I’ve just posted the revised writing for Book 2 sections, including the Introduction all the way up to Chapter 22. I don’t have a time frame in mind for how long it’ll take me to finish these edits, however. While the first 22 chapters didn’t require anything outside of basic editing, I foresee a few major edits and even new chapters coming closer to the end of Book 2.

Thanks to everyone who’s provided feedback and editing help in the comments section! I appreciate the time you’ve given in reading and pointing out typos or ideas that just don’t seem to sound right. I’ve based a lot of my current edits on these things, and I’m working to ensure consistency between the edits in Book 1 and the future Dreigiau books!

Here’s a shortened version of  things that I’ve done or will do:

-Remove site membership for Dreigiau & Runne. I experimented with site membership, but never fully liked the idea of restricting my stories, especially for newcomers to Wayrift who might want to look back through the histories. Membership requirements have already been removed from both sites.

-Publish Dreigiau Book 1 as a complete ebook. I experimented with segmenting the book and don’t really like the outcome. It seemed like a good idea, but I just don’t think that the smaller segments cover enough content overall. So I will be replacing the existing segment with the full ebook this weekend.

-Continue editing Dreigiau Book 2. I’ve been working on it in the background, even though I haven’t actually changed site content. I would also love to revisit old artwork or chapters missing artwork and do some art updates.

-Resume Runne updates. I didn’t actually mean to put Runne on hold. That was a by-product of the lack of time with the new job.

-Shimmer? Shimmer has also been put on hold just due to lack of time. I’ll see what I can do to revive the remake in time, but no promises.

-Secret project? It’s still out there. I haven’t forgotten about it!

Chapter 47 is another completely re-written chapter, taking the place of what was previously a discussion chapter between Zemi and Zerom. The way I’ve set the story up now, that chapter didn’t make a lot of sense. So I re-wrote it and used the opportunity to introduce Zazo’s character as well. It was tough trying to get into Zerom’s mind long enough to find justifications for what he’s done in Book 1, so I hope it’s enjoyable to folks!

I moved the chapter that was previously “The Passage” to the start of Book 2, rather the end of Book 1. I felt to leave on such a cliffhanger probably wouldn’t be a good idea on my first book (though I know most my chapters are cliff hangers). I’ve went back and forth on how to approach the order of chapters, and finally decided to push it back behind the Book 2 Introduction and make it the sneak peek chapter for the book that’s included in Book 1.

What’s Forthcoming! 

I still need to ensure all the formatting is complete and compile Dreigiau into a file for publication. Once I submit it, it may take time before Dreigiau shows up on the Amazon site. I’ve never done this before, so this is an experiment!

This is important! 

I’ve decided to launch Dreigiau as part of the KDPSelect program. I feel that since this is my first real serious attempt to publish, this program will help gain a wider audience that may never hear about Dreigiau otherwise. I’m not sure how all this works just yet, but I do know there’s one stipulation with this.

When you choose KDP Select for a book, you’re committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP. During the period of exclusivity, you cannot distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc.

What does this mean?

In order to comply with the terms, for a period of 90 days, I will have to remove Dreigiau from this website. That means that for 3 months, Book 1 will be missing from Dreigiau.com. Once that period is over, I will restore the book to the site for all people who have become members.

Membership to Dreigiau.com will be closing this week as well. If you haven’t already signed up for an account, now’s the time to do so!

I will be providing free Amazon downloads of Dreigiau Book 1 for a limited time to everyone in the future. I’ll announce it ahead of time to be sure that folks have a chance to get a copy of the ebook for free! I encourage you to take advantage of this when it’s released – not only do you get the free digital book, but it helps support Dreigiau and make it easier for other fantasy readers to find on Amazon!

I think that’s all the big news for now. I’ll be posting more information about things as I get them done!

So that means one more re-written chapter, but for sure, the final one! I’m getting much, much closer to having it all done now!

Chapter 30 is a brand new chapter that includes some elements of two previous chapters that are now scrapped and placed in the Deleted Scenes section. I felt that after all that had happened to the characters, I needed one chapter to finish the first part of the story arc, where the original book 1 left off, before I transitioned into the next section. It was a fun chapter to draft with a good conversation between Zemi, Zento and SaRa. The goal is to summarize and provide some clarification for many things, touch on aspects such as Zemi’s Earthian form and provide a leeway for the logical introduction of Kudako.

The following chapters have also been revised, though with only minor changes:

• Chapter 31
• Chapter 32
• Chapter 33

My ultimate hope is to actually see the rest of Book 1 edited completely by this weekend. If that happens, I’ll be releasing the new ebook possibly next week!

Chapter 26 and Chapter 28 are minor revisions that worked to mesh together the contiguity of the new material with the old. The battle section has been expanded to three chapters rather than two with the addition of a brand new Chapter 27.

Chapter 27 Highlights

• Battle from TsuYa’s point of view
• Shows the Ghost Clan’s fight against the Awakened
• Zento gets to show off his spiffy armor
• JouKa gets a short cameo
• TsuYa and Zento’s fight is extended — he shows off some of his Marked strength

Chapter 29 is a combination of two old chapters.  Despite the fact that the chapters dealt with different points of view, both of the chapters were fairly short, so I decided to just link them together.

Future plans: Chapter 30 will be a brand new piece, hopefully the last for this section. It’ll be a combination replacement of two of the old deleted scenes: “Casting Stones” and “The Day We Meet Again.” I decided I did need a transitional piece between what used to be Book 1 and Book 2. From there, I hope to zip through another edit of what used to be the old Book 2 material. I don’t foresee a lot of changes there, I hope. If all goes well, that means I’m looking towards an official ebook release fairly soon!

Keep in mind that when I release the ebook, a number of things will happen. This site will close membership — I think most Sygnus folks have had a chance to sign up already. I’ll also discontinue the old Book 1 and Book 2 versions of Dreigiau that were published on CreateSpace. Eventually, I do hope to re-release this revision as a paperback as well.

Chapter 20 saw the biggest changes where I re-wrote a substantial part of the beginning of the chapter and fused two chapters into one. This chapter should properly bridge most of the new content back into the older content in hopefully a smooth transition.

Chapters 21-25 saw only minor changes, nothing significant to really post about. Mostly polishing the writing, and making sure everything made sense.

In an effort to keep the book flowing smoothly, I’ve removed two more chapters from the lineup, and placed them into the Deleted Scenes pile — Spirit’s Armor and Casting Stones. Though removed from the final draft of the book, they will remain on the site for members to view.

While I may have a few more minor additions to make to upcoming chapters, my goal is now to get through editing to the portion that used to be Book 2. From there, I feel the process should speed up significantly, with hopes to get the first ebook wrapped up for publication soon!

• A deeper look into KoGuRai’s psychology
• Showing the gradual Marked presence within Nefol’s walls
• Establishing the battle between the Awakened and the members of the Ghost Clan
• Introducing Suzume’s character — she’s the little girl featured in this chapter, if you couldn’t already tell

I’m happy that I was able to continue to explore KoGuRai’s character in an early chapter. I believe this will be the last chapter that takes his point of view for a while. I’m also happy to be able to use this as a foundation for introducing Suzume. I feel it’s more gradual than dropping her into the story as she was in the original drafts.

I also like the idea of slowly building up the internal strife between the hidden Awakened within the city and the Ghost Clan, who are becoming more and more bold in their actions. And of course, showing the Marked spreading.

This chapter and the previous chapter call for a fairly large revision for the next chapter — where SoYa comes home for the first time after TsuYa has claimed leadership over Nefol. I need to tie up some loose ends before plunging him back into the framework of the original chapters. Pretty soon, I hope that I’ll hit a point where all I need to do is editing, which won’t take as long as this re-write of the first section has taken. I really want to get this book released before the summer, if possible!

This does indicate that I’ll need to be revising other chapters as I get to them — especially the next SoYa chapter and his responses to SaRa’s revelation.

The next chapter will also be new content, which I hope to finish before the week’s end. Enjoy!

Chapter 14 only saw a few minor changes to consistency and flow. I cut a few bits here and there to better solidify AsaHi’s character.

Chapter 15 saw a fairly major rework where Zento is introduced. Because I’m re-writing the Awakened to allow them to put away their wings as will, Zento’s wings won’t show up until the next chapter. This allows a little more normality for him and helps to more slowly introduce the idea of Awakening in the story. I also changed the entire introduction scene between Zemi and Zento, because that part always just bugged me. So now it’s better. *nod*

Chapter 16 is where AsaHi will first discover Zento’s wings and the other winged people in Ceiswyr. I felt that this was something better kept all in one chapter. I’m also leading up to an earlier explanation of Awakening in one of the new chapters I’ll be writing.

Chapter 17 was moved from an earlier position in the storyline to this point, in order to keep SoYa’s chapters connected. Rather than have Zeni come out and tell SoYa to find his father, she instructs him to look for NaDo. This will allow me to introduce NaDo a little earlier in the storyline, as well as fill in some of Zento’s backstory (since NaDo was there when Zento Awakened and knows the whole thing).

The next new chapter will focus on SoYa’s discussion with NaDo, which will eventually lead him on a search for his father.