Hello folks! It’s been four months since we last talked about the future and what’s being planned for the months to come here at Tellest. It’s the perfect time, right before a busy Fall schedule to really get into the thick of it.
Tellest Art
Alright, this is a tricky one. We told you back in May that things weren’t looking good, but we’ve actually been doing pretty well. The Tellest Patreon has a few more patrons, and we’ve been able to continue some collaborations with some of our favorite artists. With luck, as of right now, our current setup will carry us through the end of January—though you will see the curtain drawn back on one of our other projects.
Our Other Projects
So, over the course of the next several weeks (probably starting around the middle of November, really), you’ll start to see these other projects taking place. They’re smaller pieces to the bigger puzzle that is Tellest, but I think they’ll add to the overall tapestry, and make it a lot more cohesive and fun to venture to. It’ll be the first step in a few new directions for the universe, and I hope it appeals to a whole heck of people. In any case, stay tuned for that.
Kickstarter and Tales of Tellest
We’re at the point now where we are just about done with our commitment to the fine folks that backed us on Kickstarter so very long ago. I’m still hopeful that I’ll be able to get everything out this year, hopefully by Christmas, but we’re still wrapping up the last three stories:
Touched‘s first draft is complete, but I have it in the hands of an expert right now who is working on verbiage and dialogue that would be suitable for this particular story, which happens to deal with someone who is on the autism spectrum. I want it to be tasteful and entertaining, and this professional is doing me a huge favor by lending her hand to the world.
Midwinter Requiem is Rhianna’s first big writing dabble in the world of Tellest. She’s telling the story of a dwarven people who have been mentioned before in the series, the Coldwhistle clan. She’s nearly complete with her draft, and then we’ve decided that I’m going to take it and throw my own touch on it before sitting on it for a week or two, finishing it up and then sending it to our editor.
Finally, we have Keeper of the Void, a kind of cohesive set of bookends that loosely ties all of the stories we told during these last two years together. It deals largely with time and space, and we’re working this into one of those side projects we talked about earlier. I just finished this story this morning, so it needs to be typed up and edited before it’s good to go.
I’m really hopeful that these stories will be ready to go out before the end of the year. With luck, about 98% of our Kickstarter backers will receive their rewards—we have one big holdout, being the audiobook version of The Fall.
The Future of Tellest
Those few months ago, I told you that the plan for the future of Tellest was to continue with both the novellas and the feature length novels that follow the huge ensemble that we have in place. I’m happy to say that everything is going according to plan.
The first feature length novel was a slow burn to start—I was starting with some fresh characters for a prologue—but now we’re roaring forward since we’ve stepped back into familiar territory. I’m going to try to keep these books to a reasonable length, as well. The Enemy Within was over 800 pages before we culled it down, and even in its finished form, I think it’s a bit much. Not to mention, there was a lot of time invested in that story, and in that time, a lot of attention disappeared from the first two books, which had already been released on Amazon. As of now, the plan is still to do about five books in this “series,” but I’m going to play it by ear as best I can.
As for the novellas, and what I’d probably end up calling Tales of Tellest, volume two, they haven’t had their “official” start just yet, but they’re coming together a lot more decisively. I have a whole rainbow of notebooks in my desk that are just waiting to be scribbled in, but the notes are taking shape on my computer. I know where the characters are going, I have some rough ideas of what the titles will be, and I know the breadth of this second volume of stories (hint: there’ll be more than five novellas this time around).
With luck, since I’m picking up the pace again, we’ll be able to really put pencil to paper on these stories relatively quickly. It’s easy to get discouraged, but I’m thinking positive again. The stories should flow fairly well since they’re familiar, and I’ve been getting some really good vibes about the direction I’m taking.
The Tellest Community and the Mageborn Audiobook Contest
I’d also just like to say how happy I am that the Tellest community is growing so well. In the last several days, the amount of newsletter subscribers went up quicker than I could have imagined. I’d like to welcome all the new fans—I hope we give you a lot of entertainment for years to come!
Finally, there’s the matter of the Mageborn Audiobook giveaway. I just wanted everyone to know that the winners have been chosen. We sent out messages to those who did win. If you didn’t get a message, don’t be discouraged—we’re going to try to hold these contests about once a month. There’s plenty of cool swag to go around!
That’ll about do it for this State of Tellest, but as you can see, things are really beginning to come together. Keep an eye on us and be prepared for some awesome new things to happen here at Tellest!
Michael DeAngelo
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