Greetings Readers!

The last update occurred about eight months ago, and with it being the end of the year, it seems like a good time for another one. I’m going to try to avoid major spoilers, but won't promise they may not occur. I think anything that might be revealed is likely to be pretty obvious at this point.

MINOR COMMENTARY

I think the biggest event that occurred over the last few months was Callie and Pixyl (finally!) getting together. I know it was a long build up, and I truly hope the payoff, when it happened, was what you all hoped it would be. I know it was for me, and it was one of the happier days writing this story, when I finally put that chapter to words.

Now comes the hard part of keeping their relationship real, especially in the face of their immediate future. Many stories rely so much on the ‘will they/won’t they’ trope that getting the characters together can often be the death knell to the whole thing.

The growth of Jesca has been another big part of the story, and while I hadn't specifically intended to spend as much time with her as we have, it yielded an exciting sideplot that I think a lot of readers can resonate with. I've been very happy with how it's shaped up, especially as it relates to her murky future.

THE STATE OF THE STORY

As of the date of writing this posting, 11/24/24 (so about a month ago when I wrote this note), I have just completed chapter 68 and have begun getting my notes together for chapter 69. Total story length of Callie’s Heroes at this point is 688,655 words. Between the end of chapter 64 and 68 is 56,231 words, so I still have a bit of a backlog, but as you can see I’ve lost considerable distance from the 120k I had in April.

This has been an issue, as I’ve had pretty significant writer’s block for much of the summer and fall, as well as some personal real-life issues, some of which I talked about last time (more info on that below). I’m not sure what to do if I run out of that backlog, so I’m trying not to think about it. What is written, though, should at least get the story through the end of March if I didn’t write anything more. The only way to stretch that out would be to slow posting down to 1x/week, which I would hate to do.

Motivation has been my big issue. In part because of those personal things (work and health primarily) but also I’m just a little burnt out. Why? Well, a few things:

1. When I originally planned to have the Midsummer holiday, it was plotted as two chapters, maybe three. But then it not only grew in length and complexity, but more and more of the stories of other characters started to weave into the mix, which just slowed things down. Now, I do think they are great sub-stories, and there are some dramatic things that happen to many of the characters, but had I not even brought up the holiday in the first place, the story probably wouldn’t have been harmed for it never happening. As a result, writing it has been a lot of ‘why am I doing this, it doesn’t even matter’ whining to myself. A classic case of ‘less can be more’ that writers need to learn, I guess. I’ve vowed to tighten things up once we’re through the holiday and going forward. We'll see if I can make that happen.

2. I struggled with Ravina, ultimately tossing quite a bit of written story. I originally had this whole elaborate subplot where Ravina was going to show up and cause a ruckus. As some had commented, Callie would have started out liking her (Pixyl immediately knowing this wasn’t going to end well), and that would have faded before long as Thorn’s wife became more and more trouble. In the end, Ravina would have left the camp, leaving Nevikk behind to be Thorn’s problem. There was already probably 30,000 words of material written at least, weaved throughout the holiday, and with more to come. I realized I needed a way out, so I started over and you all ended up with what ultimately put the characters in exactly the same place they would have ended up in anyway. I think in some ways it makes it more dramatic to have the anticipated Callie/Ravina shenanigans never happen. I hope you all didn’t see it as a cop out, and see it as more of a bullet dodged.

3. Nasty notes. I’ve received more than a couple rather venomous notes from people, primarily complaining about LGBTQ+ content. The ones Royal Road were all blocked and reported, but when coupled with the change in political winds of late, those kinds of things really hurt, which leads to almost dreading doing any writing sometimes.

4. Feedback has become sparse. One of my two beta readers moved on from the story (she had a baby and life was getting in the way, so I understand) and there’s not a lot of feedback from readers here, which in turn has been leading to a lot of “is this even worth it?” feelings of doubt. I’m trying to rise above it, but sometimes it feels as if I'm writing into the void. I do realize this is a ‘me’ problem, so I’ll just give the obligatory, ‘please favorite, review and comment’ here and leave it at that.

PUBLISHING UPDATE

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

No real update here. In part because of the motivation issues above, but also not really being sure what to do next and not feeling like I have anything worth reading (imposter syndrome). Thus, I have just sort of ignored the issue; maybe it will go away. (Would that be Callie Syndrome?)

That said, I did give some thought to the overall story so far, and have decided Book 1 of the series would conclude with the end of Chapter 45, where Callie plays her music for the first time, followed by her and Pixyl walking home together in the dark. It seemed like a natural breakpoint and denouement from the Bogwump fight, making the first book about 412,000 words, or if an audiobook, about 38-40 hours.

Book 2 will take us from the start of Chapter 46 (opening with Jesca becoming a Beastmaster) up through the end of the regular training session. Callie and some others will be staying on, which you all saw the seeds of at the end of Chapter 52 Part 1. There is also one more large fight scene planned to take place after Midsummer and before the end of Book 2 as well. So far, I have written 268,000 words for this volume, and if I had to guess it will probably finish up around 450k or so.

Book 3 will encompass the entirety of the extended session, and I currently plan on this one to be much shorter than 1 and 2, in part because I need to focus the plot better, but also because I think everyone is eager to get on to the next adventure. If I had to guess, maybe only 200,000 words. Of course, who knows.

As it relates to Royal Road, I am likely going to look into getting new covers made, and then split the story into the volumes. I need to find an artist that has a style I like, as I am not going to go the AI route, beyond inspiration. I’ve also contemplated doing some ads to see if I can get any more readers, but don’t really have the right skills for any kind of graphic arts work. Probably I should just save the money for professional editing and such anyway.

PERSONAL UPDATES

My health scare from the spring has shown all indications of being resolved. I do sport a long, sexy scar on my neck for my efforts, but six-month scans look clean. I’ll get another evaluation done in April, and if everything looks good at that point, that should be the end of it. I’ll repeat my statement from last time: Make sure to see your doctor regularly!

I’ve also been struggling with some anxiety issues of late in the real world, in part related to my day job (under-appreciated and poor pay), but also surrounding the (US) election results and what that could mean in the future for a good many people I know. I can’t do much about the latter, but the first issue may have me looking for new work, which could, unfortunately, impact writing. This would especially be the case if I need to relocate for the new job. We’ll see.

Otherwise, my life is rather dull. Just me and my pupper, Henry.

FEEDBACK NEEDED ON ONE ISSUE

This is one I’ve been struggling with, and I’d like some feedback from you all on this.

I have found myself purposely avoiding using the words ‘man/men’ and ‘woman/women’ (and related words) in the writing, even skipping words like ‘gentlemen’ in ‘ladies and gentlemen’. I did use them in the first few chapters, but then it faded and I eventually realized it had been unconsciously intentional. My thinking was that those words only would apply to humans, and thus could be considered a bit of an insult if used towards the non-humans in the world. This is especially the case given the relationship with humans at this time. Well, as you can imagine, this has sometimes required a little literary Twister to make work, to the point that the writing has gotten awkward occasionally.

So I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. Do you feel that the terms could be seen as generic enough in this world to be used, or should I continue to avoid them? I don’t want to make up new words, as A) I doubt I could come up with good ones and B) that would probably make it even more awkward in terms of the prose.

EDIT: Based on some of the comments below, I wanted to clarify one element of my question. It isn't so much of a question of the right words for genders, more of a case of whether it might be inappropriate to use human-related terminology to refer to the non-humans in our cast of characters. As I mentioned, I realized I had unconsciously been avoiding it, worried that it might be considered insulting to be so labeled given that Humans are so hated and why.

I know I’m the author and I can literally hand-wave anything I’d like, and maybe it's a bit silly, but you are all invested too and I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while.

Q&A

I’d like to open the comments below for any questions you may have about anything story-related. Think of it as an AMA. What would you all like to know?

CONCLUSIONS

I need to start by taking a moment to simply thank all of you for being readers. It truly means the world to me. As much as my writing may have slowed down a bit, what I’ve done couldn’t have been done without knowing someone out there was enjoying it. You keep me going some days. I hope I can continue to deliver what you are hoping from this story.

I’ll be posting an updated Character/Location list next, since there hasn't been one for a long, long while. Then the story is going to take a short break for a couple weeks until after the new year as I will be traveling.

In final: I’d like to wish all of you a happy, safe, and loving new year. Take care of yourselves and the people important in your life. Cut the toxic out of your life where you are able. We only get one chance through this thing called being alive, and you’ve got to force it to be good, sometimes. I probably should also say something about drinking more water, proper exercise, and getting more sun. I know I need to.

Thank you again,

RAH