I have left another note at the end of Volume 1, but I feel I should preface the rewrites by explaining what’s changed.
Seven years ago, I wrote The Wandering Inn’s first volume and had no idea it would be successful, or even read by more than a dozen people. I had hopes—but the first draft had a lot of experimental ideas, or unformed concepts.
This rewrite that you can find on the site has been the work of years. I’ve known that rewriting Volume 1 is something I should do, but I’ve put it off. I wanted to rewrite the first few chapters, or parts of the story because it’s rougher and weaker than what I can currently do.
But rewriting is hard. So hard that I had to learn how to edit by working with professional editors and get two years of experience before I even took on the project—and it still took me months of working in the background as I’m sure readers of Volume 9 are aware of.
However. I am happy with the rewrites because I did not erase what made Volume 1 good in my mind—I just upgraded the weak parts and kept the bones of what made the story appealing to so many.
For an old reader, don’t fret. You can find the old chapters and all the comments in an archive on the site. If you want to see what’s new, it might be good to read everything from start to finish. Volume 1 chapters are literally a tenth as long as some Volume 9 chapters.
But to clarify what I’ve done in the rewrites…some chapters are not touched at all. Others have minor tweaks for consistency’s sake. I have added several perspectives not in the original Volume. However, the largest change has been the complete rewrite of two chapters which I feel have vastly improved major plot points in the story, as well as prose.
It’s my birthday as of posting this, and it’s very fitting. I can finally show people a start to The Wandering Inn I’m proud of, and that opens the way for a lot. Physical books, a polished start for any new readers—and I didn’t do it alone.
I would like to thank a bunch of people for getting The Wandering Inn to this part. In no particular order, JAD Illustrated and Shawn King for creating the iconic covers for the story. Diana Gill for helping me re-write the story. My assistant, agent, my beta-reading team, and the typo killers, who have slain probably millions of grammatical and spelling errors, even in this very author’s note. My family, from my parents and siblings to my grandfather, who have all supported my writing as it changed from a hobby to a career.
Last of all, I’d like to thank a certain [Web Developer] who has helped upgrade the site. You may now see a ‘reader settings’ icon, and it has the ability to change font size, and even enabled the blasphemous light mode and other settings for reader experience. More updates to come, but this may be a huge help for anyone who wants a different reading style. All of this helps for the enjoyment of people who come to the site, and that’s a great thing.
I could not get here without help, and I hope for any readers new or old they enjoy what’s been rewritten and what’s to come. Thanks so much for reading,
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