Chương 59: V3: Front Matter - The Cycle Project

With the completion of The Rise and Fall series and now Drumindor, some of you have asked, "What's next?" And you haven't just inquired, I've received suggestions. Some of you want to see a story about the First War, others the early years of Royce and Hadrian. Although after the release of The Rose and the Thorn — after seeing how Royce used to be in the old days — I'm seeing fewer requests for that. By far the top request, however, has been for a post-Riyria Revelations book or series.

To understand why I've resisted this idea, you first need to know how I write my books. I am not a fan of stories that start out fantastic and then quickly run out of steam with each added installment. Usually, this happens because the author puts all their "best stuff" up front to gain an audience. I don't do that. When I started writing The Riyria Revelations, I didn't think any of them would be published, so I wasn't concerned about making a "big splash" with my initial offering.

Instead, I saved all the juicy stuff for the end. As a result, the last book in that series has been the best — by design — mostly because it was the culmination of everything that came before. Knowing I couldn't top that, I wasn't about to try. The entire notion was incomprehensible. How could I raise the stakes higher than they were? How could I make the climax more dramatic? The series-long plotline had been satisfied, and there was simply no way to top Percepliquis.

In order to do that, I would need a larger, profounder, over-arching plot: something with even greater stakes, more characters, and a bigger bang at the end. Without knowing it, what people were asking me to do would require nothing less than creating a whole new series devoted to the forming of the world and the Novronian Empire. Then it would be necessary for me to write another series linking those books to the Riyria stories.

And somehow in doing all that, I must nurture a growing desire — no, a desperate need — on the part of the readers to see how it all turns out. And that, dear friend, is just crazy. A good case could be made that I am not altogether sensible because, of course, that's exactly what I did when I spent a decade writing The Legends of the First Empire and The Rise and Fall series.

This effort, that culminated in the publication of Farilane and Esrahaddon, launched a new contender for the most requested suggestion that has rocketed to the top spot: the desire to know what happens to Turin. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. In one sense this was good, as that was the point after all, to establish a hunger in my readers for something greater. But it's also like getting everyone's attention by grabbing the microphone at a wedding.

The audience expects you to say something worth hearing, and as it turns out, laying the foundation was the easy part of this challenge. The obstacles were overwhelming. I would need to invent new content and seamlessly marry it to aspects of Elan previously known only to myself. I also had to tie up twenty books in a comprehensive bow, all while maintaining the established rules and laws of my world — meaning I couldn't cheat.

These pre-established, load-bearing walls that can't be relocated or removed, would hinder, if not entirely prevent, me from creating my be-all, end-all masterpiece that could challenge Percepliquis for the top spot. Because of this, I didn't know if what I hoped to do was even possible. When facing such an insurmountable task, I did what any normal person would do in my situation.

I formed a committee of highly skilled experts in the world of Elan and ordered them to deliberate on the feasibility of contemplating such a project. This became The Exploratory Committee, and given the necessary requirements to sit on such an esteemed advisory council, TEC became a committee of one — me. On February 23 rd of the year 2022, TEC entered the research and development room, and the door was nailed shut. For more than two and a half years the committee has deliberated in secrecy.

Recently, however, there have been some leaks — both good and bad. Perhaps the worst is that "The Project" cannot receive a green light until all the required books have been written. I don't like promising something I ultimately can't deliver, so I won't. The best news is that "The Project" has been officially renamed: The Cycle. This wouldn't have happened if the committee didn't have a high degree of confidence in the outcome because giving something a name has the power to breathe it into existence.

Since Drumindor may very likely be the last novel I publish for a number of years, we won't be able to have these little chats for some time. As such, I want to leave you with a means of checking up on the process of The Cycle Project. You can do so by visiting our webpage or by joining the discord server (see links below). Through these outlets, we will endeavor to keep you up to date with any significant developments. Website: bit. ly/the-cycle Discord: bit. ly/cycle-discord