Good day to you.
I understand this is a bit of a weird post considering the timing, but I have some good/bad news.
I’m not actually ready to write Halloween Knight.
I’ll unpack my reasoning for you, as well as tell you what I will be writing (it’s another one of my super old projects, but even my most die-hard readers wouldn’t know about this one).
My reasons are as follows:
-My growing readership (one that’s heavily based in the upper-teen/younger adult range,) might not be quite so privy to a novel that has to do with holidays, and other cutesy-turned-serious themes right off the bat.
Don’t get me wrong, Halloween Knight was being written to be appealing from thirteen and onward, but right now I want to push hard in one direction to “earn my keep” in a closer genre. Yes, technically Halloween Knight was going to be YA Fantasy, which matches up with my other works pretty well, but I’m afraid that with as under the radar I am now, it’s unlikely to gain much traction with such an underused thematic.
-It’s not set in the Inkrealm universe.
At the moment I’m shooting to get a diverse ecosystem of books that deal with the likes of Overlord Chaos, The Captain, The O.E.L., and all those wonderful folks you know and love on the crazier side of things. Halloween Knight is pretty separate to all of that, as it takes place in a version of our own reality.
-I’m just not feeling it.
Yeah, sorry I was hyped to start it up, but roughly 5,000 in and I’m not really feeling it. I would agree that it is better than the original version (stopped that one at about 10,000 words) however the plot is just too muddy for me to really invest into at this time. I do want to write it and release it, but I’m afraid that I’m not really ready. Thankfully I’m an indie author so I call the ultimate shots with what I write and what my deadlines are. *Evil poverty laugh*.
That said, let’s move onto better things.
Way, way back, I wrote a great deal of a novel called Journey Quest. It was probably one of the first LitRPGs ever written, lol, as it was years before the genre took off. It revolved around two individuals that may or may not be video game characters, surviving in a world where their lives, and even their own existences are often brought into question thanks to great levels of O.E.L. meddling.
The story’s narrative is something that’s very precious to me, and I think you’ll really like it, regardless if you’re a reader of the genre or not.
That said, I’m planning on doing that for my NaNoWriMo bid instead. Am I super behind by starting from page 1?
Yes, I’ll be super behind, but it will give me a product that will have a market, attached to a story that I think will be not only unique as a LitRPG book, but also as a fantasy and sci-fi book. We’re going to get pretty deep with this, and you can expect at least one (two or more for those really long-time readers) character cameos.
Considering LitRPG’s writing style is a little more simple (if you can call postmodern fiction simple at all) then my speed for this project should be considerable. I’m really going to try to put myself to the grindstone on this one, or else I’ll talk myself out of it like I am with Halloween Knight, and it’ll be super embarrassing to yet again have another unfinished version of an unfinished old novel lying around.
Here’s the cool news, I’m going to post chapters of it to the LitRPG fiction site Royal Road Legends. They have a huge readerbase, and I have a feeling I’ll be able to pick up a good deal of new readers so long as I stay consistent with it all.
If you were really looking forward to Halloween Knight, you have my deepest apologies for the cancellation of the project, and I’ll gladly send you the segment I wrote for your enjoyment. Just shoot me an email at kellr.inkston@gmail.com and it shall be yours.
Expect the first segment of Journey Quest‘s reboot: Dragon Scythe Online, uploaded in the next few days. I’ll make sure to let you know.
All the best to you,
Kell
Coffee... WRITING!... COFFEE!! 