Not to keep tooting my own horn though I love it, but here’s yet another post about PURITY. I’m sure everyone wants me to shut up at this point, but hush, I have words.
PURITY is now (finally) for sale at Smashwords, though we’re still waiting shipment to their premium catalogue, so it isn’t ready for Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc, just yet. Now that I know what I’m doing when it comes to Smashwords formatting (which is a lot more difficult than formatting for Amazone, let me tell you), it won’t take nearly so long to get the next book I publish out into the vast world of the interwebz.
I’ll keep you all informed as to when the premium catalogue gets accepted and shipped and actually in the webstores.
DISCLAIMER: The formatting for Smashwords forced me to change some of the accented words that gave PURITY some of its Old World flair. I use a few foreign words and phrases, because the majority of the story takes place in Romania. These foreign accents didn’t translate well into the Smashwords format, and I was forced to change them. For example: Ţepeş became Tepes, strigoi morţi became strigoi morti, Braşov became Brasov. It takes the charm out of it for me. That all being said, if you want to keep that aforementioned Old World flair, purchase the AMAZON copy. If you don’t give a single fuck, by all means, go ahead to SMASHWORDS.
I’ll have a real post soon enough, I promise. A hairventure, too, most likely!
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.
I have this thing we shall call writer’s block, and it is crippling me. For the past few weeks, I’ve been entirely incapable of writing anything – Changeling, which usually has a plethora of ideas bubbling about, has become stagnant; Of the Kingdoms, while at an interesting yet early part that kickstarts the plot, is doing little to keep me going. I’m writing little bits here and there, but nothing of any substance.
As for the Purity rewrite, I’m around 50 000 words in, and the main plots are all underway, but due to a technical issue, I have almost zero desire to write any more. More on that shortly.
I think part of this can be blamed on the summer sale on Steam. Thanks to glorious 50-75% off sales on most of their titles, I finally got the pets expansion to Sims 3, as well as the GOTY Morrowind. I have Morrowind for xbox, but I can’t play it, due to the horrible graphical and engine-related deficiencies in a game ten years old. So while they were installing, I found a Morrowind graphics and sounds overhaul package, and modded it in. So Morrowind looks great, and even though the engine is still difficult to play, I’ve worked around it and got into a sort of pattern. It helps that I play as a mage, so it’s easier to actually hit enemies and level.
Then, just yesterday, my brother pointed out that Saints Row the Third and all expansions etc, is on sale for $13. Regular $104. 87% off. How could I not, after how much I enjoyed Saints Row 2? That’s still downloading now, because I accidentally paused it overnight.
So with virtual kitties and horsies and puppies and Ashlanders and Caius and the Nerevarine, it seems to make sense that I haven’t been writing. It’s painful, but still.
Does anyone have any suggestions for overcoming writer’s block? I want to write, but I’ve stalled. Short of turning off my internet so I can’t get distracted by comics, social media, and video games (because, as it turns out, I can’t survive without constant access to the interwebz), is there anything anyone can suggest?
On a side note, one of my many t-shirts that I order online has come today: Vader vs Hitler from Epic Rap Battles of History. The others (Rub Some Bacon On It, Enchantment, Adept, and Mother of Dragons) are on their way still. Soon, hopefully!
Chillin’ like a villain. This is me on an average day.
Also, I’m going to do a review sort of of one of my favourite webcomics, Blue Milk Special (for that matter, maybe of my other favourite, Unsounded), and I feel like I had some other sort of post planned, but if I forgot it, must not be that important.
Oh, and the issue with Purity. When I went to write more the other day, I clicked on an past scene (as I’m writing it in Scrivener, rather than my usual lover, MS Word, and Scrivener separates each individual scene) and for whatever reason, Scrivener didn’t like that. I only clicked on it, for Heaven’s sake, and some sort of message popped up. It didn’t seem particularly aggressive or notable, and my only option was to click OK.
So I did, and promptly lost that ENTIRE SCENE. With NO way of getting it back other than rewriting it. So I’m pissed. I’m glad I haven’t actually bought Scrivener, because that’s just silly. I think I’ll stick with my baby, Word, from now on.
But yes. Help me with my writer’s block! Any suggestion is a good one at this point. I’m desperate, here.
So my internet connection inexplicably died the other day. I was without internet except before starting my shifts at work, for three days, because my brother was the only one who knows how to fix it and he wasn’t available during that time.
One does not realize how much one is on the internet until one does not have the internet.
I had nothing to do. I stared at the wall for the first day before work. I read a book – Room, by Emma Donoghue, which is so good, by the way – I played the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on xbox (WHICH IS A FUCKING HARD GAME, by the way; now that the Steam summer sale is on, I’m going to download it and mod the shit out of it, because the story is so good) because Steam and Origin need internet connections to play my PC games. I reread lots of Changeling, and edited it a bit.
And then when I finally got the internet back up and running, I checked all my social media, then got bored. dafuq’s up with that?
Then I played several hours of Skyrim, and I loved it.
Having to babysit my dog – who was mauled by the neighbour dog and is in need of constant attention, lest he scratch out his stitches – is giving me a lot of time alone at home. I’ve come to the realization that I could so easily live alone – plus a cat, my future Scottish fold named Sausage – and just become a hermit. I love being alone. My own company is enough.
Plus also, I’m getting my first pair of sunglasses in 10 years. I haven’t been able to wear them since I was 9, thanks to needing glasses. But I’m finally going to, because I’m going to get my first ever pair of grown-up prescription sunglasses! I’ll be able to see in the summer time – which is a big deal, because I live in a desert, basically. I was hellbent on getting wayfarers, and go big or go home – I’m getting Ray-Bans. So stoked. I’ll be able to see while outside! I also got a straw hat with a rainbow band today. This is a summer of drastic changes, as I don’t wear hats either.
Also, I was planning on growing my hair out and getting it styled in a pin-up wave and dyeing it silver, but it’s only at my shoulders and I HATE IT. I always forget how much I don’t like long hair. As soon as it hits a certain length, it just goes up in a perpetual ponytail. I mean, I adore braids and long, curly side ponies, but the effort of getting there… ugh. I’ve had a taste of uber short hair, and I love it.
Long hair goal. Image from two years ago, pre-dreadlocks.Short hair temptation. Image from a year ago, a month or so after grad, post-dreadlocks.
Thoughts? I’m thinking of silver, white-blonde, either way, since I’ve never had light hair save for my fake red. Brown, black, blue, purple, multiple shades of red, orange – but never blonde. And if I don’t like it, it’d be easy as hell to fix.
Ugh. Seeing pictures, I’m definitely leaning toward short hair again. I don’t want a perma-pony all summer when I could have a boyish fauxhawk.
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.
Whether you’re a writer of novels or short stories, or a visual artist, everyone finds inspiration somewhere. For me, it depends on what I’m writing at the time. Back in the day when I was writing Purity (and I suppose again soon, as I intend to actually finally finish one of these days) I’d listen to darker music, lots of industrial stuff, and watch vampire movies. There was also one particular story I found that was great for inspiring me to write from the main male character’s perspective – it was, oddly enough, an Inuyasha fanfiction, but the way the author wrote Sesshomaru was similar to how I wrote Fane, and it unfailingly, each time I read it, made me want to write so I should probably get to reading it again one of these days, eh?
But for the things I currently write, like OtArb et al and Changeling, which are both deeply entrenched in fantasy – both worlds, religions, histories, etc, were all created solely by me – it’s easier to find inspiration, since this is more my area of expertise. I’ve torrented the epic soundtracks/scores of the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, IV: Oblivion, and V: Skyrim, and Assassins Creed II, the Hunger Games, Tron: Legacy, and Fable. I’ve also got a few songs from the soundtrack of all six Star Wars movies, and I’m planning on getting some Lord of the Rings tracks. These are excellent, because I separated each song into a different folder, according to their tone. The game music is especially good for this, because obvious fighting songs that play during fights, go into the fighting folder in iTunes. Related to this is games – I play a lot of games, so their universes help me fine-tune mine, and give me ideas how to better describe settings, especially when I’m just frolicking about the countryside.
I also do a lot of these things simultaneously. Before I got my Asus gaming PC – my predator drone – I’d sit with Lappy, my old laptop, and have my writing open while I played xbox games. Now, since everything I do is just on the predator drone, I’ll have iTunes open, headphones on, then write a bit, switch over to Skyrim, play a bit, then return to my main desktop, etc. And sometimes I’ll even have a movie on in the background. I like to waste electricity, is what I’m getting at here.
It works well for me. I listened to the sad Assassins Creed music when I finally offed the baddie in OtA, and I had a good little cry. It suits the mood of writing much better when you have a whole setup.
Does anyone else do the same? What do you all do for inspiration? It’s different for everyone; some people need utter silence, but me, I can’t handle silence even at night.
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
JP Marshman 