Announcement: A Temporary Shift in Schedule
Hey everyone,
I’ve got an important update about the story’s schedule. Starting next week, I’ll be temporarily shifting from daily chapters to two chapters per week, released on MondaysThursdays
First and foremost, I want to offer a sincere apology for the slowdown in content. I know many of you have gotten used to the daily updates, and I don’t take your patience or support for granted. This change isn’t because of burnout or lack of direction, but rather it’s because I want to make the story the best version of itself that it can be.
I’m finally going to be doing what I’ve mentioned in various author’s notes and comments for a while now: editing the earlier chapters. My goal is to bring the beginning of the story up to the same standard as the newer material and to add in some of the things I missed the first time around. I am also going to take the opportunity to fix some of my most egregious mistakes that I made while writing.
This change is absolutely temporary.I’ll return to daily chapters.
I can’t give an exact timeline, but I expect this to take at least a few weeks. I decided to do it now while the task is still manageable. Doing this when the story is at a hundred or more chapters would be far more daunting. In my opinion, it is better to rip the bandage off now and get it done.
Reflections on the Journey So Far
Before anything else, I want to sincerely thank all of you who’ve read, commented, favorited, and followed the story. I started writing this purely for myself, and that still hasn’t changed.
I’ve never done any kind of self-promotion for this story. No shout-out swaps, no review exchanges, no ads, no social media posts.
That means that every single reader who found this story did so naturally. That makes every follow, every favorite, every little bit of support mean so much more to me. The numbers this story has reached are honestly overwhelming, and I’m beyond grateful for all of you.
This story has been rattling around in my brain for years. It actually began as an idea for a D&D campaign I never got around to running, let alone writing.
When I finally started to seriously consider beginning to write this, I had to adapt the story to have a main character / protagonist.
I’ve always loved the idea of telling a story from the perspective of the “weaker” or universally hated races. Basically the ones who never get to be the heroes. That’s how I ended up with Grub as the main character.
To be totally honest, this is the first writing project I’ve ever stuck with. Before this, I’d start something, get a few thousand words in, start to hate it, and subsequently abandon it.
Now, nearly 175,000 words later, I’ve learned more than I ever expected, both as a writer and as a storyteller.
Now I want to take some time to reflect on the 50 chapters I've written thus far, what went well, what went poorly, and what my plans are as I begin to edit the previous chapters.
What’s Gone Well
1. I think the story as a whole has been strong and engaging.
I like the pacing so far. It’s slower, more detailed, and deliberate, but that’s how I want to write it. I want the world and the characters to feel lived in. I want to show every part of the characters journeys, even if that means describing some minutiae that may not feel relevant or important.
2. The system mechanics have held up well too.
I’ve been diligent about tracking stats, skills, and progression behind the scenes, so everything stays consistent and logical. I’ve always wanted to keep the system grounded, and not have some absurd numbers or meaningless scaling. If a stat ever reaches 500, that’s already something truly worldshaking. Some stories (looking at you Primal Hunter and Defiance of The Fall) end up having stats in the 10s or even hundreds of thousands, which I feel diminishes the system overall. I wanted to avoid that, and I think I took the time to come up with a system that works well for that.
3. Tranparency.
I feel like I have done a reasonably good job of being transparent with how things work in the background. I had a whole chapter purely dedicated to explaining how some of the system mechanics worked, how I calculated stats, and so on. I want to continue to do that, so that things are not just happening with no explanation. For Maxs party members, I liked my decision to create and maintain character sheets for them, and to share them with the readers occasionally. I think that gives context to their abilities, stops me from just randomly pulling new things out of a hat at a whim, and grounds Maxs (and Gideon/Grubs) strength in a realistic way. Seeing Max having 15 strength doesnt mean a lot if you have nothing to compare it to. I will continue to maintain character sheets for all relevant characters and keep progression visible for the readers.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Where I Went Wrong (and What I’ll Fix)
Now that the fun part (praising myself) is out of the way, I need to get to the part that honestly makes me cringe a bit. As stated before, this is the first time I've ever stuck with a story for any extended amount of time. This has been a learning experience for me, and that is clear in some of the earlier chapters. There has been some good, for sure, but of course, there’s plenty that needs work. Here are the biggest things I plan to fix during the editing and relaunch process:
1. The blurb and story focus.
The story’s description made it sound like it would focus entirely on Grub (Gideon). That was true at first, but as I began to write the first chapters following Max, he naturally grew into a co-main character. He was originally intended to be a side character we would get occasional updates on. I never updated the story description to reflect his more important role. I’ll be fixing that during the relaunch to properly represent both protagonists.
2. The Chapter 11–19 problem.
Yeah, I know. Those chapters are very long, have rough editing, and are of course very Max-heavy. By chapter 19, 60–65% of the total story was from his perspective. In the edit, I’ll break those long chapters into smaller, more readable pieces and intersperse Max’s and Grub’s storylines more naturally. No more gigantic sections of the story where one person's perspective is left forgotten.
3. The Charisma stat.
Hoo boy. I thought this would work, but it very obviously did not. It was introduced, then immediately forgotten. No one ever used it, and no one ever raised the stat higher, and so I’ll be removing it as a tracked stat. It’ll remain as a background trait, not a number.
4. Inconsistent use of the system.
Early on, the system was an important part of Grub’s story, but it faded over time, to the point of pretty much being ignored in the last 15-20 Grub chapters. Meanwhile, Max’s sections continued to use it consistently because of all the fighting. I’ll rework Grub’s chapters to integrate the system more naturally, even during the times he’s not fighting.
5. Identify skill exclusivity.
This wasn't a conscious decision, but I ended up pretty much o ly giving Grub the Identify skill. And then he rarely if ever used it. Making Identify (unintentionally) unique to Grub was a dumb idea. I’ll make it a common skill that essentially everyone can use. Max and his group will be able to use it as well, which will make fights more informative and consistent. I’ll also add more “status update” side chapters so readers can track progress without the system readouts bloating the main story.
6. Racial diversity.
Right now, there’s one dwarf, Borin, who is a part of Maxs party. And... that's it. I never introduced any other Dwarves in the story, let alone other sapient races that might intermingle with humanity. That’s… not nearly enough. Is Borin the only dwarf on the entire continent of Aurel? No, not by a long shot, but you wouldn't know that from reading the story. I’ll be adding more non-human races in both the human lands and the Northwild, and making sure there are, at the bare minimum, at least some mentions of other intelligent species to make the world feel more alive. Other races exist beyond Human and Goblin, but that has absolutely not been shown thus far.
7. Gideon’s human background.
The start of the story is way too rushed. I introduced Gideon, aged him up to an adult, and killed him off, all in two chapters. Because of that, readers never really got a chance to know who he was or what knowledge he actually brings into the new world. As it stands right now, when I have him use the knowledge he has from earth to do something like introducing Roman-esque battle formations to the Ironfang, it feels less like "Oh yeah, that's something he would know from Earth" and more like "Hmm. Guess the author decided to pull battle formation knowledge out of his ass. How convenient." I’ll spend some time expanding his human life so that his skills and ideas feel more earned, and less like I'm making things up as I go.
8. Emotional realism.
I sped through trauma and emotional moments far too quickly. Gideon nearly dies in one of the earliest chapters from a fox attack, has a breakdown and cries, and then is perfectly fine in the next chapter, and it's never addressed again. Max and Gideon both lost everything, including each other, but that grief barely gets any attention. Max and Gideon were nearly all the emotional connection either of them had on Earth, and losing that would probably show itself. I’ll be expanding these sections to try and better explore the emotional fallout and give both characters more depth.
9. Max’s skills and tone.
Max started his story out way too skilled for his background. A warehouse worker from modern day earth shouldn’t instantly know how to fight or wear armor effectively. I’ll fix that. His early chapters will show a more natural progression.
Also, his stutter didn’t work as intended. I wanted it to be something that was part of why he was an outcast, and to show that he has trouble in social situations. I wanted him to struggle with it, but then lose the stutter completely when he is speaking in combat, but there was two main problems with my approach. First of all, he never really spoke much in combat, and secondly, I straight up forgot about the stutter during the moments he was supposed to have it more often than not. That led to the stutter popping up at seemingly random moments, and then not at all for long stretches. If I'm being honest, it was also annoying to write the stuttering dialogue. In the end, it’ll be removed, and changed to general social awkwardness instead.
10. Grub’s quick rise in the Ironfang.
This one’s on me. Some people correctly mentioned that Grub’s acceptance and rise within the Ironfang happened a little too fast to be believable. He goes from a strange slave/outsider in the tribe to Dravak’s trusted advisor and member of the tribes council almost overnight. I’ll be adding more scenes to show that growth and trust forming gradually, so it feels earned rather than sudden.
Looking Ahead
This story has grown far beyond anything I expected, and I’ve grown alongside it. I’ve made mistakes. A lot of them in fact, but I’ve also learned from every one.
This editing phase and temporary slower schedule aren’t signs that I’m stepping away. They’re proof that I care about this story and want to make it the best it can be. I’m not abandoning the story. Far from it. Once the editing and relaunch is finished, daily chapters will return once more.
I want to take this time to say thank you again to everyone who’s been here from the start, and to everyone who’s just joined recently. You’ve made this journey worth every hour of writing.
A Small Request
If you’ve been enjoying the story, please consider taking a few minutes to leave a review, rating, follow, or favorite. It helps the story grow and keeps it visible to new readers. I will still not be doing self promotion, at least not for the foreseeable future, so I do rely on word of mouth to grow the audience.
I read every single comment, review, and message I get, and I take all feedback seriously. Even if I can’t implement every suggestion, I’ll always read it and think it over. If you’ve got criticism, that’s fine, and I absolutely encourage everyone to make their opinion known, just, please, make it constructive. Don’t just say something’s bad. Tell me why it’s bad, and how you think it could be improved.
As the active readers already know, I reply to every single comment I receive, even if it is a comment on Chapter 1 right after Chapter 48 was published. So, if you want to share your thoughts, questions, or ideas, now’s the perfect time.
The Ironfang’s story is far from over, and neither is mine.
See you all on MondaysThursdays
