S.C. Monson's Blog, page 2
May 7, 2021
How I Wrote Badgerblood
The seed for Badgerblood was planted around mid-2014 and was first known as the Kor Story. As the years rolled on, the story developed further, and with my husband’s encouragement we started entertaining the idea of self-publishing. Steven’s brother is also an author, and Jon’s wife is an artist, so between the four of us we had a little support group. Just a shoutout to Jon and Kim—if you like epic fantasy, check out Jon Monson’s Rise of the Forgotten Sun of The Sun and the Raven ser...
The Beetle Incident
The other night while walking around our favorite pond in southern Utah, we encountered a beetle. We’ve seen new creatures almost every time we visit lately—ducks, coots, Canadian geese, goslings, lizards, caterpillars, bats, sparrows… But last night the new encounter was a bit more nerve-racking.
We’d made it more than halfway around the pond before I felt something gigantic and wing’ed fly into me. I promptly swatted at it with my water bottle and thought that had taken care of the problem. Th...
April 7, 2021
Badgerblood Giveaway Guidelines
**By participating, entrants automatically agree to all terms, conditions, and instructions listed in these Badgerblood Giveaway guidelines**
*Contestants are responsible for reading and understanding terms and regulations.*
*The words giveaway and contest are used synonymously throughout the document/article.
Dates, Entering, & Prizes
Giveaway runs April 8, 2021 – April 22, 2021 at 4 pm MST
How to EnterIndividuals may enter the contest in 3 of the following places. They may enter in all...
February 12, 2021
The Harried Photographer: So you Want to Take a Picture…
(Featured photo credit goes to Lukas from pexels.com)
I was sitting in an ice cream shop, finishing my fourth milkshake and waiting for a sundae when my inner voice started nagging. A few weeks before, I’d planned to have a nice photo taken for my author bio. Of course, as soon as I expressed interest in such an undertaking, it seemed the whole world turned against me.
So you wanted to take a picture, eh? The sneer in my inner voice was obvious.
I poked my straw at the chunk of oreo at the botto...
February 3, 2021
Yesterday’s Case, a Short Story.
A little story based on yesterday’s events…
(The rusty clock photo credit goes to Monoar Rahman on pexels.com.)
A Day in the Life of a Writer:Feb. 3, 2021Yesterday’s Case
Photo credit SC MonsonYesterday was strange. Very strange. Not beautiful-blonde-waked-into-our-office-with-a-case-about-her-dead-husband strange. But strange nonetheless.
The strangeness began in the morning, before the sun hit its peak. The day seemed to stand still. It was only 11:30 AM and time already had me wrapped ar...
January 27, 2021
Badgerblood’s Map Progress
Badgerblood is set in a fantasy world called Caderia and we’ve finished a regional map that highlights the main kingdoms mentioned in the book. Not all places mentioned have made it into the first book’s final version, however. But perhaps at a later date we can expand the map to include the others.
Map BeginningsOriginally, the map showed the following kingdoms north to south: Nalkara, Tilldor, Perabon.
That order...
Kor: Imagining the Character
Of the characters in Badgerblood, Kor was one of the most difficult to visually nail down. Guess he prefers the shadows to fame.
This elusive, scarred protagonist has my husband’s eyes and a bit of my brothers’ grins. The latter became more apparent after I sketched Kor and tried my hand at digitally painting him. The development with the grin is particularly meaningful to me as I lost a brother to cancer when I w...
January 25, 2021
Audio Sample from Badgerblood: Awakening
If you’re here to listen to SC Monson read a thirty second sample from her book Badgerblood: Awakening, then you’re in the right place!
Narrating takes a lot of time and energy, but at some point after the book or series is published we hope to make it available in audio format. For now, click below to listen to a sample.
https://www.scmonson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/BB_29-sec-sample_Like-a-flickering-candle.mp3
Prefer to read it yourself?
No problem! Here it is in writing:
“The t...
October 7, 2020
Russian Castle Music: A Little Side Project
Photo credit to Artem Sapegin.
While waiting for the Badgerblood manuscript, I tried my hand at composing in FL Studio. The short piece below started out on the piano. There are still improvements that need to be made, but it’s getting there. Enjoy!
https://www.scmonson.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Russian-Dance-Retro-with-more-drums-mp3.mp3The post Russian Castle Music: A Little Side Project appeared first on SC Monson Writing.
July 24, 2020
Evolution of the Badgerblood Pendant
In Badgerblood, the main character owns a special bone pendant. This small piece of jewelry has an important place in the story so a fair amount of work has gone into designing the look of it.
From early sketches to fully fleshed out 3D models, here’s the evolution of the Badgerblood Pendant…
Shannon’s First Sketch
Early in the writing process Shannon made this sketch of what she envisioned the pendant to look like. She took inspiration from bone amulets from New Zealand and other cultures ac...
