Editing

5 Original Plans I Cut from The Bow of Hart Saga

Last week, I shared what 5 things I added to The Bow of Hart Saga over the time I was writing the series. This week, I’m sharing what I removed from the series. This one is a bit tougher since I had to think through so many years development.

1. First on the list is a major sub-plot. Once I really re-booted my work on the The Bow of Destiny and the series, I added a major sub-plot where events unfolded in a totally different part of Denaria with different characters. It was pretty good writing but very unnecessary as pointed out by my editor. So, I removed the sub-plot but held onto it for later publication as a single book or a novella series. Hopefully, I can begin sharing some of that in the coming months as the early portions of this could easily be developed into the first two books of a shorter series.

2. Next, I dropped additional books. When I first planned the series many years ago, I wanted to write between seven and nine books. I trimmed that notion to five books and then to three. I think three books were enough to cover what was needed (reference to the Withlings intended).

3. The meaning of the Bow of Hart was next to be changed. At first, I intended to write it much differently (no spoiler here) but the more work I put into the current version, the more I knew it had to be twisted. That meant dropping my original intentions and I think that worked out much better. For those who haven’t read it, you need to and you’ll understand.

4. Along with the shift away from more books, the plans I had for a major war in the lands of Shildra and Grendon shifted north which made sense. Fewer books meant less time to move into other lands so I kept the series arc as simple as possible – anything else was pushing too far. I did not get to show events in other places like Shildra, Grendon, Hart, Rok and several others. Perhaps I can write another series about those lands (and, no, the previously mentioned content is not about these lands).

5. Lastly, I dropped a very convoluted beginning that spent far too much time with Athson being alone and making long trips to and from Auguron City. That left him involved with no one so there was less dialogue. Also, it was just boring so I settled on pushing the reader directly into Athson’s confusing reality and a single, straight-forward journey to the city with Gweld while moving the ranger station further away and adding a few stops along the way for better context and plot development.

So those are a few details that were cut, and generously so. I think it made the overall series better, more concise. As a bonus, I can also share that I split the initial first book since it would have been far too long, shifted the title to the second book and developed The Bow of Destiny title. That took some doing but it worked. Next week, I’ll share more details I added, especially in The Bow of Destiny that made the book better in my opinion.

Thanks for reading today. Please leave your questions and thoughts in the comments sections and I’ll reply as soon as I can! Find out more about The Bow of Hart Saga on the series page.

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The Bow of Hart Saga Sequel Publication Updates

Happy Monday, everyone. With my recent return to more active work, specific updates to my writing schedule are in order. Here’s what’s next for The Bow of Hart Saga & The Cursed Mage Case Files.

The Cursed Mage Case Files

The Unseen Hand is still moving slowly. Artwork has not yet arrived. I’m digging out of the pile of unfinished work that needs my attention, like the site and blog posts. What is outstanding is a lot of work to push into a short amount of time. I remain committed to publication of the book this year. But a launch early this month is very unlikely. I’ll report more about this progress later this week. 

Publication Schedule & The Bow of Hart Saga Sequels

Writing UpdatesMy publication schedule has already been announced covering the next year. Here’s a change in that schedule.

For quite a while now I’ve been receiving requests through reviews, email and a few comments on the site requesting more of The Bow of Hart Saga. To confirm my intentions, yes, there will be sequel books to this series. The original series is already completed and Podium Audio published all three of the books under contract. For this reason, the planned sequel must be published separately.

The Bow of Hart Saga PrintIn order to accommodate the increasing requests for more of Athson and Limbreth, I now have to change my schedule . I already have several books planned for publication this year and next. Due to my health issues, I have not begun any work on new books covering the world of Denaria. I do have material partially drafted for a parallel series that sets up what’s to come regarding Athson and Limbreth.

The plan is to publish this parallel series since it sets up what is to come in the sequel for the main characters. Likewise, I’ve already begun an outline of the sequel series and intend beginning a rough draft as soon as possible.

However I do have much of the upcoming year covered with work on The Cursed Mage Case Files and the first book of the Black Glove series. The updated schedule includes publication of Denaria-related books during the last half of next year at the earliest (unless something changes). That’s as fast as I can publish anything for that series since it will require editing and work for cover art.

Conclusion

The Order of the Dark Rose is already releasedI do encourage anyone interested in my writing to delve into The Cursed Mage Case Files in the meantime as that series will continue to grow and is quite a lot of fun. I will update more of my writing schedule regarding The Bow of Hart as I begin work on it during the next few months, so stay tuned here for news or join my email list and text list to receive additional information as it develops.

Thanks to everyone interested in more from Athson and Limbreth. The interest really lets me know that I wrote something many people like and want more of. If you are a fan of that series, one thing you can do for it is to share it with as many people as you can over social media or anywhere else you can think of as well as talk it up. I will be sharing printable bookmarks for that series as soon as I can and you are welcome to print them and share them with friends. I do have an announcements coming soon about additional ways to share with other people.

That’s all for today. Thanks for stopping by to read the update. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section and I’ll reply as soon as possible. Here are some updated links (there are some official announcements to come soon about one of these).


Looking for more about the series?

Visit the Archer’s Aim Press Online Store

Discover the World of Denaria

Read the series FAQ

View the series maps and read how they were created

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Where I’ve Been & What’s Coming Up – I Hope…

It’s been a while since posting here on the blog. I’ve been struggling with health issues all year, so the summer was very busy in that regard. I’m still on a long, slow mend, but making a little progress. I’m heading back to some rehab, but it’s not as bad as last March.But rather than dwell on health, I prefer to share some of what’s going on with writing plans. The schedule is now jumbled, so I’m updating that on the news page. Also, I’ll get to a major shift in priorities in an upcoming post. Suffice it to say I’m going back to my writing roots. I’ll get into why and what it means later.

But rather than dwell on health, I prefer to share some of what’s going on with writing plans. The schedule is now jumbled, so I’m updating that on the news page. Also, I’ll get to a major shift in priorities in an upcoming post. Suffice it to say I’m going back to my writing roots. I’ll get into why and what it means later.

My immediate plans are to complete work on The Unseen Hand, Volume 2 of The Cursed Mage Case Files. My hope is to release it by Thanksgiving though it looks like that schedule may slide some.

The good news with the upcoming book is the artwork. I’ve ordered the cover from my artist and hope it will arrive within the week.

The delays with this book have been many and mostly physical. Energy and focus have been a big problem all year. This improved to the point where I could spend more time on it. However, all the backlog of the year of working in fits and spurts left me far behind on other needful tasks, some of which will be announced here in the coming days.

I made a lot of progress on all fronts out of my stagnation. Then my health dropped another major distraction on me. I developed a sudden eye infection. I was unable to keep my eyes open and had to make an emergency visit to the local eye hospital on a weekend. Then there were frequent drops, treatment, and more appointments.

This emergency kept me from working on the book for over a week. Oddly, or maybe not so odd in the end, I had an eye problem when I published The Bow of Destiny in late 2015. It turns out these were related. I was diagnosed with rosacea affecting my eyes. The ophthalmologist told me it’s often diagnosed from eye issues.

Now, I’m getting back in the swing more but still working around post Covid limitations. I’m getting better at working around them, but still have to do “working breaks”. But I’m making steady progress. This post is a good sign of that fact. I’m managing what feels like a new normal. As a result, revision of The Unseen Hand crawls forward.

I’ve even been able to make a few plans about other books and begin some much needed changes to the site as well as update books. Announcements are coming about multiple changes and developments and I think everyone will like them all.

My sincere hope is to launch more entertaining books for readers. If only I don’t have any more setbacks with health.

All that being expressed, I’m sorry I haven’t posted more here. I truly have been consumed with health concerns and just haven’t had the energy and focus to spend time on Archer’s Aim, let alone a new book. Things are progressing, just not as quickly as I’d like. Stay tuned, I’ll get to the next launch and more books beyond in due time. More to come about other holdups in the near future. In the meantime, please see the News page for some updates as I get back in the proverbial saddle, even if it’s with limitations.

Also as a closing note, I am catching up on lost time this week with several posts. The schedule will settle down next week.

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