April Progress Update

It is the beginning of another month which means it is time for a progress update on A.R. Dragonfly! A LOT has happened since the last progress update all thanks due in part to a nice week-long vacation from work! While I did get a lot done, there is still stuff that needs to get completed! First, let’s start off with the things that I did accomplish.

• Ran the book through Grammarly
• Ran the book through Word Spell Check
• Preface and Afterword written
• Started Character Biographies
• Read Chapters 1-3 for their final pass and completed them
• Began work on the References bonus section
• Wrote the History of Nara Part III bonus chapter
• Received 3 new finished art pieces and 1 sketch
• Created the cover of the book

So what’s left to accomplish?

• Read Chapters 4-7 for their final pass
• Complete the References section
• Write the Fun Facts section (although as I’m reading, this might be omitted since I’m not finding much to talk about)
• Insert missing art into Character Biographies
• Import everything into InDesign

So as you can see, there’s not much left to get this book across the finish line. Obviously, I’m still waiting on the final three pieces of artwork from Zara, the 8th piece he sent the sketch of!  First, in the March update, I showed off the sketch for Amber threatening Sebastian with a Kill la Kill scissor blade. That one has been completed and you can see the color version below!

Next up, I received the finished art piece for Kaito. His pose here has him in a scene where he makes, yet, another mistake. Without spoiling anything, I’ll just say that I had a lot of fun putting Kaito through the wringer in Vol. 3!  Poor Kaito. What have you done now?

I’m actually going to do the sketch next because the next completed art piece was for the cover and I want to unveil that one last. Plus, the sketch of Lynn was also used in the cover of the book! I should note that I had done a cover reveal on Twitter but once I saw Lynn’s sketch, I decided to change the cover up just a little bit.  So without further hesitation, here is the sketch for Lynn in Vol. 3!

And finally, the third completed art piece and the above sketch became part of the finalized cover for Vol. 3!  Without further adieux, here is the final, FINAL cover for the book!

The first two volumes had a lot of vivid coloration to it. I went with a more gray motif this time around because of certain events that happen in the third volume that is symbolized by the cover. Let’s just say that the absence of color becomes a big plot point during the book.

With things speeding up towards their conclusion, I look to finish the final editing of the book this weekend. Once that’s done, everything will be thrown into InDesign where it will await Zara’s final artwork. If you’re curious after Lynn’s is finished, the final two are Lynn’s character in Blaze Auras, Triggabyte, and another character within the game, Versaithe!

While waiting for those art pieces, I look to get Vol. 4 into Second Draft by next weekend. This will allow me to pick out the character art for that volume. Technically, one piece of artwork is done in Daniel McDevitt. The art was supposed to be in Vol. 2 but it didn’t make the deadline. Thankfully, Daniel returns in Vol. 4 so I can use that artwork there!

Speaking of Vol. 4 artwork, without having to edit the book, I’ve already decided on five other pieces of art. One will be of the new Reaver Class in Blaze Auras, one will be of the Arcanist Class, and three of them will be of the new characters being introduced! I already know how I want the Reaver to look but I want to come up with something really unique for the Arcanist. I don’t just want your stereotypical robes and wizard hat for that character. I kind of want to redefine the Wizard/Mage/etc archetype when creating the armor for this class. It’s something I’m going to have to think about. As a quick side note, I also have an art piece for Vol. 5 already in mind. It’s going to be an awesome one… that’s all I can say!

I know that I’m getting ahead of myself here as I typically do but my excitement for this series is not dwindling by any means!

Also, I want to call attention to my previous blog post about #IndieApril. While the hashtag on Twitter is all about highlighting independent authors, I’m trying to focus in on the original English light novel community. I already did a list of plugs for other light novelists but I know that I didn’t get everybody. I want to highlight as many people as possible so if I missed you on the first go, please feel free to send me a message either through my site, on Twitter or any other social media platform that you can find me on.

I already picked up a couple of light novels to read… Journey of a Betrayed Hero by Brandon Varnell, and Global Divide: Ryu Rising by Peter Rodriguez. Once things die down for A.R. Dragonfly, I will be reading and reviewing both of these books. I’ll be sure to post the reviews of them here and on The Outerhaven!

That’s going to do it for this month’s update. Should have some new art and more progress to report for the May update. Until then, stay tuned for the next #IndieApril highlight post as well as the aforementioned light novel reviews!

And who knows? If things continue on their current path, maybe the May update will come with a bit of a surprise!

Fingers crossed!