Hi friends, and welcome to my latest thread!

After the month of August, I plan to slow down the frequency of my posts to concentrate more on writing my novel. This thread will be among the few I will regularly contribute to between now and the end of the year, when I expect to complete my first book.

For those of you who aren't familiar with me, I'm Ra'fael Washington. I'm an independent entrepreneur, writer, investor, and future novelist.

This thread, is where I will share both my experiences with novel writing, and some of the tips and strategies I've picked up along the way.

I will post to this thread in conjunction with my website, Arc of the Covenant, where I will be publishing the majority of my content about my series and the fictional universe from which the story is based.

It's also where I share updates and document my journey as a newbie self-publishing author. From mistakes and failures, to triumphs and lessons learned, I take note of everything I do, share what worked, what didn’t, and why; then I package it all into easy to read articles for others to review and enjoy.

My hope is that by sharing some of these experiences with you here on Nairaland, I will be able to help others find and acquire the tools they need to improve their craft, create an abundance of art, and produce remarkable bodies of work.

I also manage a newsletter called "Inside the Covenant", which offers updates on new books and future release dates, bonus freebies like short stories and special editions, and exclusive previews and infrequent updates on new ideas and concepts I’m tossing around. If you're already a fan and enjoy my writing, then I'm positive you will enjoy my newsletter as well.

You can join the newsletter, HERE.

Now that my site is complete, it's time to focus on writing the story.

Genesis Covenant is a science fiction & fantasy story.

Though it will be released as a series of books, the story itself is classified as a "saga", which is defined as a long, involved story, account or series of events or incidents, and usually revolves around a particular hero, family or bloodline.

A saga can either be a stand-alone novel or book, or it can be an entire series. A saga is not classified by the number of books, but rather the length of the story it tells. Usually spanning some several months, to years, to millennia (a thousand years or more). Some notable examples include Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien), Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin) and Star Wars (George Lucas).

A series, on the other hand, is a group of books that revolve around the same subject.

For example, many mystery and suspense writers will write books that revolve around a specific detective, investigator or other characters, but the stories themselves are often unrelated to one another, and/or have no bearing on the overall quest or objective of the protagonist.

Therefore, a saga can be a series, but not every series is classified as a saga. However, Genesis Covenant is both a series and a saga.

At the moment, I am working on much of the background of the series, to establish some historical basis for many of the characters and events in the story. I'm currently working on a timeline of galactic history recording the Genesis Covenant Universe's important events.

This will make it much easier for new readers to follow along with the story, as well as figure out the order in which the story's most significant events will occur.

When it's ready, you will be able to view the timeline, [url=http://www.genesiscovenantsaga.com/knowledgebase/gcu-timeline/‎]HERE[/url].

This weekend, I will be working on the first storyline of the series. It's a short story, and is based on the storyline of one of Genesis Covenant's important characters.

I'll be sure to share some of my ideas, and a few excerpts later this weekend.

Stay tuned!

Be blessed!