The drafting of Hero of the Republic passed a milestone this week, crossing 100K words. The book is now officially longer than any of my previous books, but the end is at least in sight. If I had to guess, this first book of the sequel series will come in around 150K to 170K words. The books in Heskan’s series were 80-98K words. Why is Hero of the Republic so much longer?

First, there are many new characters to introduce. A couple of them are the focal points to the entire story arc, and some, sadly, won’t make it to the end. (That’s not exactly a spoiler given the first series, is it?) The new lead character begins by completing Officer Training School during the timeline of No Way to Start a War.

Second, there is a longer time span to cover in this Book 1 than has been covered in my previous novels. While Hero of the Republic starts during No Way to Start a War, it ends years after the end of Last Measure of Devotion. We’ll revisit a couple events in that timeline from alternative perspectives and experience battles that happened outside of Heskan’s vicinity, but also convene the new characters at a critical decision point in the Brevic Republic’s quest for revenge on the Hollaran Commonwealth. If you’ve read the first series, you know where that is headed.

Finally, Hero of the Republic is simply longer because I think I’m relishing playing with new characters, storylines, and scenes. The words are simply flowing, as are the ideas. We may do some streamlining in editing, and I may have to eventually post some deleted scenes here. For now, all ideas go on the page.

I’m targeting the completion of the draft by the end of April, which would mean a very late Summer release. Hang in there, it’s coming.