I've been away from the site for longer than I'd like to have been, mostly due to university but also in part that during my first attempt of second year my mental health took a massive hit, and I almost gave up, I'm back on track now thankfully and I'm enjoying writing again (which is another hint that I'm getting back on track) as such I'm hoping to be a little more active on the site once again. (I've missed you guys, like seriously) In short, I've finished the first draft of the third book in The Master Swordsman Chronicle, started the fourth and have started rewriting the first one. It feels good to be back writing again and actually getting things done at uni too I also had Colours of New Technology accepted into a e-zine (I'll edit it in when I'm not on my tablet later on) which was great and I might get more sci-fi work out of it if they have another ezine come out some point soon
I find myself a lot of the time wondering what I can do to write more, I've got to the point where I've started to rewrite the first novel I finished writing, i want to make that story perfect, I'm fortunate enough that I now think I have everything down where I can start doing that, and on the side, I'm still filling out the world as I see fit. I have a (mostly) free day today, I'll try and get this properly organiser and start again with the rewrite on the book. For some reason, it is the only thing right now that seems to keep my interest with regards to writing. I think second year a lot out of me personally and I need to get back into it again. I have found streaming does help in some way, it means I at least get some writing done, even if it's only for a couple of hours, but it focuses me enough that I can at least get what I need to sorted. (Though doing it at 10pm at night isn't the smartest idea I have, but my mind works I don't know, my mind and muse are all over the place right now, and it is definitely disrupting my flow of conscience, maybe not having my lectures is a bad thing after all...
You see, I rarely like to make a fuss, especially with my writing, because it normally doesn't have any tones subversion. but I find myself in a dilemma, with this idea that i've spoke about a bit on here. The title is Harvest: The Devil's orchard and the general premise is that it's about a group of demons, called the Oculus in Infernum, who are planning an attack on the gods, headed up by what effectively is the ruling male line. Lucifer is the head, effectively the devil himself, with Oriax and Zai (whose full name is Zagan) being son and grandson respectively, helping face up this attack. You see thing thing is, I love this idea, but I feel that if I share it once completed (which I want to do so badly) I will regret making that decision, as I feel there will be people who take what i've done totally the wrong way and not as the creative piece that takes a look at the idea of "what if it's actually the bad guys who are right" and how i've taken the portrayal. I will share an excerpt (the first three paragraphs) from what i've written up thus far below. Zai walked through the Orchard, masses of gravestones laid on the ground, making the Orchard a conflicting scene, much like his thoughts. "This is tradition," he whispered to himself, thinking of his ancestors. Three years after their deaths, their bodies were exhumed and moved to this place, the Devil’s Orchard. He looked round the orchard; the blackened bark was a stark contrast to the brightness of the day, the green leaves, and the blood-red apples that hung from the trees. The wind that whispered through the trees left voices of his past in his ears, his heritage coming alive within the realms of his own psyche. His life was one he crashed into, and one he suspected that he would equally crash out of in the most inelegant of ways. “This is all just a dream” he tries to tell himself, knowing that really it was not. Reaching his hand up to his head, he felt the familiar hardness of his horns curling over his head, hair following their curve to a curl at the base of his neck. “Still reality Zai, pull yourself together.” He commented, walking to the nearest tree and scaling it swiftly. He sat near the top, plucking one of the apples and eating it. the green leaves filtered the sunlight as he notices the mark of his group, the Oculus, darkening. Sighing, knowing that his leader, Lucifer was in need of him, he climbed back down the tree and walks quickly to his cabin. Seeing the darkness of the mark, he knew that it was serious and full robes were required. Thank you for reading, i've yet to completely write this entire idea and intend to do so, and I will see from there.
As Much as I love writing my main series - The Master Swordsman Chronicles, I do find myself sometimes wondering how much I hated myself when writing them. As revisiting the first novel, Order Of The Black, for a rewrite has brought up its own problems, namely the fact that I am having to remember which bloody person aside from the main characters I'm talking about. This problem only really is with the elves (always the bloody elves) and the fact that [SECTION REDACTED- SPOILER] at the end of the first book means we end up closer to the older of the two brothers, and moving entire countries with quite a few thousand people in tow (Definitely a mass exodus if you ask me) not only that but the brother in the first book, Emeril is a bit of an arse (and called a bastard multiple times, by many different people, as well a prick and many other things) which is probably why I always want to talk about the older brother, Caspiar, because he is a decent fellow (even if he does occasionally sound like your mother if you and your sibling are fighting) Plus when your dwarf MC has like four other brothers to deal with (well, all of them are dead by the end of the third chapter of the second book) you kinda have to try and remember which one is which (well the one that got exiled was easy, but the other three weren't so much lol) it makes your life harder because you're having a character reference one of the brothers and being like, "what was X's name again?" made for some hilarity/hours of searching. Death, as it may have occurred to you by now, is something that happens fairly frequently in my series, not as frequently as GRRMartin in A Song of Ice and Fire, but when I say my series is ASOIAF meets LOTR minus dragons, I mean the deaths are like GRRMartin (as is the MC's appointment as something) but then everything goes LOTR as I have elves and dwarves and orcs and aside from dragons, I wouldn't be surprised if it existed there. (Hel, we even have fire salamanders, and Direwolves, which again was a nod to ASOIAF) The worst part of all this is that the three books that I've written so far in this series, have all been pantsed, and i literally have no plans for it at all except a minor "I want X, Y, and Z to happen" in my head. and now I'm having to go through and create those plans (as timelines on Aeon Timeline, I hate the software's design with a passion, but it will serve its purpose for now) Sorry it's a long one, but I have been sitting here keep writing the wrong bloody brother's name in the book and having to repeatedly backspace to correct it. Zaki/ChaosReigns
I've been thinking about creating a resource for some time, but I don't know whether or not people would want it... Especially as it will be a technology-based resource that can be used for Sci-Fi and modern fantasy as what I would be posting would be for that kind of thing. If it seems like a good idea, then let me know, I can either do one or several on this, depending on what kind of resource that people want, (because I'm not sure what kind of resources people want...)
I had left my entry for over a week now, and I am now bricking it because I desperately need to edit it but haven't because I now realise how bad at editing I am. this next couple of days will be frantic editing and praying to the gods to make sure that this is spot on. I also realised that on Friday, I am going to be out all day, and now realise that somehow, i need to get it done even with that. it's a shame that I hadn't realised sooner, else I would have started editing much sooner.... ARGH! I make myself wonder on occasions as to why I do this. Chaos/Zaki
I Can't honestly say that lately i've felt like a writer. I seemed to have found myself disillusioned with the thing i love the most, and I don't know what scares me more, the fact I have become disillusioned, or the fact that the thing I love has been slipping away from me slightly. I completely understand that my life can be hectic with University and trying to find a job, but I shouldn't forget what it is I love doing - Writing. and although I did finish writing my third novel this year, I think I spent too long on one series and I think that is where the Problem sets in, I think I set myself so tightly on one course that I found myself losing the enjoyment I once had with it. That is where the Competition comes in, I log in here one day on the off chance that something interesting might have happened one day (like, i suddenly became extremely popular for no apparent reason) to find an announcment about the 10th Anniversary competition. which suddenly spiked my interest, I had considered entering one of the short story comps to give myself a break and was going to head there, but decided to do this instead. I tell you what, having this change of pace with this concept has certainly helped me a lot, it has got me away from my main series enough to be able to actually enjoy what i am doing for once I do hope to be round more as well because of this Chaos/Zaki
Having been at University since September, and almost completed the first year, I feel the need to take a look back on how things have gone thus far. Especially when it comes to writing. Part of me wants to say it went well, another, wants to say badly. but to be honest I think its a mix of both. it has gone well, as I managed to finish writing one of my novels, but badly as my word count overall hasn't been all that great in comparison to previous years. However, that's ok, because I have more important things pressing for my attention right now, and I hope that summer makes for a good time to allow me chance to work on what I want to with my writing. I know this is short, as I'm writing this quickly at the moment, I'll probably come back to it when I have finished this bastard assignment that needs to be done. Chaos/Zaki
I recently have had some here and there times with writing, by in which, because of external influences, ive been unable to write, which has been frustrating, and now that ive got more time back, ive been struggling to get back into it again. but, i spoke to a good writer friend of mine on Facebook (Jess Sturman-Coombs, check out her stuff on amazon/smashwords) and she suggested sitting there and blast writing for 10 minutes at a time, and i tell you what, that has helped so much in getting me back into it, as ive chipped away at several different things and managed to link them all up (See Lectures in writing, thats where its all heading) I would totally recommend it, even if you are struggling, just write something for 10 minutes, get it out, you never know where its going to end up, and ive had a complete add-fest to my music collection too, which has helped hugely! Well, shorter than id have hoped. but i hope you find it helpful ChaosReigns
Well, this is my first blog on here, but not in the WWW, but i thought, why not? The title is pretty self explanatory, and this builds off of one (or a few) of the threads on here, and this is my full take on it. Some people find that music is quite distracting when writing, and that i can understand, as there are certain songs that i struggle to write while listening to, purely because it takes a lot of my mind to listen to that than actually write. but that is a rare occurance. Normally, you will find i have something or other playing in the background, whether it will be the new found favourite band Rush, or an all time favourite such as Trivium, Symphony X or Dream Theater. You will notice that all apart from Trivium are Progressive - type bands, i find it easier to write with bands who continually change with their sound from one end of the album to the other, Trivium do have some prog elements to their music (the songs Shogun and The Crusade come to mind here) but they have a more shorter, melodic sound. The music either has to be long and flows (with an extended melody) or short with a good paced melody. Bands like Machine Head, Black Label Society and even Black Sabbath can fall under this as they use a formula which lends itself (in my mind anyway) to good writing music. You may also notice that it is a half ton of metal, mainly because, being a 'Metalhead' that is what i listen to on an hourly basis, i would say daily, but it is a literal 24/7 thing. Metal can be controversial, but that's part of it, and that can be part of my writing (if you saw my Psychopathic Delusion thread, you'll see why) but it is also so far a part of me now, that anything else feels and seems wrong and trust me i have tried listening to other genres, but cant stick so go back. Ok i have gone off the drift slightly here, but thats me all over. Metal is my weapon and inspiration of choice when writing, and that will never change, if any of you lovely people read my writing, music has affected it in some sense or other.