Long Term Pacing and The Weirkey Chronicles (Patreon)

First, just wanted to celebrate that Bondsfungi passed the peak of Chasmfall and set a new record for the series! I'm curious to see if it can go higher... this would be a great time to check it out or leave reviews! We're higher than usual, but we also got weird reviews faster than normal...

With this crazy release weekend (both TWC5 and the NGM2 audiobook), I wanted to take a break from all that to write some more abstract thoughts about my goals and plans for The Weirkey Chronicles. I'm not sure if this will inspire any responses, but I hope the insight into my considerations will be interesting.

When planning the pacing of the series, I seriously considered the possibility of a plot arc in which the fifth and sixth books wouldn't really exist as they do now. Instead, there would have been a single novel covering what you will read in the fifth through seventh books. Of course, this would have necessitated dropping a significant number of plotlines.

I have no doubt that for some readers, this alternative plan would have been superior, as there are already some who feel the series is too slow. For a non-negligible number of people in progression fantasy, quality is measured by advancements per book. I am reasonably certain that the combined version of these arcs would have sold better.

My personal preferences for pacing are slower than this average, and I designed soulcrafting along my ideal lines. I wanted each ascension to feel impactful and have social or political repercussions as well. Above all, I wanted readers to really believe that the details of the system (blueprint design, layout efficiency, etc) matter. But that means in the sixth book, Theo won't level up hugely, at least not in a Numbers Go Up sort of way. This is the section of the plot where I predicted that some readers would drop off, back at the dawn of my plans.

However, I took a step back and considered what I fundamentally wanted The Weirkey Chronicles to be. I hope to build this story over the long term, exploring nine full worlds and a broad cast of characters. For this story's conclusion to ultimately work, I need to have built up an enormous amount of investment over the course of the series. I hope that these building blocks I've introduced feel substantial as opposed to filler.

The question of "filler" is of course a personal one. I think I've made clear that TWC will be focused on more than singular advancement. On another note, I've seen a few comments from readers suggesting that they view the mystery of Vistgil as the primary story and everything else as filler. These readers will, I fear, be disappointed, because I consider all these plotlines (even those without an obvious purpose so far) to be essential.

That said... those of you who have been waiting for answers should be happy with the sixth book. ^-^ No spoilers, but Theo will finally get a chance to ask certain questions. There will also be some major revelations about soulcrafting that have only been hinted at up to these point, and I wanted to give all of these elements time to breathe instead of cramming them into a skeleton plot.

For all of these reasons, I hope that my readers will ultimately find this version of the story more satisfying. I know I've discussed deconstruction and the like frequently, but this is honestly one of my main desires: I want the highlight moments of stories to feel earned. Those are always the most enjoyable series for me, and I hope to keep building on the foundation I've established here.

The schedule is still a bit weird, but chapters next week.