Path to Publication: ACTS OF WAR: AFTERSHOCK or the Novel I Wrote in Public

Back in 2017, I got this bonkers idea to blog the entire process of writing and publishing my second novel from Privateer Press (with their blessing, of course). I ended up with 21 weekly updates plus a handful of other posts related to the novel, like excerpts, dramatis personae, and so on. Why did I do this ? Let’s talk about it.

First, a little background on the book. Aftershock is the second in a trilogy of novels I wrote for Privateer Press in their Iron Kingdoms setting, which is the setting for their tabletop miniature games WARMACHINE and HORDES and the Iron Kingdoms Roleplaying Game. The Iron Kingdoms is steampunk-esque in terms of technology, but the setting is more sci-fantasy than steampunk. The novels revolve around a war between two of the great nations of the Iron Kingdoms, Khador and Cygnar–think 18th-century Russia and England with clockwork and occult elements–and the war leaders of these respective countries. Click the cover below for more info.

So, why did I decide to add to my already insane workload of writing this novel by live-blogging the whole damn thing? For one, I thought it would be good marketing, and the run of updates for the book did bring in the highest blog traffic I’ve seen before or since. Also, it was, for lack of a better word, fun. I enjoyed the meta breakdowns after each week of writing, and it was definitely cool to see the enthusiasm the posts generated among the Privateer fanbase as I teased new characters and models or showcased a favorite model in a battle scene. Finally, I thought it would be cool to have a detailed record written in real time of what it looks like to write a novel, how long it takes, the challenges, and how writing a media tie-in novel differs from working on your own IP. I think it ticks all those boxes.

So what was in these updates? I came up with four elements I thought would interest folks who wanted to learn about my process and/or just wanted teasers for the book.

1. Progress: This was primarily how many words I wrote per week while drafting, but in later updates it became how many pages I made it through in editing. My goal was 10,000 words a week, and I achieved or surpassed that goal most of the time.
2. The Best Part: Here I would relate one aspect of the writing process for the week that I really enjoyed. Usually, that would be a scene or bit of dialogue that turned out well.
3. The Worst Part: Conversely, I would also relate something I really struggled with that week. Uh, usually this would be a scene or a bit of dialogue that didn’t turn out well. 🙂
4. Mini-excerpt: Finally, I’d top everything off with a very short excerpt from what I’d written that week. Privateer also let me use some of their vast library of art for these excerpts, which was awesome.

Anyway, if you’d like to take a spin through my novel-writing experiment, here’s a link to all 21 of the weekly updates.