Oh boy, it’s been a minute…
Credit to @jonathantalbertphotography
Good morning world! I’ve been sick this last month (still dealing with it today, too) so I’ve been unable to write. The flu sucks! Don’t get it. I was sick on my birthday too, last weekend! Bleh!
So, with that in mind, I’ll slowly get back into the groove of writing. I’ve got too many ideas, too many projects, to just sit and be sick I dare say!
Admittedly, I don’t have a whole lot to write about today, and I’m sorry about that. The next post should be more substantial, and I should be back on my regular writing track as well.
Have a cozy November, y’all! Stay safe out there.
I genuinely love bats. I find them so cute. I was going to write about them a bit in my last blog post, but, y’know, sick.
Credit to @susannemartinus
It’s October!!
Credit to @pokrza
It’s time for spooky season! Time for candy corn and pumpkins and Over the Garden Wall! I love autumn so much. Any time it hits September makes me so happy, and October is just more of that.
I don’t have a lot of story news today, but Marie’s chunk of MM is nearly done. I’m on her final chapter, ironing the parts out, and then I can move onto the proper look at the final character, Fiona.
October is also my birth month! (just a little before Halloween, so I get to dress up twice) I always look forward to this time of year.
Every year I play back through my pile of spooky games with my partner, and this year we’ve started with Fatal Frame, Silent Hill, and Alan Wake. I’ve never been one for horror movies (or gore in general, honestly, psychological horror has always been my go-to) so I’m not really prepping to watch any movies. Looking forward to OTGW though! That’s a yearly rewatch.
That’s about it for now, folks. Stay safe, have fun, and take the season in while it lasts!
The Dividing Line
Credit to @allysphotos
Hey folks, it feels like it’s been a while! (Even though it’s only been two weeks, jeez…)
I’ve landed at my new place and started to unpack the looming wall of stuff I own. It’s been chaotic and confusing but I’ll (eventually) be able to have a dedicated writing room here! I was kinda just shleppin’ it out at my living room desk or (more recently) on the floor.
I can now kind of resume my writing at a semi-stable pace, and the primary manuscript is roughly 60% done, give or take the minor details I’ll be tweaking. I’m hoping I can carve away at this a bit faster once I fully get settled in.
Speaking of book stuff! I’ve shifted some things in the rewrite, tweaked some settings and character interactions to make the story flow better. It honestly feels more cohesive this way, and I’m looking forward to sharing that with the world once it’s finalized.
I think that’s about it for now! I’ll be back with more reviews, blog updates, and an eventual story for you to read. Take care until then, world.
Moving, adjusting, trying to land…
Credit to @zvessels55
It’s September! Almost time to decorate. I’ve never been a fan of summer, or the heat in general for that matter, so I’m always excited for the other parts of the year.
Moving is coming along well, too. Most of the current place is packed and things are coming along (mostly) smoothly. Writing is slowing down as a result, I’ve made a lot less progress than I figured I would, but it’s still coming along. Marie’s section is close to being done, and once I’m done with hers and Fiona’s parts I can move onto that final revision.
And after that? I can send it off to the ARCs and send it to my editor. I’m looking forward to finally getting the kinks out of this, getting the issues ironed out. I don’t have too much else for this update. Take it easy and have a good one! See you in the next one.
The Concrete Room — Liminal Spaces and Tradable Places
Credit to @alan_angelats
I’m sitting on the floor as I write this. My living room (really, my whole apartment) is a massive mess. I’m in the middle of a move, going to a new place, and so everything is packed up, pushed around, and boxed.
I’m in the in-between, right now. The liminal space between the start and the end point. I’m in the hotel hallway, between the room and the elevator. I’m in the tunnel between the store and the house, you get the idea.
The concrete hallway is that liminal point within my stories, a long stretch of pure, perfectly-carved concrete with little bits of paint and plaster peeling off of it in sparse sections. It has no visible light, yet is illuminated just enough for one to see its various twists and turns.
This hallway is the through-point, the place where my characters move from their known world to the one that created it. If one travels down this winding path of dark industrial veins, taking all of its twists and turns, they’ll find themselves at a door. It’s worn down, sitting lopsided in the doorjamb. Beyond that door is a room. It varies in size, varies in layout, but has a single consistent piece:
A desk, covered in papers, messy, unclean, like both the best and worst parts of someone’s life have been experienced here.
I’m writing this from the floor, waiting for parts of my life to reach that next doorway. With each day I get a little closer, with each month, a little more concrete (get it? get it!!), and as we start the fall into autumn I feel like more parts of that hallway are taking shape.
That’s it for today, y’all. Have a good one!
Fall is almost here!
Credit to @juliegeiger
I can’t believe it’s august already! This year feels like its both going by really fast and crawling along at a snail’s pace.
Got some life stuff happening, so writing has slowed down quite a bit, but that won’t be indefinite. The draft is still coming along well too! I’m roughly 1/2 way through it right now.
Other than that, I’ve been doing more recommendations on the other parts of my website! Silent Hill 2 is the newest one, go read it!
There are a few good books I’m reading lately too. I’ll be writing about those soon! Super short post today, but I wanted to do one regardless.
That’s all, y’all!
Revisions and Redressings
Credit to @benwhitephotography
I’ve always been thorough with my work. That sounds good, right? Making sure that the corners aren’t being cut and that I’m checking everything off. My problem, though, is that I more or less get some serious tunnel vision.
I end up cutting corners, skipping steps, and making mistakes because I get so hyperfocused on the current part and it makes me miss otherwise obvious things.
My project is being done in three major waves. Wave one is finished, the rough basic draft. I formatted and outlined everything I wanted to do and slapped it on the page. But, like I said, it comes at an annoying cost, and so now I move onto wave two. This is where I rewrite the book, using the previous version as a basis and a more honed-in outline as a framework. It allows me to notice the things I’m missing (like a key character moment, a set up, or the details of a location that were otherwise skimmed over in the previous draft) and it puts some of those gaps into larger focus.
From here, when I finish (I’m about 40% done with the second draft overall, across the three characters) I’ll repeat the process and hopefully have something resembling a completed manuscript (or at least one close enough to it for my editor to not have a headache).
I’ve always liked the number three, not sure why. It just feels fitting with this series as a whole. Three characters, three focal points, three experiences, three drafts, and so on.
That’s all for now. If you need me, I’ll be in the writer’s room!
Fiona, the Manor, and Wellbay
Credit to @forhiskingdom
Today’s blog post is focused on Fiona, our third protagonist, and her surroundings!
Fiona’s been inquisitive from birth; a curious girl, she often buried herself in books in her family’s library. She’s quick to react, quicker to show attitude, and stubborn to a fault.
Naturally, the curious girl must be trapped in her family’s manor. Fiona has nowhere to go, no-one to talk to (aside from the groundskeepers and her caretaker, Anton), and doesn’t like the reasons she’s given when pressing for answers.
Wellbay, the town closest to Fiona’s home, is a small, quiet fishing town in the UK. Not many people come, not many leave either, and a new face — even one as subdued as Fiona’s — tends to stand out. There are rumors of a wealthy family up in the hills, of armed guards and a big secret kept out of the public eye. Fiona, of course, doesn’t feel drawn to these rumors. She’s far more focused on the town’s library and its endless lines of books. She knows her family, knows they have nothing to be secret about, and thinks it all silly.
So, what happens to the cat when curiosity clashes with contempt?
That’s all for this one, folks! Catch you in a few weeks.
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!