The fourth and final volume in “The Heir and the Herald” epic fantasy tetralogy has rapidly taken shape. I have the blueprints in hand and am on the jobsite. Last week I completed a chapter-by-chapter outline and started and finished the Prologue (at over 4,200 words, it’s my longest yet). This week I began work on the Overture.
For a guy who didn’t outline a single thing until beginning work on the second half of Book 3 six months ago, this pace feels supersonic. The Book 4 outline will allow me to plan ahead and avoid the brick walls I typically run myself into and then despairingly stare at for half a year at a time. And the added financial incentive of actually being a published author (in case you missed it, A Sea Sought in Song and Wrath and Crimson Rime are both available for purchase, with Loose the Sealed Tongue due to hit the market soon) will help keep the creative fire lit.
Book 4—Bind the Tree of Time—is going to be insane. Insane. And that’s really all I can say about it. If you enjoy its predecessors, then it will blow away all your expectations for a cataclysmically grand finale.
Get hyped. And in the meantime, get reading!
Arlam Online 