It’s the 17th of December, and some time has passed since my last blog. I blame myself for this tragedy. In the last two months work on Standish has continued at a fairly regular pace, and while the target word count of 90,000 words was reached by the end of November, it is clear that there is more of a story to tell than would be allowed in such a length novel.
As of today, Standish sits at 132,672 words. I have a rather clear idea of what adventures and scenes need to be told to reach the end of the journey, but I do not have a clear picture or estimate of how many more words it will take to get there. As my good friend Zach pointed out, Standish is already almost 17% longer than my longest currently published novel, Remnants of Empire. A reason for the increased word count in Standish is unlike other novels I’ve written, this is a stand-alone story, and there will be no sequel. It has a beginning, a middle, and a clear end.
I can’t say I see the novel being finished this year, there is just too much left to add, and there are considerable sections of the book that need a bit more meat added to them to make the story worthy of telling. I’d like to think this could be the best novel I’ve written so far, the most complete story.
In addition to work on Standish, I’m having the wonderful Ivan https://www.instagram.com/i.bats/?hl=en develop a new helmet as concept art. This is a rough design of the Dynamic Operations helmet for Standish. Some work yet to be done, but it is coming along nicely.
At the same time my close friend B (we shall keep his identify classified for the time being), is working on a video game first-person-shooter adaptation of the Earth Saga Series. A single ‘proof of concept’ level is being built and will focus on the first encounter Major Joe Hunt has with the crew of the Epsilon in Minus Epsilon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HHDXFGY
If all goes well, the sky is the limit. I am very excited about this project, as I hope it will help create awareness of the Earth Saga brand, and help drive not only book sales, but also increase the prospects for the entire project’s future.
And a final thought on this rainy Sunday in London would be about 2018. Clearly steps need to be taken to increase book sales and brand awareness. In 2018 I need to think about re-engaging with literary agents, possibly getting Standish printed out and selling copies from the website, and give serious consideration to where this entire franchise is going.
Once Standish is complete, the Earth Saga still has books 6-9 remaining. I believe that these novels will return to the 90k ballpark size. Once the series is complete, it will be on to another project that will be in the Earth Saga universe, but may or may not tie directly to the characters and events of the original series. Only time and my imagination will tell.
No more wordsmithing today, but I’ll be punching the keys again on Monday. The adventure continues.
www.donaldbmcfarlane.com