Shadows of Prophesy was my first novel. It has been deliberately abandoned within about 15% of its completion.
It was atrocious. Naturally my friends and family followed it with certain gusto, but returning to samples of it after a year or more, I find the writing amateurish, the plot boring, the characters flat, and the whole concept cliche. It is a story I no longer wish to tell.
Many successful writers share this view of their first novel. Some have even been published and then spent time later making sure older novels of theirs were out of print so they would no longer feel misrepresented by such deplorable work.
Writing is a built skill like any other. My first novel is about as messy and ugly an attempt as a first piano lesson, or a master painter’s first childhood doodle. I have no wish to put it on display or to continue working on it.
To the few poor souls who actually identified with such obvious characters and hoped to see the story completed, I apologize. I thank you for taking that first journey with me, but in part because of your feedback, I know I can do better. My next work may well be chickenscratch drivel, but it will be better than the first.
Shadows of Prophesy has created some spinoff work I’m a little happier with. I’m currently working on a sequel called Echoes of Prophesy in the attempt to take some of the same characters and themes in new directions. And the legend of Jarus was presented independently in my short story, New Magic.
