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.

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.

5 Additions to The Bow of Hart Saga Over the Years

It goes without saying that a fiction project morphs in many ways as it is written. However, The Bow of Hart Saga was a project that lasted several decades so the changes in it have been ongoing throughout that time. Here are 5 additions to the series:

1. Spark – this character was added very late in the writing process of The Bow of Destiny and then into the following two books, An Arrow Against the Wind and The White Arrow. Spark began as a suggestion from my daughter so the character would not have been in the series at all without her input. Interesting since I didn’t even know my wife when I started the series just out of high school, let alone have a daughter!

  1. A larger cadre of villainous characters – one of the characters added was Paugren, Corgren’s brother. He arrived before The Bow of Destiny was completed, but mainly in Trading Knives which is a prequel story that reveals Corgren’s past along with his brother who is an integral part. Paugren takes on a larger role as the series moves forward.

  1. A different writing style – in 2014, at the suggestion of several other people, I changed the essence of the writing style for The Bow of Destiny (and the series) to that of deep point-of-view. It’s a different technique that I had to learn but I think it helped the series tremendously because of the nature of Athson’s story.

  2. More back-story about Withlings – as I prepared The Bow of Destiny, I knew there would be lots of questions about Withlings and the mystery surrounding them. Sometimes wonder-workers, sometimes mystics, these characters are quite different in nature so their story needed to be developed. For that, I turned to a short story entitled, What Is Needed, which refers to the common saying among Withlings.

  1. Ralda’s deeper characterization – this giant of a character had a makeover – again at my daughter’s suggestion. Before her suggestions, I had added that Ralda used a supplemental sign-language common among his people. Also, Ralda’s back-story about his brother took on a deeper meaning as something which motivates him. But at my daughter’s suggestion some appearance changes were added. Ralda (and giants) use a set of tattoos on their hands and fingers to augment their signing was one of the main details that came from the make-over.

There are many other details that I added along with some that were removed. Check back next week to find out what I removed.

Thanks for reading today, please leave your thoughts in the comments section and I’ll reply as soon as I can. If you want to know more about The Bow of Hart Saga, please see the series page.