Chapter 3

So, as might have been utterly predictable to at least a certain handful of people, apparently with every new chapter I'm mounting up a larger word count. This may be lousy editing, or too much might be going on. Maybe I'm just a gloriously spammy person. Either way, I don't have a problem with it right now, it just bore noting - if nothing else because I'm now past 10,000 words. That's approximately 10% of the way toward a proper-length novel.

Glancing at my notes, I may overshoot this. Editing?! Haha.

Music, maestro, please:

CHAPTER THREE

Alicia emerged into torchlight with a choking cough she could only half-suppress, eyes remaining lidded against the downpour of chill saltwater and fetid runoff from the tunnels beneath Eastport as she moved in a stumbling, water-logged crouch up the stinking ramp into the Thieves' Way; better known, to the eminently pragmatic, as the city sewers.

“Any port in a storm.”

A devil-may-care quip from Kett might often have lifted her spirits, but the flame-haired vagabond's mind was racing. They'd barely escaped on the dockside, in a way that stupid men might believe they'd surface further along – or drown in the choppy ocean.

Men informed as to their true intent might conclude quite dangerously otherwise.

Chapter 2

After much procrastination, I'm finally ready to inflict chapter two on the world. I had a lot of fun writing this one - if I'm honest, more than I did the first, which I'm not entirely thrilled with. This is the sort of project I only get more excited about as it goes along, though; a lot of my favourite parts (and characters) come up a way down the line. I'm looking forward to what I think will be chapter six or seven.

Yes, 'think'. Chapter two at least stops earlier in my notes than intended. If it feels right, I go with it, and this felt right. Hopefully other people feel that way too.

Your mood music for this piece:

CHAPTER TWO

“She got the wrong one.”

Disbelief rang through Kett's tone as she surveyed their mark with a furtive frown. Her slight, deft hands lingered over the smooth oak panelling of the chest before her; one of many sat upon the laden cart. Flung open, it seemed to contain nothing bar the heady scent of recently-carved wood. She toyed in vain, as though searching for a switch, for the trick that would dispel this certain illusion. There was nothing.

“Empty, is it? I'd say you've been had, girl.”

The ruffian's gruff voice did not raise the smaller girl's ire as it had Alicia's, drawing but a distracted nod of concerned assent. Before she could speak further, a brief commotion sounded from nearby.

“Ali...”

Chapter 1

As promised, the first chapter is finished and just a few lines below!

I'm still playing with the formatting on this, so expect a few cosmetic changes - and please comment if you find the text unbearable to read, or the colours are off-putting. I'm also going to put the proper, novel-formatted copy up on Google Drive as each chapter is finished, for those who prefer to read it thusly.

For no particular reason I've decided to put up bits of mood music with each chapter-- don't read too much into this, it's just an attempt to liven things up for the blog format. The lyrics don't reveal any hidden meaning and sometimes might only be halfway appropriate. That said:

CHAPTER ONE

It was a foul night in Eastport. Forbidding clouds hung low in the sky, condemning the moon's glow to a barely glimpsed flicker as the skies slowly billowed and buffeted. The rain fell in intermittent torrents, embarking on a grubby journey to the streets below, where through the passing hours it had formed chaotic puddles whose depth and consistency were left as mysteries but to the hapless soul whose step should go awry.

But this was nothing new. Rain seemed always to fall upon the eastern port, where pollution was heaviest and spirits reached their nadir. Most citizens kept their outdoor activity to a minimum, avoiding the worst of the weather and enjoying what comfort they could. Few saw fit to brave nature's trials for any length of time. Amongst these few, the stalwart sailors, the hungry docksmen... and the thieves who preyed upon them all.

That night, in particular, the rain fell upon Alicia de Vries.

Phase One

Collect underpants.

It's been a long time coming, the act of me actually sitting down with a genuine intent to finish up a book or three. I've got a handful of aborted attempts on my hard drive, and will forever look back on 2007 as the Year That Should Have Been But I Stupidly Fell In Love Instead. Working on the epithet. Isn't catchy.

Anyway, here we are, and after running a couple of samples past a certain person I've settled for the project that's probably oldest and dearest to me; insofar as I actually started writing within its setting at the tender age of twelve. It was a little different then, but a number of the characters and story elements are still kicking around - albeit with an overhaul to account for my more dubious pre-teen whims.

I should probably insert a disclaimer to the effect that post-teen whims may not actually be much better, but let's see how we go. I'm not pretending this is all setup for some literary masterwork - 'A Shaded Flame' is the first book in a tentative trilogy known for now as 'The Dark Tide Chronicles', and it's best described as gritty mediaeval semi-heroic fantasy. Semi-heroic is another way of saying, 'IT HAS AN ANTI-HERO YOU GUYS', and I wouldn't blame anyone for throwing up their hands and walking away right the hell now. Go on. I'll completely forgive you. Unless I know you already, then I might not. Grr.

Still here? Fantastic. So, the plan is to kick out at least a couple of chapters a month - in roughly the form they'd appear if this was being presented as a complete novel - with enough time in between for my surely bounteous bevy of beautiful readers to read, comment, critique, etc. I'm looking for brutal honesty on this - if you love it, by god PLEASE tell me, but the inverse applies too. I'll come out and say right now that I think I'm a damn solid writer; we wouldn't be here if I didn't believe that on some level. However, I have flaws. I'm aware of some of them. Others, I may not be. If you, the reader, glimpse a facet of my work that needs work or is just outright awful, come out and say it. I can take it. Really!

As I write this, I'm smirkishly aware (shut up, it's a word - at least it is now) that this is the typed equivalent of yelling into a dark, empty cave. Hopefully I'll get to look back on this moment in a few months, and laugh along with my hundreds of enthralled readers that this blog was ever such a bleak and lonely place. And yes, I'd shoot for thousands of readers but really, who am I kidding? Baby steps.

In any case; to those who stumble upon this, welcome!

If you've miraculously done so before I make any headway, then the first chapter should be up in the next day or two. If you've joined the party with a backlog to catch up on, well... you already know more than me about how this is going to go. No spoilers, please; I want to start 2013 fresh and needlessly self-confident. See you in the future.