Okay everyone, here is an explanation of what I've been up to lately and why there have been no recent releases. I'm very sorry about that but I've just been very busy.

I have in fact been working on the story but not on writing new chapters. Instead, I'v been trying to improve the first half of the story. Your feedback would be much appreciated.

I really feel that I've improved as a writer since I started and thus I've been editing the first few arcs. On top of just general improvements I've also been trying to bring it up to e-book quality and format.

Below is a timeline for the story as it stands now. I had a much rougher timeline I was working from but as I actually wrote the story a lot changed. This is my first big writing project and I had no idea how to pace everything as I wrote. The Iron Teeth has turned out to be much longer and slower paced than I initially planned so some things need shifting around.

Current Timeline: Warning Spoilers

The Road North

Merchant caravan in cage, thinking back to sewer life

Bandit attack, freed by Saeter

Training to do chores

Meets Vorscha and Garalhd

Goes out to get rabbits and sees harpies

Meets Herad, reason for staying

Out hunting for deer and spiders

Sneaks into party and gets drunk

Honor Among Thieves

Wakes up with hangover

Rides Wagon and practices tying cord

Stop for the night

Does a lot of chores, skinning, smoking, gets knife and leather

Hunts with trap and sling

Bullying followed by Gerlahd and Herad fights

Goes out to get snares and slime fight

Search for cave and Mimic attack, goblins

Merchants arrive and trade, Blacknail steals key

Herad goes out to raid weapon shipment

Boar attack and disappearances

Raid returns with casulties

Ghoul infestation and battle

Blacknail sniffs out infection

Written in Blood

Becomes a hobgoblin

Beat up by Saeter and given a sword

Kills bandit at latrine

Khita is recruited

Training by Vorscha

Red Dog and Saeter attack deserters

They end up in tight spot

Blacknail sneak into deserters, kills leader

They recruit deserters, mage, prisoner woman

Troll Attack

Follow Troll back to it's lair and kill it

Returns to camp, see goblin

Along Twisted Paths

Herad and Saeter go North to Daggerpoint

Red Dog left in charge of camp for winter

Blacknail follows Saeter

Drake and Ogre Stampede

Runs into travellers

Run into goblins and fights harpies

Teaches goblins stuff and improves lair

Gets lost, uses human trap, and asks for directions

Arrives at Daggerpoint and scales wall

Den of Beasts

Stalks through alleys and explores.

Meets Luphera and gets information

Khita is ambushed and he intervenes

Follows her back to base and overhears Herad

Decides to kill her enemies

Visits Luphera and gets info

Sneaks into Fang's base and kills him

Runs back to his tribe and presents Herad with Fang's head

Visits Avorlus with Mahedium and they return with deal

Failed attack on them by thugs

A Tradesman's Tools

Wakes up in room

Training with Herad

Elixir from Avorlus

Under bed next morning

Goes out shopping and finds mask

Sent to kill Galive with Saeter

Kills him and avoids Malthus

Hears footsteps on roof while sleeping

Assassins and Malthus attack Herad at night

Blacknail kills some and chases rest back to Luphera's

Sneaks in, kills man, and meets Luphera

Alarm is raised and he is convinced to kill man for Luphera

Fights guards and assassins then duels with Malthus

Flees through window but has to climb back inside

Hides in closet until Luphera kicks assassins out

Stuff

Queen of Swords

Goes out with Saeter to recruit

Run in with street children

Hears about ghouls but it turns out ot be Avorlus' men

He is a bloodmage

Saeter confronts Herad and Mahedium

Preperations for war and construction of barricades

Zelena summons mercs and starts attack

Hired thugs fail to take barricade after Mahedium blasts them

Mercs advance and blow hole in barricade with mage

Head falls back and sets wall alight

Mercenaries are pushed into flames and defeated

Assassins start targeting Herad's archers

Blacknail is sent out to stop them

Lures Malthus into overgrown land.

Uses traps and ambush to kill assassins

Blacknail goes back to battle.

Sees Saeter fighting and dives in to save him

Meeting of remaining bandit chiefs

On top of a lot of editing to speed up the pace of the first few arcs I've been thinking about adding a new arc in after Written in Blood. The point of this would be too make the first half story more self contained and like a novel; so it has a clear beginning, middle, and end that gives readers more of a sense of progression. Again, this is also to fix the really slow pacing of the story at the start.

Some ideas I've been throwing around for this are:

Finding the cave and a battle with a powerful mutant, such as a giant snake.

Build up the world more naturally with resorting to interludes.

An attack by the knights from the beginning of Written in Blood to show more about nobles and society.

Very action heavy arc with lots of chaos.

Shows Blacknail's character and social status growth.

Sets up the war in Daggerpoint

Earlier introduction of unique Elixir powers

Tell me what you think and about any ideas you have!

Another big thing I've been thinking about is rewriting the prologue to make it more relevant and have a bigger hook. A good story needs to get people's attention in just the first paragraph and I'm not sure my current one does that. Some readers have also complained about it being so long and the shift in perspective, and they have a point.

New/Changed Prologue: The Shattering of Ways

Blood poured from the man’s wounds onto the cold ground beneath him. He was dying and beyond help now. He choked and gasped as bitter blood clogged his throat but he fought to hold still and at least die with dignity. In his last moments, and in front of all these witnesses, he wasn’t going to go out thrashing around like a fish out water. Burn that!

He refused to have regrets, even though he had never gotten what he’d wanted out of life. He had done the best he could and died for what he’d believed in! His would be the last laugh anyway.

He could still feel the inhuman eyes that watched and blazed with hate. The dying man tried to chuckle but all that came out was a weak gargling cough. The fools had no idea what they’d unleashed! They couldn’t see how the world had changed and turned against them.

As the man’s vision grew dark, scenes from his past began to play out before him. His last breath rattled through his teeth and he couldn’t help but think back to how it had all began…

The point here is to shorten the really huge and not completely relevant prologue I have now and really get it to grab peoples' attention in only a few sentences. The story is just so long now that keeping the same prologue wouldn't make much sense. I'll probably re-add it as an interlude.

If you have any ideas or criticisms for any part of the story I would love to hear from you. It would be really helpful to hear from all my readers about what they think makes my story strong and what makes it weak.

The more input I get the faster I can get this out of the way and get back to new chapters!

-ClearMadness