I Have Lied To You

11/1/2014

I know none of you trust me, so it will come as no surprise when you hear that I've been lying to you for months.

You see, I've told you all that I'm working on a new novel entitled Of Sea and Shadow, the first in a new trilogy. That's not...entirely accurate.

I've been working on two new novels.

One, as I've said, is titled Of Sea and Shadow. The other? Of Shadow and Sea.

You may notice a resemblance.

I'm trying a new approach this time, one that I've never seen another author attempt: I'm writing two trilogies, set in the same world, in parallel. Each book will be roughly as long as The Crimson Vault, if that gives you some perspective, and will be released at the same time.

Of Sea and Shadow follows Calder, a member of the Navigator's Guild and captain of his own ship, as he carries a mysterious passenger to an Elder-haunted island in search of a mystical artifact.

Of Shadow and Sea follows Shera, an assassin in the employ of the Consultant's Guild, as she works to stop her target (a certain mysterious passenger) from finding the mystical artifact that would allow him to become the new Emperor.

I'm calling this structure "a parallel trilogy," because the books will come out two at a time until the series is complete.

I may change that terminology between now and the books' release, though. I change my mind a lot.

You can read whichever one of the two books appeals to you, or you can read both (for the most complete picture), but you don't have to. If you only like one character, just read that one. If you don't like Calder, try Shera. Or, if you find that the world intrigues you, read both!

For those of you who do choose to read both books, you'll find it's like reading one book that's double the length of a Traveler's Gate book. Meaning that, when the series is complete, it will be twice the number of words as the Traveler's Gate Trilogy. But it won't take twice as long to release, because I am as merciful as I am wise.

I know I'll get questions about this, so let me try to head them off now: Calder is working against Shera, and Shera is working against Calder. As a result, they do clash at several points in the book. So, in those scenes, you'll see the same fight from two different perspectives (which might change your view pretty drastically).

In the rest of the scenes...well, Shera knows some things that Calder doesn't. And Calder has some goals that Shera isn't aware of. If you're worried that the books will be too similar...well, I can't spoil anything. But stop worrying.

As usual, I can't guarantee a release date.

But I can tell you that Santa Claus really wants to read this book. And he doesn't come to town that often.

-Will

51 Comments

Lorn

11/1/2014 01:08:02 am

Is it written in iambic pentameter?

Will Wight link

11/1/2014 01:13:21 am

Ev'ry word is written in this meter.
Perchance to dream, and something something Peter.

Aaron J.E.

11/1/2014 01:40:40 am

I admit, I am intrigued. It certainly seems like a lot of fun, and a hell of a burden to put on yourself as a writer. Look forward to reading [them].

My one question is what was deciding factor in making it two separate, contemporary novels instead of one (large) novel which just bounces back and forth?

11/1/2014 01:46:00 am

Mostly because it sounded like more fun.

There were a number of other factors: these make two fast-paced books instead of one slow-paced book; if you hate reading from a man's or woman's perspective you can switch to the other one; it allows me to do some cool things with the cover design, etc.

It's also something that, as a reader, I always thought would be cool. Kind of like a "choose your team" approach.

If you like pirates, read the pirate one. If you like ninjas, read the ninja one.

I mean, uh, what? Those terms are never used in these novels.

Joshua

11/1/2014 02:39:28 am

Awesome!I've had the same thought many times! "I know this is the bad guy, but why? Why does he want to burn all the villages? conquer the kingdom, become the most powerful mage in the world?" If I wasn't excited before i definitely am now! I feel like labeling the actions of the antagonist as just "evil" is lazy. Is it evil in his mind? does he think this "small" evil saves the world from a greater evil? Why does he think its up to him? The best books I've read delve into the thought process of the antagonist, but what you're doing gives you so many more opportunity to expand on the intricacies of the world, and give the fullest picture :D Not that you don't already realize this, just thought I'd let you know that I know How difficult this is going to be on you, and that you're willing to go this far for a better story speaks well of you as an author.

11/1/2014 06:13:25 am

Yeah, it's a lot more interesting to me to have characters oppose each other for unique, personal reasons.

Two people can disagree without either being wrong. Or evil.

Peter

11/1/2014 04:15:17 am

This sounds awesome. And ambitious. I like the idea though. And let's face it, Traveler's Gate was a bad as trilogy, so I'm going to read everything you put out until you disappoint me. Don't disappoint me:)

11/1/2014 06:11:04 am

I'll do my best to exceed your expectations, Peter!

Jordan link

12/7/2014 02:45:47 pm

I loved your books as well and look toward to your other books bit your not going to leave the travelers gate world forever are you?

12/7/2014 09:13:11 pm

Absolutely not, Jordan. I just needed a break. I'll be coming back to the Traveler's Gate universe at some point in the future.

Elder III

11/1/2014 02:30:45 pm

You're an ambitious one. I like that.

*insert meme of self throwing money at screen*

11/3/2014 12:45:29 am

I'd say the biggest weakness of having a Weebly website is being unable to insert memes in comments.

Angel Neaveh

11/1/2014 10:11:01 pm

I am sooo excited!! :D

11/3/2014 12:46:03 am

Awesome! I am, too. I'm trying a few new things here, so it'll be interesting to see how it all pans out.

Mesmerizing Suggestion

11/1/2014 11:21:54 pm

Will the books be released separately or together? I think from the post above that its going to be separate, but there is a bit of ambiguity...
In other news I've read the entire travelers gate series. Again. For the eighth time... I keep noticing new things, like the sofa growling at people it doesn't like ( pretty certain that happened in the lightning wastes). Also, are you ever going to get an audiobook made out of the travelers gate series? If so you might want to put in a couple easter eggs, like the growling of the sofa anytime it is mentioned.

11/3/2014 01:02:39 am

I'm still trying to develop terms that will make this release structure less ambiguous, but until I do I'll keep muddling along.

The two books will be released at the same time, but as separate books.

And I'm actually in the middle of production on the House of Blades audiobook, I just had to put it on hold so that I could focus on OSAS. I expect the first audiobook to be released early next year, with the other two following shortly.

11/2/2014 01:16:51 am

Also, two things; 1. Did you look at the cthulhu mythos, and think "could use a cool magic system, along with ninja, spies, pirates, and librarian/scientists who mess with cthulhu mythos stuff's remains?
2. Also, the reply function is broken on android mobiles/tablets, even if you use the request desktop site function.

11/3/2014 01:00:54 am

Maybe that's not the Droid you're looking for. I've been replying without issue on my awesome iPhone 5.

(To be completely serious, though, I know I need to migrate past Weebly so that I can address issues like that. It's on my priority list, but there's writing to be done.)

Now, to answer 1.) Yes, I've always thought that the Cthulhu Mythos could use a cool magic system that didn't involve ritual sacrifice and driving yourself insane. Also, I tend to think that any world with a significant amount of sea travel and exploration is made more interesting by Lovecraftian elder gods lurking beneath the waves.

Jim

11/2/2014 10:08:35 am

Most people just write a couple of POVs that make the book about 600 pages...

Regardless, I'll buy the books...

11/3/2014 12:55:16 am

Yeah, after I started writing them, I thought about combining them into one book of 6-700 pages. There were a number of factors that stopped me from doing that.

For one thing, there are some cool elements/approaches you can try with two parallel books that you couldn't with one integrated book, so I'm using OSAS to test the waters. If they go over well, I might be able to use this approach in the future. If they don't, oh well, I'll just release one big book next time.

Also, the people who read the Traveler's Gate Trilogy have proven that they're willing to buy cheap, fast-paced, short-to-moderate-length novels from me. By releasing one larger, more expensive, slower-paced book (because it would definitely be slower-paced if I kept flipping back and forth between two characters), I might be shooting myself in the foot. Would people read it? Would they enjoy it?

By releasing two books, I've (theoretically) covered both bases. If you want to read a bigger book, great! If you'd like to stick with a cheaper, shorter book, fantastic!

Maybe you've only got three or four bucks to your name right now, and you can only buy one right now. Then, if you want to, you can buy the other one later. Or not!

There are some other reasons, but I've already responded to a similar question in a different comment above, and this post is getting kind of long. But the main thing is this: I thought it would be fun. Both as a writer and as a reader.

Maybe people won't like this approach; oh, well. That's fine. I learned something!

Brian Pederson

11/2/2014 11:56:01 am

Sounds neat! Out of curiosity, are there going to be break points that match up for someone crazy like me who wants to read the books in parallel? You know, so I can know THESE chapters coincide even if the respective protagonist aren't in direct conflict.

11/3/2014 12:57:50 am

I suspect you'll be able to figure it out pretty easily. It's kind of a Conflict--Aftermath--Regroup--Travel--Conflict structure, interspersed with interludes showing the POV character's history. If you alternate scenes, you can't go too far wrong.

So far, anyway. I might always change things up.

will

11/3/2014 09:20:14 am

This seems like a great idea.

yoduda

11/4/2014 05:02:15 am

Are all of the book pairs going to have the same initials so that you can reference both with one abbreviation and delve into specifics with the individual titles.

11/4/2014 12:39:31 pm

Yes. Yes, they are.

11/4/2014 05:09:48 am

By the way team Shera I love assassins!

Каша

11/4/2014 03:34:58 pm

Looking forward to the new books--the novel approach will be fun to try! Give "para-trilogy" a gander over "trilogy of twos" for the structure moniker. It just sounds more awesome and worthy of your genius.

11/4/2014 10:03:38 pm

Actually, "parallel trilogy" was a term that I liked better than trilogy of twos. But I got some feedback suggesting that "trilogy of twos" was catchier, so that's what I'm working with at the moment.

I might do a poll and see what the average reader thinks.

Ross

11/6/2014 11:08:50 pm

Bi-trilogy, duo-tirad, dyad-triplex, dual-trilogy, twin-troika. Just to workshop some 2x3's . We gotta nail this down early so we can have a good vernacular.

11/7/2014 12:47:34 am

I'm actually leaning toward "parallel trilogy" since I wrote this post. You see how fickle I am?

Though "dyad-triplex" has a nice ring to it.

I was using "dual trilogy" originally, but a lot of the people I asked liked "trilogy of twos" better.

Emily

11/7/2014 02:40:01 pm

Awesome idea, however how will I know which to read first for maximum enjoyment? I may spend forever trying to decide and delay the actual reading...

Also the term Orson Scott Card used was parallax when he did something similar with Ender's Shadow (although that wasn't published at the same time)

11/12/2014 09:37:07 am

Yeah, I've read other writers who wrote simultaneous stories, but none of them who released at the same time and placed equal weight on both protagonists.

Soon we'll see how well my way works!

Braiden

11/8/2014 02:16:16 pm

The Travelers gate trilogy was an amazing read, one of the best Ive had in ages. I love this idea, but what are the chances of you someday doing perhaps a sequel series following Andra and Lycus in the new Dragon Army? Or perhaps the story of the first army, following Kai and Indirial in their training. Just some suggestions. Good luck on the new series, it sounds amazing!

11/12/2014 09:38:20 am

Very good chances, Braiden.

The next Traveler's Gate book I write will be a prequel novel following the founding of the Territory and the establishment of the Dragon Army. After that, at some point in the future, I'll follow Simon in a sequel.

No ETA for those books, but they are coming!

Brian S

11/11/2014 12:14:41 pm

"I know none of you trust me, so it will come as no surprise when you hear that I've been lying to you for months." Will Wight

See, I just knew it!

11/12/2014 09:38:48 am

Your suspicion of me has always been well-founded, Brian.

Rhys

11/13/2014 03:56:35 am

Hey Will, you've picked two of the most, call it ambiguous guilds there. Can you tell us a little more about the abilities of these two. Not much but a little, just to wet our appetite. Alternatively if they don't have abilities then that would be cool to know as well. Thanks.

11/13/2014 04:39:48 am

They do have abilities, but I can't tell you what they are. That would be a spoiler.

I can, however, tell you why you might hire them.

In this world, there are two major continents: Izyria and Aurelia. To get from one to the other, there are traditionally two ways. You can loop all the way south, around the Aion Sea, connecting to smaller landmasses and crossing a smaller continent, and then travel up. This can take over a year.

Or you can cross directly from one to the other, which only takes a few weeks. However, it requires crossing directly through the Aion, which is filled with thousands of tiny islands, sealed Elders, rampaging Kameira, malfunctioning artifacts, and remnants of the old world. Nobody makes it across the Aion except the Navigators.

It's more expensive, but much faster. You could hire them to deliver goods, carry messages, deliver YOU, or even to carry out small assignments for you on the other side. Some people hire them for treasure hunting or exploring the Aion, and there are a few populated islands in the middle of the Aion for whom Navigators provide the only contact with the civilized world.

As for the Consultants...well, if you have enough money, you could hire the Consultants to do anything.

They're best at gathering information, so traditionally they might be hired by a successful business to choke out his chief rival. Let's say you're trying to corner the iron distribution business, but there's a new guy in town who owns his own iron mine and his own set of wagons. So he can distribute much more cheaply than you can.

You go to the local chapter house of the Consultant's Guild, for advice. You ask if they can help you.

Of course they can, you're told, and then they pull out your file. They already know you--they know what business you're in, who your rival is, and what the problems are. And they know how much it will cost you to make those problems go away.

You go back home, you think about it for a while. It's a lot of money. But you finally realize that you'll lose more money to the competition in the long run, so you head back to the chapter house the next morning and sign the agreement.

Then you go home. You take the day off work. You relax. A basket of fruit has been left for you on your kitchen table, and someone has swept your porch. It's all a bit creepy. You check your business records only to find out that someone has balanced your accounts for you.

The next day, you're contacted by an Imperial Witness. Documents have surfaced in the government record proving that your rival has broken several laws in order to compete with you. In fact, the deed to his iron mine was obtained by coercion, so under normal circumstances it would be put up for auction. But since you've been harmed so personally by this man's dirty dealing, the Witness sees no problem in allowing you to purchase your rival's property for an absurdly low price.

Your rival closes up shop, and you hear that he's going to live with relatives in the country until he's back on his feet. You own his iron mine and are able to corner the iron market in the city. Your kitchen is clean.

When you check your financial records once more, you find that the Consultants have left you a receipt.

11/13/2014 05:18:22 am

Ok thanks Will

MechCommander link

11/14/2014 09:09:58 am

That description sounds awesome! This sounds like it might be even better than the Travelers' Gate Series! That would be pretty impressive.

11/15/2014 02:49:45 am

If it is, will you give me a ride in your mech?

11/15/2014 01:33:27 am

Okay...that explanation has more than just "whet my appetite", I feel like one of Pavlov's dogs after a bell has rung! Is there an E.T.A on these books? Are you going to maybe do some contests for an ARC?

And I know you've probably thought of it already, but the consultants sound wayyyyy O.P. Is there some kind of balance to their power? Like lets say once you have hired them to snuff out your competition there are favors owed. maybe something besides the money that makes people think twice about hiring them? I guess that's asking for too much, so just a yes or no to whether or not they have balances to their power would be great :)

11/15/2014 02:56:22 am

I would say that the Consultants SEEM way OP. As you will hopefully pick up on in the book, a big part of a Consultant's job is keeping up the mystique so that the Guild seems omnipotent.

In reality, all the Guilds are pretty OP. The Consultants are just smoother about it.

As for the ARC...from a certain perspective, everybody gets an ARC! I release the book as soon as it's really finished. Authors with publishing companies have six months between the true completion of the book and the wide-scale publication, which is where ARCs come in. I don't have that six-month gap, because my publication process is all but instantaneous.

So hey, no contest necessary!

11/15/2014 04:58:41 am

So what about the ETA?

11/15/2014 05:09:18 am

I can't tell you anything about the ETA except what I said in the post above:

"As usual, I can't guarantee a release date.

But I can tell you that Santa Claus really wants to read this book. And he doesn't come to town that often."

11/15/2014 10:31:03 am

You make me sad Sir Knight.

Bryce

11/15/2014 02:15:17 am

Well I seem to be in the minority when I say that im disappointed. Ive only given the guild descriptions a glance as I was saving a more thorough read for near release but I was intrigued. I wont say I wont buy a book but as of right now my interest is pretty much zero. Good luck though.

11/15/2014 02:52:35 am

No problem, Bryce! If you'd like a better glimpse at the book when it's out, I'd encourage you to read the free sample chapters when they're up on Amazon. If you still don't think it's your cup of tea, well, I've got a lot of other stuff on the back burner.

12/7/2014 02:55:40 pm

Spool confided b/c first I can only find half of the guild overviews and I don't get the terminology in them. Readers?Intent?Elders? Too much words!

12/7/2014 09:14:55 pm

I have no idea what "spool confided" means, but it should be easy to find all the Guild Guides by clicking on the "Guild Guide" tag under "CATEGORIES" to the right of the blog.

Should bring you all of them.

And as for the terminology...if you read all the Guild Guides in order, you'll get hints, but you won't fully understand everything until you read the books.

Dacia link

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