Hello everyone!
You’ve made it through Volume One! "The Souls in Sectum" was my first baby, and I won’t lie, piecing together the world, the pacing, the story, and the language (along with a failed attempt at self-publishing and dealing with the worst periods of my life) was a crazy challenge over many years, yet I love it with my entire heart. The actual writing of Volume I came to an end back in ’21 after what I think were sixteen drafts. And then I re-edited it again through last January and February as I prepared my backlog for Writathon. Still, you might find some mistakes, which I hope to fix before the story is published in print once more years from now.
It's been a while since it all started. "The Souls in Sectum" was my first undertaking going full-on writer, editor, and publisher mode. Before that, my writing experience was focused on other media like screenwriting and journalism, most of it for college. "A Tree of Omens" didn’t begin as a book nor was it the title of my work. It originally was conceived as a pilot episode for a TV show named just “Aequitas” back in 2017 as my thesis (a script I might share a decade from now) for my B.F.A. in Film Production. I can’t believe it’s been seven years since. Sometimes it feels a lot longer, and other days weirdly shorter. Anyway, that’s not the point of this post. If you want to read more about my and the story’s past, here’s a link to my intro to the forums of RR:
https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/138625
What we’re actually here to talk about is the future. Where does "A Tree of Omens" go from now? Well, I will be honest with you, it won’t be to the future, at least not yet. As you might have noticed, the story that takes place in Volume I happens in the span of thirty-six hours or so. That means there’s a whole lot of story about Adria and Zanda you don’t know about and will be of essential reading before we move forward with their stories after that cliffhanger.
No, instead, the next couple of volumes will take us back in time and will answer many questions you might have about our MC's pasts. Each will explore the lives of our protagonists through a separate narrative as both will be single POV, though their stories are parallels in more than one way. You heard it right, we’re doing prequels before Volume IV, and believe me, they are indispensable to the future.
First, it will be the turn of Volume II: Adriaas’ Punishment.
For Adria, as well as every soul she has met in exile, there was a life before Sectum. Here, we will delve deep into her story and explore our exiled MC’s experience before she was an extarri, how she got exiled, and her years in Imperia and Dictaduria before Corven crosses her path. There will be more details on the real synopsis that will be released with Chapter One, but know it’s my most recent work as it was the third in line to be written.
The second one, which ironically will become Volume III: Life as a Gevuritah, is Zanda’s story, a book that will narrate her path into becoming a Gevurah. But that’s a story we’ll get to next year, so we won’t be focusing on it for a while.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
As I write this entry, Volume IV is being crafted. It will be a year before we move to our protagonists' lives after SiS, and trust me, the wait will be worth it. I’ve been dying to write this book for years, but something in my gut told me there was more to tell before getting there, and by the Sephirah, my hunch was right. Now, the story is evolving in raw and unexpected ways that give conclusion to everything established in I, II & III while also opening the path for the second part in the entire narrative of "A Tree of Omens," which will have three ARCS in total with Volumes I-IV being the first.
Fear not, I know exactly how the story ends and the path that will get us there, so as long as I have my Vis and your support, it will keep going for more than a few years. The only break will be in-between volumes, three weeks each, like now. "A Tree of Omens - Volume II: Adriaas Punishment (Chapter I)" will be released July 10th, so prepare yourself for exile and everything behind it. It won’t be pretty, at least not in a traditional sense, but it will make Volume I gain a lot of weight and IV even more rewarding.
As always, thank you for reading and your continued support. It is the driving force that keeps me going, and I know that moving forward, it will be even greater as more people dive into the Omens. In the meantime, I must keep writing, so see you along the road and please, be patient as I have. These next two volumes are a great pride of mine, and soon, you’ll be able to read the many reasons why.
Feel free to join our open Discord Community with this invite https://discord.gg/V7SNQ8WN29 and please help me keep it alive as I focus on my duty of writing. I will stop by to read what you think of the story and your theories about where these characters are going while sharing as much insight as I can without revealing spoilers.
Before I leave, I’d like to ask you one thing now that you’ve gotten this far into the story. Please, please, please follow, fav, leave your ratings or reviews and share it with your friends and family. They are incredibly important for the success of the story on Royal Road. That’s all I ask in exchange after sharing my baby with you. That will allow us to continuously aim for the stars and do justice to "A Tree of Omens." We’ve made it to Rising Stars in Sci-fi, Drama, and Tragedy, all in position #15 at some point, including Trending for Tragedy. With that, I know we can reach further heights with time, and while we pave the path to those milestones, I thank you for reading and sharing your opinions.
It is time for me to leave and keep editing Volume II for the rest of today.
Here's a little something I did with the help of AI (More gifs with Adria will come later on):
image [https://media.giphy.com/media/kmTJEddbzvzG91uD9G/giphy.gif]
image [https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExNzl0eGhnYjFkdnkwaG9rcTZwazM3bXkwcjVvbDdnZ2Rrc2d6eDQ3cCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/KK8DC8R0ebG48qMMqZ/giphy.gif]
image [https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExd29odmkyNnBrYjJ4M3I2MXV4MWVsZHA0ejg4MzdpM2gzZTlvajJscyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/bIxLmckZhiUeLRGP9c/giphy.gif]