This is just to let folks know.

When I finished the first arc, I was still getting to know Royal Road. There are still a lot of things I don't understand about this site, about its readership, the way it rates stories, and even the way people search out and read books.

It's been a hard learning experience, especially since I like writing stories, and hate all the marketing and publicist stuff that comes with it. I have gotten a lot of advice, both good and bad, along the way, and I sometimes made the wrong choices because I didn't know any better...

Like avoiding the forums. It was a hard lesson, but forums are utterly toxic no matter where you go, filled with trolling, flame wars, and the worst possible advice. ugh. If the stories here are heaven, the forums are its abyss, filled with demons that delight in torturing the souls of those foolish enough to wind up there.

So, basically, to avoid Burnout I have been rewriting my spouse's Bran stories. I am not an expert, since a lot of the anecdotes are from his personal experiences, but I like to think I am doing well. The world is his world, but we have been gaming in it for over 25 years, and I am enjoying sharing it with others.

Also, The writathon is here, and Alchemist has sexual content, which disqualifies it.

So, while I am rejuvenating by writing a lighthearted tale about a kobold, I will also be gradually moving Alchemyst 2 into the first book as a volume, and rewriting a few troubling early chapters (like 5. Everyone hated 5 because I thought the clues were abundant, but they clearly weren't as obvious as I had planned. I read a stretch of mysteries before I started writing it, and not everyone loves Charlie Chan's super-subtle Chekov's guns.)

After the writathon and the end of Chronicle's first arc, I will be moving back into Alchemyst, editing (and rewriting) a lot of chapters that are sitting on my hard drive from the third arc before putting them up here, and just generally trying to clean things up while I decompress.

I would love advice in the comments from readers who have come this far. You can see where I am going, and love books, and most of you know how RR works better than I do.

Also, I discovered that The Alchemyst was the title of a really awful book. I read it, hated it, and changed the title to The Complete Alchemyst to try and divorce my book from that one, but it just isn't enough. I am going to get a new cover and rename it, and I would absolutely love name suggestions.

And thanks for following the story this far! There's a LOT more seasons to come, and they are all planned to fit together within the overarching plot.

Roadmap-

More encounters with foreign powers like the Japanese adventure

Werewolves and Vampires and Fey, Oh my!

Who is creating the portals? Where are the monsters coming from?

Kicking a few deific asses.

Seriously? Louis gets captured AGAIN? Well, at least this time he's (mostly) dead.

More sex.

A lot of misunderstandings about Louis' abilities.

Cleaning up the town, including Proteus (It's not really all bad.) and the DMA (Fuck the DMA!)

Another redhead!

More Baldwin. and More Blackhawk. (Blackhawk is central to the third arc, sorta?)

Karen Anchorage (The Original Karen) remember her?

Killing Rainbow Warrior. Again.

Speedburn and Miss Katonic. They are actually a whole lot cooler than I introduced them, and sorta psychotic.

Adolph Hitler. No, seriously. His political movement never really took off, so he turned to his secondary obsession.

Someone that Chads the hell out of Maria. Sorry Aquantis Fans, she's not his true love!

An important character dies. This time, for real. Louis goes full John Wick for a bit. No, it's not Vectress.

A real, honest-to-goodness Dragon!

Multi-dimensional shenanigans, including a bit of Alandia and invisible girl crossover.

and much, much more! This book is founded in comic book culture, so the weird gets weirder.

I am also shortening some chapters. 5k words each is kind of cool, but I think I'd rather avoid feeling like I am padding wordcount by putting too much in each one. After my break, I want to add them more frequently, and aim for 3-5 k instead of making 5k my standard. a chapter every 2 days is a lot more accessible than two a week, I think?

And again, thanks for reading. Please leave suggestions in the comments!