BOOKS NEWS
Writing is going well.
A few busy weeks in work have staggered productive writing sessions, but the book is not suffering from it. Characters are very alive. Plot is moving along nicely. Fleshing out scenes and twists and turns is fun. It feels very like the Tome writing phase at the moment.
I'm itching to get working on other projects too, which is great added motivation to keep this momentum going. No promises of a release date yet, but maybe don't start any long series any time soon.
The writing of Resolver has picked up and I wanted to briefly give an update to anyone wondering what is happening with the book.
Last month an extensive planning phase of each chapter of the new version of the book was finished and I spent a considerable amount of time putting together detailed notes on the characters from Tome. This has helped smooth out some of the issues I had with the first draft of Resolver and this new take on the story is already benefiting hugely from it.
Resolver (in its new form) is now currently in the full writing phase. This usually comes after an ideas phase, a loose plotting phase and a full planning phase. For this book, there was also a phase of salvaging any work from the discarded version for potential use in this new one. I like to measure progress in bacon sandwiches (10,000 words = 1 bacon sandwich) and so far the pan has been on and the bacon sizzling, so it is definitely coming along quickly, especially if you consider that the planning was only completed ten days ago.
A new Prologue was written to open the book with Edwin's viewpoint. The two main characters of Resolver, Adrien and Holly, have also had their first chapters finished. It's early in this process but the words have flowed and so far it has been a joy to write. Taking a step back from the first version and approaching the book from a different angle has helped a lot.
So, there you have it. No promises of a release date or major details to share, but the assurance that it is happening and going very well. Better than expected, even.
An extract will follow in the near future. Resolver is on its way.
Tome is out now in paperback format.
Click here for a link to it on the UK version of Amazon.
It's also available in other regions, just search for it on your Amazon store of choice.
It's been a long time coming, but I've finally decided to put out a paperback version of Tome. The book will be available as part of the Amazon KDP service in the paperback format almost 3 years after the original digital-only release.
The book will be released imminently and a link will appear here in the next news update.
This marks the first time that one of my physical books will be officially "In Print" since the release of Dead Cartography in 2010. It has been limited print runs and digital only since then.
There are currently no plans to re-release Phantoms Doused in Night, Dead Cartography or Over a Fallen Hill in paperback.
Anyone who knows me is likely aware of the annual April Fools hi-jinks that my great friend Jonny Lynch likes to inflict on me. This year, he's instigated a kind of challenge (of sorts) involving the completion of Resolver.
To check out the campaign, chip in to make a bit of fun turn into a great experience, visit Jonny's kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1394972232/untitled-book-launch
Who knows, maybe by then we'll have Resolver there too.
This evening I completed a thorough analysis of the first draft of Resolver and have a huge list of things to improve and watch when going through the rewrite process.
It's time to tell a story.
Sometimes you give a little extra for something you know needs it. Something that will be worth it. Sometimes you give too much.
It is a common situation in video game development, which I do as my full-time job, that one finds oneself in an impossible situation, with too much work to do before a deadline that is too close for comfort. Most of the time, that results in something called "crunch."
Crunch is a thing that happens to most people in games, but generally only truly happens to people who care about the work they do and want to deliver the best possible end result. When you pour your life into something for a prolonged period of time and suddenly that time is coming to a close, you know that what goes out there into the world will be what is remembered. Not the long nights. Not the stress. Not the setting aside of other things. Not the tiredness, the draining, the bottomless pit of endless things to get done.
What matters is the end result. The game you put into the hands of a player who then looks at it and says, "Wow." Our game - which I am still painfully unable to announce for various reasons - is at a point where it will be with players soon. It is a scary, exciting, and wondrous thing. Expectations are huge. From our bosses, the publisher, the people we work with each day to bring something to life, from friends, family... Mostly, from ourselves. We have built something. It exists. It is a thing. It's going live. It will be out there. People will read my story, play my content, see the art that my colleagues created, play with systems my friends designed, interact with buttons and create a living, breathing world together through connected play. All from the collective work we did.
In modern game dev that's not even the end. We will continue to build, change, improve and add to this game for some time to come. There will be more.
What does this have to do with my writing? Well, for one thing, it is safe to say that the number 1 reason why there was no novel in 2017 is because I wrote a video game. The pressure I put on myself to deliver something of quality to the game meant that it took every last puddle of energy that sat within my being. I was completely devoid of energy to put into Resolver and make it great. The fact is, this book is just not ready to go out. It's almost done, mere tens of pages from completion, but in reality, I think it's only starting. I need to heavily revise it. It's a painful thing to admit, but I think that I crunched not only for my job, but for this book, and it suffered for it.
So, I look at my job, the game we are creating. I look at the end result of that and I am proud of what we have achieved. I need to have that same, or higher, level of pride in my book before I consider it done.
I don't know when that will be. Right now, Resolver is delayed for the foreseeable future until it is ready. I could rush out a substandard version now or make it as good as it deserves to be. I choose the latter. I know that many of you are waiting for this book with anticipation. I am sorry that you will be waiting, but I promise you that it will be worth it.
No more crunch for Resolver. It will be done when it is done.
Keep a finger on the pulse, Resolver is coming soon.
Sometimes, you just have to pull the brakes and make the hard decision.
As work on Resolver starts to come to a relative close, it is with some disappointment that I must announce that the publication date is being pushed out to January 2018. This is in order to give me an extra 5 or 6 weeks to pull together one more critical draft of the book before handing it over to proof-readers for the final editing phase.
Naturally, it was a very difficult decision to make, especially as Resolver has been imminent and teasing release for quite a while now, but I feel that rushing out an earlier draft would have been to do the story and its audience a disservice.
Things are moving along. There are also outside pieces of interference in the real world that need attention, with time being extremely restricted at times. Working on Resolver after midnight some nights when I can squeeze it in has also led to a few pushes of word count that were not up to standard, which is what led to this additional draft phase. I promise that the result will be worth it, though.
Sorry for the added wait, folks.
Almost time.
To celebrate the impending completion and publication of Resolver, right up to publication day, Tome will be FREE to download from the STORE PAGE on this website. This is the perfect chance for readers to catch up on the events of the first book before the sequel arrives on November 27th of this year.
Tome was originally published in June 2015. The story will conclude in Resolver. Brian's next project after Resolver is released will be a Fantasy novel, The Spiral Rebirth, which will be released in 2018.
Patient readers, the time has come.
Resolver will be published on November 27th 2017 and conclude the story introduced by Tome in June 2015.
The book's first draft is at a 90% complete state, with first proofers getting the book in early October. Resolver will initially be available only as a digital eBook on Amazon.
Keep an eye on the site for an extended preview coming soon!
If I can find it after all this...
Resolver is still ticking along slowly, folks.
As reported previously, the discovery of the story elements of the movie Arrival had a huge impact on the book's climax and ending, so large revisions were required in order to avoid unfortunate comparisons to that phenomenal film. The amount of similarities and coincidences surrounding the film and my plan for Resolver were scary in number. However, as of this week, I've compiled a final plan and the book is racing towards first draft status.
My hotel room on a recent work trip to the States had a very Tome-cover-like light bulb / lamp in it which constantly reminded me of Resolver work while away.
A publication date is still pretty sketchy, guys, but I'm optimistic that I'll beat George R. R . Martin to it.
