Shadow Gods

Anyone following me knows that I'm finally getting around to editing and eventually publishing my series Shadow Gods #ShadowGodsSeries. This was the original series I started way back when I was seventeen and didn't finish until I was thirty-seven. Even then, it's rough and needed editing (a lot of editing). Right now, I'm on my third edit of the 1st book, completed the second edit of the 2nd book, and am about 2/5th of the way through editing the 3rd book. Considering there are 9 books in the series, it's gonna be a while before I finish them all. However, I'm not going to wait for all of them to be done before publishing the first book, but I want the first 3 relatively complete before putting out the first one. This way the series will roll out fairly quickly, I hope.

This process of editing, however, is not easy and takes far longer than I anticipated. For instance, I spent 3+ hours today editing just 7 pages while knowing it's still rough and will need at least 2-3 more rounds of editing. I don't really have the patience for this, but I'm not willing to let someone else take the reigns when its in such an unfinished form. Furthermore, there are so many nuances to the story and points I want to add that I know no one else will quite finish it like I would. This is not to say I'm a perfectionist or possessive of the story, but rather that I've lived, loved, and breathed these characters for most of my life. Nobody understands them or the story like I do. Therefore, it has to be complete and clean (to some degree) before I think it's ready for anyone else besides me to read it.

What I want to say above all else is that within each book the story gets better.

In the first book (Mage of Chaos), I focus on a man named Dohan, though I may change his name to Dogon for one specific reason, namely the last 2 words of the 9th book. Dohan is a powerful mage of questionable integrity who manipulates people and situations to his own goals.

In the second book (Priest of Chaos), I focus on two characters, those being Aman and Friar Jarum. Both of these men are seedy, cruel, and heartless, though for far different reasons. Their interactions, however, set up a major turning point in the books to come.

Now that I'm into the third book (Warrior of Chaos), I realize I'm focusing on Lord Storem, the dictator of a major city/province. What I'm coming to know about him is that, despite his public lust for blood, he's an honorable man with good intentions, though life has led him down a path he can't turn back from.

The books which follow these tend to focus on other characters, each just as important, though each one of them tends to evolve as the books reach their conclusion.

What I find amazing, even as I go through them now, is that each character is a product of their environment. Each person was given a choice, good or bad, and now they suffer or reap the consequences of that choice. This does not mean that they are either good or evil, but rather that some ruts are harder to get out of than others. This series tests those limits within each of us, within each of these few characters, because we all have decisions to make. And sometimes the simplest of decisions can have ever-lasting effects on who we are and who we become.