Hey! It’s been a few months since the release of book three, Wings of Rebellion, and I wanted to share a brief update on the writing progress for book four and some other stuff.
First of all, thanks a TON for your support. The series has really taken off with the release of book three. I’m super excited to be reaching more and more readers. This wouldn’t be possible without your support, whether by telling friends, leaving a review, or even just dropping a rating on Amazon or Goodreads. Every little act counts, and I’m really grateful. Thank you.
As for book four’s progress, I’m roughly a third of the way into the first draft. In the past three books, I wrote them in chronological order; basically, each chapter was written in the order it appears. For book four, though, there are four very distinct storylines, so I’m writing them one storyline at a time. In fact, there will be at least six different POVs in the book – one of which is brand new. It may sound like a lot, but only two of the four storylines are the main ones, which I estimate to take up 75-80% of the book. The remaining percentage of the book will be the other two minor storylines, bringing back some fun characters from the previous books. Of course, all of these will ultimately intersect (mostly in book five). I don’t expect book four to be any longer than book three, but I’m infamous at this point for underestimating the length of my books, so take that with a grain of salt. I’ll have a better idea in the coming months.
Soon, I’ll be commissioning artwork for the new types of dragons that will appear in book four. I’ll also have TWO new maps of the world in addition to Quassa. Once those maps are finalized, I’ll likely be teasing them closer to the release (before you ask, I have no estimate for the release date yet). I also plan on updating all the covers to have one continuous artwork for the entire front, spine, and back. This is mostly because Amazon’s print-on-demand service doesn’t like “hard lines” on the spine, as the margin of error becomes very obvious, especially on longer books like book three. I also don’t have a timeframe for this, but I plan to have them updated no later than the release of book four.
Looking ahead, after book five, I have a few ideas for new books. One of which will be a standalone set a few years before the events of Celestial Heir that will take place in one of the new lands. The second idea is also set in the world of Celestial Heir, but many years after the events of this series, also in a new land. I’ve also been sitting on a series idea that would essentially be Eragon meets Wings of Fire. The first books that I really enjoyed when I first started reading were dragon rider stories, and I’ve always wanted to try my hand at writing one myself. I did write one several years ago, but it was, frankly, terrible. I’ve much improved since then, so I’d like to take another crack at it. Of course, these ideas are very much preliminary, as my main focus is on finishing the series. I do plan on building upon the world of Celestial Heir, though.
Once again, thanks for reading Celestial Heir. I can’t wait to finish the series and see what the future holds. 🙂
Chester Young 