Hello everyone! It’s certainly been a while since my last blog post. Sorry about that! Falling behind on my public blogs was a fear of mine when I first opened my Patreon, and it became a reality pretty quickly. Turns out, I don’t have that much to yap about nowadays, and whatever little thoughts I have to say typically accompany my monthly(ish) chapter drafts. However, I’m here to set that right, if only momentarily, and give you all a big update post on all things Restart Again!
First, let’s start with the most obvious thing: A progress update! As of today, the draft for Restart Again: Volume 6 sits at just over 203,000 words, and I’m currently nearing the end of finishing chapter 29. For fans of the series, one of those numbers might seem out of place; although the books have drastically ballooned in word count over the years, the chapter count stayed pretty remarkably consistent, totaling 19, 17, 22, 21, and 27 chapters for Volumes 1 through 5, respectively. I wanted to make a conscious effort to try and tone down the word count of my chapters after Volume 5 had the absolutely unacceptable 18,000 word chapter in “Darkest Hour”, and though I’ve strayed a bit from that vision while writing Volume 6, I’ve clearly done a better job overall! Hopefully it will make readability a little better this time around.
Now, another number in that update requires some discussion: 203,000 words! That’s a lot! It’s about 5,000 shy of the total count of Volume 4, and 20,000 short of Volume 5, and it’s not done yet! I made a much more detailed book outline early on in the drafting process of Volume 6, and according to that, we’re going to end at a nice, even 40 chapters (assuming things don’t either grow to the point of splitting or condense into a bigger chapter for flow purposes). I’ve done my best to stick to a “one chapter per month” goal for myself, and given where I was on my last blog updated in August 25 (oof, sorry again), I’ve slightly exceeded that goal! My writing speed has definitely decreased for Volume 6 due to a variety of factors, but assuming I keep to that pace, I’ll be finished with the first draft by the middle of next year!
That’s probably not the update some people were hoping for, but I promise that I’m doing my best to make sure Volume 6 is the best one yet. I have a lot less time for writing nowadays than I used to because of a shift in my job responsibilities, so where I used to get a ton of time to write on the clock (sorry if you’re reading this, boss), I now handle it almost entirely in my free time at home. Also, in an effort to avoid another severe burnout episode like the one I experienced after publishing Volume 4, I’m trying to balance that free time with fun, non-stressful activities alongside my writing duties. I’m hopeful that some upcoming vacation time and an effort on better focus while I’m writing can increase my total pace, but for the meantime, I’m aiming for consistency over volume, and I think it’s for the best!
With all of that said, writing isn’t the only aspect of the Restart Again universe, and there has been plenty of progress on other fronts over the past few years! In an effort to remain financially solvent, I’ve spread my artwork commissions out over the entire length of my drafting process, but I’ve accumulated quite a bit of art in that time! As of today, I’ve updated the Artwork page here on my website to include the character reference sheets for our main cast in Volume 6! Without context to who/where/why they are, I think spoilers should be pretty minimal, but if you’re strict on that kind of stuff, avoid that section of the art gallery for a while! All character reference sheets were done by series artist @Rezynsire, so please give them your continued love! I also have my first official art piece that will be published in the pages of Volume 6 finished (also by Rezynsire), but I’ll be holding that one back to avoid larger spoilers. Two more official pieces are in the works, one of which will be Volume 6’s cover, and I have plans for at LEAST two more beyond that before everything’s finished! This will be the most art I’ve commissioned for a single volume, but given how long it is and how long everyone’s been waiting for it, I think I owe it to everyone to go all out.
Finally, there’s also music! Though they aren’t finished yet, I’ve been working with series composer @plac_holder on two new music tracks for the Restart Again universe. These tracks are actually meant to accompany events that take place in Volume 7, so we’re WAY ahead of schedule on those. I’ll publish them here when they’re finished, but I won’t give any clues as to what they accompany. You’ll have to figure that out through some careful motif analysis!
Switching gears for a moment, this week is the 1 year anniversary of the World’s Fair series publication! Though it will remain a solitary volume for the foreseeable future, I had a really fun time writing it, and I’m glad I went through the extra effort to get it published. Also, in a major oversight, I never announced on here that there was an official audiobook created! As opposed to the Restart Again audiobooks which are created through a partnership with Tantor Audio, I went through the ACX creator marketplace and contracted a narrator myself for this series. I learned a lot about the audiobook production process, and I’m really happy with the final result. You can find that on Audible by clicking RIGHT HERE.
That’s about everything I can think of for an update! Volume 6 is currently hitting its second act “All Is Lost” climax, and I’m having a great time writing it (much to the dismay of all of my characters). As with all of my other books, when I’m completely finished with the first draft, all of the chapters will go up for free on Royal Road while I edit, and then will come down when the book is FINALLY published. However, if you just can’t wait to find out what comes next, all of the drafts are available to read right now on Patreon! Some of them are a lot rougher than others, but the story is still there. Regardless of who you are and how you choose to enjoy my works, thank you so much for sticking around and reading this blog, as well as supporting the series. Whether you’ve been with me from the beginning or just recently found my work, I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I’ve enjoyed making it! Even if progress is slow, please know that it’s still being made every day. I hope the finished product is worth the wait! Until then, thank you again for your support, and as always, thanks for reading!
~Adam
