Elysae Shar's Blog, page 3

NaNoWriMo Day Two

Got a far saner ~2k today. but the scenes leading up to the inciting incident ran a lot longer than I expected, so I’ve still got that ro look forwar to tomorrow.

On another note, I started Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker. I’d downloaded the provided draft version some time ago, but when I started reading, I felt as if I’d pirated it. So, I used the remainder of the coupon I had for the ebook. Either I’m weird or I’ve got too much money.

NaNoWriMo Day 1

Got off to a pretty decent start with just over 7k words but, I do feel like I tried to outrun a speeding car. Still, I got almost all my major characters in place and am about to hit the inciting incident. I’m just glad I took the time to outline because I honestly can’t remember what I meant to happen next. Considering that I technically already wrote this story back in 2014, this is kind of pathetic.

Deep in NaNo Prep

After playing around with ideas for a while, I’ve settled on finally tackling the 2014 rewrite for NaNo this year.  Spent about two weeks outlining where I want to take it and ended up with several pages of plot and backstory. Now, all I gotta do is hope that’ll be enough to see me through. If not, I’ll give up on fantasy for now and focus on horror.

I also added John to fictionpress here. I meant to add Just Us, too, but the story is missing from all my files of John & Other Stories. The version up for sale has it, but none of the text documents do. So, I’m now dragging my feet on retrieving it.

The Dog Makes for a Better Beta Than my Mother

Sometime in March this year, I gave my mother the first draft of Lost Among Shadows because she asked for it and I figured, while biased, her feedback couldn’t hurt. She isn’t one to pull any punches and has a habit of telling me just how stupid she thinks I’m being. Just in case she wanted to get the backstory, I gave her the other two volumes, too. She promised, she’d read it by June, which was  when I wanted to start revision.

Just in case she wanted to get the backstory, I gave her the other two volumes, too. She promised, she’d read it by June, which was  when I wanted to start revision. No idea why I fell for that one because I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even remember where she put those printouts. Granted, she keeps bringing it up every few weeks a la “I still have to/want to read your stuff.” But I doubt she’ll ever get to it. No real point to it either since neither her Lost nor her WLW is the current version anymore.

Anyway, this reminded me of the one time I tried to run a story idea past her. I had a basic outline and a universe. Her suggestion wasn’t bad but, would have required a drastic change to the core of the story. So, I tried to work it into my existing idea and she got horribly offended that I didn’t just toss my idea for hers.  Yeah, never doing that again.  I took to bouncing ideas off the dog after that.

I took to bouncing ideas off the dog after that. Sometimes, he even stuck around long enough to listen to the whole thing…

What Lies Within Now Available on Fictionpress

After dragging my heels on this, because I hate filling out profiles, I’ve posted the first chapter of What Lies Within on Fictionpress. I’ll be adding the rest one per day for extended visibility. Except for the ones I consider too short to add on their own. Those’ll get bundled with the next.

If you’re interested you can read it here.

All it Takes is One Bad Scene

I was making okay progress on Ash Manor IV (couldn’t really get into it after my initial excitement) until one scene took a turn I didn’t expect and couldn’t work with and it stalled me almost completely. I know what needs fixing but can’t wrap my head around how yet, and I know I’ll just generate throwaway trash if I go out of order.

Just so I’m not doing nothing I’ve tackled the re-revision (curse myself) of No Such Thing. I’ve unpublished that for now and will rerelease possibly with a new title/ASIN once I finish. I’ve also been doing some plotting for next month.

As this was more or less my original plan for October, I’m  not too upset about the stall. I suspect, I needed a break from Ash Manor the same way I can’t read two books from the same author back to back without getting bored (this sucks when you’re really excited about a sequel). I hadn’t originally planned on touching that until December or January and kind of wanted to start a second series before that.

Back to the Sword Coast

After losing days worth of Temple of Elemental Evil saves to corruption, I’m back to playing modded Baldur’s Gate. I’m still determined to finish a complete run of the trilogy one day.

For variety, I’m using an all mage party consisting of Xzar, Xan, Edwin, Quayle, Dynaheir, and an elven mage/thief PC.  They’ve been a bit hit and miss at the start, forcing me to sell many nice pieces of equipment just to keep up with the constant resurrections. Especially Xzar with his glorious 4hp.

Things got better when got 2nd level spells. Web and Horror have  been real lifesavers. I usually avoid Web and the like until I find a way to keep my melees from getting stuck, but with no melees, there’s no issue.

Now, I’m running around random maps hoping there’s a scroll of fireball hiding somewhere before heading to the Bandit Camp. I don’t think there is one before actual Baldur’s Gate, though. Xan’s a sorcerer, so I might just get him to level six first.

I’ve already used up the Wand of Fire from the ankheg cave, and with Strategems, Ulcaster’s not an option at this level I think. Might try it anyway.

Trying This First in Series Free Thing

Five days ahead of schedule, the revised and slightly extended version of What Lies Within is now free everywhere but Amazon. No idea if I can get them to price match or how long it’s gonna take. I’m considering putting it up on sides like Fictionpress and Wattpad, too.

Get it here.

Honestly, though, I’m just ahead of schedule because I can’t bring myself to touch No Such Thing at the moment. I’m just not feeling like fantasy… But that also means I’m ~2k into Ash Manor IV, which will be the final volume if it kills me. Okay, that’s a lie but should it run too long I’m not splitting it until revision. I’m kind of hoping, I can finish it in October because then I can start a new series during NaNoWriMo.

If that doesn’t happen, I’ll tackle the Beast aka my NaNo of 2014 instead.

New Release

When medium Valentine’s search for, what he calls the Darkness Stirring, leads him to Morson, he learns the true nature of what he’s chasing. Now aware of the danger he’s put himself in, Valentine must choose between helping the darkness and helping himself.

Buy on Amazon / Other Vendors

Feeling Accomplished

So, many months late, I finally finished the revision of Lost Among Shadows. Until yesterday, I wasn’t even convinced I’d manage this month, but the last twenty or so pages were a breeze, pushing me way past my average of three per day. Final spellcheck should take me another day or two, but first I’ll update the covers for the entire serial.

Then I’m going to take a short break from Ash Manor to fix up No Such Thing before taking that wide.  Then it’s back to What Lies Within.