Jon Negroni's Blog - Posts Tagged "vainguard"
30,000 words (or so) of Vainguard.
My next book, Vainguard, is about one chapter away from the 30k mark, so here's the latest update on its progress. Keep in mind that this is Book 2 of Origin Stories.
The first book in the series, Killerjoy, hit 131k words by the final draft, and Vainguard will likely fall within a range of that or go slightly beyond it. Simply put, it's coming along and will hopefully be a manageable length for fans of the first book.
On a more general note, I've found it uniquely challenging to proceed with this "second" entry. I'm rewriting chapters and changing course all the time, just as I did with Killerjoy. But the difference this time around is that I'm rewriting based on ideas and themes, rather than constructive world building.
Killerjoy's revisions were always geared around the aesthetics and how the world was presented. With Vainguard, that world is established and the map lines are drawn. Now it's about putting pieces together and pulling apart threads. It's about exploring where these characters need to go, not where I want them to land. It's a different sort of challenge and one I'm still learning to tackle.
All that said, I couldn't be happier with the story at this point. Killerjoy promised a world full of potential. Vainguard is my chance to realize that potential and perhaps reposition it. Fans of the first book know that this is not a typical good vs. evil story, a tough call for a plot teeming with superheroes. But it is a story about good and evil. And how they intersect and one-up each other. It's also a story about personal evolution, and readers will be happy to know that their favorite characters are returning, at least the ones still intact, for another dangerous adventure.
As a special treat for those of you who can't wait until the book is complete, here's a short blurb from chapter one, which will likely change 1000 more times, of course:
There were no words in her head. Only candlelight. Then sudden, stirring sounds of a bustling street crammed with carts, wheels, and a multitude of feet drumming in opposition.
"What are you doing, Pickpocket?"
She froze, knowing better than to eye the man who whispered her name. She did her best to answer with a sigh, matched with a smile that hinted the life in her eyes. He fell for it, of course.
There was something about Eadon that made Gail Merda, or Pickpocket as she was called, forget all about the larger cities she knew in Genith. Dirthe was a better country. Larger, livelier for its open lands, and surrounded by opportunity everywhere she went or could think to go. Pickpocket closed her eyes again and let the sounds blend together.
"That's him," said Echon, and Pickpocket opened her eyes to see for herself. A short man, well into his forty years, plump but as spirited as a hormonal child.
Pickpocket and Echon gave each other a knowing look and wandered to the sides of the heavy crowd that had assembled in front of the plump man. Pickpocket tried to remember his name but...well, he was best known to her as simply *Plump*. Others called him Red Face, and more referred to him as Teacher, or some other nonsense. Pickpocket rather hated such a misleading name for someone who spoke like such a stupid man,
She eyed Echon, who had raised his collar to cover most of his pimpled face. He was slightly older than her and of the stockier sort, though the masque had muscle to back up his broad shoulders. It was no wonder he used his collar to cover his broad, spotty face, but he had decent eyes for a Dirthe-born. He gave her those eyes again, the ones that said, *What are we doing after this?* Pickpocket had to scoff as obviously as possible for him to see, then she turned her sight to Plump again, whose words started to reach her. She listened.
The first book in the series, Killerjoy, hit 131k words by the final draft, and Vainguard will likely fall within a range of that or go slightly beyond it. Simply put, it's coming along and will hopefully be a manageable length for fans of the first book.
On a more general note, I've found it uniquely challenging to proceed with this "second" entry. I'm rewriting chapters and changing course all the time, just as I did with Killerjoy. But the difference this time around is that I'm rewriting based on ideas and themes, rather than constructive world building.
Killerjoy's revisions were always geared around the aesthetics and how the world was presented. With Vainguard, that world is established and the map lines are drawn. Now it's about putting pieces together and pulling apart threads. It's about exploring where these characters need to go, not where I want them to land. It's a different sort of challenge and one I'm still learning to tackle.
All that said, I couldn't be happier with the story at this point. Killerjoy promised a world full of potential. Vainguard is my chance to realize that potential and perhaps reposition it. Fans of the first book know that this is not a typical good vs. evil story, a tough call for a plot teeming with superheroes. But it is a story about good and evil. And how they intersect and one-up each other. It's also a story about personal evolution, and readers will be happy to know that their favorite characters are returning, at least the ones still intact, for another dangerous adventure.
As a special treat for those of you who can't wait until the book is complete, here's a short blurb from chapter one, which will likely change 1000 more times, of course:
There were no words in her head. Only candlelight. Then sudden, stirring sounds of a bustling street crammed with carts, wheels, and a multitude of feet drumming in opposition.
"What are you doing, Pickpocket?"
She froze, knowing better than to eye the man who whispered her name. She did her best to answer with a sigh, matched with a smile that hinted the life in her eyes. He fell for it, of course.
There was something about Eadon that made Gail Merda, or Pickpocket as she was called, forget all about the larger cities she knew in Genith. Dirthe was a better country. Larger, livelier for its open lands, and surrounded by opportunity everywhere she went or could think to go. Pickpocket closed her eyes again and let the sounds blend together.
"That's him," said Echon, and Pickpocket opened her eyes to see for herself. A short man, well into his forty years, plump but as spirited as a hormonal child.
Pickpocket and Echon gave each other a knowing look and wandered to the sides of the heavy crowd that had assembled in front of the plump man. Pickpocket tried to remember his name but...well, he was best known to her as simply *Plump*. Others called him Red Face, and more referred to him as Teacher, or some other nonsense. Pickpocket rather hated such a misleading name for someone who spoke like such a stupid man,
She eyed Echon, who had raised his collar to cover most of his pimpled face. He was slightly older than her and of the stockier sort, though the masque had muscle to back up his broad shoulders. It was no wonder he used his collar to cover his broad, spotty face, but he had decent eyes for a Dirthe-born. He gave her those eyes again, the ones that said, *What are we doing after this?* Pickpocket had to scoff as obviously as possible for him to see, then she turned her sight to Plump again, whose words started to reach her. She listened.
