Triskai. A planet home to a species of sentient dragon called Neisti'Kegawa, the Sparkfur dragon. Commonly called Neisties, these dragons are in between mammal and reptile, being warmblooded but instead of having typical fur, they have an evolved form of scale that acts as fur. They are a highly magical species, and their societies are built upon a mixture of magic and science.
This world is to be the setting for my novel, Vicious Sun. What the Triskai Project encompasses is the idea that when you read a novel, you are not just reading a story. You are experiencing a world the writer has built for you, one that goes far beyond what the characters are experiencing. My plans for the Triskai Project are to produce two books- the first being the novel Vicious Sun, the second being a fully-illustrated book on worldbuilding tentatively titled The Worldbuilder's Guide to Triskai.
Timeline for the project-
November, for those of you who haven't heard, is also called NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo brings together tens of thousands of individuals who want to write a novel, and gives them a deadline- Thirty days to write 50,000 words, the break-off point when a novella is considered a novel. My goal in the month of November is to double that wordcount for at least 100,000 words, which would be an approximately 400 page long novel.
Upon completing the novel, I will spend the next month self editing and finishing parts of it as needed. Once I have done the first edit, I will be asking for volunteers to read through the semi-polished draft and make edits, suggestions, and witty comments. In the meantime, I will be gathering materials and sketching out the outline for the Worldbuilder's Guide along with sketching pictures to be included in Vicious Sun (I'm planning on having Vicious Sun semi-illustrated also). After I have collected all of the manuscripts, I will then be going through them all one at a time and making fixes to the story, hopefully finishing sometime in either February or March.
This is where the real fun begins. Once I have the final self-edited manuscript completed, along with a rough version of Worldbuilder's Guide with possibly a couple of edits, I will be starting a Kickstarter project. Kickstarter is a relatively new creation, consisting of a simple idea- give people a way to bring their project to fruition. Kickstarter lets anyone donate to any approved project. The project I would be proposing is the full production of the Triskai Project, including Vicious Sun and The Worldbuilder's Guide to Triskai. In order to be funded, my project would have to reach the full funding goal, which is right now looking to be around $10,000. This funding would go towards many things, including but not limited to two universal ISBNs, professional final editing for both books, equipment and software I will need to illustrate both books, proof printing costs, marketing, and the costs of the rewards.
This is where the real fun begins. Once I have the final self-edited manuscript completed, along with a rough version of Worldbuilder's Guide with possibly a couple of edits, I will be starting a Kickstarter project. Kickstarter is a relatively new creation, consisting of a simple idea- give people a way to bring their project to fruition. Kickstarter lets anyone donate to any approved project. The project I would be proposing is the full production of the Triskai Project, including Vicious Sun and The Worldbuilder's Guide to Triskai. In order to be funded, my project would have to reach the full funding goal, which is right now looking to be around $10,000. This funding would go towards many things, including but not limited to two universal ISBNs, professional final editing for both books, equipment and software I will need to illustrate both books, proof printing costs, marketing, and the costs of the rewards.
That's right, rewards, and lots of them. Kickstarter runs on a tiered donation system, for which each person who runs a project puts up rewards for certain dollar amount donations. For example, some people will put up a $5 reward listing the donor on their website/blog. For $25, that same person would get the website/blog listing in addition to a signed paperback copy of the book. You get the idea. Some ideas that I have for donor rewards range from the website listing to signed paperback/hardcover copies of the books, to a limited edition figurine of one of the characters, and more. I may even have some unlockable donation tiers with special donor rewards. I don't have a finished list of what each donation tier reward will be quite yet, however, I'll make sure that they're all good!
Also, because I know that the question is going to come up, what happens if I exceed the funding goal? Any extra money I receive through the Kickstarter project will go into any extra funding Vicious Sun may need first, then it will go into helping me write more novels.
If everything goes well, I may be able to have this published by July or August of 2012. Things may change, depending how well I can stick to my projected timeline.
So there it is, for all of you who have been wondering what my mysterious "secret project" I've been planning this summer was. Here's to hoping for a successful launch of the Triskai Project!
