Horse Thief

Closure, R5-D4 Plots, Patreon, and Sand and Bone 34

2017-06-06T05:00:00Z

We are now at the penultimate chapter of the novel. Only one more left before we get to the end. This is also one of the more emotional chapters for me because it puts a capstone on one of the longer threads that ran through the entire trilogy.

Closure

This is actually one of my favorite chapters for many reasons. The biggest is that it brings us fully back to the first novel, Sand and Blood. It is a closure for Rutejìmo and Tsubàyo's relationship that has been woven through all three of the novels.

I like relatively complex evolution between characters. Of all the characters in the novels, this is surprised me by being the one that has changed the most. I wanted to give it a proper capstone for the end of this book and the end of the trilogy.

R5-D4 Plots

Going back to the R5-D4 Plots and how the novels of interact with each other, this is one of the more blatant references to my plans for Horse Thief, both the characters involved but also the inciting event. We'll see if it works out, it ends up being an interesting story because it ties into the Industrial War.

Patreon

The vote for the next novel is still open. This is for patrons, even ones who aren't going through Patreon.

Alpha readers for Flight can also jump on it. I'll close the poll pretty much when I start posting the next one, the next chapters of both novels are already done and ready to go.

Sand and Bone 34: One Last Time

Rutejìmo managed to survive to the night thanks to both Mikáryo and Tsubàyo but there is no question that he won't survive another one. The only thing left is a single run left, a final run, for a distance more than he had ever made in his entire life.

Read the chapter at https://fedran.com/sand-and-bone/chapter-34/. If you like it, please become a patron or review one of my previous books. Subscribers get access to all my novels, including the first book of my next series and my high-society romance novel.

Mikáryo, Datobàpo, Flight of the Scions, Patrons, and Sand and Bone 33

2017-05-30T05:00:00Z

We are rapidly heading over to the end of the novel, only three more chapters including this one. We also get to revisit two characters who were influential in Rutejìmo's life as they get one last chance to give their respects and encouragements.

Mikáryo

Mikáryo has been in all three of the Sand books. She has been one of my favorite characters. In the Hero's Journey, she is one of the mentors for at least two of them and maybe this one.

I've actually worked out what happens to her next. It isn't a fun ending for the story but it is an important one because it leads into The Horse Thief, a novel about Tsubàyo and what happens after the events of this book. I'd like to write that story but I'll finish the ones I started and see if someone is interested in her and Tsubàyo.

Datobàpo

One of the things that comes up frequently when it comes to writing likable characters is: “don't kick the dog.” There is also “don't kill a child” but I had that in the last book with the miscarriage scenes and this one with the little girl who was attacked by the warrior. It isn't a goal, but this is an important scene for me, mainly because I know the decisions behind Mikáryo's choice to sacrificed Datobàpo to save Rutejìmo.

I don't go into detail about how it happens, that isn't important, but it was a scene that I struggled with for a while. It felt right though, mainly for her need to save a young man she loved with all her heart but also because she had a good idea about the messages he carried.

Flight of the Scions

This weekend, I went through a couple rounds of editing for Flight of the Scions. So far this isn't going to be my next novel but I was “almost” done with it, so I finished working on chapters 21-26 to fix some damage I inflicted while reducing the word count. I also went through everything after that point and cleaned up stuff until I ran out of things to focus on.

The novel is pretty much “done,” except that I need to add it into the pipeline. This doesn't really have to happen until the last twenty chapters or so but I figured I'd start by looking for alpha readers now. It doesn't take much for this, I'm not looking for grammar editing. Instead, I want to know about the story. Is it appealing? Were the characters good and interesting? What about the plot? Is something missing? Where was it boring? All those lovely details that can only be revealed with multiple people reading it.

What I can offer isn't much: a willingness to do the same for someone else, a year of my Patreon (well, direct), and credits in the back of the book.

If you are interested, send me an email at contact@moonfire.us.

Patreon

The vote for the next novel is still open. This is for patrons, even ones who aren't going through Patreon.

Alpha readers for Flight can also jump on it. I'll close the poll pretty much when I start posting the next one, the next chapters of both novels are already done and ready to go.

Sand and Bone 33: Pabinkue Mikáryo

Rutejìmo wakes up to find that Mikáryo and Tsubàyo have rescued him. His death by the poison in his blood is pushed back a few short hours, long enough for him to see the next morning but it comes at a great price.

Read the chapter at https://fedran.com/sand-and-bone/chapter-33/. If you like it, please become a patron or review one of my previous books. Subscribers get access to all my novels, including the first book of my next series and my high-society romance novel.

Sand and Ash 10 and Tsubàyo

2015-10-04T05:00:00Z

I always start novels with an outline. The problem is, I don't like restrictions and go with the flow of the story. For these books, it ended up being 10-20k words short, but there were still unexpected things that popped up despite my best efforts.

The tenth chapter was one of them. Tsubàyo wasn't suppose to be in the story. He was suppose to fail killing Rutejìmo in the previous book and then wander off to have adventures of his own (in a novel that may end up being called Horse Thief). But, I'm pretty flexible when something sounds right and went with it.

Tsubàyo is an interesting character. In the first book, as one reviewer said, he was set up to be a rather stereotypical character. That was intentional, mainly because I do write from a character's point of view. Rutejìmo's view of Tsubàyo was stereotypical and rather two-dimensional, much like his initial views of Chimípu and Pidòhu. It wasn't until he got to know the two that they gained depth.

I think that people are the same way. At first, they are nothing but stereotypes and first impressions. But as you interact with them, they start to get depth and characters, quirks that make them a richer person.

In the years of thinking about Sand and Ash, Sand and Bone, and Horse Thief, Tsubàyo had become a much richer person. The events after Blood sent Tsubàyo down a much different path from Rutejìmo. Not any less painful or a struggle, but different. And both have a great deal of tragedy in them; a theme that seems to carry through most of the desert stories.