Andrew Zabriskie's Blog: The Cyfandir Project, page 2

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12/31 - So the holidays are busy. Hard to find time to write my book, let a lone my blog. I didn't realize my last post was on the first, though I appreciate the symmetry.

Another chapter under my belt. Turned out better than I hoped. I'm nearing the end of this book - at least, the first draft. Then it's on to peer editing, second guessing, and a torrent of rewrites. And the cover, but that should go smooth.

I promised a series review in my last post. Not only am I am man of words, but a man of my word, so here goes.

The Legend of Drizzt by R. A. Salvatore - it's awesome.

And that's why they pay me the big bucks!

But seriously, it was a wonderful series to grow up with, partially because I read slower than a turtle and it takes me a year to read a book, so by the time I finished one volume, the next was available. It was like a nonstop adventure.

The more important aspect of the series is how Salvatore takes the reader along for the journey by developing endearing friendships between the Companions of the Hall. He enables the reader to see the world through Drizzt's eyes, which causes one to consider the same themes and issues in our own world. Salvatore tackles issues like racism, politics, and religion without being biased or preachy. It was thought provoking, which I believe is or should be one of the main goals of sci-fi/fantasy novels.

Also, Drizzt is the greatest swordsman ever, which you might think would be an eye-rolling, over-the-top stereotype, but since Drizzt never saw himself that way, and shunned the very notion of such fame, it made him endearing. I especially loved the ongoing respect/hate rivalry between him and his nemesis Artemis Entreri.

I'm not claiming that it's the greatest series ever written - mostly because it would be impossible to make that kind of claim about anything that's based on subjectivity and opinion - but it will always be one of my favorites, no matter what. If you're looking for something new, or can read at light speed and want to slip something into your hectic schedule, I highly recommend it. And if you end up being disappointed, well just hunt me down and take a lead pipe to my knees.

I'll share some of my other favorite books/series going forward.

2016 should see the release of volume 2, which is exciting, at least for me. And if you'd like to ask me questions about volume 1 or offer any constructive criticism, feel free to email me at: worldofcyfandir@gmail.com. Go on; I dare you.

Saw The Force Awakens on the 26th. It was good, bad, satisfying, disappointing, relieving, and 30 years too late all at the same time. That being said, J. J. Abrams is pretty amazing, even if he's struggling to succeed in a post-apocalyptic world where there's no more Firefly.

On the bright side, I'm still holding out hope for the three-hour epic masterpiece, Star Wars Episode X: The Capture, Torture, and Slow Dismemberment of Jar-Jar Binks. It's sure to be a box office record breaker for all time.

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12/1 - So it's been two weeks. My bad. Last week was mostly thanksgiving, and the week before that was...well...I have no real excuse. (After my confession in the last post, you may have thought I actually called it quits!)

I actually didn't write much during the past two weeks, but today I finished a particularly difficult chapter, so this blog post is as much a celebration as it is an update.

It was something of a transition chapter, and the challenge was making it interesting without useless filler. I think I did alright, but I'm sure there's still polishing to be done. Writing complex emotions that are convincing is hard.

And now for the big reveal. I was in middle school, on vacation with the family in St. Michael's, Maryland. Bored and needing space, I wandered off and found a book shop that may have been a lot more, but all I remember was the rack of fantasy novels and their cool covers, and the glass case of pewter figurines right beside it.

Little metallic dragons and wizards and knights, encrusted with plastic gems that looked real enough to a thirteen-year-old. They were so cool, but I digress.

The cover art on the fantasy books rivaled my own imagination, and in some ways surpassed it, because here were these epic scenes of battle and exploring right in front of my eyes. I already enjoyed reading, but up to that point I'd only been exposed to things like the Hardy Boys and Choose Your Own Adventure. This was Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. I was in the big leagues now, baby.

My parents found me and insisted we leave, perhaps because we were on their timetable and not mine. Crazy, right? I mean, I'm the star of this little flashback, after all.

Anyway, I convinced them to let me buy a book - what parent denies their child the opportunity to read? - but I could only have one. This was tough, because I had two in my hand: one was a Dragonlance novel I can no longer remember, but the other was Streams of Silver by R.A. Salvatore. The synopsis on the back sounded fascinating, but it was the cover art by Clyde Caldwell that sold me.

Yes, I totally judged a book by its cover. Moving on.

To make a long blog shorter, I fell in love with Bob's characters and the adventure they were on. I finished the book on the ride home from vacation, and I was hooked on The Legend of Drizzt ever since. I've read everything up to the end of the Neverwinter Saga, but over the years I've made time for other amazing fantasy works (and some sci-fi), which I will share about in future posts.

In the next post, I'll share why I think the Legend of Drizzt is the bomb. Short answer: because it is.

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11/13 - It's been a busy couple of weeks, but I still managed to get some writing in. Zordecai's arc is finished, though it's more of a cameo than an arc. Still, good filler to flesh out the book and give his character some depth.

Been writing to the Nier soundtrack this week. I forgot how amazing it was. Even if you're not into video games, if you appreciate emotion-evoking instrumental music, this soundtrack is extraordinary. You can feel the adventure in each track as together they tell a profound story that I feel is good enough to be it's own novel and/or movie. Even if you've never heard of this game, give the soundtrack a listen; I'm fairly certain you won't be disappointed.

And if you like questing hack-n-slash RPGs, the game is pretty awesome too :)

I'm beginning to realize that my blog may be a bit on the boring side (cut me some slack - I'm a total newb when it comes to social media), so I though I might start to include some book and movie reviews, because hey, MY opinion is soooo important. I dunno.

Just between you and me, there's a part of me that doesn't even want to write this blog half the time. I'm sure that's due in large part to the fact that almost no one ever reads it, so there's no real motivation to produce something. And let's face it: time spent blogging about the book I'm writing is time not spent writing my actual book - wait, is that irony??

Anyway, tune in next week (hopefully) when I reveal the one book that got me hooked on fantasy - bet you'll never guess!

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10/27 - Making great progress with Lark's story arc. Could be done with it by the end of the week.

Reached out to the artist who did the cover art for my first book, and it looks like he's on board for the sequel! The best part is, I now have an idea sketch to give him. Super excited about this. He did such a good job with the first one, really captured what I thought my characters looked like.

I've been wrestling with the idea of making a facebook page for my series. I don't have a personal facebook page - I'm just not a fan of social media - but I can't deny that it would improve book exposure. On the other hand, updating that would likely be worse than my mostly once a week blog post, so I can imagine most people would give up on following it after five minutes. It's a lot of pressure.

This conundrum forces me to think about why I'm writing novels in the first place. Can I be content if I never sell any books outside of personal contacts, or is it a waste of my time? Is it about popularity and money, or do I write for the joy of writing?

Of course I know what the right answers are, but that doesn't mean I'm not tempted to feel the opposite. It is discouraging to pour your heart into something and get nothing in return, or to find out that no one cares. It's not like I don't have other things with which to occupy my time.

For now I'll continue writing without facebook, at least until I'm convinced it's necessary. Darn kids and their interweb! I shake my cane contemptuously in their general direction...

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10/21 - So this is the future...if the Cubs actually win I'll be a little freaked out - just sayin'.

It's been a great week of writing so far. I finished the story arcs for both Sollin and Varzeth, and tied them nicely into Keila's. Now I'm working on Lark Prentice's arc.

So far I've been hitting my page goals for each arc, so I'm on track for having this book be about the same size in page-count as the first one. Not that that's necessary, but it definitely satisfies the OCD. I'd still love to know how thick my book would be if it was printed in standard paperback format. Maybe someday...

So Lark will have two interesting dilemmas:
1) How does he do his job successfully when there are so many obstacles (literally) in his path? Otherwise, why bother waking up in the morning?
2) When is it appropriate to move on from the death of his fiancé? Should he move on at all? How does he cope with accepting the obvious affections of another without feeling guilty? It's not infidelity; after all, Keila died...

We call them donut holes, but what we're actually referring to should be called 'donut cut-outs' or 'donut-chunks', or perhaps even 'donut-globes'. The hole in a donut is the result of punching out the dough that had previously occupied that space, and since a hole is literally defined as an opening or empty space in the middle of something, it means you actually get a hole every time you buy a donut. That's right; free hole with every donut purchase! If a bakery wanted to be snarky about it, they could sell you a box with nothing in it the next time you order a dozen donut holes.

Remember kids: words have meaning, and meaning has power. You wouldn't be careless with a nuclear warhead, would you?

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10/13 - Wrapping up Sollin's story arc this week. This one will tie together two others all French-braid-style for a very exciting climax.

In the interest of growing as a writer and storyteller, sometimes I think that negative feedback (assuming it's done respectfully) would be better than positive feedback or none at all. Why on earth would I say such a crazy thing? (hold on; let me adjust my straight jacket so I can type better)

Because with no feedback, you learn nothing. Duh.

But with positive feedback, you may also learn nothing, since some people are afraid of hurting your feelings, while others just don't want to look like colossal jerks.

As I've said before, there's a right and wrong way to offer constructive criticism, but just because it's constructive doesn't mean it's negative.

Quite the opposite, actually. Some of the best feedback I've been given came in the form of "I didn't understand that part." or "This doesn't make sense because..." or "If that happens, how can this...?" or "What's this guy's role again?" or "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

In an early draft of my first book, one of my characters underwent a radical transformation by the end (change of perspective, not mutant zombie fish). One of peer editors said "That's not believable for this guy because for him, such a change wouldn't happen so soon, or so fast."

That advice was great because it was so true. I took that character's moment of change out of that book entirely and developed it into its own story arc for book two. So because of one person's "criticism" I now have a third of my second book. Thank you T.P.!!

Positive feedback makes me insecure - yes, I know how ridiculously ironic that sounds - because I'm left wondering what they're not telling me.

I realize this isn't necessarily fair to those who genuinely like my work and are offering sincere compliments. My hope is that such people trust me enough to also tell me what they didn't like so I can fix it or make it better later (Perhaps I'm Cynic of the Year, but I find it really hard to believe that anyone could love every single thing about my book.)

Authors thrive on feedback, because we want - no, we need - the next book to be better than the last. So to all you super encouraging folk out there, be sure to give it to us straight. Even if we don't take your advice or implement your suggestion, it's still more valuable than a high five or a pat on the back.

I went to Taco Bell today and asked if I could ring the taco. They just looked at me funny. Subtle humor fail.

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10/6 - Sometimes I feel that there's more pressure to write a weekly blog post than there is to write a chapter in my book. It must be a generational thing.

I added a chapter to the end of Keila's arc, which will likely upset my peer editor for that section, since I sent her everything but that last chapter. Oops.

At least the chapter is pretty great. In fact, even as I write this, I'm realizing that it will prove to be the chapter that ties all the other story arcs together within the overall timeline. I, uh, totally meant to do that....

Still no ideas on cover art. Perhaps I can glean some insight from my peer editors. Do I go with something completely unique and unrelated to the first cover, or do I go for a consistent theme? Themes appear to be more popular in the fantasy genre, and I'll admit there's some appeal there.

I'm itching to write some more, so this blog is D-U-N-N done!

Today's Pinterest is yesterday's MacGyver.

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9/30 - Peer editing has begun!!! At least with two of the story arcs. A special thanks to those two people who are taking the time and effort to study and critique my work in order to make it better.

There are six other arcs planned for a total of eight, but only one of those will be a substantial amount of material. The other five will be 10-15 pages or less, while the first three are around 60 each. Book 1 was 284 pages in Microsoft word, so I'm using that as my guideline.

I've been tossing around the idea of joining a local writer's group via meetup.com, but I'm hesitant and not really sure why. I can see both benefits and drawbacks, but the biggest issue is the time and logistics commitment wedged into an already full schedule. I dunno. It would certainly help with exposure, that's for sure.

I definitely feel like I'm back on track to finish by the end of the year. I'll need to get serious about the cover art soon.

Gotta run; no time for a humorous anecdote. Yeah, that's it...outta time, not because I don't have one...

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9/24 - Cheez-its help me write. Don't judge me. I don't know what it is about 'em, but the creative juices really start to flow when I'm crunching on a mouthful of those delightful little squares of flavorful goodness. I'm grateful they're legal.

If Cheez-its were a drug, I'd be the most notorious cartel lord of all time. They'd call me El Queso. I would own governments and command armies. It would be swell.

But seriously, I'm making great advances with the Brotherhood arc. Even came up with a plot twist I wasn't expecting, but I believe it will enhance the story. I might even still be on track to publish by Christmas! There's no better stocking stuffer than a...um...er...uh...ebook?

I've come to the conclusion that it's ok to snack on cheez-its, as long as I can be disciplined enough to contain it to when I write, AND as long as I take my happy butt around the block a couple of times a week. For Colby, it's worth it.

Enter here.

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9/9 - Took some time off but now I'm back in the saddle. Too bad there's no horse beneath it. Giddy up!

Well, I finally did it. I finished the most challenging scene to date in book 2. Tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1357.

I wrestled with this one for months. I just couldn't figure out how to get my heroes out of their current predicament without making it cliché, weak, or just plain stupid. I don't know if I was just being my own worst critic as usual, or if it really was that tricky of a scene. Time will tell, I suppose (and readers!).

You might ask, "Why not take your own advice and just skip ahead and keep writing?" I realize now that I need to clarify my position on this.

When stuck, it's good to just keep writing something, anything - assuming you've already taken a brief hiatus. However, I've found that it's better for me to write in a different arc than the one I'm currently stuck in. And if you don't have another arc, start another book! I've decided to write Rayvn's origin story (not a prequel!), mostly to give myself an outlet for writer's block, but also 'cause he's so cool.

The problem I encountered in book 1 was when I finally went back and wrote that earlier scene, it had such a domino effect on the following scenes that I spent a lot of wasted time rewriting. I'm trying to avoid that this time.

Not outlining any of the story beyond book 1 back when I was still writing it was my biggest mistake, which I feel I'm still paying for in some ways, in that I'm hemmed in by what's already been published. I can't go back and change book 1 (well, I can, but it's expensive and unfair to those who've already bought the current version), and my future choices are defined by what's been established and therefore limited.

Oh well; live and learn, right? The good news: we're finally moving forward with the heroes. This is particularly exciting, since I've been looking forward to them reaching the city of {spoiler alert} and meeting {spoiler alert} and {spoiler alert}, the latter of whom will eventually {spoiler alert}. Yay!

I resisted the urge to buy another box of Colby cheez-its over the weekend, but barely. I had the box in my hand, man! Just stood there like an idiot, eyes all glassy, being torn down the middle like an old sweater by desire and discipline. It's a miracle I got out of there alive.