It’s been a hectic few months for me, so getting time to edit A Phantom in the Forge has been mighty challenging.
That said, I’m halfway through the final draft, so I thought it’d be fun to look back on the history of the second book in The Slip Saga. Yeah, I have a strange sense of fun 🥸
Outline · February 2022 · 6 weeks
I took my first bite at A Phantom in the Forge more than 4 years ago (holy 💩, I didn’t realise it was that long ago). I spent a little over a month sketching out the narrative and all the other bits and pieces. If you’d like to learn more about how I outline, let me know 😊
Draft 1 · April 2022 · 12 weeks · 78k words
I still remember writing the first draft quite clearly because I wrote it so damn fast compared to A Spectre in the Stream. It’s the fastest I’ve ploughed through a draft, despite also being the longest. It took me 3 months to extract it from my brain and onto the virtual page.
Outline 2 · January 2023 · 5 weeks
I didn’t get back to Phantom until the next year. As I’ve mentioned in a previous update, I often do a second outline before I tackle the second draft to hammer out the kinks in the narrative from a high level before getting back into the weeds. This one took me 5 weeks.
Draft 2 · February 2023 · 18 weeks · 113k words
I typically go straight to drafting following an outline because all the details are still fresh, so I kicked off the second draft in Feb. This one usually takes much longer than the first because I have a better understanding of the story, and Phantom was no exception. 18 weeks! I didn’t call it done until June, and by then it had grown by 35k words. I remember I reworked A LOT in this draft.
Draft 3 · July 2024 · 27 weeks · 119k words
If I’m not mistaken, this 3rd draft had the honour of taking the longest of any draft I’ve written. It was a bitch. I remember really struggling with this one, trying to rework weak areas, but still being unsatisfied. The word count grew (which is normal for me), but not by much, only 6k words.
Draft 4 · February 2026 · 25 weeks · 133k words
This was another mega draft, clocking in at 25 weeks and adding another 14k to the word count. I was pretty happy with the book by the end of this draft, feeling like I’d addressed most of the issues, and my beta reader feedback bore that out. I still wasn’t quite done, though, which is why I’m elbow-deep in draft 5 right now.
Draft 5 · August 2026 · ? weeks · ~133k words
This last draft is a polishing draft, catching all those final niggles. There are a small handful of scenes I’m not loving and want to grind on some more, but otherwise the work is in buffing what’s already there. I’d be done already if not for our house flooding, having to move out, then move back, the associated packing and unpacking (we’re still not done 😭), and all with a 7-month-old in tow. I know. Excuses, excuses, excuses, right?
As you can see, it’s been a multi-year marathon getting this book into shape, with lots of reworking and rewriting, but the finish line is getting close. Hopefully this little reminiscence was interesting for you.
My aim over these last few months was an October Kickstarter (after I pushed my expectations back from mid-year), but that won’t happen I’m afraid. I want the book to be fully done before I launch the campaign, so my primary goal now is just to get it out this year. If I can do that, I’ll be a happy boy 😊
Sorry it’s taking so long!
You can follow the Kickstarter campaign if you want to be notified when it goes live.