I just passed the 50k word mark on the first draft of Rust Five. The final thing is projected to come out somewhere between 90-100k, which will make it the longest book in the series. So, there’s a long way to go… but we’re halfway there. Maybe a little more.
If you’ve been waiting on this book since 2018, you’re probably thinking… What took you so long? Each Rust novel has been around 200-300 pages of pulpy thrills and spills. What’s so complicated that the last book has taken five years to get in motion?
In my defense, Rust isn’t a simple story. I originally saw Rust as a fun little monster-of-the-week type horror series, but then I let things grow and grow and nobody ever told me no. The story got complicated, fast. Lots of characters, lots of lore, lots of twists.
Even so, it shouldn’t have taken this long.
So, why the holdup?
At the end of Rust Four (spoiler warning, if you haven’t read that far), the gang is rocked by a victory, a tragedy, and a terrible revelation. What follows is that, in the wake of that tragedy, everyone splits up and takes some time to do their own thing and get their heads on straight.
When I published Rust Four, I was already plotting the final book in the series. I knew what I wanted each character to do or overcome while they were on their own. I knew where I wanted everyone to be for the finale.
But the middle? That was a complete mystery.
I’ve drafted and discarded a lot of words over the past years while trying to figure this out. Where would each of the parties go, what would they do, what struggles would they face, how would they grow? How would they take on the multiple antagonists I’ve been developing throughout the course of the series? And most importantly, how would they be drawn back together, ready for the final fight?
Keep in mind that (because I have no self-restraint) Rust has three POV heroes and five antagonists. I really want this book to close out the series, so I need to find a way to wrap all of them up in satisfying ways where each minor antagonist advances the march towards the final big bad. And I had to do it in a way that was true to the characters as they’ve been written so far, with no contrivances or passing of the idiot-ball.
That’s not easy.
So I dwelled on it for years. Wrote a bunch of chapters. Threw them in the garbage. Did it all over again.
And then, about three months back, no joke, I had a vision.
August Kekulé
There’s a story about a German chemist called August Kekulé whose most famous work was on the discovery of the true structure of the benzene molecule. Kekulé correctly proposed that benzene was arranged in a ring-structure, claiming that the breakthrough had come to him in a daydream of an ouroboros—a snake eating its own tail.
My vision was weirdly similar. I’d been struggling with the shape of Rust for months, and was starting to feel like I’d set myself an impossible task. Sort of like how George R.R. Martin spent a decade untangling the Meerenese Knot.
I admitted defeat for the day and collapsed on the couch to drink whiskey and watch nature documentaries. Some time around the third glass, I was captured by the whirling migratory patterns of sardines.
And then, I saw it.
Three whirling, coiling threads, interweaving and overlapping as they spiraled towards a single, central point.
Three main characters, intersecting in ever-tightening patterns until they collided in one final battle.
I grabbed a notebook and tried to draw what I’d seen. It was ugly, but it was enough.
I could see the plot of Rust Five.
If you’ve been waiting five years for this scribble, I’m so sorry.
Now that I’m writing all this down, it sounds really esoteric and self-absorbed. All I know is, I was able to build upon this diagram to quickly sketch out the shape of the primary characters, their journeys, and how they’d arrive at their final destination. I turned that into a series of interwoven arcs, then broke that down into a scene structure that filled the middle of the book.
Add an opening arc that I already had mostly drafted, plus the conclusion I wrote almost ten years ago…
The shape of it is there, all mapped out in Scrivener.
Now all I have to do is grow it into a novel.
The important question: when will it be done?
I don’t know.
But I know I don’t want to leave this for another five years. I want to see where Kimberly, Detective Chan and Darling all end up. I want to know who makes it through in one piece. I want to write scenes that make me recoil in my seat, and then share them with the world.
This year? Maybe not.
But soon.
To everyone who has been waiting all this time for an update, to the people who still message me every six months to check in on the progress of Rust Five, thank you. You’re the reason I do this.
Now, let’s get a draft over the finish line.