Author Journey: October 8, 2021

 Welcome back! I'm sorry I wasn't able to post last Friday. Our friends were here and we had such a wonderful time with them, easily picking up where we left off when we saw them three years ago. I've heard it said that's one way you can tell your true friends. Do you have friends like that? I hope so! 

 

This Week's Progress

Poor Outh'n Durr! The one friend he felt this way with was taken away from him unexpectedly. It's hard for him to make new friends so it's no wonder he feels nihilistic. (Click here for the definition...number 2.) 

I've been working on the cover for The Tale of Outh'n Durr as I feel inspired. If I try to work when I don't feel that artistic inspiration, I spin my wheels and frustrate myself. It's the same with drafting, editing, blogging, and anything else I try to work on. The motivation has to be there or the job just isn't done quite as well, even though I'm trying. 

So the cover is coming along. I worked for a few hours during the last week of September and managed to get a background, focal point, and border I was happy with. This week, I worked for three or four hours on the title text alone. It's still not exactly where it needs to be, but I'm getting closer. 

Once it's all together, I'll be able to start the publishing process. I can't wait to get that done and get this novelette out to readers. I do hope they'll enjoy the story and that it'll interest people in checking out Ripples while they wait for Surge to be completed.

What's Coming Up

Another NaNoWriMo is around the corner. I'll be drafting another installment of The Children of Y'Dahnndrya series. While I'm looking forward to that dedicated writing time, I look at the idea of what I have left of my life and wonder if I'll ever get them all done enough to publish before I pass on. I'm also blown away by how many words are bottled up inside me -- how many stories. You'd think a body would run out, but I guess that might be the true test of a writer. 

The new story is The Crash of Waves and I have a cast and a vague idea of how they all meet. There's a group of villains set up as well, and a general idea of why they are against the main character (MC). 

What I need to work on is the world building since I've not written much about the Ikhel'dur Clan until now. Not only that, each of the islands is somewhat autonomous, so they can set up their local governments however they choose. One of my MCs is from a northern island, while the other is from an island closer to the equator. I want their local governments to be different enough to give them pause when they connect. 

Character profiles are in progress so I don't know a whole lot about my cast. That's the death knell when it comes to my drafting process. I have to know where my characters are coming from because my work is mostly character driven. The world building is important because my books are set in a fantasy universe, but it's the characters who drive the stories forward. 

I'll share the inspiration photos with you since they make me happy and I need a little more motivation today. (I'm so exhausted, but I think I know what's going on so I'm working on it. Life stops for no human, so I must journey on...)

Atali bin Maraa

Zhein bin Haland

And just to show the process never really stops, Zhein's surname just morphed from Halan to Haland. Not a huge change but it'll make a big difference when it comes to the world building. 

I'd like to give a shout-out to Pexels users Asa Dugger and Anush Gorak who shared these portrait photos at the Pexels website. The moment I spotted Zhein's character inspiration, I knew he'd be a character, though I didn't have a name for him yet, or a story to put him in. Thank you, Anush! If you're wondering whether my character will smoke, the answer is yes. 

I don't write many characters who do because I'm not a smoker and not overly fond of it. However, I do love the smell of pipe tobacco, which is why pipe smoking appeared in Ripples. Zhein will smoke some kind of rolled plant, though, more like a cigarette, but without the addictive or harmful properties. If only, right? That's the beauty of fantasy books, I think. XD

Once the story started coming together, I started looking for Atali's inspiration photo. She needed to be a bit on the small side, but with enough fire in her essence that it showed clearly in the photo. I think Asa nailed that feeling with the portrait I chose for Atali. What do you think? (I had trouble finding Asa's page on Pexels but I'll keep looking for it. If I every do find it, I'll update this post so you guys can check out that gallery, too.)

I guess this is about a normal length post for me. I'm always in a hurry which means I almost always forget something or miss something. I do hope you enjoy the character inspiration photos. Maybe you'll be inspired to write your own story using those same pictures. Who knows? I hope you enjoyed the post and will come back on Wednesday to catch a couple more book reviews. 

Until next time...