I have good news and bad news regarding progress writing The Sword of Sirius Book 3: Firebreak. I’ll give you a hint: it’s almost done! That’s the good news. The bad news? About that… Also, I think I’ve selected what series I want to write next. The problem is that I’m not sure how to box it. I might take Dean Wesley Smith’s advice to answer that question. Before we talk about those things, let take a glance at the key performance indicators.
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
The Monday Reclamation Project seems to be helping with word count!
A few weeks ago, I talked about how I tried moving the time it takes to write this post from Monday to Sunday night. Since I did that, not only did I exceed 10,000 words a week, which was my previous target. I’ve hovered around 15,000. In other words, it looks like the switch is helping!
If all goes well, I might finish the first draft of Firebreak this week. That means I’ll have finished all three books in this trilogy. Before pushing the trilogy, I need to:
- For The Sword of Sirius Book 1: Red Flag Warning
- Complete one more draft (read aloud and ProWritingAid)
- Send the manuscript to a beta reader
- Incorporate their feedback
- Send the manuscript to the proofreader
- Incorporate their findings
- For The Sword of Sirius Book 2: Collapse Zone
- Send it to my alpha readers
- Incorporate their feedback
- Complete one more draft (read aloud and ProWritingAid)
- Send the manuscript to a beta reader
- Incorporate their feedback
- Send the manuscript to the proofreader
- Incorporate their findings
- Obtain a cover
I’ll repeat most of step 2 for Firebreak, but I think I’ll wait to work on its second draft until I write the next manuscript. I’ve found that bit of distance to help me be more objective. I think I still plan to publish all three at once, and only on Amazon’s platform. I want to see how that works.
The Next Series: A More “Pure” Set of Tropes
I had tried to make The Sword of Sirius a little closer to writing-to-market than Evolution’s Hand. Specifically, I intended to write The Sword of Sirius so it aligned with Amazon’s Science Fiction -> Military -> Space Fleet category.
I came close. But the characters took me in a direction that ignored (rather forcibly) two important tropes: a strong male lead and massive fleet-on-fleet battles. Of the three point of view (POV) characters, one was in fact a male: Owen Payne. But both fleet officers were female: Ira Malhotra as the antagonist and Luisa Brunner as the antagonist.
This next series is going to take another step or two towards market-aware tropes. I’m still working out the characters details, but Luisa Brunner is going to return. She’s a good antagonist, and I found that my theme of “There is No Level at Which Nazism is Good” is working well. I still need to cast either the single protagonist or two (if I continue the three POV structure that I used in The Sword of Sirius). To hit the tropes, one of those at least will be a male.
The second thing I want to try is more fleet-on-fleet action. I have some ideas I want to play with in terms of tactics and what-not, and I’m wondering if a more action-driven plot will be more appealing. The Sword of Sirius offered some of that, but it’s theme is different — it’s trying to dispute the saying made popular right now because of Fallout: “war never changes.”
I’m still a little surprised how close I am to finishing this book. I’m afraid to think about it too much for fear the spell will break, and I won’t be able to write anymore!
No title yet. I might channel Dean Wesley Smith and not plan it as a one, two, or ten book series. I might just let it be open. This is going to sound cryptic, because I don’t want to give anything away: I need to decide how much work I need to make for myself. It could be merely a lot; or it could be a ton. I might elect to keep it on the “merely a lot” side until I retire. That argues for an open structure.
Progress against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against my goals from last week:
- Finish the Helper Plot’s “Ungrateful Receiver” chapter: Done!
- Finish Luisa Brunner’s Pinch 2: Done!
- Finish Ira Malhotra’s Pinch 2 Part III: Done!
- Finish Owen Payne’s Plot Turn 2: Done!
- Finish the Helper Plot’s “Consolation Prize” (stretch objective): Done!
I also finished Luisa Brunner’s Plot Turn 2, which came as a surprise. Came as a shock to her, too!
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2024 Week 22
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- Finish Ira Malhotra’s Plot Turn 2
- Finish Owen Payne’s Resolution
- Finish Luisa Brunner’s Resolution
- Finish Ira Malhotra’s Resolution
- Incorporate the proofread edits for The Sword of Sirius Short Story: Fallback Position
- Begin Marketing Fallback Position as the lead magnet for my newsletter (in preparation for launching The Sword of Sirius)
Number six is actually part of the bad news I talked about in the opening. I’m historically bad at marketing. But this time around, I want to be better at it. I want to try to give The Sword of Sirius a strong launch, complete with newsletter coverage and preorders. I’m not looking forward to the effort, but I’m not going to be happy with myself if I don’t at least try.
What Do You Think?
Do you write to market? What’s that even mean to you? I’d love to hear about your thoughts in the comments!