Looking at the manuscript for this story, it now comes to 86,551 words -- which is quite a bit more than my target goal for the first book, and yet hasn't reached the "conclusion" to the arc that I've wanted it to, but which still seems far in the distance.
Winter's Tale isn't supposed to be an epic fantasy masterpiece with 80,000+ word books. It's supposed to be something light, easy to read, and an enjoyable little break from reality for a bit. I was hoping to keep it within the generally acceptable limits of a "light novel", but we've already surpassed that mark. (Generally speaking, a "light novel" is around 40 - 60,000 words, and Winter's Tale is well past that count already. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_novel )
Part of the issue with the length, I'm finding, is the fact that Winter's Tale is trying to deal with the events in both the virtual world and the real world at the same time. In some ways, it seems like it's two stories rolled into one, and that's moving the plot slower, and requiring a larger word count than I'd first estimated for things. If I were to continue on to where I was thinking the break in the "books" should go, we might be looking at another 25 chapters and 40,000 words, at this rate!
And that's just too much! Someday, I'd like to get something actually picked up and professionally published (who wouldn't, right?), and 130k+ words just doesn't cut it that well in today's world of publishing. For an excellent article on acceptable novel lengths, check out the article here: http://theswivet.blogspot.ca/2008/03/on-word-counts-and-novel-length.html
And what's all this mean, regarding Winter's Tale?
It means that it's time to say "Book One: Entering the Tale" is now complete. The story is at a nice transition point here, in many ways. Relationships are starting to grow and change, Kyle and Heather are beginning the transition from the forest to the dungeon; Sera is dealing with the change in where she's staying, running the restaurant, and watching Kyle and Heather grow closer...
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Lots of things are changing and evolving, and trying to sort those out will probably be best served by putting them in Book 2, where they won't keep adding unnecessary bloat to the first book. (I'd hate to submit 130k words somewhere for publishing and then get told, "Cut this down to 80k at the most." I think I'd faint trying to sort out what all to remove!)
So to sum things up:
Winter's Tale 01 -- Entering the Tale is now complete,. (Current Book Stats for those curious: 50 chapters, 86,551 words, Average of 1731 words per chapter)
Winter's Tale 02 -- Title TBD will pick up at the end of Book 1 and continue the story on from there.
So what's this mean for RRL releases with Winter's Tale?
Not much. The next chapter will be posted and follow directly along after the last one. The only thing that RRL readers will have to deal with is a small break so I can organize my notes, assemble together an index of important people/places/things, go back and do some internal editing and correcting of things, and then compile all the existing chapters into *.epub and *.mobi format for people to enjoy.
This editing and compilation time usually takes me a week to two weeks (depending on how much I need to alter, edit, and correct), so there won't be any releases here (or in my other works hosted on the site), until that's finished. After editing and compilation is done, I'll offer you guys a link here where you can download the story for free, if you want to save an offline version for reading or sharing elsewhere..
And then after that?
Back to the usual rotational update schedule between The Fallen Ascending, Winter's Tale, and The 8th Day (if I don't back up and do a "reboot" of sorts on The 8th Day; I'm still undecided on what I want to do with it.) ;)