The second of the Cahuac Cycle short stories has been finished off and upoaded now.
This one is called Wolf and the Stars, and is a little different than the other three in that, though it features Cahuac, it doesn’t revolve around him.
I think it should be obvious what the story is referring too, but it is the kind of thing that would be explained in mythological creation stories.
The third short story of the series of mythological fantasy tales about Cahauc has been added to the site and to smashwords.
This one is called Cahuac and the Bees and follows on from the events of the first two, though is still a stand alone story.
In this one Cahuac must find out why the flowers are no longer growing which is stopping the bees producing their bounty of sweet honey. Cahuac’s journey takes him places both new as well as familiar.
A fourth story for the collection is close to being finished as well.
Was surprised when I did a count of the number of downloads of the various Pure Escapism short stories on Smashwords to discover there have been almost 1700 to date. Which would imply a few people are reading my stories – or at least starting to read them.
The Hall of Black Trees is to date the most popular of the downloads, narrowly ahead of The Pit. The various parts of Cara’s Choice are the ones most linked in member’s libraries – though there is no way to see who has linked them sadly.
Not a huge amount of feedback, but you can’t have everything.
Been a while since I last finished a short story to upload – need to do so soon.
Trolls are one of the more interesting mythological and fantasy creatures to play around with, mainly because they are such blank slates.
While Elves are Elves (pointy-eared, long-lived, hang out in forests), Dwarves are Dwarves (short, bearded, live underground and dig up stuff), Dragons are Dragons (big, reptilian, flying and fire-breathing), it is not the case for Trolls. All Trolls Are Different as TvTropes put it. The reason behind that is because mythological they were so varied that it allows each author to put their own unique slant on them.
There are two that are my favourites – the trolls of Discworld and the trolls of Warcraft.
Discworld trolls use the more common stereotype of the big dumb troll, but not for obvious reasons. They are made of stone, with diamond teeth and silicon brains. The warmer the temperature, the slower their brains work until they can practically turn to rock in very hot weather in the daylight. In optimal conditions (ie very cold) their brains work much better and one troll, Detritus, almost worked out the Grand Unified Theory of Everything while freezing to death. Detritus is one of my favourite Discworld characters. A minor character at first, first seen working as a splatter (like a bouncer only much harder), he eventually joined the City Watch and ended up a sergeant.
Warcraft trolls are much differnet. Tall and lanky, they walk hunched over and speak in Jamaican accents, mon. They also sport tusks and mohawks, are incredible ancient and once had empires stretching across most of Azeroth, practising head-hunting, voodoo and cannibalism (though they got very good at it, so don’t need to practice anymore). The only word to describe them, as a die-hard Hordie, is awesome. And they get to be druids in the expansion – yay trolls!
I’ve been wanting to work trolls into my world for some time, but as yet haven’t found the correct form for them. I want them to be uniqueish, with my own slant on them, but not a clone of something I like. I’m thinking of folding them into the more traditional roles that elves fulfilled – forest dwelling creatures who are highly magical (which would explain their regenerative properties given the way magic functions in my setting), but obviously not looking like elves (or warcraft trolls.) Hopefully I can finalise the details before too long.
Making progress on the writing, which is good. The rewrite of Tears of the Mountain is at about 20,000 words now. Around a quarter of what I’m aiming for. Hopefully by the end of the month I’ll be close to completing the rewrite.
Still also mucking about with ideas for the plot of Shadow Watch in preparation for NaNoWriMo. Some more ideas clicked and I rearranged the plot a bit as well to fit them in. As I was working on ideas, some of the background details of the nature of the universe took on more of a final shape – including some to do with the mist and shadows of the name of the blog. Of course details won’t be forthcoming until the story is written.
And that is September done – just three more months left of the year.
All up for the month managed only around 35,000 words, which was a bit of a let down.
Only managed to add one more story to the collection, Cara’s Choice Part Four, though did start on a couple more Cahuac stories, which I really need to get back and finish off.
Most of the word was done on Tears of the Mountain. Finished off the rough draft/synopsis and commenced work on the rewrite, which to date is up to 13,600 words and slowly making progress.
I also started writing up notes for the idea that came to me recently, temporarily titled Shadow Watch. Done about 3,000 words of notes for it.
Plan for October is to try and finish off the rewrite of Tears of the Mountain and also get enough notes together for Shadow Watch to make it my NaNoWriMo project.
True to form, as I’m starting to make progress in the rewrite of Tear of the Mountain – 13,000 words in – another new idea comes along.
Cept it isn’t like any idea I’ve had before. A couple of days ago there was nothing. Next thing I knew, without even trying, I had, well, near everything. Five main characters came along and I knew what they looked like, their personalities and how they interacted with one another. In addition there were five minor characters with similar details. Much of the overall plot was there, as well as some minor plot details. Various scenes and conversations were whirling around as well.
In all my time fiddling around writing I’ve never had a project just jump so vividly into existence before. Stopping Tears of the Mountain when I’ve done so much already would be a bit silly, but this new project has really taken a hold and refuses to let go. At the very least I’m going to have to make some notes so I don’t forget it.
Making good progress on the rewrite of Tears of the Mountain so far, hitting 5400 words already. Feels like I’m making decent progress, though there is still a long way to go. I’m adding a excerpt from early on in the story – this is still the first rewrite so hasn’t been polished yet, and to me at least it feels like it still needs a decent amount of polish put on.
Walking down the path that lead to the doorway with its supporting peacocks, the rain mizzling down around him, the man rapped on it twice with his knuckles, quickly and quietly. No reply was immediately forthcoming and after a short wait he was about to knock again when the door finally opened a fraction. A beam of warm light spilled through the gap it out into the dark, wet night. The silhouette of a head appeared in the crack.
“Yes, what?” it asked brusquely in a rough voice.
“It is Sanjhar,” the man out in the rain replied. “I have news.” The door was opened quickly in response and Sanjhar stepped in, the door just as quickly shut and bolted behind him once he was inside. There was only one other man in the entrance parlour, a villainous looking man with a shaved head, a long curved knife shoved through the sash around his waist and in one hand a cocked flintlock pistol. He eased off the flint and pushed the pistol into his sash which was tied over a knee-length sleeveless grey tunic. Sanjhar turned away from the gaze of the dark eyed man who had been studying him with almost contemptuous hostility.
Now that the rough draft has been completed (for a given value of complete) and I’ve been through it, making some notes on what needs some changes or added, as well as trying to sort out the chronological issues, the rewrite has started.
I find rewriting something from an older draft much easier to do – rough drafts at time I struggle getting down, but rewrites seem to fly along, even if things change a fair amount between the draft and the rewrite. Getting the drafts done is still something I need to work better at.
Following my normal method, the rewrite is turning out much longer than the draft. So far 572 words of rough draft has turned into 1278 words in the rewrite. At this rate the rewrite will turn out at 80-90,000 words, which is a decent goal to aim for.
I’ve got a couple more Cahuac short stories in the works. I’d been turning over ideas in my head for what to do next with him and not one but two stories started taking form. Given how short they are and how fun and easy to write they are, it shouldn’t take long for them to do.
Currently they have the working titles of Wolf chases the Stars and The Bee and the Flowers
Mist and Shadows 