Writing progresses...update on Book 20

I hope everyone has a good weekend coming up.

I thought I'd post an update on the writing tonight. I've been making good progress on Book 20 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds. It's currently at 25K words, almost 2/3 done.

This book is focused on the small team of Zaer and Shen, mostly Shen. In it, I'll reveal his past, how they met, and some of their adventures (in flashbacks). I don't like to tell a story in flashbacks, because it's too easy to do it wrong, and then it hinders rather than helps a story, but it can work. I used flashbacks for L'Ni's backstory in Book 13, SOUL SHADOW, when Nya was searching his memories to help him escape being trapped in sleep by the dark creature he once served. I did it a bit for Nik's backstory in Book 3, VAULT OF THE CELESTIALS, and Zaer's far back story, before her smuggling days, in Book 12, MESSAGES. The rest of the characters' pasts mostly gets spread throughout the series rather than concentrated. Piling on too much flashback in a book is something I only like to use when I've made sure it makes sense to the story.

However, I wanted to give Shen the attention he deserved. While there is a present trouble taking place, he and Zaer are remembering things about their adventures together related to how they're resolving the present conflict. The story has action, but it will be the last story in this series that might be considered partially unrelated to the main series plot. I say partially because they are on a Starfire world for Nya's mission when they encounter trouble. So, the main plot of the story is essential.

I've been waiting to tell this because I wasn't sure about specifics and Zaer and Shen are not the main focus of the series. However, they are part of the series and I wanted to take the chance to add to what is known about them. It's kind of a reader treat in that way (I hope). For those who might have wanted to know more about how these two became friends, this will hopefully provide that satisfaction.

I also thought I had a cover for this but then realized the image I had didn't really fit what the story had become, so I've redesigned it. It needs a bit of tweaking and a cover blurb yet. When it's ready, I'll post that.

In the meantime, that's all I can say without giving away specifics.

Thanks for reading!