Still not done. But I'm doing over three hundred and fifty square miles of urban cityscape. It's slow going, but I'll get there. Might even start colouring it in February.
Anyway...
I thought it was time for a bit of an update.
I've decided the next project I'm going to start on will be the Fifth Invasion. As eager as I am to get Gerald and company out of the City and into the air, there's one character that really hasn't been given its full due on the stage.
No, not Redgrave. Although he's going to be front and centre on this one.
No, the overlooked character is the Gloam.
None of my stories so far have given a thorough impression of how dire the threat is. And the stories going forward will rely on that impression being well presented somewhere.
The Fifth Invasion is likely to be my largest project to date. I'm guessing it'll take around 200,000 words to get the whole thing down, but take that estimate with a pinch of salt and a pint of ground glass. Because this could easily be the same optimism Robert Jordan had when he predicted the Wheel of Time would be a trilogy. (Fourteen books and over three million words later...)
To prepare for it, I'm codifying, clarifying and expanding my world-building. What this means for you is I'll be updating Valkyrie a fair bit over the next couple of months. Particularly the map, the military, and a more detailed map of a few districts.
Also need to change the map after I finish, since the Fifth happened fifty years before the Dragon Chase.
The other big difference is I won't be posting the first draft. I want to up my game, so I'll be posting the second draft. Because I want to see what I'm capable of if I stop and fuss over my work. I want this next project to be burning glorious. I want a fucking Hugo award (snowball's chance in the Spire, but we can dream). I want this story to be the kind of thing that gets burned in the back of the mind and sticks.
So it won't be quick. I doubt I could manage a once-a-week update schedule. But it will come.
Hot damn, I am looking forward to this.