Author’s note: Following is the third and final part of a new story that I started as an experiment and began to enjoy writing so much that I simply forgot to stop. You can read the first part here, and the second part here. Not much to tell in terms of things necessary to understand it. Unless you have not read the previous parts, in which case, go and do so now.
Without further ado… Continue Reading
Author’s note: Following is the second part of a new story that I started as an experiment and began to enjoy writing so much that I simply forgot to stop. You can read the first part here. It was whilst writing this story that I discovered I had also laid excellent groundwork to explain how Falathen comes to decide she has lived long enough.
Further to the above, one of the rules of my canon is that whilst Elves live indefinitely, the experience of seeing almost entirely the same stuff over and over for hundreds or even thousands of years has demonstrable effects on their health. Although I have not demonstrated it well in this story, Queen Falathien has a reputation amongst other rulers as being one step short of barking mad. Such is the price of being ~20,000 years old. Continue Reading
Author’s note: Following is the first part of a new story that I started as an experiment and began to enjoy writing so much that I simply forgot to stop. During the most recent unpleasant episode of my life, the same conundrum as in others came to mind. How do we look to those looking at us?
All one needs to bear in mind is that this story is set around the same time as A Dream Linula Had (I really should think up a better title for that one). Probably during one of the holiday breaks in her first year of tertiary schooling. Continue Reading
In my previous post, I set out to talk about how real, physical problems in my day to day world were placing a huge burden upon my ability to write, even in this journal. Yes, I know how that sounds, given that I have been churning out words in this journal at a rate that even Stephen King might be impressed by. But I will level with you here: the flow of ideas to mind and the flow of words from fingers to text file suffers terribly when the mind is suffering any form of discomfort. Continue Reading
If you have been reading my most recent posts, you may, very likely have developed an impression that I am not physically, emotionally, or just generally, well. You would be correct in this impression. Yet day in and day out, I persist in writing like I have never written before in this journal and elsewhere. Continue Reading
When I create a character for use in my own work, merely starting the process begins a lot of asking of questions. Probably the first and foremost question when writing any story is “how important is this character going to be to the story?”. In the cases of characters like Linula and Ruby Amelda, the answer is exceedingly obvious. They are the entire basis for the story, and in one case, the story is going to be seen almost entirely through her eyes. The first of the stories in which Linula and Ruby appear is in part a meditation on the fact that the things that make us different (one is from an abusive, self-righteous asshole family, the other a loving successful commercialist family) are just as important, if not more so, than the things that make us the same. So constructing these two characters is a painstaking process in which many questions have to be asked and answered. Continue Reading
In the introductory notes to one of his novels, the richest author presently alive, Stephen King, explains that he was often asked how he writes. He states that his answer is always the same: one word at a time. And the answer is always dismissed by those asking the question. But when one strips away the cosmetic nuts, bolts, and plates, that is all it ever is. Take one word, connect it to another, and repeat until one has somewhere between a few hundred and tens of thousands of words. When one looks at it on this level, every author from King to Charlaine Harris to Harper Lee to Clive Barker has the same process. What makes authors different is in the cosmetics. The little frilly bits and pits that hang off the edges of the process proper. So, in the interests of promoting understanding of the world of the author, I am going to describe how I go about creating the characters that inhabit the worlds of my stories. Bear in mind that my process is like any other author’s. I use it because it works for me. I am sure that other authors will have other processes. This should only be taken as a rough guide. Continue Reading
I Still Find It So Hard... 