Writing Update 6-November-2024

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Tbdanny

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, so here goes.

Embers of Doubt is still being edited. I ended up rewriting chapters 1, 2 and 14. There’s a fairy politics subplot that runs through these chapters, and ties into Yaetherim’s character arc across the first three books. First time around, it was just Yaetherim getting angry at his village council for their inaction. The rewrite made it more subtle, and lined it up better with the fairy culture I’ve come up with. Discussing duty to one’s village and so on.

With that done, the pen edits are complete. I’ve got chapters 1 & 2 up to the stage where they’re ready to go to the beta readers. But I won’t be sending those out until they’re all done.

I’ve also been working on some side projects, too. I’ve had ideas for some interquels. These will be novellas, which take place between the full-length novels. I’m working on two at the moment. One features Naeliya, and leads into her plot in novel 4. The other features Yatherim, investigating what starts as an ordinary case. That could turn into a full-length novel, depending on how things go.

Most of these stories are planned out, as they’re murder mysteries. I usually work backwards, starting with what needs to happen and who the murderer is. For something a little different, I’ve started working on a slice-of-life story featuring a character who’s just moved to Alkentoft. Unlike the others, this is not planned. I’m just writing it and seeing where it takes me.

Author Interview – The Witchy Reader

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Tbdanny

Yesterday I did an author interview with Joharra Harper, aka The Witchy Reader. We discussed my series, both written and upcoming, and I had a great time.

A Pinch of Distrust Released!

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Tbdanny

A Pinch of Distrust is now out! It’s available in print or eBook format from Amazon, as well as eBook format from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play books and a variety of other sellers. Purchase links can be found in the About the Books section.

Writing Update 15-January-2023

Posted on January 15, 2023 by Tbdanny

I think I’ve said this before, but I’ve often found that ‘writer’s block’ is really my imagination saying that the story wasn’t meant to be happening this way. This time around, it was chapter 10 of Flames of Doubt, which is what I’ve tentatively titled book 2 in the series.

It’s the stage where Yaetherim thinks he’s figured out who did it, and now he’s seeking to prove it. Originally, he was going to set a trap to flush them out, and this was going to be justified in a scene where he explains this to two other characters. It felt a bit forced, as though it was happening purely for the plot to reach the point I wanted it to reach.

After sitting back and considering it, I was able to adjust the plot so that it flows a bit better. Now, while trying to gather evidence, Yaetherim realises that he’s seeing another murder attempt play out. So he quickly improvises a plan to intervene and entrap the killer. This works a lot better, and still leads into the finale I’m after.

Writing Update 4-December-2022

Posted on December 4, 2022 by Tbdanny

Everything is finally in place for A Pinch of Distrust. The final draft of the final draft (no, that’s not a typo) has been uploaded to the various sites. It’s now available for pre-order on a variety of services. I’ve listed all the purchase links on the books section of this website, at https://rychilla.com/about-the-books/.

I have also started posting character profiles of my core cast on social media, to introduce them. I’ve also diversified my social media, given what’s going on with Twitter at the moment. I’m now on Mastodon as well as Tumblr and Facebook. So the business side of things is settled, for now.

Writing-wise, there’s been a couple of developments for book 2. I’ve drafted up to the start of the third act, where everything starts to fall into place. As part of this, he consults a character named Taesonith, who was originally going to be a one-off character in A Pinch of Distrust. In fact, her appearance in that story is what leads to her showing up here.

While writing the scene, I realised that her story wasn’t done yet. So I did some character development on her, and she’s now another of my core characters. But not in the usual sense. She’s developed into Yaetherim’s rival. The Quark to his Odo, if you’re familiar with Deep Space Nine. Something like that, at least.

I don’t want to give away too much, but her development and path forward are very much of Yaetherim’s own doing. Sometimes she’s an ally, sometimes not. Perhaps I will give her a story or two of her own. Guess I’ll just have to see what develops. For me, that’s one of the fun parts of writing, anyway. Pulling on the strings of these ideas and seeing where they go.

Writing Update 18-November-2022

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Tbdanny

A Pinch of Distrust is now finished. I’ve spent the last few months getting my head around the self-publishing process on Amazon, Ingram, Draft2Digial and Google Play books. I think I’ve got it worked out now. I’m planning to do a cover reveal within the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I’ve already started working on the second book in the series. It is a sequel, in that the events of APOD give rise to the plot of this one. But it’s still a standalone murder mystery. When I came up with the idea for the series, I conceived it as a ‘murder of the week’ type deal. Each book can be picked up and read on its own, and the reader will get a complete story. But there’ll still be underlying subplots and character development that carry through from one book to the next.

In this case, book 2 starts in the aftermath of APOD. The boss of one of the murderers from that book hires Yaetherim to help assess the character of those applying to fill the murderer’s job. Seems straightforward, until one of those candidates dies in what seems to be an unfortunate accident.

Progress on book 2 is going well. I was able to do up a plot outline and start drafting while awaiting beta reader feedback for APOD.

I usually do plan my stories, as it works best for me. I’ll usually start with the solution to the mystery and plot backwards from there, to ensure things line up. I use a tool called Plottr, which allows for scenes to be tagged, edited and adjusted on a timeline. It’ll then export an outline that can be referred to.

However, even with a plan in place, my stories have a way of evolving as I write them. As such, I recently had to adjust the plot outline. Some of the characters weren’t where they needed to be and I was getting writer’s block. To me, writer’s block usually means that the story isn’t meant to happen that way. So I had to adjust things, and in doing so, I was able to smooth out the plot and close a few plot holes.

I’m going to try and keep up with these writing updates, now.