Announcing The Word – the first United novel – and the end of Oranje

So I posted here a while ago about a change of plans with my writing. Not the first I’ve had since I finished Oranje, but this should be the last. After it released I began work on the 2nd book in the series – Choices – but stopped when I’d not got very far through the first draft. I felt I needed to work on a different project to improve how I write characters and the flow of my writing.

That project, like the September series Oranje was part of, was going to be a series. This time of three novels rather than four. I outlined and wrote part of a first draft of the opener to that series before deciding I was on the wrong path again.

The issue for me has never been coming up with ideas. Christ I’ve got pages of ideas for stories I want to write. I think that will always be true.

The problem’s been keeping my focus, on finishing whole stories.

Sure I finished Oranje, but it was only the first part in a series. And I know I could always expand my ideas into series after series after series but that’s no use if I don’t truly finish any of them.

What I need is a setting within which I tell a series of standalone stories that are all great on their own, the common setting serving as a link between them all so each can enrich the other by revealing aspects of the back story or universe not covered in the other books.

So without further ado I’m pleased to announce…

The Word, the first United novel:

Three will decide the fate of millions.

War is coming to the region of September, war it cannot predict or prepare itself for without help. But the impending invasion has not gone unnoticed. The Curators, protectors of the Net, have seen the coming storm. They know that millions have died already.

All of September must be warned and an alliance built to fight the enemy that threatens them all.

Three people will be sent out to do this perilous mission. The future of September is theirs to decide.

(the above description is very much rough and work in progress right now but you get the idea).

The United will serve as the setting for a whole bunch of standalone novels that will cover the rise of the United – a nation seeking to unite all of humanity – one thousand years in the future.

But what about Oranje?

Ah yes. As some of you may have noticed the description for The Word above shares quite a few similarities to the story of Oranje.

That’s because it is Oranje really, well it will cover the entire story I meant for the September series in a single book all told from the perspective of Isi and The Three. But don’t expect to see large chunks of Oranje copy and pasted into it, it’s a rewrite from scratch so it’s all new and you’ll see a lot of differences in characters and story.

So what for people who already own Oranje? I’m delisting the book as we speak from the various sites it is currently available on and won’t be available for purchase.

If you bought Oranje you can email me at jacklusted[at]outlook.com and I will send you a free copy of The Word in whatever format you want when it releases. I don’t want anyone to feel ripped off.

The end result of all this should be better books – complete books! – and a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

It’s a big step to take but the right one for me and my writing.

I also intend to be more open with progress on The Word so expect work in progress chapters to appear both here and perhaps on sites like Wattpad once I get to work on the second draft.

I hope you will enjoy this journey with me and thanks for reading.