LITERARY FANTASY: Xarsians have slain King Margus and the entire royal family. They have forced the port city of Weyvin to pay a geld tax to the usurper, King Derek, and Xarsians now roam the streets looking for fights. The elderly Bogatyr knight Do...
One of my goals for 2021 is to rewrite an old story I wrote in 1997-1998 and never officially published. There are unauthorized versions of "Rise of the Blade" online, but I want to rewrite the book from a new and different perspective and incorporate it into my Korovia fantasy kingdom and the world of Aoerth.
THE NEW VERSION
The new version will be a literary fantasy geared towards a mature adult audience.
The story follows a Bogatyr knight, Ilya Bogdanovic, who comes to the aid of his former master - the elderly Bogatyr knight known as Sir Dobrynya the Dragonslayer. Dobrynya had previously retired, but due to the events of a looming war and the assassination of King Margus and the royal family the aged knight has decided to come out of retirement.
Dobrynya was happy to stay retired, but he is one of the most skilled warriors Korovia has ever seen, and with a possible war brewing as Xarsian soldiers loyal to the new usurper king he has decided now is the time to come out of retirement. Korovia needs a warrior of Dobrynya's stature. After all, if he can handle dragons, giants and trolls, certainly the great warrior can handle a few Xarsians?
SPLITTING UP THE NOVEL
Do you remember how Peter Jackson managed to turn The Hobbit into three films, and they were actually really good? (Debatable, I know, but I really enjoyed them.)
Well, I have determined the original book I wrote during the 1990s might make more sense if I split it up into a trilogy and made various changes. The original story I wrote during the 1990s was about 76,000 words, but after rewriting a lot of chapters I have determined that if I were to rewrite the whole thing then the new book would be about 260,000 to 270,000 words long. Or more.
I estimate the final product will be about 120 chapters, with each chapter being an average of 2200 words. That is 264,000 words. Give or take a few thousand words.
Splitting it into three novels, roughly 88,000 words long each, isn't a terribly complicated process. I am rewriting the book anyway so why not split it up into smaller (more bite size) pieces instead of having one huge book that is similar to size to the first book Game of Thrones (298k) from the Song of Ice and Fire series?
So that's my plan. I recommend subscribing to my Wattpad account and my Twitter account so you can get updates when new chapters become available: twitter.com/charlesmoffat
TYPES OF SWORDS
The novel references various different types of swords.
Arming Sword - The standard knight or soldier's sword, roughly 39 inches long.
Bastard Sword - A sword that can be wielded in one or two hands easily, but is longer than a normal sword wielding by most. Roughly 49 inches long.
Longsword - A very large two-handed sword which can vary in total length from about 60 inches to 72 inches. (Note - Video games/etc often mistakenly call arming swords "longswords", but in reality a longsword is just another name for a large two-handed sword. It is important to make the distinction that the author is aiming for historical accuracy.Historically the bastard sword is considered to be a type of longsword, however this often results in confusion for readers and thus the author will be refraining from referring to bastard swords as longswords.)
Sabre - Similar in length to an arming sword, but with a single bladed edge that is slightly curved in a manner similar to a cutlass, scimitar or katana. Typically used while on horseback for slashing attacks.
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UPDATE, FEBRUARY 2024:
I am resuming work on this novel in 2024. I took a break from it during the past 3 years to finish and publish other projects, but now I am ready to resume and finish this story.
