Plotted Out

I have the Ashes of the Fallen Books Plotted out to Nine Books, though in truth I only am sure I am going to have at least 8 books for this series where I am certain of their content.  The Ninth book may have to be made into more, so the series may actually be longer then nine books.

These are the titles I have for the Ashes of the Fallen Series, but I won't go into the plots of each book until I have samples I can offer up of them.

THE FIRST BOOK:  IN THE SHADOWS:
THE SECOND BOOK: SOULS OF IMMORTALITY:
THE THIRD BOOK: THE RENEGADE:
THE FOURTH BOOK: THE CAULDRON AND THE GREAT DRAGON:
THE FIFTH BOOK: SPIDERS IN THE WEB:
THE SIXTH BOOK:  FIRE IN DARKNESS:
THE SEVENTH BOOK: DARKNESS DESCENDING:
THE EIGHTH BOOK: ASHES AND FLAMES:
THE NINTH BOOK: THE WAR WITHOUT END?:

I have a question mark for two reasons on the last book.  The first being I'm not sure if that'll be the last book in this series or not.  Secondly it is a question wondered about by some of the characters within the final book. 

I will say this about the first book.  It is setting up everything that shall come throughout this series of books.

I shall also say that I have planned for this series to have a second set of books set in the future dealing with the children of the pivotal character of this world.  I am still not sure what I'll call the second series of books; but I have much of this already thought out.   I suppose the core of the Ashes of the Fallen Series deals with a Lay I'm struggling to write; since I'm bad at poetry but I wanted to have a center of this series and in ancient times most stories were told through lays and so you can see my issues.   But let's move on and I wish you all a happy new year.

Writers That Have Influenced Me

Today I thought I'd talk about some of the great writers that influenced me.   There have been numerous writers that have changed and helped to form my views, and hopefully this trend will continue as I discover other writers, whether old or new.   Life should be a process of growth and discovery until the ultimate ending of it.  A wise man admits his faults and limitations and realizes that there is more to understand and learn then is humanly possible.  Our time on this planet is very brief and there is never enough time to do all that we would wish.   The key is to do as much as we can with the time that is given to us.   These words have been said by many people in many different forms of medium and it is a deep truth.

But I am digressing from my point.   The first book that I read that made me think I wanted to be a writer was something from the Goosebumps Series of R.L. Stine and the Bunnicula series of books, again I was in the fourth grade at time that it struck me that I'd love to craft stories.   Since a young age I've always had a love of story and things of the imagination.   It did not occur to me until around the age of 11 that I loved to write, even though my biggest failing was and still is grammar and style.   These two concepts are very hard for me to master, and why I sometimes ask for help with my writing from friends who are better educated than me.

The first book I noticed that started to change my viewpoint or open eyes to the reality of the world was the Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind.   And I enjoyed the subtle messages hidden within it through the art of storytelling; but when he started to beat my head with openly obvious lecturing I begin to lose interest in the story; when it become more about the messages he was preaching then the story.  The last story he wrote that I liked in that series of books was Faith of the Fallen, or something like that.   It's a good book on anti-communist ideas I think and the freedoms of the individual are more important than the conformity of a community and equality that doesn't really exist.   It was also during this time that I discovered other great writers that helped form my desires to be a writer, such as Harlan Ellison, Robert Asprin, C.L. Moore, Meredith Pierce, and J.R.R. Tolkien.  Much later I would come to discover the works of Hideyuki Kikuchi, Kaoru Kurimoto, Robert E. Howard,George R. Martin, Robert Heinlein, and many others.

The core authors that inspire me are;  Harlan Ellison, (you should check out the documentary on him called Dreams With Sharp Teeth) J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, and Hideyuki_Kikuchi.

A Sampling of my new Work, Horror of Hellgarde

Decided to post a little more up of the finished project than I did before.  Just have to save up the money for the cover and find an artist...oh yeah and think up what the cover should look like....:P  

HORROR OF HELLGARDE SAMPLE:




   “Do not speak lightly such names, Wiccan.”  the old man wagged his finger, “If it were me I should forget going all together.   Arizau was never a wholesome place, and since His death the curse has only made Hellwood worse.”

   The crimson banged, brunette Hultan seemed to mutter half to himself in a matter of factly tone, “That is my road, for good or ill.”

   The old man shook his head, “If you insist on going, Wiccan, at least see sense and hire a carriage or horse and give wide berth to those cursed woods.”

   “You know little of my kind, old man.   No beast of burden will bear my sorcerous weight.”

   The old man grunted and folded his arms across his chest, “Suit yourself.   Remember that I warned you, so don’t come haunting me after some fiend has gnawed out your guts.”

   “And for that you have my sincere thanks old man.  It is more then most would have given one of my kind.”   With that the Hultan known as Mordecai, once of House Lee, again began to traverse the road towards Arizau.  The scowling figure of the old man sitting on the step of the ramshackle inn faded into the distance.  For an ordinary traveler on foot the next village, Rakrow, lay four days ahead, however for the Hultan it had taken little more than a day and a half.   

   The Hultan struck an impressive image as he strode into the silent village of Rakrow.  The setting sunlight had cast an unearthly aura over his dark locks and blood red bangs, his dark blue, weather beaten traveler’s cloak and black body glove armor made him appear like some feared demon out of the ancient legends.  His golden eyes shimmered in the fading sunlight as he surveyed the village.   The dirt streets were completely empty of all human traffic, and nervous eyes peered from shuttered windows.  As he drew closer to the center of the village he could make out four shadowy figures waiting for him.  

   Mordecai stopped before this small force.   Their leader appeared to be a middle aged man in  worn leather pants, a faded blue shirt, with a dusty brown vest covering it.   On that dusty vest rested a faded star, the badge of his constable position within this village.  This constable kept an old saber strapped to his hip. Mordecai smelt fear rolling off of him; but despite that the constable seemed to be putting up a brave front as the wealthy seeming man, no doubt the village’s mayor, flanked him with the town’s doctor at the other flank and some youthful deputy taking the rear guard position, only the mayor and constable bearing swords as the other two held clubs in their hands, but all four seemed filled with superstitious fear.
   
   The constable‘s hand rested uneasily on the pommel of his saber, “We don’t take kindly to strangers, especially ones like you.”  It was at that point that the one the Hultan took to be the village mayor spoke up, “We have never welcomed servants of the Old Boyars.  Best you slink back into whatever hell pit you crawled out from.”

   The doctor and youth muttered, “Yeah.”

   Mordecai had expected such a reaction reaction.   It was how many villagers reacted to the presence of Hultans and other ‘unnatural’ creatures.  He did not hold their distrust against them, after all it was distrust and staying vigilant that kept a village around longer than those that openly let in strangers.  And it was not like some of the constable’s words were untrue.  In the past many Hultans had been the servants of the vampyre, known as the Nobility or in the case of peasants as the Old Boyars.

   Mordecai informed those gathered before him, “I am no servant to the Old Boyars.  I am merely passing through to Arizau.”

   The constable’s warning came swiftly to his lips, “Then keep moving, demon eyes.”

   The mayor at that point spoke up again in a quivering voice, “And never pass through here again.”

   Mordecai felt those hateful, nervous eyes boring into his back as he continued to make his way through the village, and back out onto the road.  The Hultan had decided that he would put some distance between himself and Rakrow before taking his rest for the night.

The Three Rules To Being A Great Writer

Three Rules To Becoming A Great Writer

I know I was going to keep my private life on a different blog; but this idea came from my anime addiction.  I was watching Bakuman and it got me thinking, what are The Three Rules To Being A Great Writer.   Not that I'm there yet, so take this with the proper grains of salt as I am still an aspiring author, despite the fact I have self published a short story on the Nook.

THE THREE RULES OF A BEING A GREAT WRITER

1.   WRITE!!!

2.  HARD WORK AND PERSEVERANCE

3.  LUCK
______________________________________________________________

1. Write!

The first rule is obvious, you cannot be a writer unless you write something.   Some may wonder why I have no mention of the word edit.   But I lump that in under writing.   Write your work, write notes on your rough drafts on what needs improving and re-write it.   Write and rewrite your work as though you are a polishing a gem and refining it; because that is exactly what a writer does, he finds a rock and polishes and hopefully there is a gem within it.  Sometimes there is no gem and you have to pick up another rock and keep hoping and writing.  However you must take care not to fall into the trap that happens to many writers, they spend far to much time rewriting and rewriting over and over and never get anything published.   It's hard to know when you've revised your work enough, but at some point you must look at your manuscript and ask yourself are you just frightened of seeing rejection or is it truly not ready yet for public consumption?  

No matter what you must write.  Which goes into the second rule.

2.  Hard Work and Perseverance

If you're not gifted as a writer, then you must work hard on your writing and improving yourself.   Do research, read books on grammar,  find your weak points and hone them into strengths as much as you possible can.  You must work hard and never give up.   Even if you a thousand doors slam in your face you have to keep trudging onward and believe in your work and yourself, and sometimes you may have to open the door yourself and shout out loud for others to hear you.     Basically what I'm saying is that if you try to publish the traditional way, through publishers you'll face rejection and if you self publish you'll have much more hard work ahead of you to get others to read your works.  In the case of self publishing you'll have to save up money not only for your book (if you want a paperback/hardback one) but you'll have to save up money for your cover illustrator or inside art illustrator.   You must write in every spare moment you have when you're not at your day/night job.  Even if it's not your story you're working on, writing a blog entry or a letter or anything involving writing, but you must be writing a lot.  That's my problem, I get distracted easily and lose focus.  But to be a great writer you must not lose focus.   Your goal is to write and work hard on your writing.

3.  Luck

There are literally millions if not billions of books out there, and the likelihood of anyone picking up your pick is slim.   So luck is the third and final rule in my opinion.   And I'll end it here on this third rule.  

Check It Out

Again promoting my short story on here.

Synopsis:  CHILDREN ABDUCTED IN THE NIGHT.

A lone friar journeys into the demon infested North Woods to find these missing children.

You can get it on the Nook:

Wolves of North Wood

And you can also get it on the Kindle:

Wolves of the North Wood


The cost is only a mere $1.25 USD

A Little Sampling of the Wolves of North Wood:

    The tendrils of smoke caressed her time worn face, and stung her grayish blue eyes. Eyes that sought form in the smoke and flames.   Aldrah, one of the less harmful Witches of the North Woods, remained crouched before her hearth as her withered, bony hands snatched up one of the herbs laid out before her.   She tossed it into the fire; eagerly watching as the small blaze licked and snapped and devoured the bit of herb.

    A rap at her door sounded; but she did not hear it; lost in her flame scrying.  Again the rap sounded only louder and more insistent and still Aldrah's mind refused to give heed to her visitor in the night.  After all none were foolish enough to brave the night of the North Woods.  And one who would live in the North Woods would be even more a fool to open the door on such a wintry night; fore demons often came for the souls of humans during such times.

    The knock came more urgent now; almost breaking her concentration.  Unconsciously she hissed at the door, “Go away wretch!” as she redoubled her effort to ignore the knocking and focus upon the images within the hearth.  Her hand unconsciously threw another handful of herbs into the flames, the vision in her mind’s eyes growing clearer.  The door slammed inward as a figure wrapped in a dark blue traveling cloak and body glove armor of midnight black stood framed in the door of Aldrah’s home.   Within the stranger’s hands was a creature neither wholly human nor fully wolf.

    The monotone typical of his kind sprang from the shadowed figure's lips, "You are Aldrah the Harridan of the North Woods?"

    His voice had yanked her out of the trance, the flames in the hearth leaped up high and then smothered themselves.   Aldrah coughed and gagged as nothing but smoke erupted around her at the spell's breaking.

    She snarled upset at her spell weaving's distruption, "Yes!  I am Aldrah!  What business do you have with me?!"

    Aldrah looked to her visitor and recognized what this figure was at once.  The old witch easily knew him for what he was by those golden eyes hidden within the shadows of his cloak's hood.  She knew a Hultan when her old eyes beheld one, and after all only a Hultan would be brave or foolish enough to dare the dangers of the North Woods at night.

    He had thrown the wolf fiend towards her as he informed her, "I seek someone."

    Aldrah rasped as her hand immediately thrusted out palm up towards the stranger as she understood what he had no doubt come for, "Ah!"

    The figure in dark shades of blue withdrew a pouch from his cloak and emptied a few silver coins into that waiting palm.  Aldrah knew these coins to be mostly pure silver from their weight.   She had an eye or rather a good hand for the purity of coinage, it was one of the many unnatural talents she possessed as a witch.  The old harridan knew the worth of silver, both it’s financial and magical value.

    Her yellow toothed face grinned up at the stranger, "So Hultan, this fiend?  It is no doubt related to who you seek."   Aldrah hobbled over to the fiend's corpse that had been tossed towards her.  She grunted a little as she pulled the dagger from the cord about her waist.  "Usually an augury cost much more, but since we are something close to brethren, you and I, this shall be sufficient."

    He merely nodded his head in silent agreement with her as she knelt over it.  She began anointing special oils onto the blade and chanting in the ancient tongues of man.  The wickedly pointed dagger gleamed with another worldly magic as she turned her haggard face back to the Hultan, "Tell me who is it you seek?"

    "I have been hired to slay the Wolf Witch of the North Woods."  he told her.

    She gleefully cackled as her dagger bit deeply into the fiend's flesh, cold blood splattered onto her face. Her hand ever so careful and meticulous as it cut away the furry flesh.   Once the cut had been made her wrinkled hands plunged into the animal’s stomach and began gently pulling out the vital ingredient to any augury, the intestine, and handling it with the care a mother shows to her favored child.

******

    "Damn it,' Friar Abe Fisher cursed under his breath as he tried to remain calm.   His hands shook violently as he reloaded Gabriel.   This .62 caliber belt pistol had been passed down in the Fisher Family for so many generations that not even Abe's great grandfather knew when this silver trimmed firearm had come into the family's ownership.   His left hand braced the white stock of Gabriel as his right hand's index finger rested uneasily upon the trigger.   The name Gabriel glistened in the silver along the gun's twelve barrel reflecting the light of a setting red sun; spilling out across the horizon like a wound.

    Abe's heart raced as he stood alone; trying to hold the belt pistol steady.  His hide boots gripped firmly onto the snow crested hill top as the distance between him and the encroaching shadowy form shrank.  He easily heard the snapping of old oak branches and gnarled pines as the foul creature approached.  The beast's ravenous howls did nothing to ease the Friar Fisher's mind.

    The friar attempted careful aim with his shaking hands as the white furred dire wolf burst from the forest's cover.  The massive she-wolf, nearly as large as the friar himself, savagely bounded over the snow banks with a solitary purpose in mind: feasting on the friar.

    An almost blinding flash of brilliance filled Abe's vision for a second as the bullet roared forth from the barrel, and slammed into the dire wolf's chest.  The piercing ring of the shot sounded only for the briefest of seconds in the friar's ears.   The white beast haltered only for a minute as it absorbed the shallow wound's damage.   A raging bellow passed those snarling lips just before the she-wolf charged the friar, a sparse trail of blood staining the snow behind her.

Chapter 8 and thus the start of 9. GANBARU!!!

I finished Chapter 8 today and have pushed a little forward into Chapter 9 today.   Yatta!  Yatta!  Still going strong, and this will most likely be my longest work to date and hopefully be an actual novel length, a first for me as I've never written anything longer then a short story before this moment.   The current word count is 15,310.  In order for a work to be considered of novel length it must be 40,000 words in length.   Plotting aside that means if I was calculating (wish I don't when I write, I simply let the story flow out from me) I'd need 24,690 more words roughly for this current project to be considered a novel length book.  Which I guess for those that don't know I should do a breakdown of word counts and what they are considered.

1. Flash Fiction:  500-1,000 words   (These are stories that are extremely brief.)
2. Short Story:    1,000-7,500 words generally (These are stories which contain few characters and are concerned with a single mood or theme.)
3. Novelette:   7,500-17,500 words  ( This is still a short story roughly, and usually called a novelette because it is slightly longer then a short story; but shorter then a novella.)
4. Novella:    17,500-40,000 words (This type of story features fewer conflicts then a novel; but also contains more complex conflicts and themes then a simple short story.   And unlike novels they are not usually divided into chapters.)
5. Novels:  30,000 (in general)   40,000 and up (SF &Fantasy) 

What I usually write myself was most likely somewhere between Short Story and Novelette.

Working In Two Directions At Once

I know it's been a while since I last posted; but it's hard to keep up with daily stuff and posting up on my writing and still keep writing and doing my job and keeping thing around the house in order.  However, I have not posted here in a while on my writing and thought it best I let those still reading this that I am not dead yet.  I am still waiting on my wise reader to get to Horror of Hellgarde so I can start getting the process ready for putting that out next.  Though I have not been idle with my writing.  I've been working on the First Book in the Ashes of the Fallen Series.  While writing an outline for Chapter 8, rather the ideas I have for it, I have also been writing and re-writing the history and some of the races found within the series.   Especially since I realized I had neglected to include some vital races that I had not created.  These important and vital races to the series do not so far have a direct bearing on the first story and that is most likely why I had neglected them until I started making the maps for this series; which sadly will most likely not be included in any of the books, because I do not like my art skill when it comes to drawing, sigh, even maps.  Going back to the latter, as you can see I'm working on both ends.  I am writing the past at the same I am writing the present story, so as you can see from the title of this post I am working in two directions at once.  As I write the present, so I am also at the same time writing up this world's past history and making sure everything fits nicely and as neatly as possible into its niche.

So rest assured that when I have the spare moments I am still working on my writing and hopefully improving and growing.

Evil Lack

Not much been going on with my writing.   I've been on chapter 7 of In the Shadows for a couple days now.  I really need to just shut up and work on it probably.   That and working on Princess of Darkness.  But I find a lack of motivation somehow to work on it.   I have this laziness I need to kick and just work even if not feeling motivated.   A block of laziness more then a block of creativity.  

Working on My Writing but Need to Work More On It

I have 7 chapters written up and am still working on Chapter 7 of the First Ashes of the Fallen book, which I finally have a title, which is a work in progress, called In The Shadows.  I also need to work more on Princess of Darkness, because I plan on releasing all three stories; Wolves, Horror of Hellgarde, and Princess of Darkness in one book.   A question out to my readers, the few I have...would any of you be interested in buying these three stories as one print/paperback book?

The thing to keep in mind with my Wallachia/Friar Fisher stories is that the world is still evolving as I write it. I have some things set in stone; but for the longest time Mordecai Lee was called simply a Wiccan until I came across the term Hultan and added that into the story to give the Friar Fisher stories more depth.   The more I write in it the more the world seems to grow.

Wolves Now on the Kindle

Here is the link to the Story on Amazon.com

Wolves of North Wood

It should be available in most countries now by Amazon.com's kindle store.

Coming Soon to the Kindle

The Wolves of North Wood will soon be available on the Kindle, so for those that have it and have been reading my blogs here you'll be able to access it soon.   It's set fairly priced I think.  I've been working on the first book in the Ashes of the Fallen Series I've started writing.  I'm on Chapter 7 of it so far.  But the chapters seem to be fairly short.   I'm still not sure what to call the first book in this series, nor do I have an idea for a cover image.   I'm hoping it'll come to me when I have finished this first book in the series.

I'm sorry for not posting much on here; but have been busy with real life and working on my writing projects.

Princess of Darkness

I thought I would take a little break from the dark fantasy/Horror genre but somehow I found myself working a little on Princess of Darkness, the next in the set of Stories about Friar Fisher and the Wiccan Mordecai.  I am still also working on my huge project of Ashes of the Fallen; but it's more on the back burner for right now.   I figure once I get through Princess of Darkness maybe I'll try working on Ashes again.   I have so many story ideas that need filled out that I won't be running out of material to work on any time soon.  I just wish I had the tenacity to pursue them instead of goofing off and not focusing on my writing.  Hopefully my wise reader will work on HoH soon so I can get started on the re-write of it.  I will type more when I have more to say...but I'll leave you with a little snip of HoH to whet some appetites.  (Keep in mind this is just the first rough draft of it)

"

"Do not speak lightly such names, Wiccan.   the old man wagged his finger, “If it were me I should forget going all together.   Arizau was never a wholesome place, and since His death the curse has only made Hellwood worse.”

    The crimson banged, brunette Hultan simply stated, “That is my road, for good or ill.”
"

HoH is done!

Finally finished writing Horror of Hellgarde.  Now it just needs to be edited and scenes that need it expanded upon, and the money for a cover.   After all that is done I'll have it up for sale.

It Is Up As Opposed To Down

Put up on youtube my second and last sample of this particular work I'm gonna provide.

Here's the link to the video.  Second Sample of Wolves of North Wood  Check it out.

It's only available on the Nook unfortunately and retails at around $3.28 US.

New Sample Coming Soon and Final Chapter

Some news first.  Stayed up to late and got another chapter done for HoH (Horror of Hellgarde) and now I am certain I am finally on or nearing the last chapter of this short/novella whatever it is.   I promised a second video sampling of Wolves of North Wood and a new one should hopefully be up by Friday sometime this week.  Not sure if the sample is really doing any good; but figured one last sample might help things a little better, so watch out for it.   I've not really been doing much writing.  I need to stop being so lazy and just FUCKIN write. Hopefully my next post on here will be that the rough draft for HoH is finally finished or that I have the sampling up for you on friday.  Whatever comes first.  Later.

An Update on My Writing

It's been a slow process as I've been busy being lazy when not at work, the few hours a day they give me.  But not going to talk about this as this blog is for my writing.  So thought I'd let you know that today I worked more on Horror of Hellgarde.  I hope I get the story finished soon, so I can go back and fine tune it with my wise reader.   But though I've not been working on HoH like I should have been I have drawn up maps and worked on my larger project Ashes of the Fallen.   It feels like everytime I turn around the AotF world is getting bigger and bigger and not sure when I'm going to get back to writing the actual story of it as I came up with some more interesting figures of lore, who may not even really show up in the actual story.

Well I'm gonna get back to work on my writing.   For those that have checked out my video and liked it, just letting you know that pretty soon I'll be coming out with another sampling video for Wolves of North Wood.   Any money I make off Wolves of North Wood will go into the budget for the cover for the next Wallachia story.   So hope you enjoy it and enjoy reading my blog.  Will type more when I have more to say on my writing.  Later.

Youtube Sample of WotNW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5yvTVWeYy8&list=HL1341890039&feature=mh_lolz

Current Projects

I am currently working on the Second Story for Wallachia, the Horror of Hellgarde.  I will not go into to many details, except to say that this short turned into a longer work then originally I had envisioned.  I am also been working on some on DA know a project I call Ashes of the Fallen.   For those that are interested and haven't read it, I have a sample of the first chapter's first draft.  Sample of Ashes of Fallen Ch1 1stDraft.   This will probably be the bigger of the two projects as Wallachia is already done in a sense for the most part.  

I'll speak a little more about Wallachia in this entry.  The original idea behind the Friar Fisher and Wiccan series is that it started out as a GURPs campaign setting I created for a dark fantasy/horror type world that with help of my friend kept expanding until what it is today.  Though Friar Fisher and the Wiccan Mordecai Lee have a unique origin story as the Wiccan character or as he prefers to be called, a Hultan, did not exist exactly in the same universe.  The Wiccan had his own story originally that I tried to reshape to fit into Wallachia; but have had trouble doing so, so I decided those tales will never be told as they don't fit into the Wallachian storyline easily.  However, Friar Fisher was created originally specifically for the Wallachian rpg so it was easier to fit him into it.  Well I guess that's enough of my ramblings for now.  I'll post again when I have something else to say.

My First Story

This is my first blog on Forsaken Tomes.   I'm not sure on how good the name of this blog is; but it was the best name I could conceive at this moment.  This blog is going to be a place for me to discuss my writings, and similar interests. 

I also started this blog to show off my first story that I think is of publishable quality; which I e-published up on the Nook. It would've been on the kindle; but the Kindle had an issue with loading the cover and since I paid for it, I didn't want a place holder cover that Kindle provides.  Plus I really love my cover that I had commissioned by NadezhdaVasile of Deviantart.com

This is a story that is somewhere between horror and dark fantasy or maybe it is just a dark fantasy.  I'm not sure.  I've never known the proper place to try to sell this to; so in the end I decided that I'd try to self publish it.  Below is the link where you can pick up a copy.

Wolves of the North Wood