Porta das Marcas Estelares

A new book is taking shape, and I want to say a few simple words to everyone.

I began outlining this novel last August. The full setting document came to about forty-five thousand words, and it took me a full three months. I packed in nearly every detail I could think of, and it is also the most meticulous preparation I have ever done in my thirteen years of writing.

During this break, I read a great deal of online fiction and found that the whole industry, whether in terms of content or authors, is slowly changing and being remade. The transformation is harsh. If an old writer cannot keep up, then he is left behind.

In the past, readers wanted a story that was thrilling and easy to understand.

Those expectations still remain today, only they have become even more demanding. Readers want excitement, but the plot must also make sense. Showy moments cannot be awkward; they have to land just right. And if there is a little depth as well, so much the better.

So, as an old writer, I must change too. I must become even more meticulous.

Whether it is in the way characters are written or in how the plot is laid out, everything has to be precise to an almost maddening degree, rational, and exactly in place.

It is a painful process: to preserve my own style while constantly shoring up my weaknesses. But for those who truly love this industry, I suppose it is suffering and joy at once.

Only after finishing the outline did I begin writing the opening, and along the way I tore it apart and rewrote it countless times. Here I also want to