Seth Skorkowsky's Blog, page 9

The Black Cauldron: Darkest Disney Movie Ever

The Early 80′s was a magical time when kids movies like NeverEnding Story, The Last Unicorn, The Dark Crystal, and Secret of NIMH all subscribed to the theory that the most effective way to entertain children is by scaring the living crap out of them. Not to be out-shined by any one else, Disney tried their hand at terrifying children, too. After some test runs with Watcher in the Woods, and Dragonslayer, they perfected their sinister craft and laid down the child-scaring law with the darkes...

Journey of The Black Raven

The upcoming release of Mountain of Daggers is a dream come true. A dream I once feared would never happen. But like it’s titular hero, it has overcome all obstacles. In honor of its release, I wanted to share the Black Raven’s journey.

The Black Raven started with a little short story I penned. Birth of the Black Raven follows a sailor\pickpocket named Ahren who is framed for murder by a nobleman. Trapped in a foreign city, injured, and unable to speak the language, he finds himself under the...

Role Playing Games – What I Play

Hi all,

Tabletop Role Playing Games have been a huge part of my life for over 20 years, now. Some of my closest friendships have been forged over the gaming table. Because RPGs have been such an influence, I figured I’d write a little bit about what I like to play.

Like most gamers, my love affair with RPGs began with Dungeons & Dragons. When I was 13, my mother bought me the D&D box set. It came with some basic rules, a poster, some dice, and a little adventure. (That red dragon poster lived...

5 Lessons I Learned When Querying a Novel

Hi all,

Most authors will agree that the hardest part of writing a novel is getting a publisher to notice it. This is usually accomplished by getting yourself a literary agent. But then the problem just shifts to getting an agent to notice your work. Querying a novel to an agent or editor is an art. It’s also hell. A cold, horrible hell.

Dozens of sites and books are out there, all telling you how to query effectively. A good query letter should sell the book, the main conflict, and hero’s goal...

Black Raven Revealed – February in Review

Hi All,

Well, the past few weeks have been extremely busy. I’ve gone through a couple rounds of Dämoren revisions, and she’s looking pretty good. There’s more editing and changes left to do, but it’s coming along very nicely. Of course, novel revisions have eaten into a lot of my normal writing time, but I still found time to knock out Chapter 5 of Hounacier. I’m about 25% through the first draft, so I’m pretty excited to see it shaping up.

But what gets me the most excited is this…

Hiya, handso...

Story Inspirations – Florence

Hi all,

As I’ve written before, every author can name specific things they’ve seen, or read, that eventually appeared in one of their stories. One city that has, and will continue to inspire my writing, is Florence Italy.

My first trip to Florence was in 2006, then again in 2012. It is a beautiful city, brimming with history. So much of it has appeared in my Black Raven stories, but the majority is simply atmosphere. However, I did get a few pictures of some of the specific things that have dir...

3 Origin Stories They Totally Dropped The Ball On

Whenever we’re introduced to a great an interesting character in a movie or TV show, we want to learn more about them. How did they get that cool? Why are they so evil? What’s up with that hair? So our favorite writers will sit down and toil away for hours/months/years to craft a beautifully fitting and awesome origin for these characters. Other times, they just puke something out, hand it to us, and cash their check. Below is a few of those.

(Warning: Spoilers of old Movies and TV shows)

3 –...

Editing and Ice: A Summary of my January

Hi all,

The past month has been eventful. Hounacier is coming along quite nicely. I’ve broken the 20,000 word mark and am plugging away at a good speed.

Early in the month, Old Man Winter blessed our house with this little present.

The pipe says: “Boooooshhhh!”

It might not look like much, but that teeny tiny hole was quickly able to turn our downstairs into a small lake. Fortunately, my wife was home at the time it blew, otherwise it might have destroyed our house. The pipe itself went to an out...

The Best Writing Resource I’ve Ever Found

Hi all,

Whenever I talk to someone who has either just started, or is considering writing, I always point them toward the website that has helped me more than anything else, The Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror or simply, OWW. Now, of course, the budding author needs to be working in one of those three genres, but that’s usually the case with the circles I run in.

I’ll go ahead and state that I am not paid or profiting in any way by pimping this site. I’m just a v...

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Book in a Drawer

Back when I first started writing, I penned an amazing dark-fantasy called Dreams of Lost Souls. It was the first of four in my Empire of Deceit series. Coming in at 114,000 words, it took me just over two years to write. Once finished, I immediately started on its sequel, Divine Liberation, while simultaneously trying to pitch the first book.

I attended a writer’s conference in Austin Texas, and learned how to query and pitch my masterpiece. While there, I heard several authors and editors al...