March 2021 Update - The Pirates of Sissa

The Pirates of Sissa - March 2021 Writing Update

As some of you might know, my plan is to finish The Pirates of Sissa by the end of 2021. We're three months into this year, and I'll admit that I haven't been working on it as much as I should have. It's funny that it took me most of March to get back to writing, so that I only really started working on the book again about a week ago, if that.

Still, I am proud of my progress so far, especially as I'm at a part of the story where I... didn't have much of a plan going into it. It just serves to connect two larger parts of the story. We'll see how that works out.

When I started writing again this year - which didn't actually happen until February, since January was a busy month for me academically - I was at 82,278 words. Today, as I write this, I am at 97,108 words, and counting. That's over 10k words that I've written for it this year, but if I'm being honest with myself, I think I could have written more. There are still a few days left in March, though, and I plan to make best use out of them!

One of the challenges that I seem to face now is basically due to how long I've been working on The Pirates of Sissa. It's been a few years at least, and possibly more. This book wasn't always its own book, though. My series The Qarran Tales started out as one book, with an extremely complicated set of plots spanning the entire continent. But I decided to break it down when I realized I'd reached 100,000 words and was nowhere near being halfway finished with telling the story. So I broke it down.

But because I've been working on The Pirates of Sissa for so long, there are some pieces of information that I don't always keep track of. For example, I'll rearrange certain scenes only to realize that important scene-relevant information was revealed that needs to stay in the scene's original point in the timeline. Or I'll completely forget that I've made a decision about a specific detail and treat it differently in other parts of the story.

Let's just say, editing is going to be a Big Thing once this draft is completed. 

On the bright side, I really do feel like the story is progressing in a way that's satisfying and exciting. I have even bigger plans for these characters than I had previously had now, and I'm enjoying that tremendously. (Just ask my friends - I'm always gushing to them about new plot points, worldbuilding, themes, etc.! 😄)

In particular, I'm at a point where I'm developing the characters of Gallus, Luca, Krig, and Bor a bit more, and it goes without saying that Sahra and Vadra get a lot of character development throughout the book as well. I've written two (2) entire scenes where they deal with each other's hatred head-on, and that definitely means we're getting somewhere.

Before I end this update, I'll leave you with an excerpt. In this scene, Vadra and Sahra are discussing the successes they've had with the peace process and the obstacles they'll face moving forward. Still, Sahra's suspicions concerning the Emperor's peace plan gnaw at her...

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The treaty stated that all Qorsan would be given homes in Sissa, mostly in the outskirts where the majority of them used to live. They would be able to take back the houses they’d abandoned so many years ago. They’d have the same rights and responsibilities as any Sissan citizens – because they would become official citizens of Sissa as well, just as they had been all those decades ago. They'd be able to conduct business and get jobs, just like everyone else. They'd have access to education, healthcare, and proper sanitation. So many promises, and not a single catch – that she could find, anyway. 

After all these decades of hatred, was it really that simple? 

“I hope you haven’t forgotten about Governor Bor,” Vuur continued. “He’ll be dining with us tonight.”

Sahra rolled her eyes. “Well, that’s wonderful news.”

“I told you this morning,” Vuur frowned.

“I wasn’t listening to you.” The last thing she felt like doing was hosting Bor for dinner. She had more important things to think about. Besides, she’d rather have Kaseh over for dinner than that beady-eyed governor, and that was saying a lot.

Something nagged at the back of her mind. A warning. Emperor Gallus was a politician above all else, and politicians didn't suddenly become philanthropic for no reason at all. She didn't know much about the Emperor, but it seemed unlikely that he would just give them back everything they had lost – everything his people had taken from them. 

What does he want?

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So, as you can see, while everything seems quite legitimate and essentially a dream come true from the Qorsan side of things, Sahra's intuition is telling her that it's too good to be true. Whether or not her suspicions are valid, you'll just have to read and find out! 😉

I hope you've enjoyed this excerpt. 😄 Until next month's update!

EDIT: I've just ended the month with over 100,000 words in The Pirates of Sissa! 🎉

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Have you checked out my eerie suspense novella Apartment yet?