2009S9-02-L001N
Silvone E. Elestahr

Well, today is the day I've decided to start writing. It's been 8 years since the conception of the idea for my books, which started with nothing more than a few words in my own language. It quickly evolved into something that encompassed me entirely. Now I want to share it with the world.

So, what have I accomplished today?

I started out by looking for organization programs on the internet, anything to help me organize all of my information. Simple word processor documents organized haphazardly in files just wasn't cutting it. I couldn't keep up with all of it.

I downloaded a free program called yWriter5. I no longer have the web page up, but if you are interested then just google it. The download site even has a tutorial video, though the program is very easy to use and nearly self-explanatory.

Beyond that, I only put in three entries in the program:

1. One of my main characters, the first important character in the very long time line of my stories, the ancestor of all the "heroes" you might say. By forcing myself to add in his entry, I finally developed a solid image in my head of what this alien species really looks like, an important detail I've been avoiding since their conception.
I realized recently, since I started RP'ing here on FOG actually, that one of the reasons I couldn't write out my story was because, while I did have a few characters, I didn't know "who they were" in a sense, nothing beyond a name and a destiny. I knew I needed to start making character sheets. It has already helped, I believe.

2. I created an entry for the first chapter and scene, which will essentially be the prologue to the story. While I haven't written anything yet, starting sometime this week I will begin outlining the scene that will take place here.

3. I created the two most important locations for this part of the story: a desert location and a city, both very central to the story. I didn't really include any major details here, as I have notes for them elsewhere, but they need to be entered into the program at least in a basic form so I can keep track of them.

So, I haven't really done much yet. But it is a start. I will continue tomorrow (today, actually, once I finally go to sleep in order to wake up and start the day) by thinking up more characters to fill the scene, and working on an outline for the scene itself. Once that is finished, I will try writing it.

I will also have a target amount of words per day/per month. I will post that target here, as well as whether or not I met that target. Well, this was your first update! Feel free to comment here, if you want. And, please, feel free to join me with your own courageous efforts. Show the world the gem that has been shaping in your mind!

2009S9-04-L002N
Silvone E. Elestahr

The third day of writing has come and gone. Over the past two days I've written a total of 1700 words of the story itself, which I can assure you will see drastic changes in the future, and I've detailed the second major character. A few more characters, and a few more days, and I might revise this first chapter. If not, I will make notes of what I want to change and move on. I'm not sure yet.

The hardest part is just plowing on even when I know what I've written so far isn't quite how I want it to be. I have to constantly remind myself that I will come back to it in the future, after I've created more details about the world and their culture that I can use to fill it in. One of the reasons I've failed every attempt at writing these books is because I am never satisfied with what I write. I have several "Chapter 1" documents, all of them different, none of them up to par. But that is a barrier I have to cross.

With a target word count of 20,000 words for the first month (starting today and not counting the first 1000 words I had already written), I have to meet a target of an average of 644 words per day. That shouldn't be too hard. I just can't let myself fall behind. Even one day can be seriously detrimental until I really get into it. The beginning is, without a doubt, the hardest part of writing.

Throughout the next week I hope to at least create the last few major characters so I can stop using [short descriptive acronym] as placements for character names.

2009S9-07-L003N
Silvone E. Elestahr

How typical. I've already fallen behind. Between working late at night, and then having to pick up my wife and son, and then having to devote attention to my wife instead of abandoning her for the computer, I've not really had much time to write (except in the morning, when I don't have the motivation).
I'm keeping up a bit, but not as well as I had hoped. I have filled in the names and basic descriptions of a few of the side characters I have in the chapter, and I've skipped a few areas to write in others, so there is progress being made. I might do one or two more skips to write about the next two important scenes. Then, I will either fill it in afterward or skip it for now and head to the next chapter. The latter is probably wiser for me. If I get stuck on editing, I will never move forward.

I think my biggest problem is, already, I'm disappointed in what I've written. And I just can't let it get to me. Being your biggest critic can be really hard, sometimes.

In other, good, news, I have been working on another book I am writing with my wife. It started from a private role-play we were doing together, and we decided we could actually make a book off of it. We've been plugging it into yWriter5 and then we will start editing our rather embarrassing writing But that is probably all I will say about that here. Until its done. And published. And then I will ask you to pay for it and read it

2009S9-12-L004N
Silvone E. Elestahr

Well, other than becoming a year older, not much progress has been made. I've written once, maybe twice since the last update. I can't use the excuse that life has been hectic because, well, it would just be an excuse.

But, in other, good news, I am the farthest in a Chapter 1 that I have ever been, and I'm not ready to trash it yet! So, as long as I can keep chugging along, not all is lost. I just need to write every once in a while, and once a habit as been established, just increase the frequency of writings. At least, that is the plan...

In other, even better news, I have been working on my other book with Ryona Noel, one that grew from a private Role-play between the two of us. We've been plugging some information into yWriter5, and we are working on rewriting Chapter 1 of the story. What was a one page chapter is quickly growing into something more complex and beautiful. While I said I wouldn't say much about it here...I may in fact be working on it more than my other books. So, I might as well post whatever progress I manage to make.

I am going to try to write some more tonight for my own books. If I can pump out enough, I should finish most of the basic outlining of the chapter. Then I can either move on (the smart idea), or move back and fill in some gaps and edit the first chapter (the not so smart, but more compelling idea). I guess you will find out which mistake I choose in my next update...

Last edited by Silvone Elestahr on Fri Sep 18, 2009 1:12 am; edited 1 time in total

2009S9-17-L005N
Silvone E. Elestahr

I guess it is about time for another update. I haven't really done a whole lot of writing, but I have somewhat consistently been adding to it, which is progress of some sort. I've divided the chapter into four different scenes, each of which covers a major plot point for the chapter. I'm still outlining the final scene, which may or may not turn out to be rather long. I don't want it to be too drawn out and boring...but there is kind of a lot to cover. Maybe I can break it up into two mini-scenes or something. I'm not sure yet.

Beyond that, I will move on to Chapter 2. If I don't, I'm sure I never will. I don't have any ideas for it yet, beyond what the climax of the whole story is going to be, and I only have two or three characters firmly in mind. I need more main and supporting characters and some actual story to work off of, so it is going to take a whole lot of work. But once the last scene of the first chapter is done, I can get into it.

The reason for the above problem is because the first chapter is essentially a prologue to the whole story, taking place approximately 1000 years before the current time period of the story. The only main character I really know of is a descendant of one of the characters from the first chapter. So I've got to start over with characters. The setting I have down pretty well, it is something I've been detailing for years. But the characters are the important part. We shall see where that goes...

2009S9-29-L006N
Silvone E. Elestahr

Well, there isn't really any good news to report this time. But I didn't want to go too long without an update. So here's what's what.

I haven't written a single word into chapter 2 yet... But, I do have some ideas. The problem is that I'm starting from scratch. As I said in the previous update, it is 1000 years after chapter one...their society has changed drastically in that time. So I need to fill in all of those little details I skipped over in my world creating process such as how these people function in their day-to-day lives, how their leadership functions, and how they act individually.

I've commissioned Fate to draw one of the characters for me, which I hope will help inspire me to write a bit more. Bob knows I need some inspiration... Once she finishes with the drawings, I will post them up here. And I will try to use them to help me focus on what these norjick are like.

I've have been brainstorming a bit with Ryona. I've got some small details worked out (tentatively) and a few different ideas of how I might want to start the chapter. But as far as the decision I had left open at the end of the previous update, I am not touching chapter one until I'm back in the flow of writing. If I don't put all of my attention on the next chapter...it's done for. So, bear with me

2009O10-13-L007N
Silvone E. Elestahr

I can't believe how long its been. I still haven't gone passed Chapter 1, and unfortunately I probably won't until after NaNoWriMo in November, and I still have to finish my story for the Halloween contest. But, I do have what I promised in the last update: my commissions for Fate Foretold! They are pictures of the beings in my story, an alien race called Norjick that the story focuses on. The first one, a sketch is the basic body of a Norjick, while the second is a digital rendition of a norjick fully armored and colored, with some modifications to the body itself. Thanks again, Fate!

2009N11-03-L008N
Silvone E. Elestahr

What? An update?

So...while I haven't actually written anything after the first chapter, I am writing my NaNoWriMo novel using this same world. I am using what will be the second series of my books (if I ever even get that far). While its not exactly what I would have done for the actual novel, it works for NaNoWriMo purposes, and since its all related I might as well post my progress with it here.

So, 3,806 words so far. The actual writing is absolutely horrible, and it is in no way shaping out to what I wanted it to be originally. But hell, that is what first drafts are for, right? So I keep on writing, hoping that the ideas will just continue to flow. I've got three different plots point going to prevent writings block as well as I can, and at a certain point in the story I will have all of the plot points come together for the grand finale.

The story arc I'm writing about was actually the very first story arc I had ever come up with when I first started coming up with this story, oh...8 years ago now. I had ended up adding a whole new era after this, and another before it, and both of those became more exciting to write about. But this is the actual beginning as far as how I came up with everything. This story will be centered around the core of my ideas, and its an area I haven't visited in quite a while. So that is probably why its so hard to get everything to flow correctly.

I have noticed so far, out of the two nights I have written, that the minimum word requirement isn't that hard to reach, and even slightly surpass. If I keep the entire daunting quest out of my mind and just focus on the daily requirement, I should be alright.

Anyway, I will keep my progress updated here as it goes along. Wish me luck

2009N11-05-L009N
Silvone E. Elestahr

It's weird how your story takes shape when you actually sit down and write it. Nothing really happens the way you expect it to, no matter how much planning you put into it. 8 years of planning, and I finally sit down to write a part of it for NaNoWriMo. Within 7,000 words, the story is so far from what I had originally planned for it. It is weird, yet nice in a way. It goes to show that your stories can't truly evolve until you write them. Planning and conceptualizing will only get you so far. If you can't sit down and write it, you won't quite have an accurate feel for how your world lives and breathes.

I'm writing from the point of view of three separate characters, from the three corners of the land being featured in the story. One of them had most of his history written out for him in the planning stages...but, essentially, I don't know who he is. I know what he is, but not who. I know what he does, but not how he thinks or feels. I am slowly discovering that.
The other two characters I had almost nothing about, except a few lines written here and there in my notes. I am quickly discovering that they are far more important to the story than I had originally expected they would be.

I don't even know how much of this I will actually use for my novels in the future. A lot of it I think is utter crap, things that can't actually be in my world because it just doesn't fit the facts that I currently have. Other things I didn't know I could make happen, and I might actually keep. But the most important thing I'm getting from it is a feel for my world, of how it operates daily and how the norjick living in it function, feel, think, and act. It is pretty awesome, and strange that after considering myself a writer for so long I am only just now discovering it.

2009N11-15-L010N
Silvone E. Elestahr

I'm halfway through NaNoWriMo with more words written in a story than I've ever achieved before (with a single exception for a school assignment), so I figured it is time for an update.

It is, in my opinion, very annoying when people bash on NaNoWriMo. There is absolutely no reason to think that this contest can in any way inhibit or ruin someone's style or habit of writing, or the lackthereof. I've had someone tell me that I should just concentrate on writing, rather than doing this contest, otherwise I'm just waisting my time. Well...I wasn't writing before the contest, and now I am. So how is that a waste of time? And the novel may not be following the exact plan I had for my novels, but you can't fix something if there is nothing there to begin with. So, for me, this personal contest has been a wonderful benchmark for me.

As for the story itself, I am very happy with how its progressing. There are multiple things I won't use in the actual story when I write it someday, but writing it out quickly like this is helping me visualize the world in a way I had never managed before. And it is forcing me to create things that I had ignored before, things I didn't want to take the time to create or I just didn't know how to go about it.

Hopefully I can keep up the steam I am attaining in this contest to continue writing every night. If I can, I should be able to plug this story into yWriter 5 so I can transform it into my future book, as well as work on my novel with Ryona. We shall see.

Congrats to everyone else who has made it this far!

2009N11-23-L011N
Silvone E. Elestahr

10,000 words until I cross the finish line and finish a NaNoWriMo contest for the first time. I figured it was a good time to write an update on the story and my own writing progress. So...it is really quite amazing seeing what I have accomplished with the story. I have finally taken a world that has been completely static for so many years and I have given it life, literally. The world is finally a living, breathing thing (at least, a part of it is).

Overall, the story is turning out like I planned. It hasn't taken too many unexpected turns that I would never have seen coming before hand, though there have definitely been some surprising developments, particularly with some of the characters. Most of them, actually. It doesn't matter how much you think you know a character just by writing down their histories and their plot lines and relevance to a story. If you don't make them come alive, through actual writing, they are nothing. Most of my characters have finally come alive, and I can honestly say I finally know who they are. It is definitely a great feeling, and hopefully it can spur me to continue writing once NaNoWriMo is over. It was definitely one of the biggest things holding me back: a fear of venturing into the difficult, unknown realm of emotions and dialogue between characters. I'm slowly getting the hang of it, thanks to role-playing here at FOG.

Anyway, that is my short update. I'm writing, I'm getting better at my writing, and I am firmly enjoying the process of writing. Hopefully, over the next couple of months, I will continue writing

2009N11-25-L012N
Silvone E. Elestahr

Another quick update, now that I've finished I am, officially, a NaNoWriMo winner! My first year ever! Anyways...on to the news.

Over the next month or so (most likely longer), I am going to be finishing my novel, since 50,000 words wasn't quite enough, and plugging the novel into yWriter5 so that I can make the whole thing better. The reason I want to finish it is because NaNoWriMo winners will have their novels bound and shipped to them for free, and I would like to have a complete novel rather than a partially finished one. I do need to check if there is a word cap on that though...

Once finishing it is out of the way, I will plug it into yWriter5 and take it apart, chapter by chapter, scene by scene, and make the whole thing better. It needs dialogue, character names and background, cohesion in terms of time and actions, and I need to figure out if certain elements of the story I really want to use.
I used a lot of my old ideas which I had thrown off before as too outdated and not usable. But I managed to put a lot of them in and make them fit with my current story. So that worked out rather well.

The ending was perhaps the hardest part. I had used three different story plots throughout the novel so that I wouldn't be permanently stuck by writer's block. In the end, those three points all converged, and then, toward the last few thousand words, I had to describe an iron age civilizations reaction to discovering an extremely advanced, space faring civilization's ruins... So those last few thousand words took longer than I would have like.

2009D12-30-L013N
Silvone E. Elestahr

Last update for 2009! And not really much to say. Man I have a horrible work ethic...

As for what I am writing, here is something interesting.

I had a dream last night, and it was really quite weird. I will just explain the important bits and how I am going to try and write a story based off of it (and perhaps incorporate it into my novels).
In my dream, I was captured by some weird men with guns. The dream was something else entirely before that...and then it just randomly jumped to this new setting. Anyway, after I was captured, I woke up in some sort of zoo-like place. There were hundreds of other people, all basically kidnapped like I was and forced to work here.
Here comes the hard part...an accurate description of this place and why it was so...awe-inspiring to me. This place is almost like a zoo...or an ark of sorts...but it isn't. There is a center area, a barracks of sorts, where the slaves/workers are kept at night. They sleep and eat there. Surrounding the barracks area are hundreds of animal cages and habitats, which the slaves work in. The slaves take care of the animals, feeding them and washing them or doing whatever needs to be done...all at gun point. Why? I couldn't tell you why it was so in my dream. It just was.
An interesting thing to note is that the level of fear and confusion was kept quite high by a simple thing: no one knew what cages they were going to be thrown into. They could, using an example from my dream, be sent into a cage with a tame mammal that is unfortunately paralyzed or something (weird, I know) and needs to be placed in a large pool, washed, and then hauled back out and dried. Or...they could be sent into a cage filled with alligators or other carnivorous fiends that are all intent on devouring the nearest morsel. And at gun point...don't forget that fact. There is no running away, no refusing. You will simply be shot. Quite a terrifying ordeal if you ask me, even if it is senseless.

But here is how I plan on adding some sense to it, and making it into a story.
These animals are being kept here illegally for a sort of black market trade. The animals are all unhealthy or illegally obtained in some way, or were too dangerous in the wild or whatever. Either way, they were obtained by this group in the same way they acquire their slaves. The animals are used for several different purposes, all for trading on the black market: pelts, animal genetics for various scientific experiments (including cloning), as well as organs. Whatever will sell on the black market is sold.
The slaves are acquired through a very complicated and thorough identity check. The group will only target individuals that can be taken without much notice, such as the homeless, criminals, people living on the fringe of society, or whatever. And they are taken from various parts of the world.
Anyway, that is basically what I've worked up so far. I'm hoping to get some writing done on it soon, so I may have something to post up within a couple of weeks. I would love to hear some feedback on this idea, if anyone has anything interesting to say...

2010M3-02-L014N
Silvone E. Elestahr

I had thought that, after losing my computer to a nasty virus, that I had lost all of my work in yWriter5. It turns out that wasn't so, which is a great relief. I did lose some of the things I was working on, but not all of it.

I haven't actually done any major writing since...well...NaNoWriMo, but I do hope to remedy that soon.

I have been working on a new side project as well. I took some screenshots of a planet in Eve online, a space-based MMORPG. I flew as close to the planet as I could and took some screenshots of the landmasses. I plugged them into photoshop and started placing cities and naming geography.
After messing with that for a while, I searched the internet for pictures of interesting fantasy cities and stuff, and I found some great stuff. One of which really caught my eye, and so I started writing. I used the name of a character I was never able to use in a role-play (I really liked the name), and I started describing his visit to this city, and it just expanded from there.
It is really interesting the things you can suddenly create when starting from a blank slate. Just sitting down writing, with no actual forethought other than the layout of the city, I came up with a city run by a council of secret men. The city is seemingly built over the remains of an ancient culture, and their heiroglyphs can be seen within the cliff face that most of the city is built around. Inside, the character discovers that the council is holding another secret, one he is seemingly the first to hear about. I have so many ideas for what the secret could be, but I'm not really sure yet.
It is just cool how, writing from a blank slate, in a matter of minutes I have a rather detailed and complex culture and I know how it interacts with those around and how it is perceived, in turn, by its neighbors.
I do plan on using the world as a role-play here on FOG, but it will be a while before the world is fleshed out enough for that.

Anyway, that is my update. Hopefully I will see some writing for my actual books sometime in the near future. I never did finish my NaNoWriMo novel...and there are still two book that follow after it.

2010J7-04-L015
Silvone E. Elestahr

It really has been too long. I'm sort of changing the purpose of this blog now. I've realized that it is nearly impossible to focus on writing one thing for too long (except in November), so I will use this blog to document all of my writings, including my role-plays on FOG. I'll try to give a word count as well, as a way of keeping track of my progress: am I falling behind or setting records?


Anyway, I guess I will start with this week, and what I can remember of the previous few.

First of all, I don't have Microsoft Office Word anymore. I got a new mini laptop (HP Mini N450), and for some reason I can't get my validation key to work. So that is out. In the meantime I'm using something called Word Pad, which is essentially a mix of Notepad and Word (or Word with severely reduced features). Soon, though, I will be putting yWriter5 on my laptop and will use that as my primary writing program.

Most of my progress in terms of writing has been in Sephiris. I started my latest post, with the character of Ragner Duiran, by leaning back, closing my eyes, and just typing. I got the idea from another writer, who says that is how he writes all the time. It helps me really focus on the details in a scene, but it is really hard to do. I'm going to have to try it a few more times. I've continued the post while taking a sweat bath in my car during my lunchbreaks at work. I have made considerable progress, though I don't know if I am happy with the post overall. Once I finish, I may go back and make some significant changes, or additions.

I also made my first post using Alys in Emoria. I'll be role-playing with Spectre using that character. As I was writing that post, I had all sorts of ideas that I wanted to incorporate...but I ended up falling far short of that. I guess, since I didn't have a very solid outline of what I wanted, the plot just kind of changed directions on me without me even realizing it. By the time I neared what became the end of it, I was almost lost. That is the problem with no organizing my thoughts ahead of time. Most of the time, random typing helps me come up with pretty good plots and writing. But when I have an end result in mind, it doesn't really work. Hopefully I can flesh out the rest of what I wanted over the next few posts. Speaking of which, I need to post there again.

The other role-play I need to post in is Exiled Saviour: The Udapak Child. I need to get the role-play started, which means I need to write the lengthy introduction post. I think I might be a bit afraid of it, which is why I haven't done it yet. I don't know what I'm scared of...it is my story. I set up the setting, the character I'm using, and the plot. The whole thing, at this point, is under my control. But it is in Advanced Role-playing, and I do want to set the example for what I expect from subsequent posts (a little less grand, once introductions are out of the way). I just don't want to let myself down, let alone everyone else. Hopefully next weeks update here will have an update on the (hopefully) completed introduction post for the role-play, and how it went in writing it.

Non role-play writings have been...nearly non-existant. There was one piece that I wrote, and I'm not sure I will continue with it. Sometime soon I might post it in the writing section, and I will link it back to this post. Basically, I came up with the idea while listening to music in my car on the way home from work a few nights ago. I was listending to Stabbing Westward, which I always feel suits me during my high school years. And, supposedly, when Ryona hears me listening to it she thinks that I'm depressed...and I suppose it does fit my general mood (as well as the mood of those times). I started writing as soon as I got home, and I got a pretty good introduction to the story. I know where I want to go with it as well as how I want it to end. Unfortunately, it won't have a happy ending, but that kind of goes with the territory it is exploring. Yeah...I think I will post it. I'll try to remember to do that tonight. Ryona says that the beginning is confusing because she doesn't realize what is going on. I'm not sure how to change that yet, and I probably won't until I actually finish the thing, so just bear with it. You'll know what is happening soon enough.

I've also been making a few lists of all the writing projects I've been working on over the years. I think I will put the finalized list in the first post, and then put in the items I'm actually updating on in each post. Just fancy little things for my own benefit I guess, but perhaps it will help anyone else who bothers reading this.

That is all for now. If you read all of that, you must be terribly bored. Go to bed.

2010J7-11-L016
Silvone E. Elestahr

Nothing new this week, but that isn't really surprising considering the circumstances. Though I haven't written anything, I have begun reorganizing all of my work, putting it on my laptop and installing yWriter5. It still needs quite a bit of organization, but I'm getting somewhere. I also learned that my 50,000 + word novel that I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year is gone. Disappeared. Who knows when that happened. Oh well. It was as rough as a rough draft gets, and it will be easier to rewrite if I'm not looking at that thing. But it does kind of suck to have no existing record of my deed.

Hopefully this next week will bring more writing.

2010J7-18-L017
Silvone E. Elestahr

My father-in-law reminded me recently that he paid a lot of money for some old Lord of the Rings books that he promised I could have...if I wrote a novel in two years. It didn't have to be finished in perfect form or anything, Just written; first draft. I have six months left, and the one I wrote for NaNoWriMo has disappeared, though for some reason he says those don't count.
If I don't finish, he is just selling or giving the books away, claiming they won't even stay in the family...yeah right. Either way, I've got to try, right? After much arguing with Ryona about which novel I should write out of all my loose ideas flying around, I've decided I'm going to do two. Not only do I still win in my argument with Ryona, but I'll also really show her father, who thinks I can't do it

Anyway, I'm sure my posting here on FOG will suffer, but I will try to keep up. I have my word count target set at 2,000 words per day, per story. So that is 4,000 words per day of writing. Hopefully I can actually do it.

One of the novels will be about the norjick, though much later than what my NaNoWriMo novel was set at. It is the one I've always wanted to write, yet I could never figure out how to start. I'm just going to have to start writing and see where it goes.

The other one is the Sixteen Years' War for Kalon's Sephiris: The Price of Peace role-play. Writing as fast as I'm going to have to write will make the details and plot suffer considerably, but I'll just think of it as a rough draft with the sole purpose of helping me come up with interesting story elements. I can always discard the whole thing later.

Anyway, wish me luck!

2010A8-24-L018
Silvone E. Elestahr

The Infinity Egg

I've had some inspiration for a short story set in the time frame of one of my novels. The setting is futuristic (approx. ~3000 A.D.), and centered on humanity rather than the norjick. However, the story isn't really about...anything that I have planned for my novels so far. Not really. It is just interaction between two characters in which I hope to reveal the setting of this story.

I'm still working on the setting. I've given it some thought in the past, but I haven't really put a lot of work into it until just recently (today, actually). I am hoping that it won't take too long to finish. The hardest part is going to be filling out character sheets for the two characters. I have such a lack of patience when it comes to that. I am also plugging in information for the setting and history in yWriter5, so that I have it to reference to when I am actually writing the story.

The characters themselves I find extremely interesting, as they are characters I normally wouldn't use in my writing. I am hoping that they aren't overdone...but I'll see when I actually get somewhere with the story. Hopefully, if I ever finish it, I can post it up here on FOG. I'm definitely excited about this one, but then I never really get anywhere with my stories. At least this one I plan on being short...so perhaps I will have the patience to finish it this time.

My two favorite writings of mine so far are Little Rock, which I posted for a contest here on FOG, and my Refugee story that I used to have on here. I am hoping that the quality of this story can compare to those two. Only time will tell.

2010S9-06-L019
Silvone E. Elestahr

I've just begun my next post for Sephiris: The Price of Peace, for Barthon and Co. This post will be long and, hopefully, quite epic. But it is also going to be very difficult to write, and perhaps a true test of my slowly advancing writing abilities. It has been a while since I've written for this plotline, and I do think that my writing skills have progressed significantly since then (and I have FoG to thank for that ).

The post so far is starting out with what I think of as a re-introduction, like a second or third book in a trilogy normally does. The reason for this is twofold:
1. It has been a long time since I've posted in this plotline, as I said above. Some things need to be gone over again both for my sake as the author as well as for the sake of the readers (if I have any).
2. A few major events have recently happened that I glossed over in terms of emotion and pyschological effects on the characters. These impacts need to be addressed. It is sort of a resting point in terms of action, and instead a point for reflection.

I have quite a few ideas for this post, but mostly just in outline form. I haven't written anything yet but the first couple of paragraphs, but in my mind it comes out pretty detailed. Here is a brief outline of what to expect from this post/mini-story.

Part One:
- Barthon and Co. travel into the Blue Mountains in search of Zephiris. There they encounter Z'ang, and Barthon defeats him in combat.
- Barthon and Co. will encounter other Knights of Zephiris, having scaled the mountain in other areas after being turned away by the mighty dragon Z'ang. They will hear of their search, and perhaps become disheartened with their chances here.
- After a few days of searching (total of about 2 weeks in the mountains), Barthon and Co. will descend back to the city of Aram, where Barthon will report to Sir Walter Drake. Barthon will receive reinforcements and be ordered to secure the town of Caluk. I'm not sure if Sir Walter Drake will accompany them yet or not.
- Barthon and Co. will travel east to Caluk, a farming town and large supplier of food for most of Mandor. There they will prepare defenses and battle the shadow beasts to earn the town some respite. Once the King's soldiers arrive, the group will need to plan their next destination.
- Barthon and Co. agree on Sephalia, and intend to journey to Iyel'Del to sail to Telmural. They leave to sail down the River Manora to Iyel'Del.

Part Two:
- A narrative of the city of Iyel'Del starting from night of DAY 6, with the first attack of the shadow beasts. I am currently undecided about whether it will be a descriptive narrative, or a third-person narrative focusing on a particular character there.
- The narrative will end with the arrival of Barthon and Co., and the story will resume at this point from Barthon's POV, as it has since the beginning.
- Barthon and Co. will sail out from Iyel'Del to Telmural in Sephalia.

That is what I have planned so far. While I am looking for someone to pick up a character so that I can have some player interaction, I won't be accepting anyone until I arrive in Telmural. Because of how I have the story set up, and because of the fact that I need to catch up time-wise, I want to do this all in one go, my way. After reaching Telmural, I would like to try and fill out the group with some other players and begin fresh for Chapter 2.

2011J1-29-L020
Silvone E. Elestahr

I have finally made some real progress on my books. This time it is REAL progress. I swear. I have the first part of the first chapter completed, and I know that doesn't sound like much, but it is. Why? Because I LIKE it! I really do. And I figured out the secret for writing for me. Role-plays have always been easier to write for than my own books, and I have finally figured out the reason.

When I write for a role-play, I am creating with every word. Role-plays, for the most part, haven't been created before each and every word has been laid down. My books, on the other hand, are a completed world in my mind (or nearly so). When I write, it feels more like I am explaining what I have already created rather than creating. It gets boring. And I feel like I'm not doing it justice. So, the answer to that dilemma is this: create as I write! If every chapter I introduce something new, or just create something, then hopefully I will feel more satisfied with it. Not to mention it adds more depth to the world, which I really really need. It worked this time, so we'll see in the future.

2011F2-24-L021
Silvone E. Elestahr

There is nothing more exciting than breaking through thought barriers. I have finally figured out some of the central events of my book. Before, I had no idea what the eventual outcome of the characters would be, and so I had little idea of who they are. It makes it hard to write a character when they are an enigma to you.

I had a wonderful idea for a role-play here on FOG, yet little time and concentration to actually make it. I've got plenty on my plate here at the moment. But then, out of the blue, I realized that I could take that wonderful idea and plug it straight into my own books, and thus flesh it out all on my onesies! It has been a while since I have been this excited about my books. So much is slowly falling into place. I now have a sense of who all of the major characters are, and where they will be at just about any point in the story from the beginning to the end (as well as who they will be and what part they will play in the next set of books).

The point of all of this is this: I have put off writing for far too long, using the excuse that I couldn't think, that I wasn't motivated, and that I needed more planning. Well, I have had the time to think, and the time to plan. If I don't write now...I don't have any more excuses. Of course, there is never too much planning, and a lot of areas could use some more brainstorming. But I need to conquer the fear; I need to establish a habit of writing. For me!

I am going to do some writing tonight, and I will post here again tomorrow (7 minutes from today, actually), or one of the next few days with my progress. And there had better be progress!

2011M3-01-L022
Silvone E. Elestahr

I did attempt to make some progress. I really did. And while I did figure out how to break through the barrier of the second part of the first chapter, I didn't have any time to actually carry it out. And I haven't really gotten back to it since. The problem was that I knew what needed to happen, but I couldn't figure out how I wanted to make it happen. It needed to be good, something believable and not...simple and stupid. I keep typing out scenarios and then deleting them, keeping only small parts of it. I realized that is obviously the only path to figure this out. The entire story depends on how things happen here, in this scene. It is too important to just gloss over, and figuring it out properly means I have a better idea of who my character is and who he will be.

I just need to keep typing away, deleting, moving, typing some more, etc. Eventually I will have it narrowed down to a scenario that works, and then I can move on. Most of the parts after it, for the next several chapters really, are not quite as important overall as the first, so I should not have this problem in the future.

As far as the outline for the whole story, I have the first half of the book outlined. There are seven chapters per part, and four parts. Of course, that could all change, but that is how I am dividing it to help me write. I am working on outlining the first few chapters for the third part, but for that I am kind of waiting on Kalon's artwork for my city that I commissioned him for. The fourth part will be the most interesting, but it will be a while before I really get into it.

2011A4-17-L023
Silvone E. Elestahr

I have created the Fogathon! I do not plan on using the story I've been lamely and half-heartedly working on for the past few years. Unfortunately I do not think that is a story I will EVER finish. The problem is that I have created too much backstory and details before any writing. So anything I write has to fit the details, instead of the other way around. I am learning that it doesn't really work very well that way. So, I am moving on to something else for the Fogathon.

My story for the Fogathon is a twist on the song No Bravery, by James Blunt.



The song was written as an account of what the singer saw in the eyes of soldiers returning from combat. My story will not be contemporary, or even based in our world, yet I will try to make the story as true to these lyrics as possible. It is a story of death, destruction, hopelessness, and above all, fear. A world has risen from the ashes over a thousand years, rebuilt after the Coming: an event described in the fragments of history as the arrival of some dark monster that ravages the lands nearly to utter destruction. It seems that this being, whatever it is, leaves only enough behind to ensure survival to some point, and then it leaves. For a thousand years the people of the lands have built their kingdoms, their cities, and their armies in preparation for the next Coming. However, the strain of the Coming has caused many leaders to snap, many beliefs to become corrupted, and even the brave and courages to twist their actions in the name of the greater good. Kingdoms have fallen to the shadow, hoping that by ushering the Coming they will be spared, by embracing the destruction they will be shown mercy...or even rewarded. The world is on the brink of destruction. The Coming could follow the next sunrise, or the one after. It is only a question of whether it will survive that long.

Basically, the story will focus on what a world will do to itself in the fear of impending doom. I may or may not even get to the Coming; that depends on how things play out. But the focus will be on people: what they do to save themselves, even at the expense of others.

Anyway, that is my story. I have so many ideas for it, but I am forcing myself not to make the same mistakes I have in the past. I have outlined the first main character, and some of what will take place in the first chapter. But that much is necessary for getting a 500 word/day requirement. But the rest...it will come as I write. I have ideas in my head, of course. But they will stay there until it is time to put them on paper, in the story itself. I will try to keep up with my progress here.

2011M5-01-L024
Silvone E. Elestahr

The first 550 words for my novel, and for Fogathon, have been completed! I am rather happy with it as well. Of course, it is only 550 words... but it is a great start as far as I am concerned. Since the point of this blog was to relate how I write and all that jazz, here is how the beginnings of my future novel came about.

After realizing that I had been spending far too much time and effort planning and creating, rather than simply writing, my norjick books, I decided that this time around I would do very minimal creating. Instead, I would just outline the basics that I would need for whatever I needed to write next. Of course, there is some degree of world-building required. I need to know the world, the plot, at least some of the characters, etc. But that is all.
I started by doing a character sheet for the main character, Alys. I then did a page-long description of the city she lives in, with some minor setting and mood descriptions. A few days later I wrote a very brief outline of the first three chapters or so, just where I intend the story to go in that much time. It may deviate from that, of course, since I am literally writing off of the top of my head. A few days after that outline, I wrote a very rough outline of what the first 500 words or so would contain. Basically just a description of what was going to be happening, what would be running through the character(s) head, and what the setting would look like. I was pretty happy with it once I finished, and I must say that it helped tremendously when writing.

I only had a few pages of notes and outlines (6 to be exact, and all hand-written) and I managed to get a good start in record timing for me. I've never used an outline for creative writing, but I must say that it really helped. I have a beginning that I am happy with, and that is certainly a first. I normally write the beginning fifty different times before I just give up and move on. If you find yourself with that problem, you might want to consider outlines as well

My next step is to make a few more details, create a few names for some characters, and then outline the next 500 words or so. If I do this daily, I shouldn't run into any problems.

2011M5-11-L025
Silvone E. Elestahr

Ten days have come and gone in my Fogathon. I have fallen behind, caught up, and fallen behind again. Overall, however, I am not doing too bad. What I have so far, nearly 5,000 words, I really like. And that never happens. Ever! It really is in rough draft form, with a lot of important details glossed over or ignored completely, like the descriptions of certain characters and other background information. But I would like to save that for the editing month and just keep writing. By the end of today, I will have finished Chapter 1 of my novel. That will be a record for me, with the exception of NaNoWriMo two or three years ago. But I like this book better anyway


I have discovered something about my stories recently. This one, that I am writing for the Fogathon, Littlerock, and various other stories that I really like, have all been inspired by music. That is kind of strange for someone who claims not to have a passion for music. But every time I sit in the car to make my thirty minute drive to work, I can not listen to a song without thinking of story ideas, and usually my best ideas come from that. My Fogathon story was derived from a song, and already other songs have hatched plot ideas to be used within it. I must take full advantage of this new writing technique!

In other news, it seems that all of the role-play's I am in have died...

2011M5-28-L026
Silvone E. Elestahr

I was going to wait until I finished the May Challenge, but I kind of want to get my thoughts out now. My story for the Fogathon (my first actual novel, I hope) has gone quite a bit better than I hoped, but not quite as good as it should have. I have fallen behind quite a bit in word count. I should have been writing 500 words per day, but I fell behind several days. There was a lot going on... and I just lost interest. But I am not so far behind that I cannot catch up. I wrote about 1800 words today.

I also outlined the part (on paper) that I was having some trouble with for the end of this chapter. I couldn't figure out how to get the characters where I wanted them and still stay true to the feel of the story. I knew that just thinking about it wasn't really going to get me anywhere so I waited until I needed to write it. Well, today was the day, and I did not disappoint! So I am excited to write the next bit, and I think I will start it tonight. There's only a few days left until the end of the May Challenge, and I still have a few thousand words to go. Each chapter has a 5,000 word minimum for full points, and my first two chapters are over 5,000 words. So...if I want full points my total word count has to be over 15,000 words... That will certainly make my task more difficult, but not impossible.

I must say that my method of outlining on paper what my next section of the story will be has worked rather well. I always thought that just writing off of the top of my head worked rather well. But nothing beats writing off of the top of my head twice over. I get some great ideas down on paper, and then I flesh those ideas out with better ideas as I type it out. It has helped me out significantly.

The June Challenge I think will be just as difficult as the May Challenge, if not more. Editing is a hard part of writing that I have often ignored. It takes a lot of dedication and patience to look over your writing and notice things that you would normally pass over without...noticing. And to change what you have written... One of my English teachers in high school always said to never fall in love with your writing. No matter what you write, you should be prepared to toss it in the trash. That is hard advice to take, let me tell you. I am not sure that I can. But I have lots of ideas of where significant changes are needed, additions and subtractions, etc. I am excited... but I am also worried. We'll see how it goes.

2011J7-25-L027
Silvone E. Elestahr

I completely failed the June Challenge of the Fogathon, and after failing the July Challenge as well, I think the whole project is a bust. Not the story itself, just the time table of finishing in a year. Oh well. I am still writing, just off and on. As in... maybe twice a month.

In other news, Kalon Ordona II finished my commission, a city of my Norjick story. I am not sure if I will ever actually do anything with that story, but if not I may recycle the city (and its artwork) into my current story or a different one entirely. I suppose only time will tell.

Here is the artwork, courtesy of Kalon Ordona II!

2011A8-15-L028
Silvone E. Elestahr

I finally completed a scene that was giving me a bit of trouble concerning a dream. I knew what I wanted, I just did not know how to write it. I managed to hammer it out yesterday after I got off work early and came out to a house full of people... Weird, but it worked.

My next challenge is creating a large number of characters. The main character will cross paths with a group 47 in number. Several of these characters I plan on being rather prominent in the story. The problem is that I have only a vague idea at the moment of what I want. And I am really not very good at creating characters. Even the main characters that I have been working with so far need quite a bit of work to them.

The first step is work on the one or two characters I have an idea for. Once they are fleshed out, I can brainstorm some other ideas. Maybe I will make a few random characters with no real purpose and see where I can take them (or where they take me). Ryona has also offered to help me out, which will probably be quite useful in terms of adding randomness to the characters. She knows less of what I want than I do, obviously, so she won't be swayed as much as I would. At worst, I am sure I can take one or two great characters out of it.

This is the beginning of where my story will get complicated, so hopefully I don't lose myself. I am about to have a rather large group to manage, and this group will eventually split apart and I will be trying to give each bit their due.

As a side note, I found a notebook while moving in which I wrote down the dialogue for the movie The Village. I had intended to write out a story to it, staying as true to the movie as possible, but I was eventually discouraged by my lack of abilities. I think I might try and pick that up again.

2011A8-25-L029
Silvone E. Elestahr

I have updated the top post to include the progress on my novel, Project Alys (just a work-in-progress title, not the name of the novel). I will keep it updated with my progress and link each section with its relevant blog, should I actually post one for it.

As for progress... my challenge was to make a few main characters from a group of over forty refugees. I did create some general outlines, but nothing very deep. I started writing the scene in hopes of it giving me clues about the characters themselves, but just getting the main characters to that group took far longer than I expected it to.

My goal is to rewrite this scene as many times as it takes to get a good grasp of the characters that Alys and Heizym are going to meet. As of now, they have just crossed paths. I need to provide introductions as well as physical descriptions of the most prominent few. Perhaps that will provide me with a few details I did not have before. Then I will rewrite the scene, possibly from the very beginning since there is some shaky dialogue there... Hopefully each time I rewrite it I can improve it and perhaps glean new information concerning the characters I am trying to create: their purposes, their names, their attitudes and personalities, and how they will help or hinder Alys. I am pretty excited for it because, as I said in the previous post, this is where the story will begin to get more complex. But I also realize that it will not be easy, and I will have to really test my will power to get through it.

Anyway, take a look at the top post and feel free to let me know what you think! I may include samples of the story, should anyone ask, but they are all in very-rough-draft form, so may not be worth reading.