So Fall or Autumn, In my mind, are the months of September, October and November, we are now in November which means according to Ryks last update (as far as I can see) we have less then 4 weeks to the release to Episode 15 and the conclusion of Part One of the Frontiers Saga.
@Admin or @Rykbrown is this correct or are there some blockers causing delays?
Autumn - end with the winter solstice (21 or 22 December). (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn) 🙁
I'm desperately trying to make a release by late November, but it's not looking promising. Episode 15 is turning out to be the hardest one to write. I've retooled my timeline/outline three times since starting the book. There's a lot to wrap up, and a lot to set up in order to properly end this set of adventures, as well as set the pieces in place for the next set. Doing so in an interesting way can be challenging, especially since there are now so many characters and so many sub threads.
Then, of course, there is the added pressure of knowing that if I end it poorly, ya'll might not be willing to read the next 15!
The only thing I CAN promise, is that it will be out this year!
@rykbrown So we're looking at a window of 4 to 8 weeks with a probably delivery date somewhere in December? That sounds perfectly reasonable and I appreciate that you're taking the time and effort to "get it right" so to speak. You have a lot of plotlines to bring closure to and as you said you have to setup the pieces for Part II. I don't mind the wait that requires.
@rykbrown I would rather be disappointed having to wait for the next good book, than disappointed and waiting for the next good book.
So take your time and make it a finale we can all stand over and be proud of!
We are all in this together!
We your loyal fan's can wait.
@rykbrown. I've been an avid follower of this series, and love the universe you have created. I've never been so immersed in a series of books before as I am not much of a reader, but your series has changed that greatly and I now read more than ever because of it. I have shared it with a few friends who I know would appreciate it and they have.
I haven't posted in this forum before but I wanted to say to please do not publish this final episode until you are fully happy with it. I know this will be seen by a lot of readers as the wrong, but episode 14 was the weakest of the series. I felt myself reviewing the book at the end and saying to myself "what progression has happened in this book?" I was especially disappointed the Takaran storyline which plateaued and faded out into non-existance rather than a civil war and fight for true democracy. I really want the finale to be a fitting end to the section of the universes story and not just something to please the publishers by meeting a target release before christmas.
Take your time, you're and excellent writer who can create an immersing world in which I look forward to see develop.
I have read a lot of series around the sci-fi genre in recent years and this series still leads the genre in my opinion.
I don't normally give feedback as am far too busy myself with workload, but this is important to me and the rest of the fans.
You have created something special here, and I thank you for that.
Seconded
Ep.13 was a beautiful freak, with much of it's story taken by Casmir's point of view. But what could the Nobles have done in Ep.14 with 3 ships (as far as i remember) of which only 1 (as far as i can remember) was in working order. How would we have seen what they were up to when all we have is one Alliance asset in the area. The Nobles needed time to repair and reorganize. We needed a stalemate in Takara/PC to avoid cleaning house an episode early.
And a lot happened in the Core in Ep.14, and needed to happen for Ep.15.
1) Building the Super Falcon.
2) The capture of Jung assets to build out a proper fleet.
3) The construction of JKKV's for use as a standard weapon system.
4) The adding of former Jung operatives to the Alliance ranks.
5) Enough time passed to allow the Tannan's to build part way though some of the Fast Attack ships. (And we know those are going to be worth the wait)
And the Action!
The retreat from Kohara, which was epic.
The defense/destruction of the captured scout ship
The Ghatazach rescue / capture of the Alliance spies / President off of Kohara
The battle of the battleships which was really nice.
And the dressing down of Jess was cool.
I for one was happy with Ep.14, and think it was a good penultimate Episode. This story is about Captain Scott. If I was to complain about anything in this episode it would have been how quickly the Aurora's Jump drive was taken out of the last battle. And to be honest I'm surprised it didn't happen more often as those emitters cannot have much protection, they must be fragile, and at this stage the Jung have to know to shoot them and stop the Aurora from Jumping.
The biggest problem I had with episode 13 was finding a place to end it. The Tau Ceti thread (which started the moment Jessica and friends splashed down) was so long that it could not be concluded in one episode, or that episode would have been 200k words long, and I would have had to price it much higher. (And I rather prefer consistency in pricing.) That also would have resulted in having episode 14 needing to be combined with episode 15, as there would not be enough material remaining for 2 episodes. (And contrary to what some reviewers think, I don't pad.) And if I had written #14 as one huge book, it would've taken me considerably longer to write, which means I'd be broke for a couple months. (My current catalog only makes enough money each month for about 3-4 months following a new release. After that, I don't make enough money to make payroll.)
So I ended episode 13 with the abduction of Scout Three.
The problem with episode 14 was where to start it. I agonized for some time, as it did not feel right for me to pick up right in the middle of things, ('things' being the battle at Tau Ceti) but if I skipped over it, I missed out on a lot of good action. So, I picked up where I left off.
You see, when I conceived this story, I never thought of it in terms of book-sized chunks. I just thought of it as a story. Even when I'm writing, I don't plan my chapter breaks ahead of time. I just see where they work as I write. I do, however, usually have an ending planned before I start writing. It just doesn't always end up being where I planned.
Episode 15 is quite a bit different, in that I MUST plan ahead of time how I'm going to wrap up all the important threads, and put all the major and minor characters to bed. (So to speak.) And I have to do so in a way that is interesting, exciting, and makes for a satisfying conclusion to this part.
I like the idea of letting the story take you in new directions, but you have stated that you are writing 5 Parts with 15 Episodes each. You must have some things planned for later episodes? Some key moments that you are building too? I think that you would need to be a REALLY good story teller to wing 75 Episodes...
Hey Ryk, you wanna write an extra long book and charge extra, go for it. I am down for that.
@Rykbrown - I agree with McDaniel! Go long if you need too!!!
If you need a cash inflow sooner then a longer version episode would be ready, Pre-release Ep.15.
Or put the Ep.15 on sale with just the first 5/6 chapters, and update the manuscript on the servers when its done. (as I understand it this is the equivalent of a second edition / and the kindle would automatically update it... I could be wrong.)
Would either of those options make sense for you?
Or pull a Hunger Games/Harry Potter. Split Ep. 15 into two (15a and 15b).
Or just role on into Ep16 (as part of Part 1)
The only one who is saying you are to stick to 15 Episodes per Part is you Ryk, We want to read your work, we don't really care if each Part is exactly the same number of episodes. Not all of the episodes are the same size, so two parts could be different lenghts anyway.
