Aldrea Alien's Blog, page 31
July 26, 2018
#Campnanowrimo – Goal Complete
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And with hitting the 20k mark, that’s my goal complete for this month’s Camp National Novel Writing Month. I don’t know where the sudden burst came from. Everything was going fine, I was up to 650-700 words a day, then BAM! 2k pours out like nobody’s business, followed by another 1k the next day. Next thing I know, I’m finishing with the better part of a week left.
Gonna have to see if I can add another thousand or so to it before this month ends, maybe get the chapter I’m working on done and start August with them on their two-week journey to the cloister.
July 23, 2018
The Song in a Story
Some years back (about two this month, actually) I started down the path of fulling throwing myself into writing In Pain and Blood. All because of a story I found in a certain song…
To Target the Heart has similar roots. Darker songs at times. This one, in particular, sits right in the middle of the story and despite the first half originally meaning to be solely in Hamish’s pov, this song definitely gave me Darshan vibes from the get-go.
July 21, 2018
#Campnanowrimo – 15,000 words reached
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So, at the beginning of this month’s Camp National Novel Writing Month, I committed to a minimum of 15k. I hit that mark today and also finished another chapter some days back.
For now, things are going smoothly (even if the kitchen is still a wreck), so I’m aiming for my usual 20k a month and seeing how much over that I can get because, judging by how To Target the Heart has been going, I get the feeling this won’t be much smaller than In Pain and Blood. I mean, I’m already on chapter fifteen and I’ve yet to get them on their two-week trip to the cloister and back (which I’m hoping will only take three chapters, four max), never mind the trials and the journey to Udynea and everything happening there, because that place is crazy…
Hamish took one of the goblets, gingerly grasping the stem. It felt so fine beneath his fingers that he feared the glass might snap if held any tighter. He eyed the liquid within; a cloudy, pale yellow like year old hay. Sebzahaa. Whilst the latter part of the word eluded him, seb meant apple in the common Udynean tongue. He breathed deep and, sure enough, the sweet aroma of fruit tickled his senses. Cider, then?
“I see we’re immersing ourselves in the festivities,” Darshan said, halting at his side.
“Aye,” he admitted, raising his drink. He went to take a sip.
Darshan gently lowered the goblet with a single finger on the rim of the glass. “I would not drink that if you value your life,” he murmured in Tirglasian. “Any drink ending with zahaa is poisoned.”
July 14, 2018
#Campnanowrimo – The Halfway Point
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The second week of Camp National Novel Writing Month is often the hardest for me, doubly so when my dear partner gives me his cold. Regardless, I’ve jumped over the 10k mark. By tomorrow, I’ll have reached an overall total of 100k!
I’ve yet to finish another chapter in To Target the Heart, mostly because I’m jumping all over the later chapters. It doesn’t help that the simple flow I thought the story would have near the end has turned a little more complicated with the addition of a few pieces that seem like a fitting reaction by one particular character. See, I know I could stop the story when it turns to Udynea, but I’ve always been aiming at a peaceful, and happy, ending for these two.
Something tells me there’s going to be less preparing for a wedding at the end and more… uh… unexpectedness… because this section of a scene, from Darshan’s pov, imposed itself on me as I breached the fogginess of sleep this morning…
Gordon halted before the throne and bowed. “Mhanek,” he said to Darshan’s father before offering a slightly shallower bow to Darshan. “vris Mhanek. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.”
“Your highness,” his father replied, graciously bowing his head. “I hear your family tends to prefer the confines of the royal clan’s territory. To what do we owe the honour of your presence?”
“Officially?” Gordon straightened, standing with a casual air and his hands clasped behind him. “I am here to declare war for the death of me brother at the hand of your son.”
War? Darshan stiffened in his seat. He knew Queen Fiona was pissed about what she saw as the death of her son, but not enough to risk the lives of her people.
“Officially,” his father mused. He rubbed at his cheek with the back of a finger, then flicked his hand in a twitching gesture to dismiss all others in the room. The muffling bubble of a shield encompassed the three of them as people filed out. “That’s a rather specific phrase. Do you mean to say you’ve a reason that is somewhat less official?”
“Aye,” Gordon replied before clearing his throat. “I am also—unofficially you understand?—here to see him.”
July 7, 2018
#Campnanowrimo – The First Week
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It seems I have survived the first week of Camp National Novel Writing Month with a healthy 4779 words. In terms of passage through To Target the Heart, I’ve managed to complete one chapter… partially because I also moved another scene into a whole other chapter. It hasn’t been quite as trying as I’d feared, especially with the upheaval of last month, even with having to play catchup after going to Polyfest to watch my daughter’s Kapa Haka group.
So, I leave this week with a snippet that I had sitting in my bit’n’pieces file just waiting for the right spot (it finally found a home this week)…
“You are a good man, ‘Mish,” Darshan breathed. “Sometimes to your detriment, I would think. Men like you are scarce in Udynea. You could almost say they are extinct, especially amongst the nobility. The Crystal Court tends to change those who dare its depths. Like little glass sharks chewing them up and spitting them out just for fun.”
“Yet you’re still looking to take me there?” Hamish scoffed. “And you must be pulling me leg. You’re part of their nobility.”
Sitting back, Darshan laughed softly. “I never said I was a good man, mea lux.”
June 30, 2018
Let the #campnanowrimo begin!
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During the previous Camp National Novel Writing Month, I added almost 21k to To Target the Heart. I had planned to add another 20k to it during this month’s Camp Nanowrimo. With the upset of last month, I am 7k behind where I’d hoped to be, but I am simultaneously in a better position what with having a clearer idea of where I’m headed.
Because I am unsure when the great upheaval of our ruined kitchen is to transpire, I am giving myself a solid 15,000 word goal this month with an eye for more.
June 29, 2018
It’s not 20k, but it is something…
I cannot believe that, after 13,000 words, I’ve only just managed to get two chapters of To Target the Heart done and they were mostly complete at the beginning of the month. Yay?
In terms of overall word count, we’ve reached close to 89k. Still got a 7k sitting in a mess of a bit n’ pieces file that I need to organise, but I do have a bit more of a plan in the direction of where the next few chapters are going. That’s more than I had even last week.
June 24, 2018
The latest addition to the Spellster Series
So, I’ve mentioned Extinguishing the Sun a few times without actually getting into what this newer addition to the spellster series lineup actually is.
It’s been brewing in the back of my head for a while now, ever since a snippet I’d written for To Target the Heart introduced me to His Ethereal Highness, Rami the Betrayer, and Hamish asked the question of why being known as “The Betrayer” is considered good, especially when the good done was in killing a certain person.
It also helped me flesh out Stamekia, where Extinguishing the Sun will take place. The map for the spellster series world is vast and, at the moment only a few places have been mentioned throughout In Pain and Blood. Plus, it furthers my goal to eventually have a story set in every land of the spellster series world…
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So far, there’s:
In Pain and Blood, set in Demarn (its novella, An Unexpected Gift, is in Dvärghem, but the placing doesn’t matter much because they don’t leave the house), so is And the World Crumbled.
To Target the Heart starts in Tirglas, but moves on to the Udynea Empire about two-thirds of the way through, where Spectre of the Golden Voice, Through Smoke and Fire, Rock-a-bye & Willow (albeit in the distant past) are also set in their entirety… It’s a big place.
Burning Beneath the Sun is set in Niholia.
Down the Path of Shadows takes place in Obuzan.
Mapmaker might be planned to start in Stamekia, but it won’t linger there and what’s shown is only a small piece of ruins in a desert.
For a long time, Stamekia was largely a blank slate like Cezhory.
Enter Rami.
Extinguishing the Sun is not a light tale. And even though the main characters are teenagers and there’ll be no sex (in fact, I think Rami might fall somewhere within the ace spectrum), it won’t be sauntering its way into the young adult category.
It begins with Prince Rami the Forgotten who, at seventeen years old, is the outcast son of the God-Emperor, Sharik the Lightgiver (and perhaps the most powerful spellster character in all the stories). Rami’s spent much of his life with his mother, who refused to let him near the courts because of his father, but she’s dead now and his father beckons him to the palace. That’s where Rami learns pretty quickly that daddy is not the man he imagined.
The people believe Sharik to be the embodiment of the sun and he has very much deluded himself to the point that he believes he is a god and above reproach. Also, that the sunlight will vanish completely without him… He kind of makes me sick to think about, actually. The first thing I wrote on this was the some of the viler stuff that happens in this story, then the ending.
Part of that is due to the Tahu, who’ll also share the pov. At sixteen-years-old, he’s spent several years as one of God-Emperor’s Collection of Dolls because of his different-coloured eyes. He wants his freedom back. Having Rami as the emperor would mean freedom for not only him but all the Dolls, because there’s not really anyone to stop Sharik from doing whatever he damn well pleases…
June 22, 2018
Remodelling
No, it’s not about the kitchen, sadly. We’re still in limbo there.
Those of you who are following my blog on the regular might’ve already noticed a few changes, mainly because I spent the better part of the day transferring all the information on my old website to WordPress. Even my domain links here now. The blog is no longer Thardrandian Thoughts, it’s still the same blog, though. Will it be a long-haul thing or temporary? I dunno, yet. But at least it’s all in one place.
June 19, 2018
The Connections eMagazine Reader’s Choice Awards
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Some time back I entered In Pain and Blood into the Connections eMagazine Reader’s Choice Awards as part of my goal to put it into any and every eligible contest I could manage. With everything that has happened over the last few weeks, I’d kind of forgotten about it.
I’ve just learnt that I’m a finalist! Eeee!
The public voting has begun, so if you’ve read In Pain and Blood and think it deserving of your vote…
