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What’s Next?
🕑 Added 2025-03-28 14:00:19 +0000 UTCThe first draft of The Last Human (series title: The Human Gods) is finished.
This is the first time I’ve ever finished an entire series, so I thought I’d talk about my writing process, what I learned, and—most importantly—what’s coming next.
Early April: Book #2 Drops
I’m going to drop the newest version of The Last Human Book #2 here.
This is my “almost final draft.” All it needs is a professional editing polish, a title, a book cover, and then I’ll self-publish it.
What’s new in Book #2?
This version is about 50% rewriting and 50% editing, so you’ll see a TON of differences if you choose to go back and read it. I can’t tell you how many hundreds of hours of work I’ve put into this, but I learned a ton. Specifically, I learned how to write a story that doesn’t need so much rewriting.
When I started The Last Human, I knew where Poire’s journey would ultimately take him, but I didn’t have a clear picture of the steps along the way. I also knew that I wanted to write a prophecy—but most prophecy stories are written like this:
Character takes a step
Some religious character says, “Ah, yes, as the prophecy foretold.”
From a writing standpoint: the prophecy always works, no matter what your character does.
I wanted to do the reverse—I wanted to show you the prophecy, and then let you see how the chosen one fights back before inevitably following through. Too late, I discovered how difficult this is. Somehow, I had to “spoil the ending” while still ramping up the tension and raising the stakes.
My first draft of Book #2 was off because I didn’t know exactly how the story would end. However, when it was done, I took the opportunity to go back and fix everything. The prophetic moments are properly foretold. The weird inconsistencies are knocked into place. Everything just works now.
I also improved the line-by-line writing and put a better focus on the most interesting details, like the powerful technology and the feeling of being a “god” in a world of primitive worshippers. There’s a much greater cohesion between the prophetic elements, and the in-world truth behind humanity’s visions of the apocalyptic future.
I’m so excited to finally share this new version with you. I’ll post the whole thing here in the next 2-3 weeks, both as an ebook you can download, and with the individual chapters updated.
Late April: “Test” Chapters for New Series
Next, I’ll publish some test chapters for a new Science Fantasy LitRPG series I’m working on.
I have an enormous list of elements I want to include in this story, and I’m not sure how many will actually fit:
Magic vs. Tech and Magic x Tech and power that comes at a cost
4X empire building in the background, character growth in the focus
Corporate cults, self-made gods, and a main character who worships neither
The truth is, I don’t know what this story is yet. I’m still braiding together the ideas in my head. There’s so much worldbuilding to be done. I have city states that are literally one building, gods who lead armies to war, tech wastelands that sprawl for hundreds of miles, and a character who is exactly not the chosen one.
I want darkness and levity. I want desperate heroes and cozy fireside moments. I want it to be seriously fun, so at the very least, expect some satire. I also want it to speak about the current direction of technology, AI, and the corporate tendency to commodify all things.
Why LitRPG?
It’s so much fun. That’s the only real answer. I’ve been reading a ton lately, and I have a few concepts that I haven’t seen anyone explore before—specifically around life and death within a system. You’ll know what I’m talking about in the first few chapters.
I also wanted to step outside my comfort zone, and to push myself to write faster, because I want to bring you more stories, more characters, and more worlds. If it goes well, I’ll end up writing a few longer series in this new universe (it’s a really good concept, I’m trying not to spoil anything yet, but damn it I’m so excited to show you).
My goal is to write something that’s both addictive to read, and to tell a story that gets wildly out of hand. Characters will find themselves in places they have absolutely no business being. I’m talking out of the frying pan, and into the unholy torture oven from hell (powered by the boiling screams of ten trillion demon engines).
It’s possible these test chapters get thrown out. It’s also possible they become permanent parts of the story. I want to give myself the flexibility to get some crucial elements right, but I’ll be writing with the goal to make them work.
Early May: New Series, Chapter 1
The plan is to roll out the new series by the first week of May. Maybe sooner, depending on how worldbuilding and plotting goes.
Lately, I’ve been reading a ton of LitRPG, SF, and historical non-fiction to get strong ideas for where I want to start. I’m fascinated by the renaissance, the evolution of religion, the power of belief, and the intersection of magic and machines. But I’m also fascinated by stories that really hook the main character into a personal journey—and that’s where this story needs to start.
My goal is to write a complete story in the first book, with strong sequel potential. I also want to push the chapters out faster, which means I need to structure the story to avoid rewrites as much as possible. Basically, I’m trying to learn from the mistakes I made with The Pacifist, and The Human Gods, so that I can write better, faster, and publish more regularly here.
The Rest of 2025
Late May/Early June: Publish Book #2 of The Human Gods
Late 2025: Publish Book #3 of The Human Gods (editing should go much faster for this one)
Late 2025: Book #2 of New Series on Patreon (maybe, depends on how fast I’m going!)
First Half of 2026: Publish Book #4 of The Human Gods
I dream of getting The Last Human/The Human Gods narrated. It seems likely that’ll happen in 2026 at the earliest, but good voice actors are expensive (as they should be), so I have to find a way to make the numbers work.
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There are so many concepts floating around in my head, the goal over these next few weeks is to nail them all down.
Most of all, I’m excited to show you what I’ve been dreaming up next. I can’t wait to start afresh with everything I learned from both The Last Human and The Pacifist.
One last reason I think you’ll like this next series: at crucial points in the story, I’ll put up a few options on Patreon, and let you tell me where you want it to go next. Honestly, I can’t believe I haven’t done this sooner.
Anyway, I’m going back to writing. Thank you so much for reading, and I can’t wait to share the future with you.
Comments
Cepheus
A litrpg cyberpunk anti-hero story. Sign me up
un_pogaz
Although I have subscribed for support your work on "The Last Human", I have decided to not "spoil" myself and to wait for the public release on Reddit. In the meantime, I will gladly follow this new series. Too bad to hear that The Pacifist is on almost abandoned hiatus, I liked it, but you weren't forced to. At least the first book ends satisfactorily and you'll have introduced me to Trigun (which was very great).
