The Dragon Chase: A Tale of the Everburning City

~The Next Tale, A 2019 Update~ (Not a Paywall Chapter)

Spit and burning ash. You are all magnificent.

Wattpad has been a good place to be. Being a part of Wattpad Next has marked the first time in my life that I've ever been paid to write, and I have to say, the afterglow hasn't gone away yet. Not that I'm making enough to reconsider my day job, but it marks a change in how I look at my writing. And hopefully I can build on this momentum.

But first and foremost, thank you all. Particularly to anyone who's made it through any Tale of the Everburning City. Perhaps you waded into the first drafts of Burning Night and Bitter Cold Truth, or trudged through what I personally feel is Wattpad's preeminent fantasy war epic, The Dragon Chase. Doubly so to those of you who willingly parted with real money over this. You have no idea what that does to a man's ego.

So, I was hoping to get some input about which story I do next. I know I've asked already, but that was ten months ago. Now that Bitter Cold Truth (the first draft, at least) is almost finished, I need to seriously consider where to head next.

In part because as part of Wattpad Next, the good folks at Wattpad gave me a free month to try out Fictionary. And also, because I want to fuss over the next project a little more.

You see, there's a certain polish in the Dragon Chase's narrative that neither of the other two stories have. And that I believe is because The Dragon Chase is a second draft. So with this next story, I'm probably going to try a little harder to get it close to a second draft state before I post it.

Hopefully I can manage to do this without slowing down my update pace too much. Because honestly, sharing these stories have been a huge impetus to keep writing. I think since I joined a Wattpad I've put about a quarter million words into the Everburning City.

But the choices I'm debating right now are these:

1. Stigma and Spite, A Tale of the Everburning City

The City has changed. Airships climb the wind, the Undercity Gangs build water pipes and direct housing projects, and the City's most famous hero is a reject of the Guild of Flamecrafters.
The City has changed. And momentum begets momentum.

James Braid mops floors and repairs machines in a world he had escaped as a child. And though there's dignity in his labour, he dreams of seeing his home become more. And that dream is shared by a man of means, once a boogeyman of the Undercity, who would see his home represented among the stone seats of Parliament.

Marian Lorec Vigil, a Ward of the City, is haunted by a past she cannot face, a power she cannot control, and a fate she has no control over. Sheltered by ignorance engendered by indifference, a walk in the shadow of the Spire will see her walk the auspicious and perilous path towards the rust red coat of a Crafter.

Mistrusted and ostracized as a thunderstorm agitating the order of the City, Captain Gerald Raeth gathers allies. Even as the powers that rule the City hunker down to endure the four hundred year siege, the Captain and his allies intend to finally take the fight to their distant, unknown enemy.

To live is to burn. And those who dream cannot hope to live a long, dim life.

2. The Fifth, A Tale of the Everburning City

Dusk has besieged the City for centuries. An ash-grey mist known as the Gloam lingers just beyond the walls, and it has smothered the entire world.

Beneath the Gloam there is no life. Stone crumbles into dust, forests stand only as petrified memorials, and the dreams of empires lie in ruin. To walk within the Gloam is to stand where there is no sun, to breathe where there is no air, to live where the world wishes humanity dead. There is no life beneath this besieging night.

Twilight is held at bay by the City's only three defences. Fires to burn, stone walls to hide behind, and lives willing to sacrifice.

Valen Redgrave stands apart from the soldiers he serves with, disciplined and focused in a place accustomed to idyllic apathy. But the qualities that shun him from his peers in peace will mark him and set him apart, and raise him up.

Gwendolyn Aranhall has spent six years in a prison workcamp in the fields, serving an eight month sentence. Finding peace and purpose guiding the growth of the hundreds of acres under her care, and guiding the growth of troubled youth abandoned by an indifferent City, she will find the City's darkest hours will always need someone willing to make the hardest choices, even as her heart bleeds for it.

Apprentice Vincent Hearthsward has spent three years in the tutelage of renowned Crafter Olivia Polden. But as his master is called to the front, and fire fails against the mountains of stone marching on the City, Vincent will find the weight of thousands of lives press upon his unprepared shoulders, and only begin to learn if he is prepared to carry them.

Night marches on the Everburning City. And beneath the Gloam, there will be no dawn.

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So those are my choices. I can do either one, or both really slowly.

The Fifth would be a war epic. Probably a fair bit grimmer than The Dragon Chase, but I'm not letting it sink into a Zack Snyder DC flick. That's too dark. But it would give us a solid impression of why The Gloam and Golems are so terrifying. Plus, it gives me an excuse to get into the formative stories of Valen Redgrave, Emily Varnell, and tell the story of among other people, Vincent Hearthsward, Tabitha's master. The Fifth is a story I can actually finally do because I have enough of a map to work with, which really helps keep the details in order.

Now, Stigma and Spite is a 'gathering the party' story. James Braid and Marian Lorec Vigil have both appeared on the pages before, briefly. Their stores are a bit different, and potentially a lot of fun. Marian can't Craft, she can only quash the flame. Which for those of you reading Bitter Cold Truth, well, this is one more reason I had to get Samuel's story on paper first. It details her story as she confronts both her past and the danger she's in as what appears to be a genuinely broken Crafter. James Braid failed out of the Apprentice Hall, lacking the strength in the Craft to warrant the Coat. He's back in the Undercity, mopping the floor of the Derelict Inspector and working as a mechanic and machinist. But a certain bartender has plans for him that involve the Irondrome, a massive race where each district submits one speed car to race on a massive maze of a train track. This will coincide with the Undercity becoming a full district for the first time. Meanwhile, Gerald's gathering party members and conning the City into making a ship that can handle exploration.

§

So that's my quandary. Feel free to share your opinions, because I still need to make up my mind. But either way, I'm looking to up my game with this story, and frankly I'm superbly excited about doing either one of them.

All the best, and burn brightly.

And happy 2019! To anyone who's watched the news or politics at all, hope it's better than this dumpster fire of 2018.