I was going to post a new collection of completed puzzles, but I didn’t finish in time. Then, I thought about what to do and realized it was Mother’s Day. Don’t worry. I got a card and gift already. So, here are some funny memes to celebrate the day. Honestly, it’s hard to find ones that don’t insult fathers, but I pulled it off. Enjoy. (All found through Google Image Search)
The title is a genuine question. It was an option for tomorrow, but I have something for Mother’s Day. My head isn’t exactly in the game either, so I’m having trouble focusing on stuff. Part of the reason is I was doing well until Thursday night, which is when I’m writing this thing. Not sure what hit me, but my stomach has decided to voice a rather vicious open on the state of the my inner universe. Taking all of my energy to get this done and I’m praying I get writing done this weekend.
Let’s jump into that arena. War of Nytefall: Savagery is coming along rather nicely, which is surprisingly. I may be able to finish this in 3 weeks and that third week is only a single chapter section at the end. I’ll have to decide on what to do after that. Maybe finish a few outlines I have lying about and get the one for War of Nytefall: Anarchy ready for when I write it. Next big project is editing Ravenous and then I’ll decide on what I want to do. Still, this is good progress now that I’ve got a system down. Summer might prove to be a challenge because camp might not happen. That means I have my son all day with no schoolwork, but I might be able to do some writing. It’s why Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Tips to Writing Fantasy) is looking like a summer project. Easier to write up the blog-like chapters than full ones during that kind of time.
In other news, school and work continued as usual. It wasn’t that bad this week, but we had some focusing issues. Think part of it was that the weather began really good with shorts even being an option. Then, it got cold again and sinuses went wild. I also made a tactical error and opened the window next to my desk. The wind blowing in was nice, but there’s an oak tree on the other side of the hedges. It gives off a lot of pollen to the point where my car is layered in the stuff. I have seasonal allergies, so I begin sneezing and coughing like mad. Not a great thing to do these days. Overall, a rather big comedy of errors.
There was one big highlight of the week and that was my son’s Physical Education assignment. We had to make an obstacle course and record him running through it. My dad built it while we were doing on Monday and that was the beginning of the end. I was lucky to get the little guy back inside for ‘Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’. Tuesday was the big event and he really wanted to get to it, but I had him wait. We changed it around after practicing too. It went:
Most important thing is that he had fun. Though, we’ve created a monster. I had to make a mini-obstacle course on Thursday to appease him. The rope is the only thing left, which made it really difficult. I’m going to have him go back to martial arts next week because he needs to keep that up. Think the weather is supposed to be messy too.
Not much else to talk about. I didn’t watch a lot of television beyond finishing ‘Kaze No Stigma’. I recommend that anime if you enjoy magical action and female leads with short fuses. Might go back to ‘The Magicians’ next or start ‘Black Adder’. My son and I finished what Hulu had of ‘My Hero Academia’ and are almost done with ‘Fairy Tail’. Still got ‘Naruto’ and ‘Yugioh’ going. I might have to get Funimation Streaming to keep up with the other two. I’ve been delaying and rethinking about that one because it gives me access to some shows that I really want to see. I hope to have the discipline to not go crazy, especially since it has ‘One Piece’ and that’s nearly 1,000 episodes. Good-bye to the outside world if I get sucked into that. First world problems, huh?
Seeing as my stomach is still giving me trouble, I’m calling this one. Again, hope everyone is safe and healthy right now. Good luck.
Goals:
Totally forgot this one piece of news. Not really news, but something I started doing. I talk a lot about using my stationary bike on weekends. Well, I needed something for the weekdays. I have two 8-pound weights, so I began using them for a bit in the morning. It’s only 4 arm exercises with 3 reps of 10, which is agonizing because I have really crappy upper body strength. Still, it’s something and I hope to maintain it. Not sure what it will do overall though, so I assume I’ll have a bunch of people tell me how it isn’t helpful or how I can ‘improve’ it. Everyone’s a critic.
Aurora J. Alexander is launching Demon Tracker, the third book in her Council of Twelve series.
Zepheira is the best Demon Tracker working for the Good side. With her unusual looks, her phenomenal sense of smell, and her bravery, she quickly draws ‘The Big 7’s attention to her talent. They hire her to find one of them. Leaving her familiar surroundings and regular work environment unsettles Zepheira at first. But the challenge to prove herself and to increase the reputation of her infallibility tempts her.
She is convinced she will be a great asset to ‘The Big 7’. Little does she know she will be a much greater asset in Heaven’s fight against Evil. Zepheira suddenly becomes more than a hired tracker. She finds herself an important pawn in the game of love, heat, and fire. Will her courage and sacrifice be sufficient to dance with the…
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I can’t think of many titles in my series that made it through to the end. Even when it comes to the series titles, things got changed along the way. Legends of Windemere, War of Nytefall, Ichabod Brooks, Quest of the Brokenhearted, and . . . Well, Bedlam actually stuck around for the long haul. Figures that one would be the outlier. So, what were the originals? By the way, click on each title for their Amazon page. Just an FYI:
Looking over all of my future ideas, I think I’ve got a better handle on titles. I made them after coming up with the general plot. So, I might not run into so much chaos as I did on this time around. Live and learn.
(Previously on Immortal Wars.)
(I’m actually wondering if you can still see my tense jumping problem I had when I first wrote this story.)
Disclaimer: Immortal Wars was the book I came up with and wrote in high school. I hadn’t even hit college by the time I wrote the first two books. That means I hadn’t developed my style yet, wasn’t good at self-editing, and the story was fairly basic. So, you’ve been warned that this is the ultimate author throwback segment for my blog and will show my author origins. FYI- I put the first book (The Summoning) through a Print-on-Demand publisher and the second one (Light, Blood, & Tears) never saw the light of day. Enjoy!
As far as Fate could tell, he had slept for about eight hours. Since he was living on a base found in the center of the sun, it always appeared to be daytime in his room. He had never bothered to figure out how to turn the light off or darken the windows. Currently, Fate’s vivid dreams were filled with images of what the evil immortals could possibly look like. His weird visions ranged from a group of normal human beings to several slobbering monsters. He had finally made a decision to confront Solix and find out exactly what they were being trained to go up against.
“SEAS? Are you there?” asks the young immortal.
“Of course I am here, Fate. Where else would I possibly be?” answers the computer from the room’s monitor.
“Fate? Oh yeah. I keep forgetting about that lame codename you and Solix stuck me with. Do you know where the other guardians are right now?”
“Yes, sir. My internal sensors have been programmed to constantly keep track of the inhabitants of the sun base. Why do you ask?”
“I have to talk to them. Can you tell me where they are? And you can call me Fate instead of sir. It isn’t like I’m more important than everyone else.”
“Certainly, Fate,” says SEAS as a very intricate schematic of the sun base appears on the computer screen. Four mild yellow dots, which represent Fate and his three friends, appear on the schematic. Two of the dots are in the big game room and the other one is in the bedroom across the hall from Fate.
“Hydrana is still sleeping in her room. As you can see, Infinity and Miracle are currently in the game room. That is the place you and your friends have been training in for the past two days.”
“I know that. Why isn’t Solix on the sensor chart?”
“He has ordered me not to tell any of you where he is this morning. He has important and private business to take care of. I am sorry.”
“He does the same thing every morning. Just forget I even asked where he was. I’ll find him soon enough. But thanks for telling me where the others are. Uh, can you light the way to the game room, so I don’t get lost again?” asks Fate. He has already changed into his guardian uniform, minus the headband, and is standing by the open doorway.
“Understood. I will light the way for you like you have asked, sir. I mean Fate,” says SEAS as Fate leaves his room.
Soon after Fate steps into the corridor, a red, arrow-shaped light points to the west of the sun base. Slowly, the Mars guardian walks down the extremely bright hallway.
I’m going to get into my own book title adventure on Friday, but I’m sure most authors can relate. You come up with a title at the start, change it halfway through, and then cycle through more until you land on the final choice. It’s rare for the first title to stay until the end if we have one at the start in the first place. Regardless of how it happens, we usually go through a lot of trouble to come up with the perfect title. It needs to be catchy and connected to the story. If it’s part of a series then you need a series title and the volume ones may have a common theme. So many choices and decisions that you need to factor in before you get your cover art much less publish. So, what are some ways that we can make things easier?
Image courtesy of bigstock.com
Hello SErs. Harmony here. As promised, here is part eight in the post series dedicated to taking a step-by-step look at how to get your finished manuscript from your computer and on sale on Amazon in both ebook and paperback.
If you’d like to take a look back at the previous posts in this series, please click on the links below:
Outline: https://wp.me/p7OGru-29c
Part 1 (Software for Writing) : https://wp.me/p7OGru-29t
Part 2 (General Formatting Necessities) : https://wp.me/p7OGru-29J
Part 3 (Ebook Conversion) : https://wp.me/p7OGru-2ah
Part 4 (Paperback Formatting) : https://wp.me/p7OGru-2eS
Part 5 (Image Software for Making Book Covers) : https://wp.me/p7OGru-2gi
Part 6 A (Using Amazon’s Cover Creator Tool for eBook) : https://wp.me/p7OGru-2gQ
Part 6 B (Making your own ebook cover to upload to Amazon) : https://wp.me/p7OGru-2hQ
Part 7 A (Using Amazon’s Cover Creator Tool for Paperback) : https://wp.me/p7OGru-2jY
Part 7 B (Making your own PDF book cover…
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The characters have been crafted
Plots have been planned
Beginning birthed
And ending etched in your mind
Twists are tempered
Turns are touched upon
Blurbs are blurted out
Every piece plucked from the ether
Save for one
That will make the package whole
*
Nothing works
Everything is lame
The one born yesterday
Has been tossed by morning’s light
Tears are being shed
With every attempt a failure
That plunges your soul
Further into darkness
Why is it so hard
To make a proper title?
The Idea Pile
Figure I can use Sundays to present future ideas that I haven’t fully fleshed out. Helps to write stuff out, especially those that I carried from other worlds to Windemere. This one is like that, which you can tell from the name. It’s tough to use Greek letters in a non-Earth setting. This becomes a bigger sticking point if they don’t show up at any other times. I should probably explain the origin.
Back in college, some friends of mine wanted to do the frat stuff, but didn’t want to go through the mess of pledging. So, they created their own and called it Phi Beta. My roommate and I got brought in later that day then the rest of our crew were drawn into the fun. We came up with ideas and hung out, but that’s really it. The names and ideas all were ‘Phi Beta’ then a word with a ‘B’ or ‘Ph/F’ name. For example, Phi Beta Blade was my name and the one in charge was Phi Beta Bruiser. Obviously, these names aren’t going to be in the story, but the ‘adventures’ we had were the basis for it. Since one of our favorite movies was ‘Animal House’, I decided to have our group by the misfit squad in a military academy. It was a book for each year of college, one for spring break, and one for a big summer break, which puts us at g.
Here is where things start to get tricky. We didn’t have many girls in the group and those who were didn’t play a big role in our antics. It was definitely a guy thing, so the main characters are all female. I’ve made incarnations where a female character is added, but it throws off a few things. There are plenty of female supporting cast members and villains though. Again, working off real world things does put some limitations on it. Not to mention the four main characters are heavily flawed. You have the pompous jackass, the naive one that goes a little out of control, the malicious trickster, and the apathetic yet loyal one. They aren’t starting out as noble or decent, which is why they’re seen as the misfits. I plan on having them mature and evolve as they move through the military academy years, but I still have a lot of trouble adding a woman into this thing given its origins. So, that’s going to be a problem in this day and age.
Now, the general story is where another issue comes up. Originally, this was in a futuristic world where Earth sends military envoys to other planets for exploration and trade. Phi Beta is still the misfit group who are all determined to graduate. They all have their own reasons too. Connect to the previous flaws:
They’re also at a disadvantage since squads are supposed to be groups of 6. Pointman, Psionic, Exo-pilot, Medic, Jack-of-All-Trades, and Shadow are the groupings if I remember correctly. Nobody wants to join them because of their reputation, so the jackass and naive one take on two roles each. You also have mechanics, suppliers, snipers, and other specialists that aren’t part of the squad curriculum. This is where many of the female characters will show up, but none of them are going to want to be official members of Phi Beta. Why would anybody want to since they’re being set up for failure?
They will stumble and crash into victory at most points with the adventures growing in seriousness. First year was going to be very close to real college antics that ends with a final test that they have to pass to stay in school and get an official house. Second year is when they get an advisor and have to do teamwork tests while someone is legitimately trying to kill them, which included a virtual reality fantasy game adventure. Third book was an extra credit session where personal problems cause 3 of the 4 to leave school while the 4th has to pretend that they are still around until they return. Year three is them winning a chance to test a new spacefighter, which goes wrong and they are split into pairs that have to reunite on a planet with warring nations. Summer break is a series of various adventures that all connect to a villain from that virtual fantasy game who escaped to possess a real person. Final year is the senior war games and Phi Beta realizing that they might be going in different directions after graduation. Conspiracy to get rid of them is in there too since everyone who hates them unites to make sure they don’t graduate or even survive.
That’s all I have right now without digging up my notes. They’re scattered and none of them touch on the newest problem. How does being in Windemere change this? Exo-suit no longer works, so I might have to change that to something else or simply get rid of it entirely. This means on the team leader is doing double-duty, which makes sense given his goal. Although, I do remember changing it to something called a Steel, which I think involved the character being able to sprout an armor suit from their body using a special artifact. I wouldn’t be able to do all of the second year story or the summer break one since it was going to be them going from sci-fi to fantasy for comedy. So, I need a third year story for them, which doesn’t involve another competition. They won’t be going to planets, so I need to figure out a purpose for these guys. I was thinking of making this a mercenary training facility since I don’t do anything to cover that aspect of Windemere. The jackass could end up dreaming of being the new Mercenary King. So, this is a lot of stuff that I have to consider. Another option is having the final year be after things go wrong on the third year adventure and Phi Beta getting a chance to return for one more adventure.
Geez. Here I thought simply calling it ‘The Phi Beta Files’ was a problem. Maybe ‘The Phi Beta Four’? The Phi Beta Brigade? That last one could actually be their official name. Ugh, this is tough.
(Add-On: After talking to one of the friends who was there, I might just have the 4 main ones and the others will be supporting characters. Perhaps the academy has it that you need to create a small force with 6 officers and a bunch of specialists. This opens up to more characters, but that could make it an insanely big cast. Unless I only use the specialists when they’re needed.)
Legends of Windemere 