Welcome to today's Project Update Blog Post. Today I'm going to talk about my current project, as well as updates on the Publishing process for Avala Book 1.
Legends
My current project which I will only call by a code name: "Legends" is a project I have attempted to work on my entire teenage and adult life. It is my life's dream to write this book and a series to go along with it.
The story is a deep and complex story taking place in a distant past, in another universe. It is an epic in the traditional sense spanning a large area of time and telling a story that just never ends. It could be considered a Science Fantasy to due space travel, and magic. Yet it is so much more than that. It is a mythology of another place and time.
In terms of size, the first book itself is going to be big, well over 250,000 words, maybe close to 400,000 words. For reference 250,000 words is about the equivalent of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which itself was massive. Were as the Bible has roughly 800,000 words. This is going to be somewhere in between. However, I might have to break it down into smaller books, and release them separately. We'll see.
I don’t want to go too deep into the story of the book, due to it still being far from ever seeing the light of day, but the story is one of gods and goddesses, space faring empires, universe spanning wars, and manipulation by demonic beings. There are mages. There are space battles. There are mages fighting in space battles.
It is a story where the line between good and evil are blurred. It is a story where no character is truly the villain, and no character is truly the hero. Every character is a person. And every person has a valid reason for doing what they do. Evil exists in the story, yet no character is wholly evil. Just like no character is wholly good.
In too many stories the battles are between the forces of Good and Evil, including my Avala story. But those stories are nothing like reality. In reality, everyone is a person. Evil exists, but even the evilest people, still know love, they still know joy and happiness, they still feel guilt. If they don’t it’s because of something outside of their control that prevents them from knowing those things, such as being born a psychopath or sociopath. In reality no person is good, not one. That quote from the bible which I learned in my youth when I was still a Christian pointed it out quite well. This story is like reality in that sense.
However, because of this blurring the lines between good and evil, this story is extremely dark. Where as my Avala Story is meant for young adults, but is still suitable for children, this book is not. Even young adults may find it disturbing. Things such as pedophilia, cannibalism, blood drinking, incest, rape, torture, and other dark themes show up in this book. However note that no explicit sexual descriptions show up, though pedophilia happens in the book no descriptions of what happens during it is written. I am very careful to avoid writing erotica into this story. All these things though still make the book unsuitable for children.
However, the story is still very rich, and very well laid out. Currently I’m aiming for twelve parts in the first book, with six chapters each. Each chapter varies in length from three full 'Letter; sized pages to twenty 'Letter' sized pages. However, this difference in size is because each chapter is actually one separate story in the greater whole. I’m still thinking of ways to make the chapters have sub-division to keep them from seeming to go on forever.
All in all this book code named ‘Legends’ will be available within the next five years at some point, and once I begin the publishing process for it I will begin giving more info on it.
Update on Avala Book 1
Now for updates on the publishing process for my Avala Book 1. I recently received a manuscript evaluation from the editor who claimed the book was extremely good story wise, but needed serious work editing in terms of syntax. Since I’m using FreisenPress to publish my book, all services cost money on my end, so I had to pay for the editing. I’m now in debt for the next year or so, but I have a payment plan set up on my end. Also, just today a purchased their Premium Cover Design service so I’ll get a better cover design for my book. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to share more.
I have received no estimate of how long the process will take, but my estimate is at most by the middle of next year for the final date it will be published. Though we’ll see about that. It might be sooner.
Wrap Up
That’s all for this week. Join me next week where I’ll do another Development Diary for Legacy of the Firstborne Empire. Join me in two weeks’ time where I’ll take more about the universe the Avala Series takes place in, as well as updates for the publishing process. Have a wonderful rest of your week and a start to May.
-Caleb Teal-