There has been a degree of Radio Silence here and on my Facebook page for a few weeks due to other obligations.
I have been rereading 'Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla' at night and I have spotted several typos (damn and blast.) What were to become the second and third parts of that story arc are on an equally massive scale due to the number of characters and scope of activity; that was the reason behind the earlier announcement that these stories would be broken down into smaller chunks (not least because my talented bookbinder friend has threatened terrible consequences if I inflict half a million words on her in one fell swoop
)One recurrent issue I have found is that I am referencing events in the fictional past - mostly Omari's past but there are other events in Imperial history that have significance. I know what those are and how they came about, but the reader will lack that depth of information.
So, I have made a decision about the sequence of writing and publication, in part because I think the big story arc will benefit from me detaching myself from it for a few months or even a couple of years - it will NOT be abandoned (it is written but not edited or revised). The great thing about revisiting work after an absence of six month is that you come at it with a clearer head.
The back stories will feature Omari's origin, how he reached the Empire and developed as a person and an agent, exploiting his innate intelligence, sense of curiosity and the deadly skills that combined with his uncanny speed make him the most formidable defender of Imperial laws, territory and citizens. There are three periods of Omari's life that I plan to cover in detailed self-contained novels of the same scale as 'Instrument of the Empire.'.
So what about the rest of the gang? Ysaelle, Hedar, Yoden, Arbrath, the Admirals and Signurr (to name but a few) all have interesting back stories so from that selection alone I reckon I have another three novels at a minimum to cover essential elements.
I mentioned before that I will be adding more maps, glossaries, appendices and information to each book. I intend to add a variety of illustrations that will include characters, locations, objects and events. At present these will be monotone line drawing like those I have been practicing and showing here for a few weeks, though I hope to raise the standard a notch or two.
Just for the statisticians out there, the current raw wordcount stands at 2,040,128... not including background material, character descriptions (height, weight, eye hair and skin colour etcetera).