anyway, this post is long enough so I’m out.

Thanks for reading and stay cool!