Self-Restrictions (Or the overused "Let It Go")

            There comes a time for every writer when they learn how to let go. Sometimes it’s ideas we need to let go of, or characters, other times it’s habits. But we writers tend to be sentimental and it’s hard to let go of ideas we’ve clung to for a long time.

            For me, this time came when I started to take a good hard look at my fantasy world, wondering what made it stand apart from others. There’s really quite a lot that makes it unique, but all the key surface elements are familiar. I have humans, elves, dwarves, goblins – and they’re all about what you’d expect them to be, with a few twists of my own added in. Yet, on the surface, very familiar.

            There are three reasons for this: the first is that I started developing this world when I was twelve or so and, at that age, it’s really difficult to not borrow heavily from what you know. The second is that I wanted that familiarity there to help people acclimatise to my world. The third was because you have two choices when creating creatures in a fantasy world: go with the common ones, or make up new ones that serve the functions of the old ones (such as the Urgals in the Eragon series which take the place of goblin/orc creatures, as do the Trollocs in the Wheel of Time series where there are also Ogiers that function as a combination of elves and dwarves).

            So, have I decided to drastically change my writing to replace elves and dwarves? No, although I did strongly consider it. I realized that, if I eliminated them, I would just replace them with something else. I did, however, decide to personalize them more – make them more unique to my world.

All of this made me take a closer look at my world and what I’ve been clinging to. That’s when I discovered the biggest thing that was holding my writing back: my world. It’s too big. You’d think that a big world would offer more freedom for writing in, but that’s before you have to coordinate events across an entire globe with a timeline spanning hundreds or thousands of years. It’s a bit much for one mind to hold all at once.

            So, I’ve had to step back. Rather than forcing my stories to fit my world, I’m now allowing my world to for my stories. It has opened up endless possibilities and has made writing life much easier.

            That’s my latest tip to all you writers out there. Look to yourself and your own writing to figure out how you’re holding yourself back. Then push back your self-made restrictions and broaden your horizons.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Best Board Game Everrrrrer

            No, seriously, if you haven’t played this board game, you need to. It is Firefly The Game and it’s loads of fun.

            What is it like, you ask? Well, I can best describe it as a combination of Monopoly, Settlers of Catan and Dungeons & Dragons. Incidentally, if you haven’t played those either, you’re missing out. Except maybe Monopoly, that can be hit or miss.

            Anyway, even if you aren’t a fan of Firefly (which, if you’re not, it probably means you haven’t watched the show, a problem you should go fix right now), the game is great – although you miss many of the references. It has a simple concept – you are the captain of a Firefly class starship. You need to find a crew, find a job and keep flying.

            Throughout the game, you fly around between planets doing jobs, hiring crew members and upgrading your ship while working towards certain goals. You get to choose the jobs from various contacts and the work is either legal or illegal, moral or immoral, with some paying better and some being riskier (with the potential of getting issued arrest warrants or even having crew members killed). The jobs can vary from carting cargo and passengers between planets to robbing banks.

            As for the goals to win the game, they change! That’s the best part about the game – there are different story modes to play. There’s even a solo mode (which I had so much fun with I played for 5 hours straight one day). The different game stories change the strategies needed for playing and make for a fresh game each time. I figure you can even write your own game modes for it (I’m planning a fantastic co-operative story).

            The only downside is that it does take a while to set up – but it’s worth it. It’s also one of those games where the rules seem really complicated when they’re being explained, but they begin to make sense really fast as you’re playing.

            So, yes. Firefly. Play it.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

The Alliance of Worldbuilders

            It is hard to believe I haven’t written a post about the Alliance of Worldbuilders yet. I’ve mentioned them once or twice, but it’s about time I actually told you who they are.

            It all started, amazingly enough, about four years ago. It was a year after I’d finished writing my first book and I was still extremely ignorant of the world of publishing. I had timidly stuck my toe out to test the waters with no results – usurping for me now, with all that I’ve learned. It was during this time that I discovered Authonomy.

            With all the trouble I was having writing query letters, this website seemed like the perfect opportunity for me. It allowed me to share my writing, get criticism and, if I got enough support from the other writers on the site, I would get a review from a Harper Collins editor and potentially a publishing offer. How could I pass that up?

            So, I signed up, uploaded my book and headed over to the forums to post a shameless plug. There, I was almost immediately recruited to the Alliance of Worldbuilders by Sam, the Vice Captain in charge of Cake.

            How to join? It was a simple matter of hopping over to the Alliance of Worldbuilders forum thread, eat the ceremonial virtual cake (that in no way had any mind-controlling drugs to bind us to the will of the Dark Lord TRM) and I was a member. I was even offered a title, which I chose to be Lord of the Wyrms (I felt, as a new member, Dragon Lord would be too pretentious – plus, I couldn’t pass up the play on Lord of the Flies).

            So, what is the Alliance? Well, it was started by Dark Lord TRM (along with his evil rabbit, Midnight) as a criticism group for fantasy writers and anyone else who built their own worlds for their writings. It grew into much more – a writing support group and a group of close friends from across the world, all dreaming of being published. There were probably over 100 people who joined, but there are about twenty of us who made up the core of the group.

            The group ended up talking about everything from writing through philosophy, real life issues and, of course, our plans for global domination. We soon became the thread with the most posts on the entire forum (the legendary battles between Vice Captain Sam and Ice Queen Lisa helped – come to think of it, neither of them returned the dragons I lent them...) Of course, the forum wasn’t built to handle that much traffic, so we were requested to start a new thread. Which we did, then brought it up to the top threads before starting a third.

            We all learned quickly enough that to get the editor review on Authonomy, we’d have to play the political game that had become rampant on the site. So, most of us didn’t bother. We gave each other reviews when we had time, chatted, supported each other and became a close-knit group.

            Thanks to this group, I was able to improve my writing substantially. More than that, though, I learned far more about the publishing world than I ever had before. Plus, I had fun.

            Then things changed a bit. Many of the group started getting published, some traditionally, some self-published, and there wasn’t quite as much chatting happening. Then Authonomy did an overhaul which we were disenchanted with, so we moved out headquarters over to Facebook. We’re still a close group, we just don’t chat or battle as much.

            So, why do I choose to tell you about this wonderful and talented group now? Why, because we’re about to release an anthology of short stories! On September 4^th, we will be releasing A World of Their Own in memory of our fallen comrade, Lindsey J Parsons, with all proceeds being donated to the World Literacy Foundation.

            This collection of short stories is extra exciting for me, as it will contain my first published works. It should also be exciting for you, because it’s an opportunity to discover new favourite authors from a very talented bunch.

            So, mark your calendars and join the Facebook release party. Invite your friends, too! While you’re waiting, you can even check out the group’s Facebook page, website, and scout out all the authors who will be in the anthology. Then you, too, can share in the wonderful imaginations of the Alliance of Worldbuilders.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Approaching the Quarry

Of Dice and Glen is a story being written following D&D 5th Edition rules and using Minecraft as the battle mat (and to set the scene). Each of the two writers control their own characters and share the job of Dungeon Master (controlling the environment, story, monsters and background characters). As a result, neither of us has any clue of what's going on or where this is going. So, let's have fun!

This story is split between episodes being posted on the second Monday of every month. You can find the first episode here and the previous episode here.


Of Dice and Glen Episode 4: Approaching the Quarry

The following morning, the sun peeked up over the roofs of the trees.

From up in her tree, Luna stirred, twitching and barking under her breath. She growled low in her chest and snapped at some invisible foe. Eyes still closed, she pushed off from the trunk and dashed toward some target, snarling furiously.

With a loud thud and a yelp of pain, she woke on the ground.

Shaddar awoke just in time to see the tiefling plummet. If she had been anyone else, he might have rushed to her side to see if she was okay, but he got the impression this was fairly normal for his companion. If not, he didn’t want to embarrass her by drawing her attention to it.

“Morning, Luna,” he said, stretching as he got up. “Sleep well?”

If she had appeared wild the previous day, it was nothing to her “morning look”. It was unclear how she had thrashed around way up on a tree limb, but her hair was matted and stuck up at the back, her clothes were disordered and bunched, and her face wore a truly savage expression that, more than her usual carefree demeanor, spoke of her demonic ancestry.

“Filthy little flicker-tail tree thieves!” she snarled, to no one in particular, eyes darting all around their camp. “You tasted DELICIOUS!”

All the birds and critters near the camp fled for their lives.

Shaking his head in wonderment, Shaddar began packing up the camp, not wishing to disturb what could only be an odd morning ritual.

Scrambling to her hands and knees, she shook herself all over, then scratched behind a horn, ferociously. Rising to her full, humanoid height, and clawed at her tangled hair with both hands.

“Good morning!” she almost sang, bouncing over to her draconic friend with a grin. “I slept fine but it’s your turn to hunt for breakfast. Wait. Nope. I’m too hungry for that. EVERY BEAST FOR HERSELF!”

With that, she dashed off into the forest, bent double, clawing the turf with all four limbs for extra speed.

Laughing, Shaddar pulled out his last squirrel from the previous night and ate it as he finished packing up camp.

In a surprisingly short time, the tiefling returned, sauntering into the clearing with one hand outstretched in a none-too-flattering imitation of a noblewoman.

“Oh, I do say, dragon-beast, jolly-well fetch my warrior husband. He could skewer you on his lance with his eyes closed.”

Luna had smeared her berry breakfast across her face, aiming for a crude facsimile of the lip colouring rich women wore. It also appeared that she may have made an attempt to wash some of the mud off, though that was almost entirely because it had become itchy.

Shaddar shook his head in disbelief and laughed.

“You ready to carry on, m’lady?”

Utterly delighted by Shaddar’s playing along with her game, she tried to simultaneously giggle and appear serious. The result was bizarre and ineffective.

“Why yes, good sir!”

Shaddar easily picked up the tracks of the goblin and led the way into the woods.

After about an hour of travel, they came upon a small clearing filled with churned mud and footprints. Every tree had been hacked and slashed viciously. Many had globs of sap oozed from their wounds.

After a closer look at the tracks, the dragonborn declared, “Not just goblins. Kobolds, too.”

The tiefling however, was paying no attention to him. Instead, her tail was lashing through the grass as she dashed from one bleeding tree to another, whimpering and examining the wounds.

“Birch!” she whispered, her voice catching in her throat. “No... No... Oak... You poor sapling... Aspen! How...”

“A bunch of them came together here,” Shaddar said to himself. “They must be nearby.”

He walked over to the distressed tiefling and placed a comforting hand on the top of her head. Small wisps of smoke were coming from his nostrils.

“It’s horrible, isn’t it?” His voice was hard. “We’ll make them pay for this disgusting destruction.”

Giving an alarmed screech, she slapped away the comforting hand before she could discern its meaning. Breathing hard, she backed away from him, her black eyes wide with fear.

“S-sorry,” she gasped, stopping a couple feet from him. “Yes. It’s horrible and they’ll pay.”

At that point there was a high-pitched cackle nearby.

“Goblin,” Shaddar hissed, spinning in the direction of the sound, drawing his swords.

Once again matching him, she armed herself and, with obvious difficulty, stood with her back to him, braced for the attack that was coming.

“I wish I could get into a tree and drop rocks on them.”

After a moment there was some more goblinish chortling.

“You might get that chance yet,” Shaddar said, keeping his voice down. “They sound like they haven’t heard us yet. Maybe we can get closer and find out what they’re doing here. Maybe even get the drop on them.”

“Get the drop of rocks on them,” she agreed, quietly. “Do you want to flank them?”

For once, the impulsive tiefling was planning, strategizing. She didn’t know how many of them they were up against, but from all the damage it had to be a fair number.

“Good idea,” Shaddar said. “I’ll head straight toward them and you circle around to the other side. Move as quietly as you can - we want to take them by surprise, if possible.”

Not wasting any sound on words, the savage tiefling child nodded once and followed the suggestions the dragonborn had made. Moving as silently as she could in her emotionally charged state, Luna rustled through the forest, then around the location the sounds emanated from.

Shaddar, wishing his scale armor lent itself better to stealth, snuck forward as quietly as he could.

Between two small hills, there was a dip in the ground where fewer trees were growing. There were odd bits of worked stone jutting out of the ground in a vaguely circular pattern. One of these had a rope tied around it, dangling down into a hole where more stonework had been revealed beneath the level of dirt.

Two goblins stood, facing the hole, jabbering on in their foul language about nothing of importance.

A tired kobold emerged from the hole, carried a bucket of dirt and stones to a nearby pile and deposited it. On its way back to the hole, one of the goblins smacked the lizard-like creature on the back of the head with the flat of its scimitar.

As the kobold yelped and fell into the hole, the two goblins chortled and laughed evilly.

Forcing back a hiss of loathing at the evil creatures playing out this pitiful scene, Luna crept around and behind the pair of goblins, saying a swift and silent prayer of thanks to whatever god had an ear out.

Uttering a high-pitched war-cry as loud as she could, to press her obvious surprise, the wild-looking tiefling burst from around a trunk and charged straight at the goblins, slashing at one with her scimitar.

Thinking quickly, she brought her dagger around for good measure and jabbed at the same stinking creature. The second attack hadn’t been well thought out and missed miserably, though she hoped the frenzied movements might throw the goblins further off balance.

Muttering imprecations about impatient tieflings, Shaddar followed shortly after Luna, swinging his sword at the same goblin Luna had attacked, targeting the wound Luna had caused and quickly finishing the monster off.

Before it could react, the goblin was gurgling on the ground, choking on its lifeblood.

Confident his first opponent was down, Shaddar spun his second sword around towards the other surprised goblin, but the creature was able to bring its sword up in time to block the blow.

The second goblin quickly overcame his surprise at being attacked by what appeared to be a pair of demons. With some aggressive cursing, the goblin raised its own rusty scimitar and slashed at the larger demon. The blood rushing from the dragonborn and staining the curving sword caused him to hoot in glee and dance idiotically on the spot.

Discover what happens next in Episode 5: Surprises

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Ageing Time

            Woah, is it August already? How did that happen? I could’ve sworn it was barely July. I guess it’s true when they say time goes faster the older you get. It seems a bit too fast for someone my age, though.

            It makes me think back to my days in school, when each day dragged on and on. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I disliked school, but I always found it tedious. I enjoyed learning, but the information I was taught was spread out over too much time. I always felt that everything covered over the course of a school year could’ve been taught to me in a month or two.

            Then, there’s all the time that was spent reviewing what was taught in previous years. True, it was necessary to a point, but I always felt I was being re-taught what I already knew when all I needed were a few key points.

            I look back at all those years now and think, what a waste. I know that I learned a lot of valuable things – my love of reading and writing was greatly nurtured by school – but, at the same time... I feel like I learned far too little for the time spent. Especially with how much longer the days felt.

            The absolute worst part, though, is the skill I became most proficient in. The skill of how to do nothing.

            Either because I finished my in-class work early or because my brain wasn’t feeling up to it at the time so I was leaving it for homework (this was quite common in the heat of summer, during the two allergy seasons that hit me or if I had a cold in the winter), there were times in school when there was simply nothing to do. Everyone was supposed to be working, so we weren’t allowed to talk (not that I was much of a talker). So, I learned the art of doing nothing.

            If my brain was feeling functional, I could spend the time thinking – the favourite pass-time of an introspective child. If not, well... it was simply a trick of looking like I was working while waiting for the class to end.

            I almost feel like this is something intentionally taught in school. The other side of looking at it is “how to pass the time when there is no work to do” which is, sadly, directly applicable to the workplace. It’s almost as if we are intentionally taught how to waste time.

            Then we get older and time goes faster. We’re proficient at wasting time, but there no longer seems to be time to waste. We base all our perceptions of time off how long those days in the school room were and we wonder how much we could get done if we had that much time and energy again.

            Whereas a day used to be a long time, soon it becomes short. Then a week becomes our definition of a short amount of time. Not long after that, months go flying by as if they were only one week long.

            Before long, a year is thought of as a short span of time.

            I watch all this time zipping past and wonder how fast time will pass for me in another decade. More than that, though, I look back to my years in school and wonder why I was forced to waste so much of my most valuable time.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.