My initial foray into writing began thirty years ago, where I had attempted to write some fluff fiction describing a region of the Forgotten Realms setting for Dungeons and Dragons. I began writing the piece as a short story, but along the way, TSR came out with their description of the region, which was completely different from what I had imagined.
I decided to reset the story in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. This time, however, I was in violation of their canon, as one of the protagonists was an orc, which is strictly and specifically forbidden in the Games Workshop author guidelines.
Annoyed with the politics of writing for existing settings, I decided to create my own world. I created the map, then I added surrogates for different Earth cultures through history, and I inserted my story into that world.
I then proceeded to write the story, working title Myreane’s Tale, “when the muse hit me.” This turned out to be periods of productivity separated by months or even years of inactivity. Myreane’s Tale ended up being 83,000 words when I finally set it aside in 2016 and started writing the Utgarda Series.
There were many issues with that manuscript. By virtue of writing it over such a long period of time, many things changed. I wrote the first third of it all at once over the course of several months when there was no work and I was waiting to be laid off. While the oldest of the writing, and hence least polished, this portion is complete and consistent.
The next chunk was written in small bits over several years. My writing had improved over time, and this section ended up different from the initial section on several dimensions.
The final portion of the uncompleted manuscript was again written over an extended period. However, by that time, my interests had changed and the plot went completely off the rails. Also the writing was vastly different both stylistically and conceptually from the original section.
With four books of the Utgarda Series on the market, I have decided to resurrect Myreane’s Tale. The first portion is slightly longer than the Old Man’s Request: Book One of the Utgarda Series. I am going to clean up this section and publish it, to be followed by a revised second book, and a completely new and consistent conclusion.
This trilogy, and this one will be limited to three, will be entitled Myreane’s Tale.