Project Kingdom is more than just a piece of tightly told fantasy literature set in a fully realized world – it’s a full canvas which I’m using to reflect on my time in Iraq as well as the social and political worlds which lead up to that and from that conflict. Told through two childhood friends, one a soldier and the other a priest, the story tackles personal freedoms and responsibility, familial obligations, religion, duty, and patriotism.
The book is gritty, it’s morally ambiguous, and it’s no where near done yet.
As of October 4, 2009 I am 8 chapters and 15,000 words into Project Kingdom. As per my outline, this puts me around 1/5th of the way through my outline and nearly done with the first act.
If you’re doing the math, that would put the finished first draft at a mere 75,000 words – drastically short by my fantasy standards. Have no fear, though. There are certain things, description and exposition, that I am largely glossing over in the first draft so that I can get the entire plot properly handled. It also means that if I can keep up my schedule of around 1,000 words per day, that I should be finished with this draft before the end of the year.
Bradley Robb likes TV and books, and has an intense dislike for cinnamon. Once, Bradley stopped a Soviet T-60 with his middle finger. Bradley writes speculative fiction and edits Fiction Matters, and never really got the hang of talking about himself in the third person.