The sequel to Diaries of a Dwarven Rifleman is starting to take on it’s own direction, and predictably it isn’t quite what we had n mind when we started, but we like it. This is the first sequel we have written and in some ways it’s easier than writing the original book. It’s back to the old routine but now the landscape is a little better known and the characters are familiar. In some ways it’s more complicated; more to remember among other things, and all the problems left unresolved in the first book are looming larger in the second. There’s also another unexpected issue. We have nine reviews (that we know of) and they are all five stars. Also both men and women seem to be enjoying the book equally. It’s hard not to worry about trying to live up to that standard…
One does what one can, tries to let go of expectations and pressure and just get on with the story.
One thing that we did in Diaries that we are continuing to do in Lord of the North is to maintain a ‘ground-level’ perspective. The forces of history are on the move and epic events are in the offing… but we’re going to show those events through the eyes of the people living them, down in the mud and the blood. History tends to remember the generals and the kings, so we’ll leave them to history. It’s the soldier in the trenches, the merchant on the road, craftsmen in his shop and the farmers in their fields that live history, and that seems much more interesting to us.
