Celebrating Five Years of ROLLERSKATER
Half a decade ago, I decided to write a fantasy story on a whim, following the adventures of a university student and his friend, a woman in rollerskates who is not what she seems.
By October 2022, it had ballooned into an operatic, multi-volume saga, told from the perspective of over twelve point-of-view characters, ending at over 350,000 words in length.
To celebrate this anniversary, I have some announcements to make pertaining to Rollerskater and its future:
The Dancing and the Still: A Rollerskater Retrospective
Since last summer I have been working on a memoir detailing my experiences while writing Rollerskater and the creative process that went into finishing it. I hope to release this as a paid eBook in 2025, contingent on how quickly I can finish writing and editing it.
The book is currently split into two parts: The first part details my journey as a writer, and how I came to write Rollerskater. The second part is an “episode guide” or “director’s commentary”, offering my own critical appraisal of the saga’s individual instalments and what I would do differently.
A Rollerskater NOVELLA (Title TBC)
I would very much like to return to the world of Rollerskater in a novella, featuring returning cast members and some new characters as well. I plan to work on this beginning in late 2024, aiming for a 2025 release. I have a name for the all-new protagonist upon whom the novella will be based. The novella will be released as a paid eBook, with a general web release following later. I look forward to sharing it with you.
Rollerskater: The Definitive Edition
This is the most exciting announcement of all: I plan to work on a rewrite of the Rollerskater saga in the coming years, in the hope of producing a Definitive Edition of the saga, as a series of paid eBooks and print books.
This edition will be the “director’s cut”, rewritten from the ground up to form a cohesive, definitive version.
I will not take down the web version of Rollerskater. It will remain free to read in perpetuity. I have gone out of my way to ensure that it exists somewhere in cyberspace, including uploading it to AO3.
Conversely, the Definitive Edition will not be free to read. I will not be accepting purchases in advance. Rest assured that come what may, no money will change hands until the work is ready for release. I have seen enough horror stories to know that you should never crowdfund for an unfinished product.
As part of this project, I will cease to update the web version of Rollerskater beginning from the commencement of work on the Definitive Edition. I do still go back and correct typographical errors and other mistakes in the web version, but for the Definitive Edition to serve its purpose, the free web version must necessarily be a less polished product. I will make an announcement when the web version is to be permanently “frozen” in its current state.
The Definitive Edition is still a way down the road, but it is something I want to do eventually.
Until then, thank you for your continued support for the Rollerskater saga. It means the world to me that I have created something that so many people love. It means even more that it has touched the hearts of so many. I am endlessly grateful for my readership and hope you will continue to follow my other projects.