Paragon’s Call

Paragon’s Call

Paragon’s Call is now available!

Published by Steve Williamson on March 23, 2016
Now available on Amazon.com

Now available on Amazon.com

Paragon’s Call is the third and final book in The Taesian Chronicles trilogy. In this exciting and fast-paced conclusion, we pick up the story a year after the Battle of Eeron from book two, Ohlen’s Bane. Ohlen and his comrades, Therran and Ahmahn, discover the novaari, dangerous beasts that are half man, half animal. Ohlen is conscripted by Emperor Percy Saltos to lead a ragtag group of criminal misfits called Paragons, who are charged with seeking out these monsters and destroying them. But not everyone wants them to succeed.

All three books are available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

The first book of the Taesian Chronicles trilogy is Ohlen’s Arrow, released in 2013. The second book in the series is Ohlen’s Bane, which I released in late 2014. Now that Paragon’s Call is published (as an e-book), I will start work on combining all three books of the trilogy together into a single volume called The Taesian Chronicles, and will release it as a paperback via CreateSpace on Amazon.com. It will be my first dead-tree publication.

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Paragon’s Call moves into editing phase

Published by Steve Williamson on February 13, 2016
Coming soon!

Coming soon!

I have updated the manuscript of Paragon’s Call with the revisions discussed between me and my editor, and have submitted it to her for editing. The amount of revisions needed were minimal and the rough draft was very tight.

The publication of Paragon’s Call is on schedule and my target date for it to be available for sale is by the end of March, 2016. I will be releasing it on Amazon.com for Kindle, Barnes & Noble for Nook, and the iTunes Bookstore for iOS devices.

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First editorial review of Paragon’s Call

Published by Steve Williamson on February 4, 2016

Paragon's CallI met with my editor last night to go over our first review of the rough draft of Paragon’s Call. Her analysis, in a nutshell, is it’s the best book I’ve written to-date. My impression of it matched hers, that it is my most refined book so far.

We identified some areas where I can add text to clarify some plot events, but these are minor and the book would still be a good one if I didn’t add them. Some of the other minor comments were admittedly subjective, but I trust my editor’s advice and perspective and will most likely implement her suggestions.

My goal is to make these revisions and get the manuscript back into her hands for editing within the next two weeks. I think it is a reasonable expectation that I’ll have the book completed and ready for publishing by the end of March.

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Rough draft of Paragon’s Call is done

Published by Steve Williamson on January 18, 2016

After writing 12,000 words over the weekend, I finished composition of the first draft of Paragon’s Call. Unlike Ohlen’s Arrow and Ohlen’s Bane, each of which came in around 64k words, Paragon’s Call is just shy of 104k.

I’ve handed over the manuscript to my editor, and the next step is for her and I to read through it and make notes about plot-level items. What works, what doesn’t, what needs to be added, changed, or removed.

Writing the final scenes of the book was an emotional experience for me. Paragon’s Call is the third and final book in the Taesian Chronicles trilogy, and it felt a lot like I was saying goodbye to an old friend. Although I designed the third book in a way that will allow the creation of subsequent short stories and novels, I don’t have any immediate plans to write them.

I have a collaborative writing project in the conceptual phase with a good friend of mine, and I am giving strong consideration to pursuing a new contemporary fiction novel dealing with an intense and present social issue. Stay tuned on that; I don’t want to give too much away at this point.

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A Slight Change of Direction

Published by Steve Williamson on November 30, 2015

After spending a bit of time on another writing project, I have recently returned my attention to Paragon’s Call. Part of that effort has been evaluating the plot I have mapped out and determining if it will go in the direction I need.

I got that worked out and adjusted the plot line better to my liking, then returned to composition. I’m now up to a little over 63,000 words, with a half dozen chapters remaining. For scale, both book one Ohlen’s Arrow and book two Ohlen’s Bane are about 64,000 words each.

My plot adjustments have shortened the overall length of the novel by removing three chapters that didn’t add much to the book. I learned back in my screenwriting days that if a scene can be removed without altering the pace or plot, it doesn’t belong.

More importantly, my plot adjustments have changed the role of the antagonist in the book. Specifically, I added a new antagonist that will will play a bigger part in subsequent books.

Wait, what? Did I just indicate there will be more after Paragon’s Call?

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Paragon’s Call and NaNoWriMo

Published by Steve Williamson on November 3, 2015

I have been making slow but relatively steady progress on Paragon’s Call, splitting my time with another writing project. I’m at about 53,000 words, which puts me at just over half-way through the overall plot. I estimate Paragon’s Call will be around 100,000 words, maybe a bit more. For perspective, Ohlen’s Arrow and Ohlen’s Bane were each about 64,000 words.

November is NaNoWriMo … National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write 50,000 words in the month, with the specific goal of writing something every day for 30 days straight. I appreciate the concept and motivation for NaNoWriMo, but use a different approach. Rather than writing every day, I write only on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and crank out anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 words in a weekend.

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Mid-August update

Published by Steve Williamson on August 15, 2015

Paragon’s Call has seen some progress, although not as much as I’d hoped. I’ve been working on some unrelated short story projects, and as is often the case during July and August, I’ve been out of town on weekends.

Fortunately, I have reached a turning point in the plot of Paragon’s Call where the action changed — think of it as the beginning of Act II — and it’s the part of the story I’ve been looking forward to writing the most.

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Paragon’s Call update, progress

Published by Steve Williamson on May 28, 2015

This is just a quick update on where I’m at with Paragon’s Call. I’m about 25,000 words into the story so far and after reading over what’s in ink, I’m very happy with the progress. I think this book will have a higher production value and overall maturity to the writing style and plot … mature, as in professional, not mature as in adult. If that makes sense.

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Paragon’s Call has begun

Published by Steve Williamson on January 22, 2015

After about a month of planning and research, I have created a Plot Event List and have begun primary composition of the third book in the Taesian Chronicles. At this point, my working title is The Paragon’s Call. Stay tuned on that.

My production rate is currently averaging 3,100 words a day, but unfortunately I’m only writing one day a week. Part of my problem is I rarely have the creative energy to write in the evenings after work. If I could do that, then I’d have my book written in a month.

As has been the case with my first two books, Ohlen’s Arrow and its sequel, Ohlen’s Bane, I’m relying heavily on the brilliance that is called Scrivener, from Literature and Latte. This program is a serious productivity tool for writers.

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