I’m about to upload and prettify the last two sections of Chapter 6, but before I did I thought I would share some of what my plans for the slightly modified layout of Exile, Magus are. First off though I’ll note that none of these changes will be coming as quickly as I’d like. I just finished the first of 4 consecutive work weeks in which I will only have Sundays off, and when you add in a long work day and commute which eat up just under 12 hours each day it means the time I have left to work on getting this book to the point I really want it. Bright side: lotsa overtime pay means I may actually be able to make enough money to fund all the artwork I want to put into this thing.
One of the more major changes is that I plan to put in a short prologue to introduce readers to Pentaz right off the bat. It will most certainly be a short flash forward scene since Pentaz’ life prior to the start of Exile, Magus is kinda boring. The life of a semi-shut-in loner isn’t that exciting, trust me on this. I had thought to flash forward to a moment near the end of his life, but considering he’s a dwarf with their long lifespan and all that would be around 300 years and his personality would be almost unrecognizable compared to the somewhat pampered and definitely sheltered youth of around 60 years that he is at the start of Exile, Magus. It just felt too disconnected from this book. What I’ve settled on is a flash forward which will expand upon just what is going on internally with Pentaz during Part 1’s most pivotal scene, which is something I would have loved to do in that scene itself but it was apparent to me that doing so would derail the narrative at that point. Now I can give the insight into his character right off the bat and make it apparent that he is the main character before I send you into the odd courtly politics of Thierdenvolgenlund.
I also plan to restructure the books Parts a bit. I had been calling them Chapters with numbered Sections within, but once the change is done it will be Parts 0-13, with each part containing 1 or more Chapters which will be numbered consecutively. I’ll just give an example comparison layout below, starting with the current(old) way.
Chapter 1 - Exile, sections 1-6; Chapter 2 - Warrior, sections 1-10; Chapter 3 - LLanchland; Chapter 4 - Cruise; Chapter 5 - Academy; Chapter 6 - Graduation; Chapter 7 - Hunter; Chapter 8 - Proposal; Chapter 9 - Rescue; Chapter 10 - Ansvari; Chapter 11 - Reunion; Chapter 12 - Ascension.
The new ordering will be mostly a cosmetic one, and will be as follows:
Part 0 - Magus, prologue; Part 1 - Thierdenvolgenlund, chapters 1-4(previously sections 1-4 of Exile above); Part 2 - Exile, chapters 5-9(previously sections 4-6 of Exile above and 1-3 of Warrior above); Part 3 - Warrior, chapters 10-16(previously sections 4-10 of Warrior above); Part 4 - Llanchland; Part 5 - Cruise; and so on with the names and divisions of each part after Part 3 - Warrior being the same as current with the part number moved up by 1.
I also plan to add quick one sentence descriptions of each Part for a table of contents which I will post when completed. I’m leaning towards the sentences all having a basic format of "Wherein X meets/learns/confronts/etc Y."
That’s enough of my prattling on for now though. The conclusion to Graduation will be up shortly, after which I’ll take a quick break to get some groceries and start some laundry before settling in to get my Sunday reviews/recommendations ready for you all before the night is over(I am an evening shifter though, so my idea of night may run a few hours into the AM if I don’t read and type fast enough).
Thank you all for your time and continued interest. Rest assured I will be moving forward with Exile, Magus, I just intend to get it looking purty as can be before I do so and that will still take a bit longer. Enjoy what’s left of your weekend, and keep reading!
