It's weird talking about the Tides of Odyssium series, that amorphous bugaboo that supposedly exists in the ether somewhere (or exclusively on my laptop), but...sometimes you just gotta talk about stuff. So, let's do it.
Here's a recap of what I've said in the past for those few curious souls: The Tides of Odyssium series is a bit of a side series to the current Odyssium lineup. It features no returning characters, takes place primarily in a different part of the world, and pushes deeper into sci-fi/fantasy than we've gone so far in the series. Some might even say it has more in common with YA dystopian novels than it does with anything I've released thus far. And by "some" I mean maybe me, since nobody else has read what's been finished so far.
WHERE WE'RE AT
So far, only the first book of the series has been written, and it's gotten two self-editing passes, if I recall. I had a general plan for the rest of the series, but very little of it is concrete. I'll admit, this is not the way I normally do things, and feels a bit like I'm foolishly following the roadmap of the Disney Star Wars sequels, i.e. "let's just do one at a time with no solid plan for all three and, uhhh...see how it goes!"
Rest assured that no, I'm not doing that. I'm being pretty careful, actually, and that's why I have no plans to release Book One until Book Two is finished and possibly even Book Three. Why? Because better, more fully fleshed out ideas come along ALL THE TIME, and being a much more interconnected series than, say, the Eyes of Odyssium series, those better ideas can ripple backwards, if you catch my meaning. So, to avoid the revision tango I've gotten myself tangled up in recently, I'm holding off on releasing these books until everything major is pretty well nailed down.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE RELEASE SCHEDULE?
To be honest, I'm not sure. I have the Odyssium Collection Volume 2 in the pre-release stages, an unincluded novella sitting in first draft limbo, and...that's about it for now. It might be a little quiet on the release front post-Collection 2, but you never know. Maybe I'll knock out a novella here and there in the current continuity and by the time Tides #3 is done, I'll have a draft of Odyssium Collection #3. Who knows? Not me.
Anyway, let's get to the reason I'm writing this, now that we're past that recap. As mentioned, I didn't have much of a plan for Books Two and Three of the Tides series. There were a lot of unanswered questions planted in Book One that even I didn't have a solid answer for. Over the last few weeks, I've started "pre-production" on Tides #2, and yesterday finally had a breakthrough on probably the most major of my unanswered questions. Getting over that hurdle put the book on the fast track to getting the story hammered out, and I like where it's heading. It was always my intention that, while a direct continuation of Book One, Book Two should have a lot of new, fresh elements and a plot of its own for the reader to sink their teeth into.
Vague, I know. I probably shouldn't even publish this Od-blog because it's so vague. But, as mentioned in the past, I don't get to talk about book stuff much (at all) in my daily life. So, this is just me thinking out loud, talking about a small win I had, which, in recent years, have been few and far between. Maybe it'll give you a peek behind the curtain of what writers go through and have to consider on the way to these books making their way into your hands.
It's complicated. It shouldn't be, but it is. Or, maybe I'm just making it complicated. Who knows.
Till next time, take care
-C
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