Hello, Insiders!
Today we’re going to answer some of your burning questions. At least we hope it’s the questions that are burning you. You know, you should probably get that thing looked at. Go see a doctor.
Q: CORRIE ASKED: “I would like to know if there will be more from the ghost detective. I love all of the Uncanny Kingdom books, but I must confess, those are a favorite.”
A: Ah, Jake Fletcher from the Spectral Detective series! Well, Corrie, the short answer to that is… YES. David, the author of that series, mentioned to me just this week that he’s going to be writing book four soon, so keep your peepers peeled for more news on that!
Q: TATONKA ASKED: “How do you know how many books should be in the series you are working on?”
A: Good question! And the answer… well… we don’t. I always start off with three in mind. A trilogy. That seems like a good, solid number of stories to aim for. After that, it can depend on a mix of things. Do you, our readers, show interest? Do you ask about a series and tell us you want more? Do the sales figures justify a book four? A book five? Do we even have another story we can tell with these characters? So far, we’ve yet to go past a three book series, but that’s all about to change. For one thing, our NEW series will be at least six books. I’m working on book five right now! And what’s more, we’ve already got a fourth Dark Lakes book in the planning stages, too. Swish!
Q: CAILIN ASKED: “Did you agree to the rules of the world before starting, or were they more fluid and changing until you needed them solidified for a storyline?”
A: We did have some of the rules worked out in advance. Things like how the magic worked and what different creatures were capable of. But we also kept things fairly vague, so we could have a free-ish hand with each of the series we were working on, and slowly build up a clear picture of the Uncanny Kingdom, piece by piece, rather than be too locked in from the start. Now we’re coming up on our sixth U.K. series, we have things pretty well mapped out, to the point that we need a writers’ bible to keep track of all our characters, locations, and story elements. That way we don’t break any of our own rules and everything stays consistent (and if it doesn’t, um, I don’t know…. magic?)
Q: RON ASKED: “Have you ever considered doing a book or series in the LitRPG genre?”
A: The main problem there is I haven’t played a video game in about 15 years, so I think I’d need to do a bit of a deep dive into how to make it work if I ever did. I guess what I’m saying is, don’t hold your breath!
David has written a series called Trolled that’s semi-LitRPG, in that it involves characters playing a game that ends up becoming their reality. Technically, it’s more of a portal fantasy or GameLit series though, as it doesn’t do the stats and levelling up stuff. Worth a look if you’re into that kind of thing though, particularly if you’re a LARPer (David apologises profusely to the people who have no idea what any of these abbreviations mean).
Okay, that’s enough questions answered for now. Keep ’em coming and we’ll endeavour to shine a light on anything else you might want to know.
Matt.
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