Marie, Savo, and the “Salvage economy”

Credit to @zibik

Hey y’all. Another lorepost today! This time it’s about the area surrounding Verdusk and how it operates in the modern day.

Marie’s story is focused on the fallout (both literal and figurative) of the Great War; how it affects the people, the land, and the overall systems that surround them.

Marie works with her friends as a scavenger (or scavver), someone who scours the surrounding areas for hardware, weapons, or goods and trades them (either for rations or currency). I’ve discussed the Cataclysm a bit more in a previous post, so if you’re confused by what I’m referring to when I say it, go back to that one first: Karsokm, Veinbrides, and the steppelands. I’ll be doing another in-depth post on the Cataclysm at some point soon too.

Back to Marie and Savo. Savo is the nation she lives in, a remnant of the land Verdusk once sat on (and split between two other nations: Kyovkret to the west and Vostek sitting in between). In Savo, the salvage economy has gone into full swing. People from all over the country fight to trade and trade to fight. Factories, bunkers, even abandoned cities all have riches to be grabbed. All of these things, big or small, are traded to one of two groups: Stalkers (Exclusion Zone scavengers who trade to survive) and the Vostek-based Rizen government itself, who reward people with rations, money, and other things.

Those who trade with the Stalkers are more likely to find rare or restricted items, while those who trade with the Rizen are often met with rations and strict quote thresholds.

Regardless of who you trade with you need to be careful, as there are plenty of people looking to take advantage of the mix of Verdusk and UDF survivors.

To wrap this all up, Marie’s story focuses quite heavily on both the scavenging aspects and the implications of Rizen occupations. In a town where markets are shuddering and the provisional government keeps its gates locked, what is one to do?

That’s all for today folks! My draft has been wrapped up. On to the rewrites!

Rough draft, rougher choices, Spiraling ever in

Credit to @johnnyboylee

I’m both surprised and proud of myself. I’ve finished the main rough draft. My manuscript is making progress; I’ve nailed the basic idea down! My three parts (Cheryl, Marie, and Fiona) are being built, formed from ash and blood and all the other dramatic stuff.

So, what’s next? Is that it? Can I slap it on amazon now?

I wish, but I’d be making a huge mistake, and I think Susan would want to slap me (editorially, of course).

No. Now we strip it down again. Now, I pull back the fluff and skin and the things that are obscuring the message and I rebuild it again. This time I’ll focus on getting those points solidified and iron out both the grammatical formatting and the actual spacing of the work. It’s hard to not get lost, to just run rampant and let the story control me. It’s a nasty temptation, one I’ve talked about on a previous post (I’ll be letting that desire run wild in a different story, one that I can only do once every other focal idea I have is finished; look forward to that in like three decades). Back to the point: the manuscript needs to be refined, adjusted, ironed out. I need this to be as good as my skills and wills will allow; no matter the cost.

As for the rest of this? Let it spiral ever-downward. Let it drown and be consumed in the process. The story must continue, no matter the cost to its characters; and make no mistake, I’m as much of a character in this work as any of the ones I’ve drafted are. I can’t escape my work, and it can’t leave me. I’m too quick to anger, too impatient, too far into the crushing inky darkness of the spiral to know anything else.

That’s it for now! (Hey, P.S., I did another book recommendation on the site too, check it!)

Karsokm, Veinbrides, and the steppelands

Credit to @wietsej

Everything in this series revolves around the steppelands north of Verdusk, it’s both the beginning and the end, the Spiral’s core and it’s ever-stretching tendrils. Strap in, folks. This is a long one! It’s more lore-building than announcement for those who want to check in (or out).

Verdusk’s claim to Karsk is one the people of the steppe (obviously) never consented to, and that animosity between the two sides is what more or less spurs everything else in this world on.

Before Siwa and the Spiral, before Myrreko and the Rizen, there was Karsokm and the people of the steppe; this place was revered, treated as holy and sacred, and its inhabitants followed a belief revolving around a sacred Goddess and Her three “parts”. Karsk itself sat on a convergence point in the northeastern-European peninsula. The gathering point, built over a perfectly-carved and impossibly-deep hole, was split between the steppelands, the mountain range, and the sea. Here the offerings started, the sacrifices of flesh and dreams and so much more. The people of Karsk willingly gave themselves to this pit, seeing it as a way to return to their Goddess. Over time, the practices became refined; a culture formed around the settlement and that culture became a town.

The people of the steppe traced all living things back to motherhood, to birth and life and death of a creature. Mother Predzkya, their sacred Goddess, was the embodiment of all of this: the Goddess of Blood. This didn’t just end with people, though. The plants, the animals, the very earth itself was seen as one giant, intertwined, living entity. Taking care of oneself meant taking care of one’s family which meant taking care of one’s community, and one’s surroundings, and so on. Community love was encouraged, self-sacrifice (both on the small and large scale) was without hesitation, and the delicate balance between life and death melted away. The sick would give themselves to the pit, the healthy would give themselves to the land, the pit would give the town absolution, the land would give the people nourishment.

Seperate from Karsk, but still intertwined, were the steppe’s original inhabitants, the ones who never grew to be townsfolk. These people, known as Veinbrides or Veinkin, were seen as extensions of Predzkya’s will. They functioned as witches, as midwives, as caretakers and as defenders of the steppelands. They danced to the wind’s grace and twirled to the words of the flowers. The Veinbrides, above all others on the steppe, were intimately familiar with Predzkya and the Karsktown pit. They knew the earth’s most wild languages, communed with things no others could comprehend, and advised the people of Karsk during hard times.

The country that would eventually be known as Verdusk saw all of this as a golden opportunity, a land brimming with value and exploitable treasures. They sought the steppe long before the Great Karsk War, marching across it once a generation to proclaim it as theirs, and the Maravina family line was hellbent on claiming Karsk. The Spiral religion that Verdusk birthed, itself a stolen and malformed husk of the Veinbride’s beliefs, was used as an excuse to stake an unflinching claim on the land. Despite repeated protests from other groups both Spiralist and otherwise, Verdusk marched on. Over the centuries, their soldiers’ weapons grew restless and their leader’s ambitions bubbled over. Asking for the town hadn’t worked, despite countless attempts to placate its residents. What is a king to do when his entire bloodline has been told ‘no’ over and over? The land is his, after all. The Spiral faith wouldn’t exist without the Maravina line creating it themselves. The people of the steppe should be grateful, thankful even, that they are allowed to live in such a holy place.

The last living ruler of the Maravina family line, Edward, never once set foot in the steppe. He never watched the bomb tests, never saw the bloody war between the UDF and Verdusk’s forces at Vercht, and never bothered to ask why his troops were wiped out at Karsk only an hour before the bombs fell. His grandfather, however, saw the town. Tyyne Maravina was an ambitious man, one who knew the world was his for the taking, and when he made his final few trips to Karsk he wanted to ensure they would be worth the while. He met a young woman, a Veinbride who saw him for who he really was. He made sure the plague that hit Karsokm would wipe it out. He ensured that anyone who tried to flee the steppe was killed. Tyyne was a patient man, and one who didn’t make mistakes. He knew he wouldn’t live to see Karsk as the Spiral’s Goddess intended — a place where the Spiral faith could domineer over the world.

Yet, despite all of this, that stubborn, stupid Veinbride stuck with him. Myrrenna was her name. A striking woman, one he’d almost felt bad about dooming. She’d have made a hell of a queen, he thought. His wife had been replaced within his mind, and so when he returned to the greater world, he spoke of Marianne: a Saint, an angel, a being embodying Predzkya’s very essence.

He spoke of Marianne to his family too, spoke of her aura, her presence, her perfection. He became obsessed, refused to let his phantom go. Tyyne died alone, praying to Predzkya for a sign of the woman he’d clung to, and She said nothing.

Regardless, the Cataclysm came. Regardless, it wiped Verdusk clean. Regardless, in some twisted way, Tyyne’s prayers were answered.

Cheryl and the Church

Credit to @hellothisisbenjamin

So, this week’s blog post is going to focus on some story elements related to the books: Cheryl Downry and the Rizen church.

As far back as my original drafts (roughly around 2013, jeez), Cheryl was an integral character; she’s been the main character throughout most of my iterations. To add to that, while she’s changed somewhat over the course of the countless rewrites, her overall attitude and home setting have remained mostly the same.

Cheryl’s always been frustrated, angsty, and troubled. Every version of her character has followed that pathing to some degree, though I only crystalized that idea properly in this current draft.

Cheryl has been paralleled by one other constant: the Rizen church. This group, which varied in size depending on the draft and attempt (from a tiny cult to a world-dominating empire), has been the other half of the coin Cheryl sits on. No matter the version, no matter the attempt, the cult would pursue Cheryl for one reason or another. Some iterations had them hunting her for targeted, specific reasons while others had her getting caught in their crosshairs by sheer bad luck.

The first versions of this book, the ones I pulled most from during my current rewrite, involved Cheryl playing both the hunter and the hunted, stuck in a Rizen-faith town while on the run from a crime she hadn’t comitted (killing her sister/family, something the Rizen had actually done). Along the way, as she explored the town, she’d come into contact with various people (Johnathan, a woman named Anna who was scrapped in rewrites, a young girl named Anne who was meant to be Cheryl’s child self taking form, Cheryl’s shadow doppelganger who would persist throughout many, many rewrites, and a few others).

This draft would progress into a time-shattering horror story where Cheryl meets a young woman named Lynn (about as on the nose as I could get it to be), and the two would hunt the Rizen down, hopping in and out of the Nightmare as they did so and trying to stop the Rizen from bringing a horrible God to life.

Now, to bring this all to the forefront: I crystalized the core parts of Cheryl, the things I kept carrying over between rewrites, and finalized it into who she is in this book. Cheryl is angry, bitter, depressed, full of stress and anger issues and struggling to enjoy time with her family. She keeps having nightmares about this "Great War”, keeps exploring a desolate mirror world, and keeps feeling like she’s missing something.

Cheryl in the current draft is a person weighed down by self-hate and self-loathing, someone who lashes out at those closest to her and can’t control her temper.

The Rizen faith has changed across drafts too, though mainly in size and scope. In its current form it comes after a decimating world war, rising from the splintered aftermath of the Sprialist religion (itself a malformed and twisted form of the Karsk steppe-people’s beliefs). The Rizen are a powerful, iron-fisted force, using their connections to hunt for those their Goddess told them to find.

That’s about it for this one! Thanks for tuning in. Next post will probably be about Marie and how she’s changed over the course of the drafts.

On Chapters, Segues, and Hooks

Credit goes to Carly Kewley @ckdesign

Something I struggled with (and only realized with help from my editor) and have been focusing on is the chapter-by-chapter segments. It’s good if a story hooks you, but what’s equally important is that the story’s individual chapters sink their teeth in too.

Ever read a book and not feel compelled to flip to the next chapter? Me too! In fact, I’ve written a few of those myself (ouch). The big focus of today’s update is on how integral these things are, and how hard it can be to write that thing.

I’ve been working on this rewrite for months now, struggling to make sure I craft a working, breathing world while ensuring it’s able to hook people. It’s hard. I’ve always struggled to learn things, regardless of how passionately invested I am. I’m hoping by breaking my focus into chunks I can better force my brain to understand these things.

And so, segue! (Does that count or is the joke lame? Both? Both.) I’m still on the rough draft, of course, but I hope to be done with it (relatively — weeks or a month?) soon. Fiona’s story is paced a little differently from Cheryl or Marie, in that her overall story takes place over a longer period of time (years compared to the overall days/week that the main timeline is set in). With each flashback chapter comes a lead-up, a reason to care (I hope!). As her story progresses, and the discoveries she makes grow more grave and concerning, she’ll find herself back in the modern day (post the initial argument on page one) and her story will resume in tandem with the other two. A way to mix things up, to keep it all fresh.

The hook of it all is what I’m placing at each chapter’s end: that little line or paragraph that I hope will make the reader not want to stop reading. Again, time will tell how well it comes out. I’m hoping to refine this as I progress as an author, and I know it won’t be perfect from the get-go, but that doesn’t mean I can’t (and won’t) give this my all.

Let’s see, main points covered! I’m putting a write-up out for S. A. Barnes’ Ghost Station soon, working on that Pathologic 2 review, as well as an eventual review for Alan Wake 2 and Silent Hill 2 (2024). Beyond that? The draft calls!

Two of the Three having run away

Credit to Derek Story

April is here, I’m slightly behind on the blog, and my rough draft is 2/3’s done!

Marie’s story is finished for now, her plan of escaping Lissi coming at more than just monetary costs. With that done, I move onto the sprawling confines of Fiona’s manor and the threats that the town of Wellbay holds.

I’ve also been engrossed in a book (The Screaming Staircase by Johnathan Stroud, a write-up on that is coming soon! Great book) during my free time. I struggle a lot with keeping myself focused on specific tasks, to a point where I ping-pong between interests and hobbies and tasks with alarming recoil. It’s infuriating, but when I get into that focused zone I’m there for good. Marie’s draft, once I was able to sit down for extended periods, was finished in record time. I’ll still need to tweak things, adjust scene pacing, make sure my characters feel like they’re deep and layered people, but I’m really loving how these two (soon to be three) different stories are weaving together.

I’ve got a few game write-ups as well, one for Cry of Fear and one for Alan Wake.

This update’s a little shorter than some for sure, but that’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see y’all in a few weeks.

One Third Down

Credit to @florin_palamarciuc

Today’s update isn’t major, but I’m happy about it nonetheless!

I’ve finished with the main rough draft for Cheryl and have started on the second character’s draft. These will all be weaved together in the final book, a sort of “A, B, C, A, B, C, etc” format that will balance the three stories and their respective focuses while allowing me to branch out with each character’s origin point.

Marie differs from Cheryl in a few ways. Whereas Cheryl was somewhat distanced from the horrors of the war and the fallout (both literal and metaphorical) that followed, Marie was born and raised within one of these territories. Her perspectives, her beliefs and experiences, all of that will be directly reflective of the climate she is in. Lissi, the small town that Marie seeks to escape from, is both a dying town and an iron prison. Contrast this to Cheryl who was born in eastern Europe (like Marie) but raised in the US, and you have a vastly different tale to tell.

I still have a lot of refining to do with Cheryl’s drafts of course, and bouncing between her template and Marie’s is kind of fun! Marie’s arc deals with some heavier material than Cheryl’s, so it’s a little tricky trying to find a good balance point between too much and too little when it comes to the elements I’m looking to explore.

Like many things in this series, Marie’s environment draws several conclusions from the real world. The scars left behind by the UDF and the Great War are still fresh, and the soviet-inspired blocs and villages that now sit in disrepair reflect that heavily. Old abandoned factories and sealed bunkers litter the dense forests and mountain ranges, and despite once being a part of the Verdusk Empire, Savo (the country Lissi is in) feels distant and removed from some of the Great War’s worse events. (See my other pages on locations and factions within TKP if you haven’t yet, they explain some of what I’m referencing here!)

The grass is usually greener on the other side, right? For Marie’s sake I hope it is. It’s easy to lose the woods for the trees in a place as unloved as Lissi.

That’s all for now, folks. ‘Til next time!

Marching Onward

credit to @anetek for this stunning image

With my primary project taking shape and my outlines moving forward at a steady pace I’ve started to rework my secondary projects too.

The Karsk Phenomenon - or at least, the project that temporary name encompasses - is coming along well! I’ve narrowed a 12-book-mess down to a shorter, focused narrative.

Outlines for TKP are progressing too. One of the three protagonists’ stories is finally ironing out so-to-speak, and the others aren’t far behind.

Important too are the ideas for stories I’ve had during the years-long journey TKP has been on. I’ve mentioned some of these in passing, and I’ll go into a little more detail on those today for the sake of mixing things up! Bear in mind, these are currently still ideas first and foremost, so if they get axed or altered later on don’t be surprised.

F&R is the temp name for my second main project, a far less dark, far more positive story about self-identity and self-discovery. This one indulges more of that fantasy/bittersweet side of my writing that my current project often steers clear from. It’s a simple idea about a journey from A to B, and what F&R learn on their adventures along the way.

The third project, trailing behind F&R is one I’m calling GRIN. GRIN delves back into that darkness that TKP walks alongside - focusing on darker topics and themes while keeping that “light at the end of the tunnel” mantra that seems to be the core to the projects I write, but more on that another time.

I have some other smaller ideas floating about, some happier, some sadder, and one other major story plan that’ll be on the back-burners for what’ll easily be a few years if not longer. That last one is more of an all-encompassing coup-de-grace, the distilling and reinforcing of the other ideas and themes that are core to me as a person and the works I seek to make.

To piggyback off of that point, I can’t write without it having a theme. This probably seems obvious to some people, like “duh, why would you write without an overarching idea or focus?”, which, fair point, but what I mean is: I’ve had dozens upon dozens of story ideas (which is why my main project TKP devolved into a sprawling, bloated mess; too many things in one box). But as cool and fancy and “wow I can’t wait to brute-force this into my specifically designed and planned story” as some of these ideas are, they don’t mean a single thing if they don’t fit with the overall theme or resonance I want the story to have.

A quick example to show how silly it once got:

A protagonist was trying to save her friend because her future self demanded she did! Okay, neat, but her future self was pressured by an at-the-time-unknown influence to force these events along. Alright, confusing but with some potential. That future self was being hunted by a parallel timeline version of the same character who was hell-bent on stopping these events, even willing to sacrifice friends and family if need be to ensure that chain of suffering didn’t continue. It became a reverse-onion of sorts, and this isn’t touching the 9-traincar-timeline structure, or the meta commentary about my other draft iterations, OR the fact that the parallel-hunter protag was working in tandem WITH the metafiction character to put an end to the series as a whole in BOTH senses of the word.

My point is… At least for me, it’s easy to get carried away and lose the woods for the solar system. Reigning in my creative-destructive impulses is hard on the best of days, but I’m genuinely happy that I’ve made it this far (with massive help from my editor, by the way!).

I’ve clung consistently to a spiral motif in most of my works, going ever inward and ever outward. So, like my story concepts and characters themselves, I march onward toward what I hope is a more cohesive and focused future.

To Write is To Live

Credit goes to @philipp_dice for this lovely image

Hey y’all. I’m past the outline stage fully now! The drafts can resume again! I can’t explain how excited I am. It feels so good to be properly writing again (and with a framework too).

I mentioned a while back how I was re-approaching the current story, and that’s what I’ve been doing. I cut down every single idea, stripped everything down to what it needed to be, and shredded (metaphorically) multiple books-worth in drafts to revive my idea as a cohesive, focused one. :Buckle in! This is a long one.

I started with the basic ideas I was handling:

• The idea of fighting against a seemingly unstoppable force

• The idea that that force is massive, all-encompassing, and choking in it’s reach

• The idea that this force manifests via a religious group that uses and abuses that power for their own gains

• And the idea that this force is intrinsically, inexorably linked to the protagonists of the story

From there I figured out the basics for the setting:

• The setting would be an alternate-history earth, a place where a new religion took root in eastern europe - based on the beliefs and practices of herb-brides and witches, practiced by a town far removed from the rest of the world

• This religion would then be co-opted by the nearby countries, changing its principles and adjusting its beliefs to be suited for their “more refined” world (despite the fact that the people of the steppe were by no means bad or ill-minded)

• This religion, now known as Spirality or The Spiral, would bloom, growing in size and power until it branched across most of northern europe

• The world in the modern day (the current millennium) is now dominated by the modern Spiral belief

After that I mapped out the beliefs of this Spirality and it’s offshoots:

• There was a focus on three, a “trinity” rooted in the beliefs of the steppelands and the people of the small town that solidified this religion

• This religion was monotheistic, a matriarchal system focusing on a single holy “Mother figure” Goddess and a sacrificed (either willingly or by force) human martyr who was unrelated (by blood or tangible power) to the Goddess deity, with three Patron Saints guarding the Martyr

• Offshoots of this Spirality that disagreed or otherwise detested the other branches of the metaphorical tree

• These offshoots would form in their own pockets

  • The Rizen: an evangelical denomination of the Spiral, it’s second largest and second-strongest branch; known by outsiders more as a massive militant cult than an open-armed religion

  • The Trinity Initiative: a smaller group who takes the sacred “rule of three” that the Spiral holds and weaving it into every possible facet of life

  • The Final Revolution Movement: a smaller US-based denomination that runs on it’s own calendar (rather than “adopting” the Gregorian calendar as the other denominations have

With these pieces planned, mapped, and drawn, I then set the stage for the modern day, the biggest change aside from the religion itself; the Great Karsk War:

• The Great War was a massive holy war that took place between the twenties and fifties, primarily in the Spiral homeland - a massive empire known as Verdusk

• This great war would be between Verdusk’s Democratic Republic - or VDsmK;the Unified Dimitrigrad Federation - or UDF (our alt-history Spiral-flavored USSR in a sense); the Catholic Empire of Italy, and the Trinity (a conglomerate of opposing factions including those from the US, UK, and various other non-Spiral factions)

• This war would terminate in a day known as The Catastrophe - the day everything in and around Verdusk was annihilated and all people regardless of stance or side were purged by an “impossible force”

• This force would be viewed retroactively as the “Martyr” of the Spiral, the “vessel of Goddess Predzkya”, Marianne

• The Catastrophe would be viewed as a blanket punishment for the sins of the war, the Goddess finally raising her hand to cease the death and terrors of the war by wiping it clean

• In the aftermath of the war, a new faction would emerge and seize control of Europe: the Rizen; this group would then go on to spread, entrenching itself in whatever gaps and holes could be found and pushing the idea that Marianne was the '“one true Goddess” and that in order to stop a second catastrophe her soul would need to be “repaired”

• As such, the Rizen would then push for the search of “Saintbloods”, supposed fragments of Mother Marianne’s power

• And this cycles back to our protagonists, three young woman who want as far away from the Spiral as possible

So we have:

• The world

• The beliefs

• The characters

A set of three:

• The war

• The wipe

• The aftermath

A trinity:

• The Goddess

• The messengers

• The outliers

A story about three things:

• Death

• Depression

• Rebirth

With three poor girls who wish to be freed from the unending chaos of life:

• Cheryl

• Marie

• Fiona

And the Goddess who demands what cannot be easily granted with force:

• Healing

• Help

• Peace

The Spiral encompasses all. It’s limbs grasp ever outward and coil ever inward. Marianne’s Will is unknowing yet all-perceiving.

And now, as I put ideas to paper and protagonists to challenge, I can so happily say:

The Spiral is coming.

What do you look forward to?

Credit to Trey Gibson

When you read a book, play a game, watch a move, etc, what do you look forward to?

Is it the characters and how they grow? They way they interweave and interact or how those characters react to the story at play?

Is it the setting? Do you love when the world is fully-fleshed out and brimming with detail? Maybe how the protagonist’s room is described or the way the light bounces off of shattered glass?

Or maybe you like how the overarching story and themes come together. The reason the antagonist did what she did or the excuses the protagonist gave to keep going down her path.

I’ve always loved a little bit of everything. When I’m building my world the focus is threefold: on the characters and their growth, the setting and it’s details, and the world’s overall themes. I think that’s the best way for me to write, allowing for me to build that perfect story.

On another note, be kind to each other! Spread smiles and love (just like Norbert)! That’s all for today y’all.

The New Year is here!

Credit to Aaron Burden

The new year is here and I’ve been crazy busy trying to find a place to just step back and relax.

2025 has begun and I’ve come at it from a… well, a ME approach.

Be kind. Be patient. Be strong. There (seems to be) an abundance of stress, unhappiness, overall gloom around the world lately and with that perceived lack of connection and support comes a dark weight.

I’m not the most social person; I’m not exactly an extrovert, BUT—

I know that going into the new year we can all do one thing: care for each other. There may very well indeed be a lack of support out there but all that really does is enforce the reality that caring about one another, helping one another, these are what will make stressful times better.

Onto a more personal note!

I’m close to finishing my outline, there’re just a few things I’m stuck on. Art is coming along well too, and I should have some more great updates for that! My goal is to have this first book ready to publish by END OF YEAR! That’s my resolution.

Stay safe y’all. Take care, and see you in two(-ish) weeks!

The New Year comes closer…

Credit to Dennis Zhang

I’m a little late on the blog this month, things have been pretty busy here! I hope everyone is having a great time! It’s weird to think it’s almost 2025. I’ve made a lot of progress on my books this year, both for the main series and some other ideas too!

I found a great editor, have learned a lot about what it means to be not just a writer but how I can be a better one. It’s both incredibly humbling and incredibly exciting and I’m slowly getting closer to being able to show the world my ideas!

On top of that I’ve had two very talented artists helping envision some of these ideas.

I’ll be back in the new year with more progress, more discussions on the things I love, and more overall happiness!

Stay safe y’all. Take care!

It’s winter!

December is here! I always loved winter. I love the decorating and the music; I love the hot drinks and the cozy atmosphere, and I love writing while the snow falls outside.

Granted, it isn’t snowing just yet over here but I’m excited for when it starts to. I’ve been making some decent progress on my outlining too!

Two of the three characters are mostly ironed out and the details surrounding them are getting filled in steadily (if slowly). The history of this world is also coming along well, the hard part of course is going to be figuring out how it can all be brought to life properly.

I’ll be excited when I can update all of this with the news that I’m properly writing again, and while I wish I already was I want to make sure I do this right.

Until then, have a wonderful winter everyone! I’ll be back with one more blog update before the end of 2024.

Winter on the Hills

It’s mid-November now, and it’s definitely getting colder. I’ve always loved winter, but ti’s sad to see autumn fade away too. Outlining has hit a roadblock as well! I’m stuck on the last chunk of the puzzle but like with all of my writing issues I’m sure it’ll be revealed if I hit the brick wall hard enough.

I’ve been planning on getting more Polaroid film too, as it’s been a hot minute since I’ve done some photography! I’m thinking of adding the memorial drawings I’ve done to the site as well under a separate wing. I’ve got a few other things cooking as well, like more game pieces and a section for books I’ve read too!

I’ve never been one for traditional Thanksgiving meals, but I’ve kind of never been one for most “traditional” things. My thought process is erratic and uneven and messy even when I need something laser-focused.

Enjoy the snow everyone! Have a wonderful time, happy holidays, and I’ll be back beginning of December to share the next update.

The Rule of Three

The number three has always been a favorite of mine. Past, present, future; day, night, the in-between.

My current series is founded on that same rule of three. There are three protagonists, three “eras” and three primary Spiral denominations. There are three “worlds”. Each of our three “Saintblooded” protagonists has a unique power based upon their personality.

With that in mind, I’m planning three stages for these books: the basic outline, the detailed outline, and the rough draft: this then shifts into the rough draft, the refined drafts, and the final draft.

Every day I get closer to finishing this! It’s taken so much time and work but I’m happy to say I’m making steps (even if small ones) toward this series being released.
I hope everyone’s November is going well, and I hope winter is enjoyable! I’ll get back to the writing for now.

All Coming Together

(I love bats)

Hey world! I’m a little behind on the blog this month, been busy planning!

I’m slowly ironing out the world for this story and putting all of the pieces in place.

I’m starting from square one, making sure the world, the dates, the lore, all of it is congruent and with purpose. A lot of my old work is more or less being axed or set aside for this (which stings, but it’s the right thing to do here).

I’m slowly getting more art done, slowly getting more ideas ironed out, and slowly figuring out how to take each step closer toward the goal!

I can’t wait for everyone to see this world. That’s all for this one!

A good burrito…

It’s October! That means my birthday is getting closer, which also means I’m one year older on this grand place we call earth!

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m here to discuss my books today, and I’m going to ask you a silly question.

Would you rather have a huge burrito filled to the brim with a dozen different things? And I mean massive, breaking apart at the seams with so many wild crazy flavors that it’s overwhelming?

or

Do you want a good burrito with carefully selected flavors and just enough to make it that extra bit fulfilling?

I have a story drafted, a world built, an endless list of documents and ideas I’ve been cramming into my current books. This was to span between nine and twelve books not counting spin-off titles.

I was shooting for a burrito with everything I could cram, whether or not those ideas fit in the first place.

I’m scaling my ideas back now and resetting my world while keeping the ideas I initially loved and wanted as the focus.

This is going to be a series about being whole, about overcoming darkness, about moving forward.

This is a series about Cheryl, who lost everything.

This is a series about Marie, who watched her family give everything away.

This is a series about Fiona, who nearly gave herself up trying to chase others.

And this is a series about Marryanne/Marianne (I’m still debating on if I want to just spell that the normal way), who wants to be whole again no matter the cost.

I’m going to make a damn good burrito by cutting the bloat and fat off of the old recipe. With that said, I look forward to keeping everyone updated! The final journey begins!

Closer to the Beginning

Me when fall

Hey y’all. Been a minute! I didn’t even realize September was close to done until today. Looks like I’m slacking on the blog for once!

Book 1 is currently on one of its final rounds of editing, and that means this project is closer to becoming a reality!

I’ve been taking breaks recently from writing this current series, focusing instead on writing my fantasy and cyberpunk/warhammer inspired ones as a bit of a palette cleanser. On top of that, I’m writing another book, one that’ll probably be a sort of ‘final project’ as far as order of importance goes.

I love writing. I could do it forever. But at the same time, I only want to write a story or a series of it’s something I want to say. Each thing I write needs a purpose, a meaning, a soul of its own before I can justify sending it out to the world.

Cheryl and her dance of destiny will be coming soon. I’m so excited to share it with the world. I hope everyone else loves this universe as much as I do.

That’s it for now everyone. Stay safe and have fun!

September’s here!

I’ve never been a big fan of summer. The other seasons are always far more preferable to me. I love the cool rainy weather and blooming flowers of spring; I love the beautiful colors and autumn vibes of fall; and I love the quiet, soft, calm feeling winter usually brings.

Halloween is always fun. I love dressing up for it, even still. It’s funny, even with my books I prefer setting the stories in my preferred seasons (with Book 1 being the exception it seems, as that’s primarily over summer).

It helps me to get into the right mood for my writing if the weather is something I can jive with. I love rain and storms and cloudy weather.

I don’t have much in way of book updates this time around, sorry y’all! I just wanted to gush about the seasons.

Fall is on the way! The story continues…

It’s almost fall! Fall and spring are my favorite seasons (though I usually love winter too). It’s been an interesting year, and I’ve been working hard on these books. I want them to be as good as I can make them!

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to move forward in the publishing process for book 1 soon. My personal edits are almost ready, and after that I can ship this thing back to my editor.

Book 5 is coming along too; the first draft is roughly 3/4 of the way done. Book 7 is early on but still doing good too. My other series idea is a few chapters into its first draft as well.

I don’t have any other major updates at the moment, so here’s to a good fall! It’s nearly cozy time everyone.