Everet Martins's Blog, page 7
November 23, 2015
A Snippet of Book 5 of The Age of Dawn
(Note: this is totally unedited work)
…
Walter was sick. He felt strange, hungry, and the world wobbled. His vision blurred at the edges. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong. His heart hammered through his skull. His back tingled under his dusty shirt. Shouldn’t he have been wearing armor like Grim? No, didn’t really need it he remembered. He couldn’t look weak in front of Grimbald, needed to be strong for him, for everyone that clung to life in this dying world.
“Smells stronger,” Grimbald said over his shoulder.
The musty scent of Death Spawn was overpowering, filling his lungs with their choking stink. Walter babbled something in return. The passageway seemed to be flowing under his feet. The stones underfoot twinkled with iridescent crystals. He stifled a wince and the urge to hunch over. A bead of sweat glimmered from the the end of his nose and crashed into the ground, sounded like a thunderclap in his ears.
Grimbald hissed something over his shoulder, but the words were meaningless. Grimbald looked at him with mounting concern, but Walter waved him off. He struggled to keep himself upright, staggering on behind. The hallway filled with the heat of a smith’s furnace and the burning stench of sulfur. He almost walked into Grimbald, but he’d moved on and Walter thudded into the wall. He snorted in air that felt all too warm. Grimbald’s powerful arms raised him up from the ground. He turned to look inside the cavern.
The world snapped into focus for a brief moment. The cavern beyond was a massive demon’s mouth with stalactites for teeth. Six black columns converged up the center, high into the swirling shadows above. At the bottoms of the columns, blood-red fires burned. The fires crackled and popped, burning their images into Walter’s watery eyes. Black smoke and exploding sparks spilled from their gaping mouths. Clumps of sticky iron dripped from ceramic containers, speckling the ground with hot embers. Smelted metal rolled through narrow channels on the dark stone floor.
The demon’s mouth was filled with flitting shadows. Fires winked and clawed feet scraped along the floor’s polished stone. The air was hot, humid, and doubled in weight. The beasts worked tirelessly at the furnaces, unaware of their intrusion. Chisels clanged on iron, hammers beat into shields, swords hissed on barrels of water. Walter caught the face of a Cerumal examining a sword, looking it up and down like a prized possession. The gibbering and squawking of Cerumal in the darkness beyond penetrated his mental haze.
“Fuck. Fuck. Shit,” Grimbald whispered beside him. He went on, saying more Walter couldn’t comprehend.
On one side of the room were at least fifty weapon racks, overfilled with gleaming instruments of death, reflecting the anger of the fires. Walter’s jaw hung slack and he blinked and blinked, trying to clear the water from his eyes.
Grimbald said something but all Walter heard was the clanging of steel. He felt as if he’d slipped back into the Shadow Realm, maybe catching a glimpse of the closest thing to it in this realm. His breath came in ragged gasps and his sinuses burned with smoke. He wasn’t sure when he’d tugged on the Dragon, but welcomed its violence like an old lover. He took a sure step forward, staring at them, eye pulsing with fire. Veins and tendons leaped from his forearms and the muscles tightened. “Stay,” he managed to croak to Grimbald in a second of clarity. A second in which he likely saved the man’s life for a second time.
His eye bulged and his jaw clamped down. His teeth felt as if they were on the verge of cracking. He wasn’t sure when he’d started moving. The mouth of a furnace yawned open and his flaming hand rose up, clawing around the back of a leathery skinned neck. The Cerumal shrieked, eyes going wide. A mad grin touched Walter’s lips. His arm hammered down, smashing the Cerumal’s maw onto an anvil. Blood sprayed from its nose and hissed on the molten iron in the channel below. Walter flicked his fingers and a telekinetic push of the Phoenix sent the beast inside the furnace, shrieking as it cooked.
Shapes turned, squawked and shrieked to each other in their hideous language. A few wisely went for the weapon racks, unaware of who their foe was. Their names were already spoken for. Their blood was his for the releasing. A shape ran for him, something gleaming in its hand. A sword of fire sprang to life from Walter’s stump. He lunged forward, rammed it through its gut and jerked the sword up, splitting the creature in half from stomach to gray tufts of hair. It’s blood sprayed over Walter’s face, bathing him in fresh warpaint.
He laughed and laughed, dousing the few that had gone for weapons in an angry conflagration. They would pay for what they did to him. They would know the taste of pain. Something jumped on his back, ramming steel in an out of his ribs, pulsing with blue light. He reached around his back with a new found strength, wound his fingers into its leather apron and hoisted the beast onto his shoulder. Its dagger clanged onto the stone below. Its legs squirmed and its claws raked his face, spilling blood into his mouth. He walked it over to a barrel, shrieking in his ear, dashed its head against the iron reinforced side. Its head cracked apart with a pop, spilling brain matter onto the ground.
He heard a gibbering from behind a crate and waited, fireball burning the air at his side. The Cerumal finally found its courage and leaped over from the other side, heavy maul raised up in two hands. Walter blinked and the fireball collided with its face, turning its head into charring flesh and sending its body flopping like a doll onto the hot floor. Walter gasped and pain lanced through his side. He’d been run through with a spear, the end poking out the other side.
He grinned and the Cerumal’s scowling lip twitched. He hacked through the wooden haft and his fist hammered into the beast’s jaw. He moaned and let the sword puff away. He pulled the end of the spear out the way it had gone in, sticky with his blood. He growled, hurled the broken spear and it thudded into the Cerumal’s chest. The Cerumal squawked, stumbled back a few steps, then screamed when it fell into a container of molten iron.
…
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November 22, 2015
How To Get Writing Ideas
The Shadow Realm – Book 4 of The Age of Dawn is now available in paperback!
How To Get Writing Ideas
I asked my gf this morning: “What should I blog about?” She answered, “How to get ideas.” So here it is.
1. Reading in my genre. I try to always be reading or audiobooking some form of fiction, mainly fantasy, action, adventure, or horror. I think it’s more important though to read vs listen. The reason being that seeing the structure of sentence, for me at least, allows me to dissect what made it so awesome and impactful. I love the ability to highlight passages I loved on my Kindle and go back to them for reference. I think of these passages as “reference scenes.” What I mean by this is say for example, since I’m a new writer, I need to learn how good writers create particular scenes. For example, if I want to write a scene that takes place in a busy marketplace, I may sort of have an idea of how I want it to feel, but want some ideas to get the juices flowing. I’ll then do my best to remember which book I read the scene in and then grab some ideas for that scene and incorporate them into mine and use the ideas as seeds for the scene. This is an idea I got from copywriting, which is writing advertisements basically. What these guys do is save any cool ads they saw that might have worked on them and stick them in a physical (or virtual) folder. Then when they need to write an ad in they’ll review these ads to get some ideas.
2. Playing video games. Video games these days have amazing writers developing their stories. I think it’s a great way to consume a story and find ways of incorporating cool shit you liked into your story. Video games are almost as well produced as a good movie, if not better.
3. Not consuming content at all. I’ve found this works best for me when taking Charlotte the dog on walks or bike rides. I think it’s important for idea cultivation and just being a human in general to leave space so you can let your mind wander. It’s surprisingly easy to go through your day without a moment when you’re not consuming music, podcasts, tv, movies, books etc. I suggest everyone take some time to just allow your mind to wander, you might be surprised what comes out of those tombs.
4. Movies. I love watching movies. My gf and I typically watch a couple movies every weekend and I try to observe the overall theme and story arc of the film if it has one. Side note: what is it about the word “film” that sounds so fucking pretentious? Anyway, movies are great source for seed ideas.
5. The odd and strange news stories. As the saying goes, often times the truth is stranger than fiction and offers some great ideas. People do fucked up things and they can be a good source of fiction fodder.
I hope these are helpful for you. What do you do to get ideas? Please let me know by leaving a comment.
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November 17, 2015
10 Things I Wish I Knew That I Know Now
1. Money = freedom. I like to think of money as fun tickets and a means for the freedom to pursue what you really want to do. Learn to appreciate that making money gives you the gift of time. The more time you have to work on what you’re best at, the better the long term return. The best thing you can do is marry what you want to do and find a way to profit from it. I wish I had saved more when I was younger so I had enough money such that I would have never have needed to get a job in the first place. Invest early!
2. Everything can be learned. Want to be a writer? Programmer? Weight lifter? Long distance runner? Artist? They’re all skills that can be learned by anyone. If there’s something you want to learn, hit the books! I was fortunate to have learned this basic idea in high school, but would have benefited from understanding it at an earlier age.
3. You don’t need to go to college and get into debt to learn how to do things or to get a job. I fell into society’s trap that I needed to go to college to be successful. You don’t. The caveat is you must be very fucking self-motivated for this to work otherwise, most people aren’t IMO and need something like college to prod them into action.
4. Real friendships/relationships are not one-sided. If you’re doing all the work in the relationship, take a hard look at that person to decide whether or not it’s a genuine friendship or friendship of convenience. Nourish the genuine friendships and cut the one-sided relations ASAP — they’ll drain you. They’re toxic. I’ve wasted far too much time on people who weren’t invested in me.
5. Time matters. Think hard about what you’re doing with it. I’ve spent endless days on World of Warcraft in my mid-20’s and there is a lot of time there I wish I could get back. I still play video games, but in a healthy moderation.
6. Life is a series of hopes and expectations, which tend to be very high. Anticipation for getting a thing/experience is always MUCH more enjoyable than it actually will be. Lower your expectations and you won’t be disappointed, even better is to not have expectations and just sort of go with the flow.
7. You may think you’re smart, but be humble. There’s always someone smarter than you. Listen attentively to everyone, especially try your best to learn from elders, even if your gut instinct is to tune out what sounds to be mad ravings.
8. Don’t flagellate yourself when you fail, especially in school. School matters very little in the grand scheme of life. I used to stress out a lot about grades and school. The failures endured in life are blips, ripples in the pond of life at the macro level.
9. Shut the fuck up. Stop talking. Learn to listen more…take a good 2 second pause before speaking after someone else has appeared to have finished speaking. More often than not, they haven’t finished.
10. Be yourself. Some people won’t like you and that’s fine. It’s their loss. Don’t compromise your core values for anyone.
READERS: What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were younger? I’d love to know, as would others. Please let me know in the comments.
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November 9, 2015
How to Publish Your Book on Amazon Kindle (Video)
I shot a very quick video with accompanying shitty edits on how to publish your book on Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) platform. Enjoy, let me know what you think in the comments.
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November 2, 2015
How to Have a Productive Morning
I was struggling to come with an idea for something to write about, so I decided I would share things that have seemed to help me “switch on” in the morning and get most of my best work done.
Coffee. No shit, right? No, but not just any coffee. I put a lot of shit in my coffee, specifically to get my brain working at its best. Inspired by Dave Asprey / Bulletproof Executive I make a bastardized version of Bulletproof Coffee. The way I do this is I first brew freshly ground beans in a french press to get all the oils from the coffee. You lose coffee’s anti-inflammatory oils that can pass through the brain barrier and can reduce inflammation in the brain if you use paper filters. I recently picked up this awesome french press. I love it because the entire product is stainless steel, which mean NO plastic in your coffee. That’s another problem with drip coffee and kuerig machines: you’re injecting hot water through plastic and it leeches into the it. That’s not good…and not something you really want to be eating. Also avoid drinking anything hot from Styrofoam cups, styrene leeches into hot liquids too. Choose paper cups if on the run.
I put the following in my morning coffee.
1 tbsp organic coconut oil for MCTs which give your brain some quick fuel and lauric acid found in coconut. Lauric acid is anti-viral and anti-bacterial and more.
2 raw egg yolks for choline. Bright, deep yellow yolks from good quality eggs are preferable.
about 2 Tbsp grassfed butter unsalted (Kerrygold) for a source of long chain fatty acids, CLA, carotenes, and fat soluble vitamins + deliciousness
ceylon cinnamon for insulin control and to burn down excess glucose floating around in my blood
1/8 tsp raw vanilla powder for trace minerals, taste, additional antioxidants
raw cocoa powder – one big ass spoon full, chocolate has tons of health benefits, but you probably already know that.
birch wood based xylitol (make sure it’s birch wood based and not corn based if you look for this)
The main idea is to avoid sugar in the morning and stick to strictly fat. I personally find eating carbohydrates makes me feel like I’m running on one cylinder and it’s misfiring. Give it a shot, go light on the fat if this is your first time trying this.
Some other things I take that I believe help:
5g – Creatine increases IQ
This multivitamin: Adam by Now foods but I only take 1 of the 2 prescribed per day to keep things on the low side to reduce risk of taking too many vitamins. I’ve tried a LOT of multivitamin blends, at least 20+ this has been my favorite so far due to their using very high quality forms of vitamins and what seems based on current research to be in the proper ratios.
Hope it helps! What do you do to kick off your morning right? Leave your answer in the comments.
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October 25, 2015
How to Write Everyday
I’ve had some people ask me who are just starting out how to go about writing a story. I’m not claiming to be an expert on the subject, however I will tell you what’s worked for me. In no particular order…
Write everyday. Every. Single. Day. Writing is fun, but it’s also work. This means you must write when you don’t feel like it. Operate with a gun to the head mentality to get it done. I write on vacation, when traveling during holidays. I’ll occasionally grant myself a day off if I’ve performed well all week, but only one. Start with a small daily word count to hit everyday. I’d suggest with 500 words. You do not get to sleep, eat, until you’ve hit 500 words everyday. If you’re serious about writing you’ll get it done. Then that will become easy…up to 750 words, 1000, 1250, 1500…etc. You’ll find a point at which the words start going down hill fast and you’ll need to recharge. Some people can manage 5,000 words a day. With a full time job I manage 1500 words a day. I’ve heard that Stephen King writes 2000 a day.
Have a plot. Plotting sucks because it’s hard work. You actually need to, you know, THINK about shit. Thinking is hard work, that’s why so few people do it. When you have a plot you know where you’re going. The common objection I’ve heard is that having a plot locks you into a rigid set of ideas. The thing with plotting is that you can write a plot, but it leave it sort of loose, or sewn up tight. The difference is like change floating around in your pockets or change wrapped up tight in a coin wrapper. If you make the plot loose (leave out how you’ll sort out the details) it allows you room to “pants” as the pansters say. What this means is it gives you wiggle room for the characters to do unexpected things, which they invariably will.
Read in your genre everyday, but don’t use reading a method of procrastination to avoid writing.
Get started writing today. Don’t wait for the perfect time because it will never come. The time to start is now. Any other bullshit you’re doing is just mental masturbation (you’re only fucking yourself out of your dream of being a writer!)
Finally, study the craft of writing. Writing is a skill that must be honed and developed.
Here are my favorite writing craft books:
Writing Active Hooks Book 1: Action, Emotion, Surprise and More
2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love
Here’s the Gun To The Head “Motivational Video”
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October 18, 2015
How Writers Write Fiction + Other Free Writing Courses
I’m going through a fantastic and free course on writing fiction which you can take here: https://novoed.com/how-writers-write-fiction-2015
The class is taught through the the University of Iowa and many of the lecturers are accomplished authors. It’s nice to see a class where the teachers are working authors, aka making a living from it. I’ve mainly been going through the content and avoiding the interactive side, as I write with my spare time and still have a full-time job, so my time is sadly limited. If you want to get some free training on how to write fiction, give it a shot.
Here’s an amazing lecture series by Brandon Sanderson, who also happens to be one of my favorite authors.
https://www.youtube.com/user/WriteAboutDragons/videos
It cracks into it here:
Do you have a favorite book or video you like for learning the writing craft? Leave a reply in the comments below.
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October 11, 2015
R&R (Hiking Mount Lafayette)
I took a day off writing yesterday to go hiking with some friends. It was the first day where I didn’t write a single word since July! (at least that’s when I started tracking my daily word counts). Here are some pictures of the hike, hope you like them.
I’m about 1/3 of the way into Book 5 of The Age of Dawn and got cracking on that again today. It was nice to take a day off, but that’s about all I could allow myself I think.
I just finished reading The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic which was a really awesome book about how our weird psychological biases can be beneficial. If you have any interest in psychology I would highly suggest this read. It includes an interesting discussion on revenge how it’s an innate human trait, even chimps desire it. Something I found fascinating was how it talks about how revenge is something we can sometimes hunger for and go through exorbitant efforts to attain, but often leaves us feeling hollow and awful after achieving it.
The lady and I and Charlotte the dog
My fearless mountain dog. She got way too cold and went back with my girlfriend to warm up at the hut about 3/4 of the way near the summit.
The temperature near the bottom was about 40 F and about 0 near the peak
It had snowed the night before and make these awesome ice formations.
All the effort was worth it for this view
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October 4, 2015
Cover Reveal: The Shadow Realm – Book 4 of The Age of Dawn
Hey guys! I’m super excited to show you the cover for my fourth book:
Here’s the evolution of the book cover starting with the initial sketch. I didn’t like how this was going, so we scrapped it.
…and came out with this
pulling in some more details to become:
Oh, shit. Walter had his hair cut short at The Silver Tower, so we needed to fix that + add some color:
Getting closer to the finished product. NEEDZ MOAR BLOODZ!!
Things got nice and bloody here and I fell in love! This is sort of a little insight into a scene from the Shadow Realm.
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September 27, 2015
The Witcher 3 – First Impressions
I’ve been recently sucked into the amazing game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt after sad departure from Dragon Age: Inquisition, which was awesome. What has struck me most about the game so far (only about 3 hours in) is how stunningly realistic the facial expressions are of the NPCs (non-player characters). The views – oh my god the views are absolutely spectacular in the game. I know — it sounds really weird to say, but can’t you appreciate in-game scenery? reminds me of this classic:
Some shots of the in-game scenery:
SO needless to say, I won’t be doing any writing anytime soon. You can kiss any further progress on the Age of Dawn series goodbye. Just kidding, sort of. I forgot how tricky the combat mechanics were in The Witcher and it’s taking some getting used too: see dying all damned time.
Book stuff: I finished figuring out the plot of the fifth book of the Age of Dawn, not sure what the title is going to be on that one yet. I’m about 10k words in and like where it’s going so far.
Currently reading: Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson This is an awesome book and it does a great job of telling his story and making the scientific pieces easy to grasp for the layman. Einstein surely did live up to his namesake. The book is well researched, surprisingly entertaining and a joy to read. He’s a fascinating character with a lot of quirks that people at his level to tend to have (Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, and Steve Jobs come to mind). Einstein was always a natural rebel, which I love. It was his rebellion which allowed him to think so far outside the box than most in his field. He challenged the status quo and rarely backed down when he was sure of an idea, pursuing it like a rabid dog.
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