Lord, what a battle to get ten set in shape! It's nailed, thank heaven. Page count is in the 690s, given I have a leg up start on 11 set already.
Review of 10a and 10b together to be sure the continuity's OK for test (took so long to get here, I have to spin through a fast cross check.)
Brace up when you read, because eleven set is The Doozie for twists.
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Janny,
Sweet torture, to hear of all the progress and not yet be able to read! Thank you for keeping us updated. Seeing the activity on SotM I wanted to read the series again so I'd be ready for the release. Had I known I'd finish so soon I would have started later! I don't always make it through Fugitive Prince and Grand Conspiracy without wandering off into daydreams where there are faster answers and happy endings. Then a year or two passes and I remember this wonderful series and happily start all over again, sometimes with the delight of a new book waiting at the end. No slight against the writing - this isn't a series I would care to read only once.
Also, and much gratitude for this, it's been clear since the first book (which I read in the 90s) that there has always been a solid plot plan with deep meaning. You had me from "Power without wisdom eventually destroys itself", which in my pleasantly frustrated scouring of the forums while I wait for SotM I've seen you quote. You followed that shortly after with Asandir's "Truth is like a gem with many facets - reflection and illusion from every outward angle…The one unsplintered view can only be found from within." and I've never looked back.
Thank you for not dumbing things down and making a stand.
Thank you for all the time and effort that so obviously goes into your work.
Thank you for sticking it out in a predominantly male genre.
Thank you for genuinely caring for your readership.
Thank you for your archaic and admirable values on the written word.
Thank you for writing something with deeper meaning one doesn't have to be wary of analysing:
Thank you for showing the *other* path, of humanity as part of a beautiful (if intelligently incomprehensible) reality.
Many, many thanks.
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Maia - thank you so much for your incredible note, as I write the chapter that kicks off the sequence that probably has the most bits of scribbled notes on paper - some very new paper and some very yellowed paper at that.
You are so very very welcome.
It has been, sometimes, a war to keep this series as it should be done, straight on track - both working around the hard walls and realities of the business, and also, the intricacies and battles of maintaining the quality, depth, and through moments in life when creativity gets challenging.
What is worth doing is worth doing right. I have Never compromised on a book or story (sometimes fending off pressure from high stakes editorial who just wanted stuff 'done.'
The proof is in the pudding and it will outlast me.
Particularly with this series, no punches are pulled. The bits are all in place now, and the finale sequence underway. All I have to do, yet, is get the draft done and survive editorial.
The finished last book will be worth it!! What a lovely way to start off writing, today, (begun with another paper note/now going into finished text) with your note - I am so very touched. Thank you.
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Awww. Melt.
I wrote that some time ago. It was killing me a little bit that no one had yet responded to your last update. For every person who says something we know there are dozens who do not, but crickets…! They can be terrible company sometimes.
I’ve done a small-that-got-big business, though I write code instead of books. Still, the points above ring with me. Balancing personal life, business, and what it takes to dedicate yourself to internal values with external results that have direct financial consequences…and consistently do quality work? Not. Easy.
I’m amazed you managed Empire and WoLaS concurrently, and that you’ve managed to release so much high quality writing so consistently. Too many series I’ve read do not follow this (admittedly Not Easy) pattern. It really surprised me to look at the dates in your bibliography on Wikipedia and made me sad I hadn’t been more observant and thankful earlier.
People usually see the final result (new book!) and never guess at the massive amount of hours that go into making something complex come together into a finished product. I’ve thought “Seriously, millions of lines of code and that is all you see?”, though it’s irrational to expect people to see behind the scenes.
It’s beyond special to hear from you as things are in progress and get that glimpse behind the scenes. To know that a story I loved so long ago traced its way through the years both in my life and on pieces of now-yellow paper that are culminating in the finale…and I get to hear about it as it is happening?
Yep, well, I’m just plain out of words now.
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What some people may not realize, when looking at the 'productivity' dates of writing this series:
I started Vol I in the seventies. I worked on it through Seventeen!! rewrites to get the start solid, while drafting ahead. I sold Mistwraith completed in the early 90s. Finished copy.
Then, on a production schedule, began rewriting the drafts of the volumes I had down/adjusting as I went. I had copy for everything in draft UP TO the ending of Peril's Gate!
So I was working pretty much 'known ground' and refining the scenes/with everything else in notes with scenes (occasionally) in crude draft in advance.
Traitor's Knot/Stormed Fortress were blank draft from the start (except for those scenes notated in bits in advance.) It was the 'finale' sequence of Arc III so pretty much, all the cards were in order, so those drafted pretty smoothly.
Come ARC IV, I had to do Real Time planning. I had notes/definitely knew the order of the major events/had them worked well in advance, but working the plot backwards AND forwards/defining the precise order of each scene, and determining which of many points of view in which to reveal them; setting down the new characters/building ON everything come before without inconsistencies cropping up, and - advance planning for Everything Else - it has been a much harder job than any of you may realize. I had to be SURE everything was Just So because, once publication is done, there is no going back.
Last Volume - has to be air tight; so really, it may 'look' like I've taken more time to write it, when in fact, this is not the case…I had YEARS working with the prior books where now, it is all going from the blank page to 'real time' with no behind the scenes run up.
I am into the 700s with draft pages, and at the half way point, easily, of 11 main/with the final two scenes tightly notated, so I expect a good run for the rest of this week.
Thanks for 'getting it' - I am literally at the desk Every Day/All day pretty much - and have been since this series' inception. There have been life interrupts (had to move my elderly mom out of her house) and static (who hasn't pulled hair over what's been going on the past 5 years in the US?) plus breaks to earn/doing artwork to make ends meet/and production time on prior volumes going in and out of print…it's a 3 ring circus, life, sometimes expanding to five.
And Brian, bless him, for the overhaul going on with the website - !!
Pretty excited for what you have coming!!
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OK, XI main is kicked to the curb; I have to smooth it out a bit, but it's nailed.
Draft page count is 725.
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Woo hoo!! Jump for joy. My day is suddenly so much better. Thank you for all of your hard work Janny
Dear Janny
I have just managed to create a new account to start to read again your forum in anticipation of the last volume.
I’ve admired your work for many, many years, and have read everything. A few years ago I re-read the entire collection, and should really find the time to do so again in advance of the finale!
It has been a great pleasure over these years for me to experience your excellent writing, and although I will be sad that this series will be finished, I am sitting with bated breath 
.
So much time, effort, diligence and attention clearly goes into these works, and I also want to thank you for your commitment to what may end up being nearly half a lifetime’s work.
Very best wishes
Julia
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Hi Julia, thank you! If the series does well enough, (and even if it doesn’t) I will probably do a few ‘shorter’ works attached to it/historical bits that the main novels don’t cover. Perhaps even a YA novel (I have an outline for it).
So much work went into Athera and there is so much of the iceberg that did not show in the novels, I may well use some of that material going forward.
Expect, also, some standalone novels that are totally new.
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Janny,
I started WOLAS in 1994 after starting the cycle of fire trilogy. I was 12 years old. I have enjoyed this series for most of my life. Thank you for teaching me patience, because dang, when I started the Curse of the Mistwraithe I had no idea it would take me close to 30 years to finish the series. Being a 12 year old I thought I would have a trilogy on my hands! I honestly don’t know how many times I have re-read this series. I enjoy it more every read. But thank you. I have been a fan since Jaric became the Firelord and Korendir escaped slavery. I have followed this thread for 20 years at least. But I just wanted to say thank you. Can’t wait for the finale.
Robert
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Robert - thank you so much for sticking with me, your interest and enthusiasm means the world, you have no idea! I can’t wait for you to get Song of the Mysteries! I am at work on 11a/thought I had it figured, but last night, a brainstorm threw my logic into the trash. The addition to this section will be so much fun to write! A lot more behind me than ahead, pleased to say.
I am so looking forward to the conclusion, but it’s also bittersweet! Thank you for sticking to the story for so long and with such integrity, and this new forum is sparkly fantastic.
Really great to see all the folks who have stood with the series since the start! Heartwarming. My thanks for your enthusiasm, helping to make it happen.
Status update: subchapter 11a is in crude draft, following a brainstorm that revised it substantially. 11b is screaming to get out of my head, I may start it while I smooth over what I added yesterday.
Chapter set 12 is MAJOR and once that one is behind me, the great news: I will be ‘sequencing’ exactly how the rest of the book will fall in place. Draft page count this minute is 742, which puts me within 3 pages of the ‘three quarter mark’ - or about 250 pages left to go for target draft length. That’s ‘on point’ for where I am with the action - ending in sight with the bulk of the difficult stuff well behind.
The count down resumes.
From France, and an absolute fan of all your work I could get my hands on (sometimes a bit difficult from here, but nothing the internet cannot solve), after I discovered your work from your cooperation with Feist: something in Mistress of the Empire was/felt different, and highly enticing, to me at least. I quickly found out what that was and thus started my journey through your tapestries. I have been waiting for this last book of the Mistwraith series for what seems like eons, fitting for such a long-span story. Sorry to say I was a bit disappointed in Destiny’s Conflict: I could not help but feel it as a bit too much of a repeat. I really apologize saying so, but I’m such an admirer honesty sounds a fitting homage. Anyway, enough said, and “encore bravo, Madame Wurts”.
Hello from sunny South Africa.
First book of yours I read was Master of Whitestorm, what a book… it was one of the first Fantasy books I read, and it hooked me on the genre, I almost exclusively read Fantasy since then. Feist, Sanderson, Jordan, Eddings, and of course, my favourite, Wurts.
I started reading this series with Curse of the Mistwraith in my final high school year in 1994, and immediately fell in love with it. I have read every book at release up to Traitor’s Knot, but I am saving up the last books for a straight through to the end read. Reason for this is that I am not big of rereads, as I seem to retain the stories too well, and on a reread I just know too much of the story to follow that I end up stopping halfway through. I have attempted to reread Curse of the Mistwraith twice already, getting as far as the destruction of Jieret’s clan before stopping.
So I have a small favour to ask. I am really burning to start my final read through from the beginning, which should take me a couple of months (life and all that), and I was wondering if you have a reasonably firm idea on when Song of Mysteries would launch? Would it be a couple of months (less than a year), or a year or more?
A ballpark is fine, but if you think it would be more than another year and a half from now I would greatly appreciate the info as I would then rather postpone my reread.
I know this is a big thing to ask, but please, if you can…
Hi Cobus, welcome here, pleasing to see you’ve been with my work so long!
I had to wince, to see you’d chosen Traitor’s Knot for your pause point, as the entire finale to arc III is Stormed Fortress, and the two stories are very tightly linked…it’s a much easier break point between Arc III and the start of Arc IV, and it’s odd, but many readers seem to have done the same (based on the stats). Forgive my authorial head scratch and musing, here’s the best answer I can give to your second question.
Release of Song of the Mysteries - is not up to me, insofar as, once the draft is finished out, the publisher selects the release timing. This can vary enormously - if a book has high demand, they will slot it in pretty quickly (but not a crash rush, because that costs oodles of bucks to take shortcuts). Production time - also depends on how many books they have already locked into schedule. (It’s terribly odd, but quite often authors will all turn in their manuscripts in ‘waves’ - so suddenly the editor can be overwhelmed, and the schedule fills way ahead).
I simply won’t know until they tell me/and since I’ve had terrible experiences (readership wrath) when dates get shifted, I will not announce a release time or date until it is absolutely firm on the publisher’s end.
This brings me to what I can (somewhat) control: the work itself from my end. I am into the last quarter lap of this draft (finishing out Chapter Set 11 at this moment). All the threads are into their finale run at this stage, everything that matters is set into motion, and there are only details of timing and a few odds and ends left to sort out. As you’ve noticed by my updates, the pace of my solid words on page has picked up. Expect this to continue/unless there’s unforeseen Life interventions. (no issues pending that I can see).
I absolutely will have the draft turned in when I get there, and you can follow the updates here to see the precise page count of the draft. (Today/to the moment it is 760). I ‘target’ 1000 pages for a draft finish line. Sometimes I run over/sometimes under, though, jeez, never by much, and maybe only once. This book is pretty precisely on target for length and what I’ve got left on the plate to bring to pitch and wrap up. It could (but likely won’t) surprise me too much. The planning for the final volume has had to be very tight to get everything into position.
Once the draft is turned in, I spend a few more months finalizing the language. My drafts are extremely tight dramatically - but the language always needs the finishing touches. At that stage, I can work straight on for hours, there are no pauses or slow days or moments digging through back notes/scenes/history to be sure of consistencies or making sure no stitches are dropped. It’s just pulling out redundancies and tightening style.
Given this is the finishing volume, I do have (for once/not since Peril’s Gate’s fiasco mid merger) a real editor who wants to look over the draft. The past four books - I didn’t turn in until the absolute final, and the manuscript went straight into production (!!! eek, no safety net at all).
I have no idea what kind of interaction there may be from draft to finalized text; the editor is new to the project and I’ve never worked with her before. I anticipate a good experience, it will be great to have other eyes on the project to be sure no stitches are dropped.
I’ve gathered, therefore, there will be a story edit stage and a line edit/from the publisher’s end. What that does to production time (shortens or extends it) I don’t know at this stage.
I suggest that you keep watching the updates/I’ll be posting in real time, and should have a much clearer grip on things once I complete the last chapter set. This draft could, conceivably, wrap in 14 chapter sets; could be less or could be more, I will know when I get there.
Expect I will post an update photo of the draft pretty soon, it is truly overflowing the box. The finishes of these monsters make a pretty mean looking stack. I feel really pleased at this stage to be in the creative home stretch.
Everything will depend on the publisher’s decision on pub date (how far out) and production time. I fit the artwork in after the text is final, and last time around, I got the images in early.
You might want to scratch the itch checking out the satellite short stories that relate to the series, meanwhile, there are six of them and they fill in a lot of back history detail that bears directly on the story at hand.
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Hi, thank you so very much for the detailed response!
Status update today: Chapter Set 11 is in the can.
Starting into the draft of 12 main tomorrow.
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I’m really impressed with how open you are about the development of SOTM. It’s obvious how much time you spend in planning and development - does it drive you bonkers to hear other authors talk about how they just discover the story as they go and wonder how they can do that?
I guess I’ve got some ebooks to start buying to get rolling on this rave-reviewed series and make sure to help keep your cats in kibble for the next year!
Thanks for your efforts in keeping the audience ‘in the loop’ all the way through and congrats on nearing the home stretch!
Thanks for the update Janny. Knowing roughly how many draft pages are to go, would you have any idea of how many chapters SotM will have?