Dear reader,​

I find that the hardest part of any writing​ is figuring out that perfect first sentence. And so, I'll dispense with any pretense and just say that this is my attempt to tell a story. I've had an idea for both a world and a story kicking around for some months now and have made countless aborted attempts to get it off the ground.

I recently found myself doing a good bit of reading about Charles Dickens. I've never been much of a Dickens fan to be quite honest, but if I took one thing away, it was the idea that serialized writing has perks for both the reader and the writer. The reader gets digestible morsels of story that leave them waiting for more - and the author gets a chance to get feedback as he weaves a story. And it makes him beholden to his readers to finish the damn thing.

​And so, I have decided that blogging this book as I write it might be for the best. To that extent, I'd like to take advantage of this format and open myself to constructive criticism. Outside of some creative writing exercises in school, this marks my first real attempt to write fiction. There will be rough edges - do not hesitate to comment and let me know what you think. This blog is to be a work in progress.

​As for the story itself, something you should know going in. This will be a fantasy story, but not the type with dragons and knights and epic quests for glory; although, those things did exist in this world long before our story is set. This is, instead, a story about a fantasy world that has lost all that, a world that's "had to grow up" and finds itself looking, well, curiously like ours.

​Lastly, my guiding principle in all of this will be to write the book that I've always wanted to read and, to steal a quote from Elmore Leonard, to "leave out the parts the people skip."

And, with that, I hope you will enjoy the story I have to tell.

- ​Nick