The first draft of Kneel & Prey has been completed.

If you’ve been following along, this isn’t so much a first novel, as a reboot. The first novel, Water & Blood, became the fifth novel. The second first novel, The Homecoming Incident, was scrapped and will be offered later as a bonus. So the third first novel became Kneel & Prey.

As I mentioned in my last post, I tend to underwrite in my first draft, focused more on plot than character or location. It’s a byproduct of coming from a screenwriter background. I was happy that I was able to come in at my goal number of 55,000 words (55,287 to be exact). The end product should come in at 65,000 words.

The initial feedback has been very positive. As expected, there are world building opportunities I need to take advantage of and character areas I need to expand, but the nuts and bolts seemed to hit the target. I hope to have the rewrite finished in a week and get it out to beta readers as soon I can corral them together once again (it’s been a while since I sent them anything).

Another very cool thing, which I’ll talk about in greater detail when the book is nearing publication, is the amazing book cover that was designed for the first novel. Great work by a talented guy and the story by which I came in contact him is inspiring and a testament to the independent publishing community.