Fractal Peace: Part One Midpoint

As there are only two parts to Fractal Peace, I decided to provide an update midway through part one. I've now passed that point, so here I am.

Well, that was fun. It's been a unique writing experience for me, and one I'm enjoying immensely, As I mentioned before, the first half of this story comprises six characters telling stories of their experiences during the Fractal War, linked by short chapters where the bigger picture emerges, all carried out as part of a reconciliation process. It opens with a murder.

Each character's tale is effectively an (almost) standalone short story, the details of which reveal the untold history of the war and the quest for peace. They've been incredibly satisfying to write, with their own setup and resolution. It's fitting together better than I dared to hope. So far.

I'm letting each story and chapter be their own natural length, not following my usual rules for how I split things up. That's led to three longish stories and an equally long opening chapter, but short intervening ones. I think the remaining stories will be slightly shorter, but I thought that about Amina Ya's, and that ended up being the longest of all (and, in my humble opinion, the best).

This is how things have broken down so far (you'll note I've renamed the latest chapter):

• Peace, For Now (6,225 words)

• Gori Ghul Flay's Tale (7,981 words)

• Ancient History (1,938 words)

• Jaklorinki's Tale (5,201 words)

• Summary Justice (2,238 words)

• Amina Ya's Tale (8,351 words)

• Divided Loyalties (2,238 words)

That puts me at a grand total of 34,172 words so far. This could be a long one, although I expect part two to be a little shorter.

So what's left? These are the tales and chapters to come in part one:

• Cabeliac Onga's Tale

• Meaning of Life

• Valerity Novak's Tale

• Hiding in Plain Sight

• Everson Polk's Tale

• Keeping the Peace

Then it'll be time for part two. My plans for this are firming up. I know who will be involved, what it's about, and how everything we've learned in part one feeds into it, but there are several ways I could tell it. I'm not worried. There are plenty of options, but I'm waiting for my characters to tell me what they want to do.

Things have already evolved differently from how I was expecting (for the better), and I'm looking forward to the surprise. Amina Ya's already put me in my place once. Let's see whether Cabeliac Onga will do the same.

I'll report back once part one is complete.

P.S. No change on the release date of Two Earths Are Better Than None yet. Still awaiting agent feedback. Only one rejection so far!