Another update, writing based.
So, yet again I find myself at the end of another long night without any sleep. The trend maybe started off as seemingly innocuous (Ha), but now I think it's veering towards the mild insomnia I always used to say I had. Funnily enough, that could be blamed on my hyperness of a child and really really low attention span. Lately, I guess it can be blamed on my stories always ganging up on me when I choose the time for me to get some sleep, and not letting me get any until I've properly scored the new ideas I get. Yet tonight, is a different reason, tonight I just spent the whole night reading a book. It was that good.
For those of you who have read my previous entries, you'd find the name Brandon Sanderson to be familiar to you, and for those of you who do not know he is an author of a couple of published books, a speaker on the Podcast of Writing Excuses, and he is going to be the author who finishes the epic Wheel of Time series. Now, while I've already known that he is a good author from the first Mistborn book I read from him, it wasn't until reading the sequel that I realized just how good of one he was.
It's almost funny, actually, because when I listen to him talk on Writing Excuses I see him as a stricter guy (mainly because he's in charge of the podcasts themselves, and often has to steer in which direction they're going to keep them around fifteen minutes long) I also see him as a guy who can just sit around and have fun with a bunch of friends. In a way, he almost reminds me of myself, just an older and a little more mature than I am currently. Yet, when I read his work I'm surprised at how well he can be, at how well his stories come together and leave the ready very pleased with themselves. I know my wait for the book wasn't a waste of time, that's for sure. And it definitely was a moral booster.
Over the years, I believe that being an inspiring writer, and not knowing any published other personally has made me almost idolize the authors I do know of and hear from often. They, in a way, almost seemed to be inhuman through the books I read of theirs. Deities who just weren't getting th recognition they fully deserved. Yet seeing one speak so casually, just like I would myself, seems to have brought this forward to me. They're just normal guys and girls who love what they do, and who aren't afraid of taking the commitments to see that their dreams come true.
Arrogance is what Brandon Sanderson called it, and others call it self-confidence, but I agree with him that in this case they're both the same. And I do believe that is something that I've never really had about myself when trying to jump into the world of being an author. Sure, I had some confidence in my ability to write and in my ability to love writing in the first place, but I think being an author and knowing how to write are two different things. You can write a book, even get it published, but you wouldn't be an author. I still don't know what being an author really means, if it's a physical thing or something that transpires mentally, but I do know there's a different between a writer and an author.
I, would like to believe myself to be an author, I would like to believe that I have it in me to take the steps needed to become one no matter what may fall my way. And though I'm not fully certain yet, I know that I'm going to give it my all, because there's nothing else for me to do in life. Usually, this is where I'd pull out a plan B, for when my original plan didn't work out in life, but I find that making a plan B just makes it easier for you to quit when the going gets tough. That's why, being an author, is the only plan I have in life. And if I fail at it, I hope that I make a dent in the literary world somehow.
As for my work, I am currently still working on that new epic-fantasy series I mentioned in my last post. And reading the second book in the Mistborn series has definitely made me think about it, and the possible stories and ideas I can introduce with it.
Now, I've always believed that the best thing fantasy books offered people was the level of escapism that came with their books. Generally not through the plots or stories but their rich and often deep magic systems that allow readers to lose themselves in imagining what it would be like to have those kinds of powers. And, I don't want this book to be any different from that trend. I want the magic in this fantasy series to pull people in, and make them think about it, and expound to it and its rules all on their own. Yet, I feel I may also want to make the magic system a little too morbid to have people all that fascinated in it. For you see, the two main ones revolve around parasitic worms and cannibalism. Very exciting, isn't it?
Yet, I don't worry too much about that, because I do hope that my narrative can turn what can be a mildly disturbing magic system into one that will catch the imagination its readers. For now, I am just stuck in the prewriting phase, where I'm still trying to figure out how to introduce readers to these ideas in fun, and exciting ways. After all, I'm writing fantasy here, not horror.
I am also working on trying to figure out which other story I'm going to be editing/writing on while I'm drafting my new one. There are a few of them I can choose from, and I do have trouble picking from the lot of them, so I figured I'd let some of my faithful readers (hopefully) decide which story they would like to hear from more often. I know that I don't talk about a lot of them, so I'll give some quick, spoiler free summaries of them.
Mercy: A horror/action story taking place in modern times. Paul, a bad-ass cop, and his sarcastic partner, find themselves and a gun-ho father trapped in one of the worst places to be: an old abandoned Mental Hospital named Mercy. Not only will Paul be faced with unbelievable horrors, but he will have to come to terms with an incident that was the catalyst for the chain reaction that started to ruin his life in order to survive this extraordinarily frightening experience.
The Birth of a Dream: An epic-fantasy series that takes place in a world where humans no longer exist and the only remnants left of them are creatures forged in their image, during a time of great power and arrogance. Filled with turmoil and war, the world and every living being inhabiting it finds itself pulled into a greater scheme as a darkness threatens to devour it. Leaving two unlikely friends (Kaijin and Kiraa), who want nothing more in than than to live their lives, to find a way to bring peace to the world and vanquish a evil that they never knew to exist.
Second Earth: A epic, adventurous fantasy story that takes place in modern times. Young Jimmy Smith, a teenager in high school still experiencing the awkwardness of growing up and being picked on in school, finds himself caught between a bitter divorce with his parents. Yet, when he thinks his world couldn't get anymore distorted, life drops a ground breaking revolution onto his lap: his cat can talk! And not only that, it shows him a world unlike any he's seen, hidden right under his and everyone else's noses! And not only that, but this world like his own world, are in serious danger! And he, is one of the few people who can save it. That is, if he can convince himself that it's worth saving at all.
The Kidone Legacy: An Epic fantasy trilogy that takes place in a world dominated with magic and mystery. Arat'e Kidone, a mage looked down upon by his own friends and country-folk, steps forwards to prove his worth by saving his city while it was under attack by an unknown enemy. At a price. By binding himself at an ancient, and forbidden magic, he sets out on an adventure to find out more about this being living inside of him and to find out the true meaning behind the attacks on his city. And possibly, even the world.
The Journey of a Knight: A two-part medieval story that takes place in a fictional history, with you guessed it, knights! A young Levarian, son to an ashamed nobleman, becomes determined to be a knight and bring honor back to his family name. But he finds that becoming a knight is more of a challenge than he thought, and that perhaps even being a knight was harder than it sounded.
Life for a Wilted Rose: A novella, part of a series of novellas, chronicling the life of various people and how their lives are changed when they make a deal with the devil. In this story, James, a well-intentioned male fresh out of college who is tired of not being able to help the sick and the suffering of the world makes a deal with a shady male that he would take their ailments onto himself in order to help them. At first it's a dream come true, but he may have just bitten off more than he can chew.
Well, I think I've managed to ramble on enough by now, it's already up to three pages of text. So I'll leave this post off with my usual quote, and prayer that someone will leave a comment about which story they would like more updates on! That is, if anyone managed to read this.
Lennie: You said I was your cousin!
George: That was a lie. If I was a relative of yours, I'd shoot myself.
(Dialogue taken from the movie Of Mice and Men)
For those of you who have read my previous entries, you'd find the name Brandon Sanderson to be familiar to you, and for those of you who do not know he is an author of a couple of published books, a speaker on the Podcast of Writing Excuses, and he is going to be the author who finishes the epic Wheel of Time series. Now, while I've already known that he is a good author from the first Mistborn book I read from him, it wasn't until reading the sequel that I realized just how good of one he was.
It's almost funny, actually, because when I listen to him talk on Writing Excuses I see him as a stricter guy (mainly because he's in charge of the podcasts themselves, and often has to steer in which direction they're going to keep them around fifteen minutes long) I also see him as a guy who can just sit around and have fun with a bunch of friends. In a way, he almost reminds me of myself, just an older and a little more mature than I am currently. Yet, when I read his work I'm surprised at how well he can be, at how well his stories come together and leave the ready very pleased with themselves. I know my wait for the book wasn't a waste of time, that's for sure. And it definitely was a moral booster.
Over the years, I believe that being an inspiring writer, and not knowing any published other personally has made me almost idolize the authors I do know of and hear from often. They, in a way, almost seemed to be inhuman through the books I read of theirs. Deities who just weren't getting th recognition they fully deserved. Yet seeing one speak so casually, just like I would myself, seems to have brought this forward to me. They're just normal guys and girls who love what they do, and who aren't afraid of taking the commitments to see that their dreams come true.
Arrogance is what Brandon Sanderson called it, and others call it self-confidence, but I agree with him that in this case they're both the same. And I do believe that is something that I've never really had about myself when trying to jump into the world of being an author. Sure, I had some confidence in my ability to write and in my ability to love writing in the first place, but I think being an author and knowing how to write are two different things. You can write a book, even get it published, but you wouldn't be an author. I still don't know what being an author really means, if it's a physical thing or something that transpires mentally, but I do know there's a different between a writer and an author.
I, would like to believe myself to be an author, I would like to believe that I have it in me to take the steps needed to become one no matter what may fall my way. And though I'm not fully certain yet, I know that I'm going to give it my all, because there's nothing else for me to do in life. Usually, this is where I'd pull out a plan B, for when my original plan didn't work out in life, but I find that making a plan B just makes it easier for you to quit when the going gets tough. That's why, being an author, is the only plan I have in life. And if I fail at it, I hope that I make a dent in the literary world somehow.
As for my work, I am currently still working on that new epic-fantasy series I mentioned in my last post. And reading the second book in the Mistborn series has definitely made me think about it, and the possible stories and ideas I can introduce with it.
Now, I've always believed that the best thing fantasy books offered people was the level of escapism that came with their books. Generally not through the plots or stories but their rich and often deep magic systems that allow readers to lose themselves in imagining what it would be like to have those kinds of powers. And, I don't want this book to be any different from that trend. I want the magic in this fantasy series to pull people in, and make them think about it, and expound to it and its rules all on their own. Yet, I feel I may also want to make the magic system a little too morbid to have people all that fascinated in it. For you see, the two main ones revolve around parasitic worms and cannibalism. Very exciting, isn't it?
Yet, I don't worry too much about that, because I do hope that my narrative can turn what can be a mildly disturbing magic system into one that will catch the imagination its readers. For now, I am just stuck in the prewriting phase, where I'm still trying to figure out how to introduce readers to these ideas in fun, and exciting ways. After all, I'm writing fantasy here, not horror.
I am also working on trying to figure out which other story I'm going to be editing/writing on while I'm drafting my new one. There are a few of them I can choose from, and I do have trouble picking from the lot of them, so I figured I'd let some of my faithful readers (hopefully) decide which story they would like to hear from more often. I know that I don't talk about a lot of them, so I'll give some quick, spoiler free summaries of them.
Mercy: A horror/action story taking place in modern times. Paul, a bad-ass cop, and his sarcastic partner, find themselves and a gun-ho father trapped in one of the worst places to be: an old abandoned Mental Hospital named Mercy. Not only will Paul be faced with unbelievable horrors, but he will have to come to terms with an incident that was the catalyst for the chain reaction that started to ruin his life in order to survive this extraordinarily frightening experience.
The Birth of a Dream: An epic-fantasy series that takes place in a world where humans no longer exist and the only remnants left of them are creatures forged in their image, during a time of great power and arrogance. Filled with turmoil and war, the world and every living being inhabiting it finds itself pulled into a greater scheme as a darkness threatens to devour it. Leaving two unlikely friends (Kaijin and Kiraa), who want nothing more in than than to live their lives, to find a way to bring peace to the world and vanquish a evil that they never knew to exist.
Second Earth: A epic, adventurous fantasy story that takes place in modern times. Young Jimmy Smith, a teenager in high school still experiencing the awkwardness of growing up and being picked on in school, finds himself caught between a bitter divorce with his parents. Yet, when he thinks his world couldn't get anymore distorted, life drops a ground breaking revolution onto his lap: his cat can talk! And not only that, it shows him a world unlike any he's seen, hidden right under his and everyone else's noses! And not only that, but this world like his own world, are in serious danger! And he, is one of the few people who can save it. That is, if he can convince himself that it's worth saving at all.
The Kidone Legacy: An Epic fantasy trilogy that takes place in a world dominated with magic and mystery. Arat'e Kidone, a mage looked down upon by his own friends and country-folk, steps forwards to prove his worth by saving his city while it was under attack by an unknown enemy. At a price. By binding himself at an ancient, and forbidden magic, he sets out on an adventure to find out more about this being living inside of him and to find out the true meaning behind the attacks on his city. And possibly, even the world.
The Journey of a Knight: A two-part medieval story that takes place in a fictional history, with you guessed it, knights! A young Levarian, son to an ashamed nobleman, becomes determined to be a knight and bring honor back to his family name. But he finds that becoming a knight is more of a challenge than he thought, and that perhaps even being a knight was harder than it sounded.
Life for a Wilted Rose: A novella, part of a series of novellas, chronicling the life of various people and how their lives are changed when they make a deal with the devil. In this story, James, a well-intentioned male fresh out of college who is tired of not being able to help the sick and the suffering of the world makes a deal with a shady male that he would take their ailments onto himself in order to help them. At first it's a dream come true, but he may have just bitten off more than he can chew.
Well, I think I've managed to ramble on enough by now, it's already up to three pages of text. So I'll leave this post off with my usual quote, and prayer that someone will leave a comment about which story they would like more updates on! That is, if anyone managed to read this.
Lennie: You said I was your cousin!
George: That was a lie. If I was a relative of yours, I'd shoot myself.
(Dialogue taken from the movie Of Mice and Men)