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My plan was to start hyping War of Nytefall: Eradication since it is going to be coming out soon. This is the 4th book of Clyde and the Dawn Fangs’ adventures. It’s also been 10 months since I published War of Nytefall: Rivalry. That means I’m a little rusty, people might not remember the series, and other issues with getting back into the game to some extent. So, I need to carefully choose the first topic here.
That or I can hit the topic that keeps finding itself on my list. It’s something that I think I need to bring into the open. Might sound like a preemptive excuse, whining, ranting, or something negative. Yet, I can’t shake the feeling that I need to bring it up, which I obviously did in the title. Here we go:
War of Nytefall: Eradication is the first book I wrote since my divorce started, which means it took longer to finish. There were long periods between sections because of work and just not feeling it. Quite a few reasons for this such as my ex-wife messaging me the morning I was going to write and that ruining my mood. Dealing with heartache makes it very difficult to write anything with a positive message until you wrestle control of the emotion. Letting it run wild resulted in a few bad scenes that I rewrote and I hope I did the rest of the book justice. My confidence was shot so badly that I couldn’t trust my own judgement, which made editing a trick and a half. In another life, I had someone I could bounce ideas off of every day, but now I only have shadow puppets unless I can snag a friend by text. This all meant my usual process was no longer an option.
I should hit the big one too. For those who remember, Nyx was the DnD character that my ex-wife played. Well, Mab was her Vampire: The Masquerade character. She played Nadia Sylvan and a character who turns up in volume 5 too. Yet, it was incredibly hard to write Mab because she enters a relationship with Clyde, who was me. These were the only character played by my ex-wife and I who became a couple. Now, I have to continue writing them as such while my heart does that weird sensation of feeling like it’s leaking blood into my chest cavity. It’s not really doing it, but that’s the only way I can explain what I feel. Now, many have told me to kill her off, but a few problems:
All of that brings up the question of ‘How do I write through the pain?’
I take a lot of breaks, which could be television, puzzles, or just crying if I wrote a scene that tore up a few emotional sutures. One of the things I swore is that I wouldn’t take my emotions out on my characters to the point where I ruin the story. This is especially true with the ex-wife inspired characters who I see as having evolved beyond her and become their own entities. I mean, they don’t act, look, or think anything like her, so I should be able to make a big division in my mind. That and I feel like it would be a victory for her if I self-destructed all of my ideas to the point where they’re unusable. So, there is a little bit of stubborn pride at work here.
There is the belief that one can use the pain to enhance their writing, which is very true. I would love to do that, but there’s nothing in War of Nytefall that allows me to utilize this type of pain. To do so, I’d have to shoehorn in a storyline specifically for the expulsion of these emotions. That’s not going to fix anything, especially when I reach the editing stage and hate myself even more. So, I’ve had to do a lot of compartmentalizing and finding time to relax. Sadly, I haven’t been that successful with part two of that, which I hope to improve this year.
Maybe this isn’t the best way to begin a hype period of two months. I can see why, but I still felt like I had to throw it out there. With this book being the first one I wrote during my ‘new life’, I fear that it will be different and I would need to explain where I was at in the first place. Funny thing is that I still enjoyed the editing part and the story, so a rewrite wouldn’t have done much. Well, fingers crossed when the time comes.
Great write up of the Mentor archetype.
Hi gang, Craig with you today. This is post number two in the character archetypes series. In the Hero’s Journey, there are some common characters that are likely to show up in all stories. This doesn’t mean each archetype shows up in every story, and aside from the hero, the rest are kind of optional. Almost every story will have an assortment of them.
This series is to introduce you to them. Once you’re aware of them, you can decide if they can benefit the story you’re writing.
Let’s meet one of the more fun ones.
The Mentor:
Heroes should start off as being capable. These aren’t completely inept characters, and you want your readers to believe they can succeed against the big odds they’re about to face. But early in the story, they aren’t quite ready yet.
Think of the hero at this stage as a beautiful prime rib…
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With it being the Super Bowl, I have a party going on and people visiting, so a complicated post isn’t going to get the response from me that it deserves. Instead, I’m going to be showing the next set of puzzles that I just finished. Sadly, I had to pack up the table, glue, and 18-19 other puzzles in preparation for the floor getting worked on. That means I won’t be working on another until late February or early March. Pray for my sanity since this was my anti-anxiety activity.
Now, this is the entire 8-in-1 box set of Ocean Life Puzzles. I got it from a supermarket clearance bin since the box was battered and they were clearing shelf space. You get what you pay for. They look great and the circular ones were a fun challenge, but the pieces had a lot of gaps that made it hard to glue together. The last puzzle (1,000 piece) was a nightmare in this respect. 3 times, sections in the middle exploded out as I was gluing the thing together. This meant I had to stop and scramble to put them back before things dried and it was harder to do. Kind of a chore in this respect, so I’m glad to have it done and in the finished pile.
Enjoy!
I really can’t remember much of what happened prior to Thursday. I know stuff did occur and a lot of things were moved from mine and my son’s room. It’s still 1.5 weeks until the floors get worked on and I’m left without a room to call my own. Learned that even my bed is being moved out, so that’s something new. The roughest parts of this are going to be the first two days since I have to work too, which means I’ll be crawling in minimal sleep. I snore and the pull out bed isn’t really comfortable. Maybe thinking about this so much is why I don’t remember much of the week.
Another issue is that I didn’t do any writing. Managed to do a few April blog posts, but most of my time was spent getting things ready and finishing up a puzzle. It’s the last of the Ocean Life set, which I’ll be posting tomorrow. I needed to get it done because I had to pack up the table and everything else before the work is done. This means that I don’t have puzzles, books, or DVD’s in my room. Nights are going to get really boring fast since there isn’t anything on TV either. My hope is to get a lot of the April/May posts done, which clears a lot of time in March to do writing. Won’t be much, but it could be enough to bring War of Nytefall: Ravenous to completion. By the way, I’m still hoping to release War of Nytefall: Eradication by the end of February. Hope I’ve got all the volunteers written down.
Gearing up for Super Bowl this weekend, which is going to be the annual party. Got a lot of guests coming this time including my son’s godfather and one of my best friends showing up later today. Been a while since we hung out and even longer since he spent time with his godson. A challenge at Super Smash Bros has already been issued. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m curious about the game too. Might leave me with a rough Monday, but I’ll survive somehow. Pretty sure a lot of people are going to be out that day, so I’ll need to be on top of my game to some extent. Good thing I’m eating a healthier lunch of fruits . . . I’d say if it went smoothly.
Here’s where the big part of my attention went. I repeatedly had a lunch of grapes, strawberries, a pear, and this sugar free/caffeine free/high protein/coconut-based coffee drink that tastes good. It helped me get through the days, but was kind of boring and my hunger caught up with me on Wednesday. Plus side, I didn’t take more than a cupcake and a slice of pie from the dessert day. Still, I realized that I needed more substantial because I’m on my feet and walking around almost constantly. Otherwise, I’m gorging myself at home and I’m not able to exercise for now. More on that later. My plan is going to change to doing the drink and getting a small panini that they make at school. I usually get a deli-sliced buffalo chicken with mustard and pickles, but the things aren’t that big at all. Going to avoid the cheese stick and chocolate milk, which is why I’ll stick to the zero sugar coffee-like thing. Lunch is really the big challenge and I’ll be watching how much I eat in general.
This brings me to exercise, which is repeatedly an epic failure. I can’t do 15 minutes of biking in the morning because I’m too busy getting breakfast and lunch ready for my son or trying to get a little extra sleep for the day. I can’t do it when I get home from work because I only have 40 minutes before my son gets back and that’s only if I leave as soon as the bell rings. That usually doesn’t happen and I need the shower too. Finally, I can’t do it at night because I’m already drained and the nighttime phone call with my son is inconsistent. I could get it in the middle of biking and it’s hard to do it when I know my ex-wife is listening in. So, this leaves me with only on option:
Once the work on my room is done and I get my space back, I’m going to get rid of the old stationary bike and find a collapsible one. I’ll do 30 minutes on Saturday and another 30 on Sunday, so it’ll be weekend workouts. Weekday mornings, I’ll try to do 10 minutes of 10 pound free weights while watching the news. Found the ones I borrowed long ago and I plan on not losing them again. This won’t really kick in until after Winter Break, which means I have time to adjust. Mornings are going to be tough because it’s freezing and that’s draining, especially when I lose the carpeted floor. With any luck, I can maintain this and not run into a problem with finding time.
Wish I had more to talk about, but it was one of those weeks. The things I can remember involved the ex-wife or stuff at school that I shouldn’t share. There’s a medical thing with my son that is more annoying than harmful. That’s really it. So . . . Hope everyone enjoys the week.
Goals of the week:
And the #1 post of 2019 . . . Really? You know, I really didn’t expect this topic to come out on top. Heck, I didn’t even remember it. Another odd thing is that 3 of the 5 are 7 Tip Lists, but those seem to get a lot of praise. Anyway, Coming back from February 20, 2019!
Lord of the Rings
You might think it’s easy to simply plop an army into a story and watch the soldiers clash in the background. Well, it can be done that way, but that prevents you from doing some world-building. You can learn a lot about a world and its kingdoms by the military forces that exist in there. So, it’s a good idea to put a little more depth into these creations and here are some semi-serious tips to help.
(Previously on Immortal Wars.)
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!
The game goes on for about an hour before the girls start fighting again and the game is stopped. Halfway through the game Kelly trips Delila, who in turn smashes her heel into Kelly’s shin. Before the fight breaks out, Ed gets in-between them and is hit in the head by Kelly’s fist and in the gut by Delila’s elbow. He collapses to the ground and neither of the girls seems to notice him wheezing between them.
“Game over. We win,” gasps Ed. Kelly finally bends down to try and pull him up to his feet while Steve starts laughing at the accident.
“It isn’t funny, Steve,” says Kelly.
“Yes it is. I mean, you two just floored him.”
“Can you help me get him up? Can’t believe someone so thin can be so heavy.” Steve walks over and helps Kelly get Ed up to his feet.
“Serves you right for getting in the way of me, Blondie. Why don’t you start thinking with your brain instead of another part of you body?”
“Do I have to beat the shit out of you or are you just gonna cry and run away, bitch? Cause I’m ready to lay you flat right now,” exclaims Kelly.
“Knock it off, girls. I’m fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me. It looks like Delila and Steve are paying for lunch. Or do you guys want to play another game? This time without making my teeth rattle,” taunts Ed.
“No thanks. But next game I want a different teammate,” says Steve. As soon as he says it, he knows he will regret it for at least the rest of the day.
“So I’m not a good basketball player. Who cares? It’s a stupid game made for jocks anyway! All you do is try to get a silly ball into an even sillier basket! I don’t see why you would pay anyone so much money to do something that a trained seal could do!” yells Delila while shaking a finger at Steve. Kelly decides to stay out of this argument, so she isn’t tempted to slaughter Delila.
“First of all, this sport is a lot harder than you think. It takes a lot of stamina and aim to get through it. Second of all, we might have put the ball in the basket if you had stopped complaining about your stupid broken nail! Nobody cares about it!” screams Steve as a sudden surge of anger erupts from inside him and leaves him feeling a lot more relaxed than when he started the day.
“Does it really matter? You both lost and you’re both paying for lunch. So there is no reason to argue about it,” Ed interrupts. Behind Steve and Delila, Kelly starts shaking head and putting her hand to her forehead.
“You keep out of this, Blondie. I don’t remember hearing anyone asking for your useless opinion. Steve and I are going back to my house. Come on, Steve,” orders the rich snob with a loud snap of her fingers.
Steve gives about twenty dollars to his best friend, so Ed can buy a decent lunch for himself and Kelly. As the two teenagers start to leave the park, Steve’s expression tells Ed that he’s sorry about the redheaded snob’s actions. Steve and Delila walk toward her house and leave the other couple behind.
“I know I don’t have to say this, but you should have kept your mouth shut,” whispers Kelly.
“I know that I should have kept my mouth shut. At least she left and didn’t stay to make me permanently deaf with her screaming,” says Ed as they leave the park and head toward a pizzeria across the street.
“I still want to know how Steve can put up with her. She is so damn annoying and egotistical. And she is like that when she’s being nice to us. That girl is stuck her own fantasy world where she thinks that she is a princess and we’re the peasants. Just once I’d like to shatter that pretty little mask and . . . ”
“Behave, Kel. The two of you used to be good friends. Before I moved to Oceanhead five years ago, Delila was a good friend of yours.”
“That was before she stole my first boyfriend. We were friends, but she wanted something that I had and Delila Mandervale III always gets what she wants. Before you showed up, I was dating the captain of the lacrosse team. Things were going pretty good considering he was my first boyfriend. Then I heard that Delila was seen kissing him in the park. When I confronted her about it, she suddenly took on the bad attitude that she has now. And it was mostly aimed at me. Needless to say, our friendship ended there. Still, I do kind of miss hanging out with her like we used to. I’ll admit that the friendship had a lot of positive moments. I got to do sports on her family’s huge lawn and the workout room in that mansion is fabulous.”
“I’ve heard this story a thousand times, Kelly. Why don’t we just forget about her for awhile and enjoy the rest of the day?”
“You’re right. I’ll stop talking and thinking about her. I promise. Still, she. . .”
“Kelly.” Eddie grabs Kelly by her waist and begins tickling her until she collapses onto the grass near the park entrance.
“I know. I know. Just stop tickling me or I’ll smack you right upside the head. Let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.”
With that said, they walk into the pizzeria and order a large pepperoni pizza with two large sodas. They leave the restaurant about two hours later when the park isn’t as busy as before. For the rest of the day the couple walks through the quiet forest and spends their time talking and thinking about their own future.
Grand Magic Games of Fairy Tail
Welcome one and all! I see you brought some of your fighters to help you shop around for supplies. Please note that we do not provide the venue. Too many regulations in selling arenas, open areas for explosions, and whatever else you need. This must all be locked down and the paperwork provided prior to doing business. So, do you have everything that I need to know you’re a serious customer? Thank you.
Now, we need to discuss the type of tournament you’re having because that will direct the rest of our conversation. Is it fighting? Perhaps magic or chariots? We recently helped set up a tournament of professional sand castle makers, which was exciting. The choices are endless, but I do see that you have fighters with you. Swordsmen to be precise, which means you will need a few medical tents. We provide all of the medical supplies, but only assistants. It’s best that you hire your own doctors and we can give you a list of people for you to call. May I interest you in a blacksmith station? Three of them can be arranged since the arena you have reserved is fairly large. We have various freelancers, so they will be asking for tips. Nice to see us moving along so quickly.
You don’t have a roof, so I would recommend our rain protection package. It is a set of tents that can house one hundred fighters and staff members. For the audience, we can connect retractable cones to these buttresses. They will rise up to cover the seats and are curved in a way that has the water roll to the outside of the arena. I will warn you that this leaves the fighting area open, but we can provide a clear tent. The only problem is that it can have glare and it can make ring outs more difficult. It really depends on if your fighters mind getting wet. I know this is all about one situation, but the weather is the biggest enemy for tournaments. That being said, we can provide heaters if it’s cold and fans if it is hot.
Speaking of being hot, we have a special on ice cream vendors. For every fifteen that you hire, you will get a hot pretzel or popcorn stand for free. Our drink vendors come in groups of ten as well, which sounds like a lot, but you would be surprised how thankful people are for easy beverage access. Cotton candy? What kind of business would we be without those? Peanuts is another story though. Due to a higher rate of allergies, you need to sign these waivers and hire our allergy reaction eagle. This bird is trained to respond to any signs of a reaction and arrive to deliver medicine. Trade secret on how this was accomplished and we do have an owl for night events. Here is a list of other food and souvenir vendors to choose from. I will assign you a planner to help you with the placements.
Decorations is another area that we excel at. You say that you want balloons, but outdoor areas make that a risk. We can have some that are tied down and keep a room filled with extras in case of escapees. I believe banners work better since they cannot fly away and work better with the wind. Each of your fighters can have a banner and this can also be used as your standings board. If they don’t want to use their faces then they can come up with a symbol. Either way, these will be personalized and they can keep them after the event is complete. Speaking of prizes, we have a vast collection of trophies and medals if you are in need of such things. I could list them all, but we only have so much time on this planet. Yes, we have an in-house artist who can make an entrance sign as well as murals if you want to decorate these walls. It would be nice to add some color, but not so much that it distracts from the competition.
Those are the big pieces, so let’s get down to the details. Not in public, so we’re going to have to go over here. Who are all those people listening in on us and why are some of them typing? I’m sure all of those people are figments of your imagination.
Jackie Chan Adventures
One of the most common types of adventures is the ‘Gathering Quest’. This is where the main characters need to collect a set of something over the course of the adventure. You see it in cartoons, video games, and other mediums with a bigger focus on kids than adults. This is because they can be very repetitive because it’s usually:
Doesn’t sound that interesting, but it can be livened up at times. Someone is going to mention Pokemon, which is a ‘Gathering Quest’ at the core. Yet, it tries very hard to do other things and that is the key. Let’s look at some tips.
Legends of Windemere 