Hello everybody, and welcome to this month's edition of the Archefire Newsletter. During this dreary January, I made some faux-disparaging remarks about our son Benjamin, which upset some readers. For this, I formally apologize.
He's actually a 170 IQ genius baby. He drools like a prodigy. His pants-pooping is MENSA level. And a wise old wizard showed up on our doorstep to let us know he's the Chosen One, destined to save the world from the forces of darkness and naplessness. I have now spent enough time with him to appreciate what true intellect lies behind those wide baby eyes. Just this morning, his insights into Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground shattered my feeble understanding of human despair. I am now broken...
Anyway!
Let's get to the meat and bones of this operation: writing updates!
Sibling Suns 3
Last month, I promised to make more substantial progress on the Sibling Suns 3 outline. Et voilà! Just like To Burn All Belief, I made a public Trello board so you can follow along with my progress! I have never been accused of being a pantser, and things like this are probably why. I can't just outline a book. First, I must outline the outline.
I've been thoroughly enjoying the worldbuilding I've done for Sibling Suns 3. I think you'll find the new locations fascinating. Eko and its canopy city, the oasis city of Silani in desert Ayeir, and mysterious Eevoq – each setting is getting a deep treatment that will make feel real and lived-in while also tying up some longstanding threads from An Ocean of Others.
This is one of my favorite phases of the writing process: when ideas are allowed to flow, and out pop Eureka! moments. Once the story is set in stone (or, more accurately, papier mâché), I do enjoy the drafting process as well. But it never feels quite as creative as this phase.
I've got the progress bar set to (BING!) 10%. There's much more written than that number implies. Across several documents – the worldbuilding bible, the official outline, brainstorming notes – I got about 18,000 words down this month. It's just that only a few sections are finalized, and those are what contribute to the 10%. For a full breakdown of how I calculate it, see the Trello board's Outline Progress card.
Planning ahead, I'm also thinking about how I should structure The Story So Far for book three. Those of you who have read To Burn All Belief – what did you think of the Story So Far section? (It's available online at joshse.com/sibling-suns-recap if you need a refresher on your refresher) Since I'm going to be writing another one before too long, I want to make sure it's as clear and helpful as possible. Leave a comment to let me know what you like about it or what you don't.
OH! And before I forget... I have figured out what the title of Sibling Suns 3 is going to be. Any guesses? It's wonderfully beautiful and weird, but that's all I'll say for now! 😈
Website Development
Despite the time spent on the Sibling Suns 3 outline, taking care of Benny and Nazgul, finishing three books and writing a review for one, I somehow managed to fit in a bit of website development. I've said it before: my goal is to have the best author website on the Internet. It's slow going, but I'm serious!
Some of the upcoming features I'm working on:
- Revamping the Books page yet again
- Better visual presentation
- Pop-up modal previews for seamlessly reading sample chapters
- Audiobook samples
- Downloadable extras
- Review quotes
- Search (mostly for my own sanity 🥴)
- A better Indie Reviews page
- An index to improve site navigation
- A marketing dashboard (this one's just for me 😉)
- A chatbot?
- Sibling Suns wiki
Some of these are super basic and should have been done a year ago. Others, particularly the last three, are more complicated. But I've never seen a self-hosted worldbuilding and character wiki on an author's website before, so I think it's interesting! (Though it comes with many attending problems, I admit.)
My question for you is: which features would you like to see? There's no use creating the world's best author website if no one uses it, so hit me with your best ideas! Also, if you've ever been impressed by another author's site, link it in the comments below. I need to steal some ideas, er... I mean, get inspired by their websites.
cough
Wrapping Up
A few minor things to mention before closing out this month:
If you missed my appearance on the Bald & Balding podcast, go check out the replay. We played a round of Bald Dome (a.k.a. freeform D&D) in which Grim has to fight an irate warhorse with nothing but a quilt. It was a great time! Thanks again to Mike and Ro for inviting me to the show.
I posted my latest Indie Review yesterday for Sledge Vs. The Labyrinth, the ultraviolent thriller it feels like everyone has been talking about. I can see why! It's a great read, so check out the spoiler-free review and then pick up Nick's book!
Nazgul, Lord of Puppies
Poor Nazgul, so overshadowed is he by the new king of the castle: King Benjamin the Hungry. He definitely gets bored when he's not at daycare and all our attention is on the baby.
It's not all bad though. He's wormed his way into sleeping on the bed with us. Which causes some disturbances to my late-night reading.
Just look at that expression. He's probably planning a coup right under our noses.
Well, that's all for this month! Maybe by the next update I'll have rolled out a feature or two for the website. Even if not, I'll definitely be chugging along toward the end of the Sibling Suns 3 outline. Worldbuilding is almost complete, and I'm excited to start fleshing out all the major sequences in the book. It's going to be an action-packed finale, and I can't wait until I get to share it with you!
Until then, thanks for reading!
— Josh