Category: The Splintered Land

Consummate Professionalism

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Rebekah’s hard at work on the cover for Blade of Glass. We have a process, she and I, where I have an idea and then she does what’s best for both of us. She has minted a quick paint of the cover, which is amazing, and no you can’t see it because everything might change. BUT, I thought I could share part of the creative journey. During the exchange, I mocked up this brilliant framing: No one’s more surprised than me that she still takes my calls. Want more? Get on my world-famous email list here.

The Storm Within [REDACTED]

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I finished outlining The Storm Within yesterday. Wait, what? This is the sequel to Blade of Glass, the artist previously known as Prince Boundless. We also have a series name (The Splintered Land), and all three books have titles (which my cover artist will be delighted about, as now she has something to work with). Blade of Glass The Storm Within Three’s Boundless Like the original Blade of Glass outline, all the important parts are missing: Sorry about that. Writing starts … today!

I Wrote an Epic Fantasy 🍾

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You know what this is? The length of the Boundless first draft. Finished it today! It needs a few chunks added, which I’ll finish over the next couple days, then editing (ROUND ONE) begins. But, the story’s code complete. Geneve reached the end, someone died who deserved it, and someone died who didn’t. That’s how these things go. Spoilers: Boundless is a working title. I need to come up with something suitable. Also, to work out where that dragon I misplaced in chapter 25 went… In case you’re curious about length: My Ezeroc Wars books (Tyche’s Flight…) are about 85,000 words long. Night’s Champion (Night’s Favor…) are about 120,000 words. Chromed books (Chromed: Upgrade…) are about 80,000 words. So, this is bigger than any of those. Just sayin’.

The Terror of New Things 😨

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This is one of my world-famous emails, sent Friday 24 May 2019. Get on the list here. Being asked to do something different can be terrifying. There’s a thing happening in AuthorLand™ – readers want new things and authors do not know WTF to do. I, because I have very little sense, pride, or self-preservation instinct, am trying new things anyway. This week: How’s Boundless going? Terror, and A sample. Let’s dig in. Your Boundless update. Boundless is kicking ass and taking names. I’m about 11,000 words into the manuscript so far (even ignoring the ~3,000 I ditched as a result of my Meriwether experiment [that link will take you to a before-and-after shot of two versions of Boundless’s co-hero, Meriwether]). I’m having a lot of fun with it. I’ve spent more time worldbuilding this one than anything I’ve written Read More …

Testing Meriwether Versions

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Long time followers might know I experiment with different scenes to test characters. I will sometimes put them out of place — like putting a werewolf in a hair salon — or try different versions of the character. Boundless is a new thing for me, with a whole new cast. The two main characters are Geneve, a Church Knight, and Meriwether, a fugitive from the Light’s justice. It’s okay, we love him anyway. When constructing Meriwether, I wanted to find out whether he feels better as a strong hero, or a disempowered one. Behold, two versions of a what’s-next chapter*. The first is strong Meri, who can conjure illusions without breaking a sweat. The second is Meri the lesser, who has a … rougher time. * These are first drafts, full of errors, inconsistencies, and other fuckery. Do not send Read More …

Calterburry Keep 🏰 and a Cover Reveal (kinda)

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This is one of my world-famous emails, originally sent Friday, 3 May 2019. Get on the list here! Calterburry Keep This week, we’re talking about manufacturing a medieval keep out of thin air. I like to call this professional lying: May’s deals; A Old-Is-New Cover! and Building Calterburry, without any practical skills. Let’s lift that virtual hammer. Night’s End I’ve had Night’s Favor on sale before (it’s my earliest release), and the sequel Night’s Fall too, but probably close-enough-to-never* the series finale, Night’s End. Now you can see how a mismatched, gritty team (including a cop, a reprobate, a soldier, a sorceress, two werewolves, and a non-sparkly vampire) can save the world from Judgment. Your deals for May are FIS Favor and the finale, End, all bookstores, all over planet Earth: [0.99] (or adjusted currency) [0.99] (or adjusted currency) * Read More …

Building People 🤺

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One of my world-famous emails, originally sent Wednesday, 24 April. Get on the list here! It all started with Crossfit. Last time, I talked about new story worlds. Y’all gave me a lot of thoughts on what to cover next, and the two most popular were, “Yeah, more on Calterburry,” and, “Let’s talk about the people.” We’re going people first, notably the main hero of Boundless. This week: A reminder! Chromed: everywhere, and Building realistic heroes: the science behind women who are warriors. Let’s get in there, yeah? April’s Sale ends… at the end of April. You might remember the first two Tyche books are on sale for a buck apiece, or adjusted Earth currency, on Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, and Nook. If you want to get into Firefly-meets-Aliens, you know what to do: [0.99] [0.99] While we’re here, May brings Read More …

Where we talk about Boundless ⚔️

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Here’s one of my world-famous emails, originally send Friday, 12 April 2019. You can get on the list here. Building New Worlds. I’ve talked a bit about Boundless, and now it’s time to talk more about it. This week, we’ve got: The writing process – Part One! An excerpt. Let’s swing that blade. The Writing Process Part One: Outlining vs. Discovery Writing There’s a holy war in the writing community, excluding a bunch of people like me who DNGAF. It’s the outliners (sometimes called the death-by-boredom style) vs. discovery writers (unflatteringly referred to as pantsers). Outline writing is what people like James Patterson prefer; you structure your story down to the last minutae, then write it out. Discovery writing is where you start with almost nothing but a bright idea, and start hitting keys until magic falls out the other Read More …

Scapple: Meet Boundless

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I’ve been doing a chunk o’ worldbuilding and plotting for the revised Boundless. While my World Anvil is pretty sparse (spoilers, people), my internal notes are growing. Yesterday, I dug up this super-old relationship wireframe: Dug up this super-old relationships concept (this is like 0.1 ALPHA, and there's 600 others, with far more detail) for Boundless. It's funny how some of these stick with me and others are dead and buried. #WritingCommunity #indieauthors #amwriting #amworldbuilding pic.twitter.com/Ifa3XhLGu7 — Richard Parry 👾 (@ParryForte) April 10, 2019 I figured you might get a kick out of seeing what the current story scaffold looks like. I’m a mix of outlining and discovery writing; I like to have an end state in mind, but freestyle the rest of it. The approach gives a structured tale while letting the characters tell their own part of it Read More …

Boundless, Wikis, and RPGs

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I’m considering keeping track of Boundless information in a wiki, because after writing 7 Ezeroc Wars novels, 5 novellas, 6 short stories, and 3 mid-range books, I’m losing track. I know, I know, #hardfail, but it is what it is. Then I got to thinking: should I make the wiki based on a point of relevance, like D&D? If there are, say, orcs (…not telling, yet), do I adjust character bios to include stats? Would that be cool? Would it be confusing? Would Chuck Wendig approve? *loads unpopular opinion shotgun* Tried to read LOTR a bunch and couldn’t get through it. Worldbuilding is not plot. Your book shouldn’t read like an RPG manual but should also make me wish someone made your book into an RPG. The Chosen One is a tiiiiired narcissistic trope. https://t.co/1oF8tVFuvK — Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) March Read More …