Coming up for Air

For the last couple of years, ever since I finished writing my debut series, I've been working assiduously at finishing an epic series I started over a decade ago. I've been neglecting both my engagement here and my marketing for my first series, but I'm finally reaching a point where I can take a little break.

There are a number of things I've been putting off while I've been grinding away at this series, over and above this neglected blog. I've downloaded video games I plan to stop ignoring. I have a whole stack of books I've been putting off that I finally intend to get to. I'm even toying with the idea of cultivating a social life.

For now, though, I want to tell you a bit about this story I've been working on, and some of the things that. inspired it.

To begin with, this whole thing was born in a transcendant flash of inspiration during a remarkable experience with shrooms. Things I'd read and studied and loved all started swirling into my mind, and I got out a notebook to furiously scirbble down thoughts while they were still coming fast and fresh.

I failed. I didn't get everything down that I hoped to, missed threads. The burst of inspiration faded, leaving me with the notes and the impact it had made on me, and I started putting together an outline for the first book, but I knew, clear in mind, exactly how the series ended. That first book ended up being unweildy and absurdly long, so I adjusted my ambitions. Instead of one massive series, I was going to write a series of four trilogies, and I set to breaking the first book into three, building it out considerably in the process.

The things that I did nail down in that sparkling moment of insight ended up being some of the best parts of the series. The internal state of my protagonist was derived from my graduate studies in developmental psychology, and it was one of the first things that struck me. Particular tropes had always resonated with me, so I found ways to include things like underground cities and forgotton ancient golden ages. Certain video games inspired particular actions sequences. I loved the narrator concept from one of my favorite books and adapted it a bit to more aptly fit my needs. I always love blending science fiction and fantasy, and this series leans into that in a big way.

I've grown a lot over the course of this series, which seems reasonable as it's nearly one and a half million words. I'm being considerably more intentional about the development of the series this time, as compared to my first, more modest, effort at a series. Part of that intentionality is cultivating a broader pool of readers before publishing, so I can get some feedback on what isn't working before hitting publish.

To that end, I am now accepting applications for beta readers for the first book in the series. If that sounds like the kind of thing you might be interested in, you can find out more here. In the meantime, I'll try to be more dilligent about engaging on here.