Hello, jungle dwellers. Craig here again, and today I want to talk about the pet character. I’m using this term, but it applies to any animals and even things like SIRI or other artificial intelligence characters. For you paranormal fans, maybe it’s Grandpa’s haunted tiki mug.
Firstly, the pet is a side character. They exist in the story for a reason that relates to another character, usually the main character.
I find them useful when you have a loner. Your character is going to spend a lot of time alone, and if they talk to the animal you don’t have to write out pages of internal thought. Without even acting, the pet can serve a purpose.
The pet should act in some way, even if it’s just comic relief. I have a trunk novel where a dog threw a horse turd in the air like a ball as the enemy…
So, we’re going to do a few teasers throughout the month. All of these will be coming from Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age. I will do my best to avoid spoilers, but know that some might slip out since this is the finale. Enjoy.
This is for a post that will be done on November 17th. All that’s needed is for people to post questions for Dariana in the comments. With her adventures coming to an end, I’m sure there are plenty of things to talk about. Please try to avoid breaking the 4th wall, but mostly I don’t want people asking what she thinks of me. Every question will be answered as if she is being asked it in her own world with no knowledge of Earth.
Dariana has been a mystery to some extent, but mostly because she has spent most of her centuries of existence wiping her own memory. Made a champion soon after the Great Cataclysm, she has repeatedly survived the failures and been put back to sleep only to be woken again. This is the time when she has finally made friends, but is still socially awkward and quick to apology. Being the daughter of Zaria the Purity Goddess and Baron Arthuru Kernaghan, Dariana is immortal to most extents and possesses the power of a demi-God. These are psychic in nature as well as being able to extend her physical abilities beyond mortal standards, which tires her out. Considering what she is, one has to wonder what her plans for the future are. That and what she thinks about living in a world that has changed so much without her.
Some other topics:
Thoughts on other characters
Favorites
Advice to other heroes
Lessons learned
Regrets
We’ll be starting the interviews on Sunday. Thank you for your patience.
Hello SErs! Harmony here 🙂 I hope this finds you all well.
Today, I wanted to move away from my usual focus on words and look at, instead, book covers.
I have taken a liberty and used something I wrote for a magazine a while ago. I hope you’ll bear with me both on the recycling and the wordiness on this one. However, I thought that it might be a useful topic.
Even if we are not particularly artistic, everyday vision affects our decisions more than we might credit. The well-known adage, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’, is one we all routinely ignore. At least in the initial purchasing stage. Once we have read the book, the saying becomes so very true, as the cover no longer has the same bearing on how we feel about the book.
However, if we get the cover wrong, it can drastically…
Except for writing novels, there are many other ways of making a living through your writing. This is the first of a 3-part series that deals with such ways. It is a guest post by Zake Alfie, a travel blogger and search engine optimization expert in Bestessays.com.au. He is in charge of several online projects and provides consultations on optimization and website promotion. He loves experimenting and finding new SEO tactics.
I’ve always been fascinated by travel writers and even know one (hi, Alexis!) As a professional travel writer, Zake is in a unique position to peel away the hype surrounding the profession and share what being a travel writer is really like!
8 Myths about Being a Travel Writer
Image: freeimages.com
Travel and write. Doesn’t that sound like the best idea, ever? The traveling inspires you to write more. The writing gets you enough money to keep traveling…
I didn’t get much editing done for a few reasons. I’ll be going into those in the sectioned areas, which are going to go from bad to fun distraction to the one victory of the week. Next week is going to be rough because my son has Tuesday off for Election Day and Friday off for Veteran’s Day. On the other hand, I might still get some work done because:
Wife Vs Gravity & Stairs: She Didn’t Win
So, Wednesday saw a little . . . modest . . . Holy fucking shit! My wife was going up the stairs to work and slipped. She broke her fall with her hands like you normally do, but the fall wasn’t the only thing she broke. Distal radius and ulna of her dominant arm, so she’s in a splint and sling until the appointment for the cast. She can’t drive, get herself dressed, open Starbusts, braid her hair (I can’t either and that’s the one fight we’ve had), or sleep in the bed. I’m nursemaid while trying to edit and get work done, which has run the gamut of good and bad. Even with the cast, I’ll have to get her to and from work, which means I’ll be exhausted by the time December hits. Plus side is that I got all, but 2 interviews for Warlord of the Forgotten Agedone for the guest posts. Cover art and final edits remain, which means I can take a hit to some extent.
Still, this means I’m driving my son to the upcoming birthdays instead of being given the time for work. I have to take my wife food shopping too. Probably have to go to Target for clothes that are easier to get her in and out of. Thankfully, I was already the one doing the cooking, laundry, homework with kid, and showers for kid. Seriously, the hardest part is her hair, which she’s incredibly defensive of. To the point where I’m still in trouble for cutting Nyx’s hair in one of the books. For the newcomers, my wife played Nyx in the D&D game and that was her first RPG character ever. I’ve voted that she just leave it alone, but I was denied. All that good will I got from surprising her with a smoothie went right out the window.
Halloween Hijinks
Halloween was supposed to be the only delay since I expected that. Took my son to a Safe Trick-Or-Treat on Monday at the high school, which he had fun at. Didn’t beat the big day that included a parade at school. Trick-or-Treating went very well and lasted for a little over 3 hours. For those who missed the post, he went as Green Lantern. We made a snafu here that went in his favor. My wife carried his pumpkin for the candy, which people put stuff into. They also saw the lantern and didn’t realize it was only a prop. So, about half of the people tried to put more candy in the lantern only to find that it wasn’t possible. They had already dedicated themselves to the move, so he got extra. He’s trying really hard to make it last, but he doesn’t have to worry.
The New One
Want to know a secret? I’m writing this post on Thursday with my new laptop. It’s an Acer with an Intel chip that came out in October. Snazzy and fun and a smaller screen, which I’m okay with. Hardest part is getting used to the new keyboard setup and putting all the programs back on. The power button is right next to the ‘End’ key, which is just asking for chaos. The volume ones are all Fn functions too. Still, it does what I need it to do and I have a 2-year warranty that goes through the store. Means it’s only a drive if something goes wrong instead of mailing it in.
The hardest part has been putting the programs back on. A few of them had product keys that wouldn’t let me install since I had already used them on the lemon. Had to make some calls to get them to work again because it really wasn’t fair that I lose these programs to the situation. One of them was Office, which caught me by surprise since it notified me in the middle of editing a bit. Needless to say, I almost cried. Everything else is working as of this writing and I’ll be giving it a better workout tomorrow. Hoping that I didn’t lose any bookmarks, but all the marketing spots seem to be there. This definitely works as a victory since the debacle is over.
Goals for the week:
Tend to wife and fight urge to use garden hose on her.
Edit Warlord of the Forgotten Age
Apparently make popcorn for hungry wife when done with post.
Vote on Election Day
Drive around when needed
Ask wife if she could read War of Nytefall: Loyalty.
Maybe do biking
Hope I can get more than 2 hours of sleep, which is a trend that started Monday.
This story is expanding. This week, you get a little bit of background on the technology being used along with some advancement of the current plot. I’ve got my end-game in mind, but I think I’m going to take a few more weeks getting there.
If you want to catch up on past installments, you can click on the links below:
Four Years Earlier – Secret Military Facility – Arlington, VA
“Mr. Blaylock, I’ve been getting a bit impatient with the promise of seeing your research. Today better be the day you deliver.” This ominous statement came from General Franklin Winston Butler, an imposing figure named after his father’s two heroes from World War II, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Butler came from…
Hello SErs! Harmony here 🙂 I hope this finds you all well.
