Dragon Novel Update : Chapter One Written...Twice... While I was away in Pittsburgh, I made a semi-important update to my Dragon Novel, adding in another character, who influenced the entire story from Chapter 2 on. This meant I had to go through and rewrite a good chunk of the outline to include her. Her name is Sammel, and she is a Squire to Sir Dreckale (who is the Artheran Noblemen). She's about 15, which makes her several years older than Kavin, but she's friendly to him.

Also, I wrote the first chapter, and started on the second, but I was unhappy with how they were written, as the text was lacking a voice and style. I started over with an introduction from Sir Hector Lambue, who is writing the first volume of the DragonKeeper chronology. I worked hard at getting his voice straight, and then I rewrote chapter one with his voice in mind. This gives a lot more style to the story, but I'm waiting for my wife to read over and let me know what she thinks. Still, I'm happier having a voice than not having one.

In other news, I taped 5 pieces of paper to my wall, and drew a line from the beginning of one to the end of another. This represents the timeline of the empire, with each page being approximately 100 years. The date of the novel is the Year of the Empire, 488. I marked the first age of the empire, also known as the Age of Expansion. The second age, which has no name yet, is when the empire is more or less stable, and begins relations with other nations. During this time is the Human-Skithan war, which is actually a series of wars lasting about 150 years all combined. The second age ends with the third crusade, to reclaim the fabled city of Rocanna, which was captured by the Skithans hundreds of years before. This crusade fails, and causes the Emporer to forbid any further crusades. This begins the third age, which is known as the Age of Isolation. During this time, Humans have the least contact with any of the other races.

I guess that's it for now...

more will come
--Joe  ¶ 3:52 PM