
Hi, SEers! You’re with Mae today for one of my Good/ Bad / Ugly posts. At the end of 2020, I took a two-month break from blogging. I’d only planned …
Blogging Breaks: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

Hi, SEers! You’re with Mae today for one of my Good/ Bad / Ugly posts. At the end of 2020, I took a two-month break from blogging. I’d only planned …
Blogging Breaks: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

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A few disclaimers here because we’re heading into delicate territory. I am not an expert on mental health by any means. I read up on it and have my own experiences to work off, which is what fuels these posts. Also, I always try to add some humor into my posts, especially the 7 Tip Lists. I find that humor can relieve tension and allow for serious stuff to be listened to and swallowed more easily. Finally, this is about actual depression and not a character simply feeling sad or upset. That brings us right to #1!
This week was midterms, so I was busy. That pretty much covers work unless we count that I did some outlining of ‘Ruins of the Zodiac Gods’ when I didn’t have any students in my proctoring room. Not as much as I expected because I wanted to do work stuff and I was tired. So cold in the morning that I got drained fairly quickly during the drive in. I didn’t bother with lunch either because I wasn’t hungry. Just water and then I ate when I got home. Somehow, I didn’t lose any weight on that one. Okay, I’m rambling, so I’ll move on.
I’m actually writing this Thursday night because I’m doing a birthday party with coworkers Friday night. Nothing big and we’re taking precautions. It’s a nice outing since I haven’t done much lately. Good to socialize at times when I can. With the pandemic, my social life has been reduced to a sliver of activity. I didn’t have much to begin with, but everything is a mess now. I’m bracing myself for the entire year to be like this because I doubt things are going to change any time soon. Of course, this causes my anxiety to rise, which stops me from doing any more writing. At least for the day since things always start again in the morning. How is the writing going?
I fell a little short of my goal of 14 sections for Do I Need to Use a Dragon? That would have brought me to 10 sections left. Monday was too busy for me to do anything and Friday I went out, so that brought it down to 12. I don’t know how well I’m going to do on Saturday, so I’ll be happy if I get it down to 13 left. The ultimate goal is to get this project done by the end of winter break, which is mid-February. That’s the latest since I could feasibly get it done earlier. Depends on how custody is going to be worked out, the weather, and how I react to the second vaccine shot. Fun! I’m at 15 to go at the writing of this post, which seems so small comparted to the 72 sections I started with. This is going to be big. I still can’t figure out what to have as the final picture in the book. I have ‘Legends’, ‘Nytefall’, and ‘Ichabod Brooks’. Thinking of Fizzle doing puppy-dog eyes being on the cover since he’s a dragon. Who could be the final one?
Been thumbing through the future book ideas and you should be seeing one get mentioned tomorrow. I’m back to sorting things and trying to figure out what works and what needs to be cannibalized. Less of that second category this time. Settling into the idea that some stories will be short story collections instead of series has helped. Much of this is toying around until I can get the time to begin outlining ‘Tales of the Slumberlord’. I’ve been considering the title of that one, but I really do like it. The volume titles are all ‘Darwin & the-‘ stuff, so they might be long. Picturing his adventures, I think it makes sense because he does overexplain things. Using his own logic, of course. There are already a lot of decisions and thoughts turning up. Darwin freaking out about things and thinking he can just march into the Channeler Queen’s castle to ask for training. After all, he’s a caster and so is she, so why can’t she teach him? I have to get used to a main character that has his own taste of logic. Not totally off the wall like Lost, but rather straightforward and socially aloof. Darwin is going to be so much fun. Can’t wait for people to meet him.
That’s really it and next week is going to be mellow. A new quarter starts for me and my son. Winter break hits in 3 weeks too, so I don’t know how busy things will be. I can already see several big projects on the way for him, which means schoolwork is going to be the focus. That’s as it should be. I don’t know what to watch from my lists either. I finished all of ‘The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’ and ‘The IT Crowd’. First one is a quirky anime and the other is a British comedy. I can’t figure out if I want an anime or an hour long show. None of the popular things appeal to me either. Keep hearing about the ‘Queen’s Gambit’ and ‘Bridgerton’, but I’m not interested. Guess I tend to gravitate towards comedies and anything that isn’t that connected to reality.
Goals of the week:

The Seven Deadly Sins
This storyline might be fairly niche, but it’s caught my attention. In fact, I think it’s turned up more often than I realize. ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ and ‘Red’ come to mind. Both have a reunion plot where most of the characters already know each other. They have a lengthy history and possibly some fame. I’ve got a few tips for this, so let’s see what we have.

In my last post, I explored some ways in which a new language is born. This post examines one of the best-known historical examples (at least for …
How Latin Became Modern Italian
(Disclaimer: A warning to those who continue. This is a sequel to a previous story. Both of these were written in the mid-1990’s. While the first one was slightly edited and vanity press published, this one has not been touched in over 20 years. I figure I should do something with it and people may get a laugh or fright from how I used to be. Every author comes from somewhere, so this is part of my origin. To that end, I am deeply sorry for whatever nightmares I will inflict on the literary world and the American English language. Enjoy?)

The planet guardians’ sun base is a large, glass sphere in the very center of the blazing sun. There are several rooms in this impressive structure and the inhabitants of the sun base only use half of them. One of the used rooms is a large recreation and restaurant area. At this moment, the four young guardians are using the enormous multi-sport arena in order to relax. That is they are relaxing in their own competitive, immortal style.
“Heads up!” yells the black-haired Venus guardian. Miracle savagely hits a square puck of gold, which ends up ricocheting off the ceiling and hits her right in her head. The game is called Korlanian hockey, but instead of ice, it is played on churning, molten lava and the sticks are made out of flaming, white metal. Only immortals and the creators of this sport are able to play it without getting burned.
“Beautiful shot. Look at it this way, Kelly. At least it didn’t hit anything that you use,” says Hydrana as she takes the puck off her dazed friend’s face. Before she can take a nicely aimed shot, Fate skates in and knocks her under an incoming wave of lava.
“Better luck next time, water sprite. This game is officially over,” announces the Mars guardian. Suddenly, a thick blast of telekinetic energy knocks Fate through a window and out of the arena. With Fate out of the game, Infinity gets the last goal and the lava disappears from the room.
“Are you okay, Ed? I was trying to pin your arms down. I must have slipped in all the excitement,” Infinity apologizes while leaving the arena. Fate had painfully landed upside down in a row of metal chairs. One of the janitor robots is already sweeping the shards of glass off of Fate.
“I’m fine. But it was supposed to be a game without birthright powers. Just get the large shard of glass out of my forehead. The wound is starting to heal around the glass. Owww. Thanks.” A long-armed robot brings them four, large vials of a light blue drink that occasionally release tiny zaps of electricity.
“Yes. Glebnokian energizers. My favorite after practice drink. You guys should really have this drink a lot more often. Still recovering, dead man?” Hydrana casually asks Fate. She takes a sip of the blue energizer and a feeling of raw energy shoots through her entire body.
“It’s been a month since I died, so I think I’ve had enough time to get over the experience. Thanks for getting Kilanus to help. Death is such an eerie feeling when you’re immortal. But at least my destiny is no longer linked to Adriana. After we killed each other, and Kilanus brought us back, Startrix privately explained her original vision to Adriana and me. How long was it before you managed to get our bodies? Couldn’t have been more than two or three days.”
“Eight days. Five hours. Twelve minutes. Forty-nine seconds. It would have been a lot less if the two of you hadn’t died by getting sucked into that comet. The chances of that thing coming by Mercury at the same time you and Adriana got shot off the planet were rare. Of course your luck always seems to act strangely. I really missed you,” whispers Miracle as she tightly hugs Fate from behind.
“I know. Who was in charge while I was gone?”
“Hydrana took over for you. Draveon took over for Adriana. In all honesty, Delila did pretty well for her first time in charge. Of course she decided to go off on her own to retrieve your body because we were busy handling Kilanus. She defeated half of the evil immortals by herself before we could get there to help. You would have been really impressed with her,” explains Infinity.
“That reminds me, Fate. Can I talk to you alone after dinner?” asks Hydrana in a friendly voice.
“Why?”
“It’s something important. Just meet me here after dinner.”
“I will. But I have to go talk to SEAS first. There are some things that I want to take care of. So, I’ll probably be busy for about an hour after dinner,” says Fate before he gets up and leaves the others without another word.
“I have only one thing to say. He is getting so creepy,” mutters Miracle after a few minutes of silence.
“No kidding. I’m unpleased to announce that we have a Solix in training. Ever since the relic was killed, Ed has been acting very secluded. He doesn’t even spend time with any of us unless we have a mission, a meeting, or some kind of training to take care of,” replies Hydrana after she finishes her drink. Electricity jumps from her entire body and they leave small burn marks on the nearby wall.
“I personally think he needs a vacation. A very long vacation. Can I have a Neptunian steak with Haley fries?” says Infinity to a nearby robot that moves by using a propeller.
“You’re not actually going to eat that. Are you? The meat is dark green and the fries are razor sharp. It tastes worse than that Tiberian bacon, which was beyond horrible. Can you please talk some sense into him, Miracle?”
“We have a lot more important things to talk about than your boyfriend’s suicidal diet. I don’t mean to sound selfish, but what can we do about my boyfriend? I want the old, warm one back.”
“I have an idea,” mentions a robotic voice that comes from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.
“I hate it when you do that without warning. How long have you been listening to us, SEAS?” asks Infinity as his disgusting food is delivered. It is just as Hydrana described it and Infinity swallows one of the fries. He has to wait until the wound it leaves in his throat heals before swallowing anything else.
“Ever since Hydrana froze Miracle to the ceiling during your second game. But I have to go soon. My idea is to somehow lessen Fate’s burdens.”
“Like he would ever let that happen. He enjoys work more than anything. He loves responsibility and work more than me at some times. Ever since Solix left, Fate has never taken time to relax. Unless you count that being dead for a few days,” the Venus guardian says.
“That may be the case. But that problem is exactly what I plan to talk to him about. He needs someone to become his second-in-command. If Solix had one, he might have lived a longer and happier life. A second-in-command is just what Fate needs to help him with this group,” says Hydrana.
“And that would be you? Not in our lifetime. Which is a very long time considering we’re immortals,” mentions Miracle.
“Look, tomboy. I am the best fighter among us. Besides Fate that is. When he was gone, I took over and never messed up once. If he needs any help with leading this group, then it should be me because I’ve had some experience. And I wouldn’t have any problem arguing with him when I think his ideas are wrong. The two of you are more likely to agree.”
“I know I’m going to regret saying this. Nothing happened when you were in charge, Hydrana. The only major event was when we had to fight for Fate’s body. But that was nothing more than a savage bloodbath. All you did was walk around the sun base and claim that you were in charge. I’m pretty sure your parents didn’t bring up to be that lazy,” states Infinity. Hydrana glares at Infinity and runs out of the room before tears start streaming down her face.
“Nice job, Romeo. At least I didn’t go into the exact details,” whispers Miracle as she gets to her feet.
“I should go apologize. But I’ll wait until she calms down. Last time something like this happened, I was frozen to a space skimmer’s outer hull. While it was being used in deep space.”
“I remember that. It is weird though. Hydrana seems to have developed a much shorter fuse than usual. It’s like Fate not relaxing. Ever since we became guardians, the two of them have changed. Fate stays to himself while Hydrana is getting more emotionally sporadic. But I’m not going to try and figure either of them out right now. We’ll let SEAS play has hand and then step in if that doesn’t work. Hey, Steve. I’ll play you in that laser warfare game again.”
“Sure. It’s not like I haven’t messed up enough today. But I get to use the rocket launcher and laser grenades this time.”
“Deal. I might as well give you every chance you can get to beat me. I still think I’m gonna win.”
(Post originally published on April 6, 2020)

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I bring up mental health a lot here. Usually, it’s in regards to the topic itself and not connecting it to writing. Well, I’m going to switch that up here. Wednesday and Friday are going to be some 7 Tip lists for depression and anxiety in fiction while today is going to be more of an open forum. The question:
Do you think mental health issues should be avoided or tackled in fiction, especially genres like fantasy?
Personally, I think it depends on the author. You can’t force someone to include a subject or trait that they aren’t comfortable with. They might know enough about the mental issue to use it, which means research is needed. It could also be that they are afraid of offending a sufferer with an incorrect depiction or to trigger something. Since we are talking about a sensitive situation, it’s totally understandable that one would feel this way. Honestly, I don’t think it’s fair to attack an author who tries and fails to depict a mental health issue even if they were being a jerk about it. Respond with a rational criticism and try to educate if possible.
That also brings me to the other side of the spectrum that I’ve seen. Some authors will take the more sensational version of a mental health issue for dramatic effect. Anxiety-riddled heroes who can barely get out of the house. Depressives who cry every time they speak and are covered in self-inflicted scars. OCD is a term that is flung around so casually that it loses all meaning to some people. Don’t even get me started on dissociative identity disorder, which used to be split personality disorder . . . Mostly because I’m still not 100% sure on how to work this one. Anyway, these extremes can exist in reality, but they aren’t always the case. To make it look like this is the only way it can go can be upsetting to those who suffer in a different way. Especially when your depiction causes readers to expect those extremes in sufferers, so they doubt the words of anyone suffering in any other way.
This really is a delicate topic to add into your stories. With fantasy, I think there are magical ways to cushion the blow or explain why it isn’t widespread. Kind of a big cop out there, but it’s something. At least with the more severe mental illnesses because you have psychics, casters, and healers out there. One thing that is a dangerous tactic here is to use mental health issues as ‘curses’. It’s pretty easy to do and comes off like a good idea when it’s in an outline stage. The brave hero is sudden afflicted by anxiety or depression or a phobia or OCD or any number of things. Yet, this can backfire and come off as insulting because it makes the conditions appear evil. They’re not.
As I continue writing, I’m considering adding some mental health issues into my stories, but I’m still twitchy on trying. There is going to be an addiction subplot in one book series, which stems from severe grief and depression. I don’t know if this counts since it’s a deep sadness with a source and not a depression with no clear catalyst. Anxiety is one that I might consider more because I have a better idea of that one. I guess another reason for me personally is that I really want to maintain the escapism and heavy topics like this can shatter that illusion if you’re not careful. They won’t be the main focus of a story, so they’ll be there as subplots or character traits. This kind of prevents me from tackling the really heavy ones because those need a lot of attention and focus.
Anyway, what do you think about this topic? Also, if anyone ever wants to write up a guest post on a specific mental health issue then feel free to ask for a spot. Awkward request, but I feel like I’m limited in experience and knowledge here.

Any of you writing fantasy will appreciate Toni Šušnjar’s post on heraldry, shared on Mythic Scribes. The History of Heraldry As Toni explains, …
Heraldry Basics