Because they can be insightful, because I have nothing better to do that’s a lie, I should be developing the world of Changeling more, or writing more Abomination, or editing Purity, or starting on the rewrite of Of the Arbour, or–
And hey, maybe it’ll give everyone else more of an idea of just why I do what I do, and where this all comes from.
I’ve been writing stories for most of my life. I cleaned out my closet recently and discovered so many little half-baked stories that I’d come up with when I was younger than ten. I’ve known I’ve wanted to be an author since I was 13, but only recently have taken the major steps toward that goal, and actually written something worth publication.
2. When you were a beginning writer, what did your write primarily? What do you write now, primarily? (i.e. romance, fan-fiction, poetry)
I wrote plenty of Star Wars fanfiction that will never see the light of day. From there, I began to write sci fi stories that were based closely on Star Wars. In grade seven, a friend and I wrote a novel about vampires called Tears of Blood, which was completely scrapped save for one character: Fane, the son of Dracula, who now resides in Purity. I now usually write fantasy, high and epic. Continue reading →
The Elder Scrolls Online is hosting a limerick contest, but alas, only US and EU citizens can enter. Why the hate for Canadians? I don’t know. I only discovered this after my coworker and I spent a good long time thinking up a half-decent limerick. In other news, limericks are really hard to write.
Blackness rent through with torture. Her home, that sweet little hamlet, engulfed in toxic black smoke as hungry fire licks angry burns onto the flesh of her family. Monstrous daedroths hunting the children, devouring them: the blood coursing from their snarling jaws as the skulls crack and their screams are silenced forever.
I am kind to those who obey My Word. They are the ones who will last longer in their mortal realm, at least until they have exhausted their usefulness. I will not tolerate anything less. As the Harvester of Souls, it is My duty to ensure mortals under My sway have done all they can to the world before leaving it for Coldharbour. Their souls are Mine forever.
She was the ultimate tool, My right hand and weapon to wreak havoc across Nirn. But she faltered, as humans are cursed to, and her soul was consumed by My fury. I punished My own daughter for her insolence—why would I not punish My fair, sweet tool?
She could have fled, had I not intervened. Rather than release her from her earthly torment in the sweet black peace of death, I manipulated the soul of an Imperial Legionnaire to find her and convict her of dozens of unsolved murders. She spent five years locked away in the cold, fetid walls of the Imperial Prison, and every night I sent her the dreams. My realm is not of nightmare—I would dare not take darling Vaermina’s duties from her. But the girl was Mine, one of My flock to do with as I pleased. For five years she watched her family and neighbours writhe in their own pools of blood and filth, unable to help as My minions devoured her soul, piece by piece.
She is Mine now, fully and truly. And if she betrays Me again, I may not be so gentle as I was before.
To anyone who has never heard Malukah sing the Skyrim bard song “The Dragonborn Comes”, and add the Dragonborn theme, including the bilingual bits, I pity you. To those who have, is she not glorious? I get hardcore goosebumps whenever I listen to her music.
Everyone who has ever played a Bethesda game knows this: they are so vast, they are bound to have glitches. It is such an expansive game, including everything an RPG gamer would want and some. However, as with any game of such magnitude, there are going to be bugs. And for Bethesda games, these are sometimes severe, but the game itself is so enjoyable that one can overlook all but the worst, and brush them off with a chuckle.
An example: While I was playing Fallout 3, a red dot appeared on my compass. I was in an area majorly populated by death claws, so I figured since there was only one I could take it. I start heading toward it, and almost as soon as I come within sight, it turns toward me, then launches high-speed into the sky. Red dot vanishes, and so does my prey.
This is one of those minor Bethesda glitches that is more hysterical than anything else.
Today, I experienced one of these in Skyrim for the first time not including giants knocking you 400 feet into the air, which is apparently meant to be.
So I’m at the Sleeping Tree giant camp for a bounty to kill a giant. As I’m going, followed by my wife/companion Mjoll the Lionness, looking boss in the Ebony Mail, I hear roaring and see a dragon circling in the distance. I shrug, paying it no mind, and figure it means us no harm.
I reach the camp and start attacking the giants and naturally the mammoths want in on this hot action. Then a blast of fire explodes nearby, and lo and behold, one of Alduin’s named dragons – Vuljotnaak – the aforementioned fellow peaceably circling us, decided to attack. The giants and one of the mammoths are busy with me and Mjoll, but one of the mammoths is hellbent on fighting this dragon alone.
After the others are dispatched, and Mjoll is hunkered down in the corner to recover, I sit back with my popcorn and 3D specs, and watch the show unfold.
The two stand toe-to-toe. The mammoth does a lot of head-swinging and stamping, but the dragon lands quite often and breathes fire all over him. On a side note, fiery mammoths are funny to watch. Then, it happens.
The dragon swoops in for a glorious airborne attack. It appears to overshoot, and it would have been a glorious airborne attack except for one thing: dragons and mammoths are of a like size.
The dragon noses the mammoth, and sends it flying several dozen metres away, right beside me. I have my bow ready, but the mammoth has eyes only for the dragon, and not in a neat interspecies sexual way.
The dragons comes around, does the same attack, and suddenly –
Vuljotnaak flies away, with a burning mammoth on his back.
Here I am, laughing hysterically, with Mjoll shouting insults at my side and looking incredibly ferocious in black smoky Ebony Mail, while the dragon flies around with a mammoth on its back.
Then it banks, and the mammoth flies off without warning, soars with incredible speed a good few hundred metres, and lands near me. Again, it is only concerned about the dragon.
And is miraculously unharmed from this adventure.
Vuljotnaak lands again, finally burns the mammoth to a fantastic hairy crisp. Movie-watching time is over, so I send a few arrows his way and go loot the remains.
Best thing I’ve ever seen.
Exhibit A: Mammoth hitching a ride with VuljotnaakExhibit B: Vuljotnaak preparing to bankExhibit C: Vuljotnaak has had enough
By some twisted chance of fate, I got the same award twice. I’d like to thank the Academy, Cassidy Cornblatt, and the Nine Divine for blessing me with this award a second time. And my mother, of course, because what kid would I be if I didn’t thank the one who birthed me, and the idle sludge that leaks from my brain so randomly that twice I could be given the honour of getting an award about being a versatile blogger. And Sage, Stride, Briar, Siras, Kymbry, Maia; Aisling, Alistair, Lacramioara, Zdenek, Morwenna, Leto, Sophia… I could go on, but the music is playing.
Since I don’t actually follow many blogs, least of all any that are all so versatile, I’m going to skip the part where I continue the award, because I’m a dick and please don’t send the blogosphere gestapo after me for this, and if you want the award, let me know and I’ll see if you have the reach and flexibility needed for this holy prize.
10 points to whoever gets that joke.
Okay. Seven things I haven’t splurged at some point in the past.
This is hard.
Sage, the main character in Of the Arbour et al, is basically me, plus a penis and facial hair and being blonde and blue-eyed. We share many of the same traits: agnosticism, insomnia, social anxiety, stubbornness, and a false bravado. Is this a valid fact? It is now.
I realized just now that many of my male protagonists are blonde and blue-eyed. I think I’m biased against my own hair/eye colour.
I write fanfiction, mainly for Bethesda games, and I’ve got very good feedback on it. I haven’t in a while, due to being retardedly busy, but there you go.
Getting a reply on a tweet from my idol, Diana Gabaldon, probably was the highlight of my life. How sad is that?
I don’t do drugs. The most intense drug I’ve ever done is Ativan for a previous anxiety disorder – but even then I was irresponsible and took so many I started hallucinating.
In combination with that, I don’t really drink. I’m such a lightweight, two strongish, mixed drinks will have me on my face.
I get monstrous fictional-character crushes, which I’ve learned isn’t that weird, thank the Nine. Dimitri from Anastasia will always be my number one.
These are such terrible facts, haha. I’m so bad at picking out good personal facts. Not like I’m going to give away all my secrets see how mysterious I am?, but these are just… well, they’re about as good as my last time winning this award.
In other news, everyone should read The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung. It was banned in China, because it presents a realistic near-future dystopian nation. Very good. Thoughtful and whatnot.
And the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin, which are awesome and you will fall in love with Nahadoth.
What child/teenager/person in their right mind doesn’t like KD macaroni and cheese? It’s the staple food for college kids everywhere, and children who aren’t allowed McDonald’s. It’s pretty good stuff, albeit full of shitty unhealthy things that’ll kill you without a second thought.
Also, bacon is pretty good. Bacon’s good with anything and everything. I once made a peanut brittle only with almonds instead of peanuts, and bacon made a special appearance. Delicious. Bacon is perfect, heaven on Earth – and in the immortal words of my friend Bethany, “Bacon is just more proof that there is a god.”
So why not combine the two?
Well, Bethany and I often put bacon into whatever we’re cooking, which is usually macaroni. Scrumptious. We also once put bacon in grilled cheese, based on a dream she had. Today, I made macaroni, and I put meatloaf in it. There’s something magical about combining macaroni and cheese with some kind of delicious meat product.
In our neighbouring city, Kelowna, there’s a restaurant called the Twisted Tomato, and they sell gourmet macaroni. Honestly, what gets better? There’s a hamburger macaroni, with ground beef, onions, huge chunks of bacon, and tomatoes; there’s a lobster macaroni, with bits of lobster and peas; there’s a chicken pot pie macaroni, which is pretty self explanatory; there’s a spicy macaroni, with half a jalapeno delicately placed on top; and the good news is, they’ll put bacon in everything. Even into their grilled cheese, which may have been what prompted the dream.
Man. I love macaroni. It’s one of the two pastas I can stomach.
If you’ve never amped up your Kraft Dinner, make it with bacon, or meatloaf. I promise you won’t be disappointed. We can’t eat plain KD anymore. It’s just too… regular.
Anyways, so there are my thoughts on macaroni. Moving on. I wrote more recently, but sadly it was not for NaNo. Playing Elder Scrolls games gives me way too much inspiration for my own good, and I constantly want to make new characters because I love building personalities around them. The first character I made on Skyrim was based off my Oblivion super mage, Lily. Redheaded Breton of destruction and restoration, level 43, Archmage of the Mages Guild, Grandmaster of the Fighters Guild, Gray Fox, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, Champion of Cyrodiil. But because you can’t specialize what hair colour you want in Skyrim, the red of her hair is faded, and I don’t feel quite like she’s Lily anymore. Still a badass, but she’s just not the same. Lily will always be an Oblivion character.
However, I once had an idea for a rather psychotic Nord. I made her character in Oblivion, but it wasn’t cutting it. So I tried again in Skyrim, and she’s perfect.
The character herself I built up a while ago, and added to while making her and playing as her. Heavy armour, two-handed weapons, skilled smith, avid follower of the Stormcloaks except in that she doesn’t want to reinstate Talos as one of the Divine Aedra (because she totally worships Molag Bal. King of Rape ftw?). Ahh, excellent. I have so many ideas brewing around, especially for Of the Arbour and Changeling due to just exploring the countryside and generally being amazed by the time and effort the landscape team put into the little details of everything. Impressive, as always, Bethesda.
I’m stoked to get these new ideas into my stories. Of the Arena is at such a crucial point right now, due to the bad guy nearly winning and the good guy finally manning up and doing what he’s said he’s going to do for the past ten years. One more final, epic battle, and then the conclusion will tie everything together – and leave open a cliffhanger that will bring about the start of the next one in the series, working title Of the Kingdoms. That one is going to be full of bloodshed – due to it taking place during a very intense war.
Hm. I wish I could play Skyrim and write at the same time. The one fault of PC gaming, gah!
Okay, idle rant done. This should be my only random fangirlish brain sludge for a while yet. And here! Have a screenshot of Skyrim to make your day.
Weird, I’ve only actually been a blogger for two weeks!
The fantastic Elisa Michelle (http://elisamichelle.wordpress.com) awarded me with this, naming me a versatile blogger. I reckon it’s true – I don’t really stick to one thing often.
According to Elisa, these are the rules:
Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them
Tell your readers 7 things about yourself.
Give this award to 15 recently discovered bloggers
Contact those bloggers and let them in on the news
I’m just a baby – a two weeks old blogger. I don’t know anyone else D: Oh, wait! My brothuh-from-anuthah-mothah, Bethany (http://beedawgg.wordpress.com/). She’s new. And I guess she’s versatile. Yay!
So. Seven things about myself, eh?
Joy.
If my life goes to plan, I’ll make a career out of my writing. I know it’s totally unrealistic, but that would be so glorious. Otherwise, I’ll go to school to become a) A journalist, b) A history teacher, or c) A video game writer, and end up working for Bethesda or Bioware :3 (these aren’t in any particular order). This is just proof of my nerdiness.
Like stated in my writer bio, I adore Star Wars. How much do I adore Star Wars? I have a Star Wars tattoo. It’s the Alliance Starbird, aka the symbol of the rebels in the original series. I have a lightsaber – a replica of Anakin Skywalker’s that lights up, flickers, glows, hums, and makes noise when you strike things. I have multiple t-shirts, posters, video games, books. I have all the movies in DVD, four in VHS. I used to have a subscription to the magazine, and I was part of the fan club. I know a lot of random facts about the past, present, and future EU. I know what the EU is (that should be fact enough; the first time I said EU to a dude, he pretty much shit his pants. “A girl knows what the EU is?!”) I dressed up as a Sith apprentice when Revenge of the Sith came to theatres. That’s how much I love Star Wars. Suck it.
I live in the only true desert in Canada, excluding the Arctic tundra.
I’ve been to Europe. France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. Switzerland looks like Canada – my part of Canada, at least, since over 50 Switzerlands could probably fit in my grand country.
When I go to Scotland one day, I’m going to Craigh na Dun outside Inverness, and I’m going to step through the stones.
One of my lifetime goals is to live in a Hobbit hole. This, obviously, is after I’m rich of my book sales and a movie contract.
My favourite animals are bears and foxes. To be specific, brown bears and red foxes. One day, in my Hobbit hole (which will be in the Scottish Highlands, by the way), I’ll have a pet brown bear named Sunday, and a red fox named Riley. And we will all love each other.
Thanks, Elisa! Who am I to deny an internet award? :3
JP Marshman 