What comes next.

We're coming up on the end of the book very shortly. Technically the next chapter is the last one, however I'm working on an epilogue to sort of round off the end of the book and give us one more look at the wider world. This is a late addition, but over the past month or so I've become increasingly convinced the book needs one.

That means we have two more weeks before book 1 ends. So what's up with book 2?

Over the past few months I've planned and written parts of book 2, but it is nowhere near complete at this time. Editing and revising book 1 has taken up way more of my time than I expected - and I still need to finish getting it ready for Amazon. I've learned a hell of a lot about this process during that time, but I don't do this full time (yet) so I'm going to be slower at this stuff than many other authors publishing on RR.

I've been thinking about how I want to approach this on the patreon end for a while now. The way I write does not lend itself well to serial publication - I do a ton of rewrites. I will probably even re-write this post at least once (Answer: Yep, but only about half of it). I've noticed I need less rewrites the longer I've been doing this, but I strongly suspect that my first draft of book 2 will be nearly a completely different story than what you guys finally see.

So here's what I'm thinking for patreon:

First, I'll be encouraging everyone to drop down to the free tier and I'll be unpublishing the paid tier. I'll add a new paid tier that is "Bonus Content Only" at like $1 or something (not sure if patreon has a lower limit). Bonus content will continue being added to the patreon sporadically, and may include some advance looks at some chapters / scenes. TBD on that.

Additionally, I will be releasing a form soon that will allow you to suggest a Traveler. Going forward, whenever I need a random Traveler, I will pull from suggestions on that form. I'll be accepting desired name, general description, deity alignment, and general powerset (which I will create mechanics for as needed). I may not accept all requests, and I may alter things as needed to fit the story, but if you wanted the chance to have a character in the world this is the best way I have to do it.

The requirements for this one are that you be on any paid tier. I will mostly be going randomly off that list, but I will be giving some long time supporters preference for more prominent characters. Don't expect any major characters to be named in this way - if it happens, it will be on accident (a minor character ending up more important than I first planned).

I expect book 2 to have a lot of Travelers in it. People like Richard or Joon that are just making their way through this new world they find themselves in. I'll periodically create a post here on patreon with updates on which one's I've made use of (minus spoilers). I will allow multiple submissions per-person, but I wont be using more than one suggestion from a single person until I've done one for each patron.

Also, don't forget, if you want your name in the credits of the book, that option is still available - read more here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/want-your-name-100176905 - I plan to extend this into book 2 as well, so if you don't make it in this time, there's always next time.

While book 2 is being worked on I will be releasing news & updates as open posts here on Patreon, so being on the free tier will get you access to all the news about the book progress. I'll also get the website up and running at some point and post updates there, but I plan for the site blog to mirror patreon's free tier. There's still a lot to do that isn't writing, and it's very annoying. As you can probably tell from the size of this update, producing words is not exactly an issue for me. It's all the other stuff... 🫠

Finally, when book 2 starts shaping up to the point where I feel like I can begin publishing it, we'll go back to something like the current arrangement and I'll open up the Traveler tier again.

Thank you all for your support over the past few months. I didn't mention it at the time but one of the things that has been a big drain on my time recently was ongoing treatments for cancer - I spent nearly a month in hell, and just powered through it as best I could. Thankfully, unless I suffer a relapse, I should be past all the worst of it. It sucked, but it could have been so much worse. Being excited about the book and how it was doing did wonders for my mood during all that, so once again - thank you all. I hope you enjoy the end of the book.