So, with Autumn officially upon us (at least for those us hailing from the Northern Hemisphere), let us bid goodbye to another thoroughly disappointing Summer (for those of us unlucky souls in the UK, that is).

Entering into a new season, the afterglow of having self-published Nathaniel Grey and the Obsidian Crown (available at an Amazon near you) has officially faded and I must cast an eye to completing my latest project, Mysterious Project Number 3. Which, for now, shall continue to go unnamed. Sorry!

Considering how the story is currently progressing, I'd say we're roughly 60% of the way through. Of course, as we near the New Year, we'll soon see just how bloody optimistic that statement was. Ideally however, I am hoping to be editing and sending the manuscript out to betas come early 2020! 

* cough cough - if you'd like to be an official beta reader for mysterious project number 3 feel free to let me know in the comments, or better yet, just hit me up in the contact section - cough cough *

Well... I guess that's everything!

- Farrell

Howdy.

Well... I don't really have anything important to say, so how about I just throw in another scene from my current project without any accompanying context or explanation? Sound good? Great!

I'll just drop some text this time rather than a screenshot, as I think there were some difficulties in expanding the posted image. Enjoy!

Just a little update to announce that I have officially passed the 100 page mark on my third project (as I have so subtly ​brought to your attention below).

Feast your eyes on the horrifying majesty of my unedited first draft. 

Greetings one and all!

Just thought I'd devote today's blog post to giving some insight into how I've gone about doing, or sort-of doing, shall we say, the less flashy side of writing: planning.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, there's no one right way to do this, though actually doing the planning itself in the first place is probably a bit of a must. That being said, the 'planning' that occurred for both of the Phoenix Saga books was rather haphazard, to say the least.

​If you're like me and struggle to note things down in a chronological fashion, then scribbling random scenes hastily in a notepad on the train to work is the one for you! My brain can be weird like that.

Ahhh, but I seem some of the more meticulous fiends amongst your ranks, who scoff at my feeble attempts. Perhaps I may yet sway you. Recently, for one of my prospective books, I've attempted *drumroll please* more traditional planning. That is to say, I've just grabbed a handful of little flashcards and planned each scene, as concisely as possible, one after the other. Its been a refreshing experience.

I've actually planned an entire book that way. I know! I hardly believe it either. But for which book you ask? Well, now that's a secret I'll have to keep to myself for now. Though, I can reveal that I'm almost a hundred pages into it, so I'm making steady progress!

Though I wouldn't say that it was absolutely necessary, personally, I find map-drawing quite helpful in terms of picturing how the story will go from A to B. I think that there's an actual technique that relates to this in terms of story-writing, though its name is currently eluding me. I know it has something to do with forests and drawing lines...

​If it twigs with anyone, be sure to let me know in the comments!

This may come as a surprise for you all to know that I have a three-year plan to dominate the known fantasy world (have at that Brandon Sanderson, where's your three-year plan you multi-million book selling, giant of epic fantasy?) Literally, I have it pinned up - stuck, more like, with blue-tack - on one of the doors of my wardrobe, leering down upon me as I sleep.

It may come as less of a surprise that I'm rather behind schedule! Rather naively on my part, I set myself the target of finishing the third book of the Phoenix Saga come the end of this year. It's probably not going to happen, but God loves a trier.

As it stands I'm currently delving into three projects, (of which Phoenix Saga #3 is a part), because why not? I might start keeping regular updates on the writing in the sidebar to keep you all informed. I'll have a think about it. That's not to say that it won't be possible for me to get at least a first draft finished before Christmas, though I can't promise it will be the third book! In a bid to increase my output however, I'm hoping to produce around two books coming into the following year. So that's something, right?