The Final Calling: Progress Report Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two is now online.

The serial is paid for through Chapter Twenty-Three, and Chapter Twenty-Four is close.

I’m writing Chapter Twenty-Six. I’m now guessing it’ll run thirty-some chapters, but I don’t have an exact number.

Chapter Twenty-Three will be posted on Wednesday, November 17th.

Not much else to say; a progress report for Realms of Light should be along soon.

16 thoughts on “The Final Calling: Progress Report Twenty-Two

  1. I have to say I am finding myself a bit disappointed at your estimates. I am really enjoying the story and another 10-15 chapters doesn’t seem like enough. Obviously you have to write the story the way it wants/needs to be written, but it just seems like there’s too much to tell to resolve everything so fast.

    I was re-reading the book so far the other day and one thing occurred to me. In Chapter Four, a lot of minor characters were introduced. Are any of those stories going to be developed further? Kelder/Lador/Sammel/Thira/Dabran, etc. I wouldn’t expect all of them to be revisited, but I hope that one chapter wasn’t all we are going to see of them, especially Kelder. He had enough of an introduction that it feels like he needs at least a participatory role somewhere later on.

    Am I the only one who feels that way?

  2. I do, too–but I’ve felt that way with some of the other Ethshar novels, as well. Every time, LWE finds a way to wrap it up that’s efficient, entertaining, and satisfying. He can cram a LOT of story into a few pages. (I only wish I could do it half as well!)

  3. I frequently find myself startled to realize that I’m almost done with an Ethshar novel and it still feels like it’s building. I think part of the reason that happens is that unlike most fantasy, where you have the big bloody climax then several chapters of resolving loose ends, Ethshar climaxes tend to come from one or more characters collecting those loose ends into a working solution so the climax and resolution blend together and you don’t need nearly the same number of mop-up chapters.

  4. Hey Ryan, there’s a typo on the Warlockry wiki page. In the Wizardry section at the bottom, both instances of “effect” should be “affect” instead.

  5. Yeah, donations have slowed. That’s happened with every serial.

    At least one of the novels written as a serial has an epilogue; I haven’t abandoned them.

  6. Speaking of loose ends I was kind of hoping that the mizagar would make another appearance. Is it going to appear in the Dummery novel that hasn’t been written yet?

    It’s nice to see Rudhira actually interacting with people in this chapter. It gives her character more depth. It still seems like she’s a red shirt though, doomed to a tragic end before the novel is over in order to advance the plot, but that’s just my impression.

  7. I wouldn’t worry too much about donations. I would guess that when an email comes out saying that the next chapter is not paid for, there’ll be a big upsurge in folks deciding to kick in more money.

  8. Oh, I expect the donations to be fine.

    Rudhira a red shirt? Um… no.

    I have no further plans for any mizagars; they’re out there, though. The attack was there to show that there was some real danger, that the stranded warlocks had other problems than a long, chilly walk.

  9. I still see Rudhira as more likely to be the force that makes the red-shirts fall down. Night of Madness always left me feeling like Rudhira was one good push, and a bunch of other warlocks restraining her, away from going the same route as Tabaea- though the Calling seems to have had the effect of bringing out less desireable aspects in people.

    The beat at the end of this chapter, where you talk about Sterren being relieved if he knew Teneria was there, has been bugging me a bit. Sterren’s never met Teneria, has no reason to know who she is or what she was about… so is this another magic effect? Maybe foreshadowing of her intent relative to Sterren’s own? (though I have a hard time seeing Teneria as being that openly opposed to ongoing Warlockry.)

    eh, we’ll see. One of the down sides to the serial format… all the waiting.

  10. Hmm. Sterren would have been relieved to know there was a witch there, not that it was specifically Teneria, who he’s never heard of. I’ll want to make that clearer in the second draft.

  11. The all-important second-draft. 😉

    I do have to say I’m still unsure why Sterren would be relieved that a witch is watching. After the last Semman war he’s probably got about as good an idea as any layperson what witches are capable of. On the other hand, given that the two witches he had on hand bolted at their first opportunity at least partially to get away from Vond, that doesn’t seem like it would be very confidence inspiring.

  12. Because it means someone other than wizards and warlocks is paying attention, and witches are generally pretty benevolent.

    I dunno, this may want some re-thinking.

  13. You might not need to rethink it, that might just be an artifact of the serial format. Once you explained memory clicked and I went back and found the chapter where Sterren and Hanner talked. Assuming that the “other magicians” are going to become important later; in a more compressed reading that through-line in Sterren’s thinking ought to be more apparent (also assuming the line is changed to indicate relief that a witch is watching, rather than Teneria specifically which might still be obscuring).

  14. It seemed clear to me why Sterren would be relieved if he knew a witch were watching the house — that line comes just after some paragraphs where it talks about the rumors he’s heard about witches being able to suppress warlockry. Quite possibly, with no other warlocks around, one or more witches with experience suppressing warlockry (like Teneria) is the best hope the world has for defeating Vond.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *