My writing process is a mix of structure and enthusiasm. Once I’ve formulated the idea for a book, I sit down and write what I call the First Fifty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The First Fifty are the first fifty pages of the novel. They come fast and furious, and if I’m still excited after they’re finished, I know the book has legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I started Dragon Run, I wrote the First Fifty from a dragon’s point of view, Lord Archovar’s to be specific. Those words didn’t come easy. I fought and struggled and wrote and rewrote and. . . finally gave up. I banished the manuscript to a dark corner of my hard drive and moved to other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story, however, stuck in my head. A year later, I was working on a completely separate project, and I found myself thinking about the Mountainfoot Third. If you don’t know who they are, don’t worry about it. The point is that I couldn’t get the story out of my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sat down to write a new First Fifty, this time from the point of view of Magister Lundi, the most powerful magic worker on the planet. Excited by the idea, I jumped right in… and found myself once again in a world of hurt. Try as I might, the words simply wouldn’t come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I put the book aside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One year later, I found myself still thinking about the story. Despite everything, I still wanted to write it. I went back to the keyboard for a third time, more than a little nervous that it wouldn’t work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s when I realized I’d been getting the story wrong. It wasn’t about the great and powerful. It was about a regular kid, someone without any powers, someone just like you and me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’ve been to one of my presentations on writing, you’ve heard that story before. Here’s the part you haven’t heard: Dragon Run was just the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That story that I couldn’t abandon, that intangible thing that kept bringing me back, year after year? It’s still being told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, at last, you can read the next book in the series. It’s called The Boy With The Sword, and it’s just gone into distribution. That means you can buy it at Amazon<\/a> now, and it will be available more broadly soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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