Writing Acts of War II – Week 1 Update
I’ve begun writing the first draft for Acts of War II, and this is this first update on my progress. Before I get into the numbers and whatnot, let me tell you a bit about what these updates are going to look like.
First, I’ll give you my progress on the draft for the week prior, which will come in the form of how many words I’ve written and what chapter I’m on. Next, I’ll tell you one thing that was fun about writing that week and one thing that was a little challenging. Finally, I’ll give you a very short excerpt from the week’s writing. These excerpts will be raw text from the first draft, so there’s every possibility they’ll change a little or even a lot in the final version of the book. Don’t worry; I won’t spoil major plot points or anything.
Okay, now that you know what you’re getting, here’s what week one looked like.
Progress: I wrote 11,678 words, which put me right at the end of chapter three. That number exceeds my daily and weekly writing goals, and it keeps me on track for a first draft of between 90,000 and 110,000 words in about nine to ten weeks. So, in all, a solid first week.
The Best Part: I got to write from Ashlynn d’Elyse’s POV for the first time. She’s always been one of my favorite characters in the setting, and it was a lot of fun to get into her head. Plus, she’s a renowned sword master and duelist, so I can really nerd out and get a little more technical with her fight scenes (see below).
The Hard Part: Location, location, location. Describing places in the Iron Kingdoms that have never been described before in narrative fiction can be challenging because you want to make sure what you’re writing matches the existing information (of which there is often quite a bit). Luckily, I have excellent resources for that kind of thing, so it just takes a little bit of extra research.
Mini Excerpt: This week’s mini excerpt features Ashlynn d’Elyse doing one of the things she does best—kicking ass! (By the way, check out the original concept art for Ashlynn below.)
Ashlynn thrust at the ‘jack marshal’s throat, and he knocked Nemesis aside with a crisp parry, binding her weapon with his heavier blade and what he must think superior strength. It was good form, but not good enough. She allowed her sword to be pushed away, then snapped Nemesis out of the bind. Her opponent had been using too much pressure, and his blade dropped for a split second without her weapon to resist it. The opening was small, but she was quick, and a short, powerful cut from Nemesis split the Khadoran’s skull before he could bring his saber back up to defend himself.
That’ll learn him, right? Tune in next week for more progress, more art, and more mini excerpts from Acts of War II.
Got questions about the book or the writing process? Fire away in the comments section below.
Check out the first book in this Acts of War series, Flashpoint, if you haven’t already. You can get a digital version of the book at 25% off from the Skull Island eXpeditions website by entering the code ACTSOFWAR1 at check out.
3 Comments on “Writing Acts of War II – Week 1 Update”
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Aeryn Rudel's Rejectomancy 
Since you’re writing Mercs, I’d like to chime in for the mercenary community concerning things we would like to see in the book. Of course you have it outlined already, but we would like to see Crosse the full-fledged warcaster (assuming his story arc keeps him with the resistance), hints at Ashlynn’s next incarnation and if possible, throw in Nicolene Beaudrie, the warcaster from the card game as a character for possible future development.
One of the things we liked about Mark of Caine was how it teased his next incarnation where Flashpoint and Watery Graves gave us no hints as to what Magnus3, Shae2 or any other forthcoming caster might be like. It’s nice to have minor spoilers as payoff for reading the books.
Hi, Kevin, thanks for commenting. Though I can’t go into too much detail, I’ll just say Acts of War II will definitely hint at some very interesting things for WARMACHINE players. Keep an eye on these updates for more info down the line.
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