A Not-so Quick Update
🕑 Added 2025-07-17 14:26:53 +0000 UTCHowdy everyone,
We've got some fresh faces around here with the addition of a new story to our catalog. For those of you who have only just arrived, QuestWright is not my first series. The first book I ever wrote was originally titled Creation, which was later changed to Symphony because it fit better, and there were far too many books named Creation at that time. More now.
That means anyone who has stuck around following Symphony's end has done so because they enjoy my writing. Or at least I hope so.
Relating to the cost of my Patreon, I don't know if I'll ever raise it. 3 bucks seems like a fair price for reading ahead, and I hope it's low enough of a charge that people don't feel like it's taking food from their mouths. The vanity tiers above that are extra helpful on my road to writing full-time, but aren't required. It's just a necessary thing to have that as a few people take it up every so often.
In the battle for Royal Road, QuestWright is close to the main page of Rising Stars (will likely hit it today) and is almost ranked within the top 2k stories in the website's history. Naturally, I wouldn't have been able to do any of that without my readers from Symphony, so a huge thanks to them for following me over to a new story.
As for what's happening this week. I decided to release a few more direct chapters to Royal Road, which is a good thing for my Patreon.
As I don't want Royal Road to catch up too quickly to what you guys are paying for, it'll be a five-chapter release this weekend, and another likely five-chapter release next weekend. That should get you all at least ten chapters ahead of Royal Road before the summer ends, and I plan on releasing bonus chapters whenever I can to get us further and further away. For those who are new, I miss a chapter every so often as I work two jobs on top of this, but I try to make up for it later with bonus releases.
If you're mentally asking the question, "Why doesn't he just release the chapters the moment they're written?"
Well, I used to do that, but it had negative effects on my writing. I, like most authors, have an ego. I WANT you to see the chapters as soon as they're released. I WANT to see comments and theorycrafting. It fuels the beast, so to speak. That's a good thing.
Most authors flame out after three books. If less than 1% of all people attempt to write a book, and less than 1% of those people complete a book, and another less than 1% of those people find a publisher, then it comes down to 20% of those people writing more than three books. It's an insanely small amount (I did the math, 1 in 5 million).
But it hurts my writing. A small deadline is a good thing; a large one is a detriment. I'm sure those who read Symphony noted that the chapters near the end were much better than the ones we started with. That was me refining my process.
Check the plot map. Outline. Write the rough draft, beta reader edits, final edits, check over, then off to Patreon.
We catch most of the problems before they appear. Releasing everything with immediacy forces a few of those steps to take a back seat.
Now, QuestWright book 1 is likely to be finished at the start of October, if not sooner. Following that, I have my long-promised Novella, The Boy and the Stick, then we're off to QuestWright 2. I doubt that TBatS will take me longer than a month to write, and I already have the first three chapters done (generally a Novella is somewhere around 15 chapters in length).
Symphony 1 is due out on Amazon on July 29th, and I'll do a new post on Patreon on that day for those who want to find it. If QuestWright is how QUESTS get built and maintained, then Symphony is how all LitRPG worlds come into being. I like the building of Systems, if you can't tell. It's fun for me.
Summers...okay. I've only got about two weeks left, and that'll affect how much I can write. After this weekend and next weekend's postings, I'm afraid we're going to shift back to our more standard two a week, though I'll still throw in a few bonuses when I can.
That's all for me here (really blew up in size there, sorry about that).
I hope you're all doing well and you're safe. The world seems to be getting a little crazier lately, and I fervently wish for things to calm down.
Comments
Joshua David Mullenary
Yep, hard to deny climate change when we see so many records being broken, one after another. I don't do well in heat, so this is not the optimal place for my living. I'm very happy you're enjoying my writing. The story isn't perfectly linear, so be prepared for that. Next chapters post soon.
Thomas V.
Thanks for the post! New patron here, I was honestly surprised that the advance chapters were only $3. I’m looking forward to catching up on everything, I’ve really been enjoying your writing. And I hear what you’re saying about the world - here in Belgium we’re in our third or fourth heatwave of the summer (I honestly stopped counting), and it’s like there’s no rain left after the massive floods last year. I’m afraid the consequences of climate change will make it a bit difficult for things to calm down for a while yet, no matter how much we all want them to…
Joshua David Mullenary
That's very kind of you to say. I appreciate it.
Test Test
3 dollars every month for writing this good, what is it my birthday?
