Writing high-stakes dark fantasy that keeps you on the edge of your seat and up until 3AM. Get my free prequel: www.jwweld.com/slice
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I had a huge problem with Book One...
Published 3 months ago • 2 min read
I love "everything" stories.
An everything story has, well, everything: action, suspense, romance, drama, horror, etc.
They make you feel a wide range of emotions and pull elements from different genres of media.
When I sat down to write The Last Sin, I wanted to create an everything story, pulling inspiration from all the media I enjoy.
There was one big problem with this approach: it made it very difficult for me to explain what my story was about.
This was a problem I grappled with when trying to promote my serialization on Royal Road, and one I needed to solve for the debut novel in The Last Sin series.
After months of trial and error, I think I've gotten pretty close.
Without further ado, here is my blurb for Disciple of Sin:
In a land of sleeping spirits, an orphan escapes death by embracing Sin—now he must find a way out of her shadow.
In medieval Luskaine, the spirits of the dead sleep beneath the earth, and Jacob is about to join them. Cornered in an alleyway by masked men hunting orphans, he’s saved by an unlikely benefactor: the Lady Sin. Sin is many things: a mage, a warrior, and an unabashed murderer.
Desperate for the power to live a life free from fear and exploitation, Jacob decides to follow in her footsteps. Under her tutelage, he grows until he learns a secret about Sin that shatters the foundations of his world. To flee his mentor and her malicious intentions, Jacob joins a group of veteran adventurers as they journey into the lawless heart of Luskaine to lift a curse infecting the land.
Faced with ruthless crime lords, restless undead, and a scheming inquisitor, Jacob must rely on Sin’s training without yielding to the darker aspects of her influence. But when the adventurers discover the source of the curse, all of Luskaine is put in danger, and Jacob must choose to become the monster Sin trained him to be or let the dead reclaim the earth.
Disciple of Sin is a gritty, high-stakes fantasy that combines cinematic action, page-turning suspense, and a visceral exploration of power and corruption. If you enjoy the grit of Joe Abercrombie, the hard magic of Brandon Sanderson, and the lethal choreography of The Sword of Kaigen, then Disciple of Sin is for you.
So, if you read my prequel short story, you know that things didn't work out as Sin expected.
Her choice to take Jacob under her wing is the beginning of a messy and complex relationship that spans the length of the series.
While Jacob is the main character, Sin is a constant presence. She is his mentor, his mother figure, and a ruthless murderer who holds the key to unraveling a grand conspiracy that threatens the world.
I've had a lot of fun writing this series over the past few years, and I can't wait to share more of my debut novel with you in the coming months.
Until next time,
J. W. Weld
P.S. Next week, I'll reveal the cover for Disciple of Sin.
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