My next big project is a series called Dragon Lotus. The map you see above this post is the map that I made to go with the series. In the books there are dragons, magic, and its a full on epic fantasy adventure! January was pretty much all about wrapping up the 2nd draft of book 1. I’m in the middle of re-writes now and my plan is to release books 1, 2, and 3 in early fall, all together.
At the same time I’ll also release a book of short stories set in the same universe. The idea is that by releasing all the content staged slightly, but more or less at the same time it will really help with getting a boost with the algorithms on Amazon, Kobo, and those kinds of sites. I’m super excited about the series, but its weird to be almost done with the first book when no one will get to read it for many months.
After I wrap Dragon Lotus Book 1, I’m going to take a break and switch over and write Holiday Wars Volume 4. I already got the book outlined but I don’t want to put it off, because the amazing Michael Odom is excited to start drawing the next book and he can’t until I write it! Big and scary things are going to happen, specially after the horrors of Volume 3! It will be nice to hangout with Tegan, Friday, and the whole crew.
Once Holiday Wars is done I’ll switch back to Dragon Lotus and I’ll probably be working on those books till July or August. It will be tough because in April/May I need to start shooting photos for the 2017 Gaming Calendar and then the annual Kickstarter will launch in June.
When the Dragon Lotus books are done I plan to switch over and do some non-fiction. I’ll write the spiritual sequel to Finish the Script! Right now I’m calling it, “Finish the Manuscript!” but I’ll probably rename it because that’s such a horrible name. The big twist though for Finish the Manuscript is that instead of focusing on how to write a screenplay it will be all about how to write a novel.
The tricky part to Finish the Manuscript! is that at the same time I’ll have to write a novel. It’s part of the book’s hook. In Finish the Script! I wrote a screenplay so that the readers could see my journey and how it evolved as well as see the mistakes and how I fixed them. So to write Finish the Manuscript I plan to write a thriller novel. It will have gun fights, and action, and mysterious puzzles and all that kind of cool thriller stuff. Plus I’m going to set it in Texas and plan to have a lot of the locations be places that Lisa and I have visited in the past two years.
I’m going to follow-up Finish the Manuscript! with a book I’m calling “Fantasyland” (I’ll have to rename it). It will be a guide to world building. The focus will be on fantasy since that’s what I write, but the principals and lessons in the book could just as easily be applied to sci-fi novels, rpg worlds, game design, or anything that requires creative world building.
So the total tally for books to write this year are:
- Dragon Lotus Book I
- Holiday Wars Volume IV
- Dragon Lotus Book II
- Dragon Lotus Book III
- Dragon Lotus Book of Tales
- Finish the Manuscript!
- The Cyber Key
- Fantasyland: A Guide to World Building
Now if I manage to get alllllll those books done, I’m going to start writing the second Dragon Lotus trilogy. Writing eight books in a year while still doing my gaming calendar, photography work for clients, and my podcast is a lot of work. I THINK I might be able to do it all, but only time will tell.
Lots of big things for 2016 and even if I don’t have a new book coming out for awhile, I promise I’m working hard. The best way to keep up to date on what I’m writing is to sign-up for my mailing list. You can do so by getting a free ebook copy of The Eye of Hastur here: https://scottking.info/blog/free/