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Belated October Update – NaNo NaNo

Howdy, folks!

In spite of life continuing to happen between the last update and this one, I managed to plot out a book. And build the local world around which the story takes place. Is this update mainly to inform everyone that I am, in fact, doing the NaNo? Yes. Yes it is.

NaNo – for clarity – being short for NaNoWriMo, which is short for National Novel Writing Month, wherein the goal is to hit 50k (50,000) words – traditionally in the first draft of a new novel – before the end of November. I’ve participated 8 times (including this one) and actually completed… three? Which is not a great track record, truth be told. I did eventually complete all of the books I started in bygone years, but not necessarily in the same month. (Or year.)

“Belated” update because I probably should have made this update in October, but I was mega-focused on clothing construction, architecture, local flora and fauna, climate, religion, politics, and barbeque – all sorts of other things that one can talk about in worldbuilding but not in polite company. I am now 4600 words into my first draft and done with Chapter 01, which I knew going in was going to be the most difficult. Sometimes, one just has to buckle down and start pedaling to get up that hill. (I say, not actually being able to ride a bike.)

Also for some reason comments seem to be closed on my last post. I’m confused, it may just be something on my end, but if it isn’t I suspect I need to do something behind the curtain to fix it. I just don’t know what. If comments are enabled, assume I’ve since stumbled upon the solution by sheer coincidence.

What Am I Working On?

Urien of Escathir – The NaNo Project. Potentially the first book in a series that may or may not end up being called the Surveyors’ Guild Chronicles. We’ll see what happens first – the end of November or the end of the story. I have a suspicion 50k is going to be easy, this time around… knocking on wood and barring more life happening. My outline has at least twice as many scenes in the list as All’s Well in Asgard did, so it’s going to be a doozy, I just don’t know how much of a doozy. Chapter – and, incidentally, scene – One is almost 5k. If each scene ends up being a whole chapter long (I don’t think they will) and of similar length, this whole project is going to be something on the order of… an absolutely mind-boggling (for me) 520k words. I highly doubt it’ll be that long. I give you all of this math business in lieu of an elevator pitch because I’m still trying to figure out how to condense a plot that long. Let alone where to split the books, if I need to. First story in a new world and it’s… going some kind of way!

The Rest of Uthir – The world of Uthir is bigger than Urien’s little corner of it, and has a lot of history that one could potentially explore. I have a couple of ideas for stories, one of them more prominent in my mind than the others. The story of Nagoa the Ranger and his “bird” Aiwi in the Sasokoyu Stronghold Wars is probably the one I’ll end up writing after Urien’s story, because the setting was heavily inspired by ARK: Survival Evolved (a game/setting I feel very much at home in) except it contains magic instead of tech. So instead of people knocking your walls down with C4 and large therapods, one has to worry about people knocking down walls with fireballs… and large therapods. I’m a dinosaur nerd at heart and fitting big stompy bois into fantasy is a thing I wish to do. (Thanks to Keenan Taylor for blazing that trail with his anthologies. I like this genre Much.) After that… Ehh? I have a couple of characters that I might necromancy from my middle school attempt at novel writing to slap into a fantasy buddy cop type story, if I can find a plot for them. Ancient carnivorous astrologer-mages may be another thing I attempt, if I can find a plot. We’ll see what happens between now and then.

Grifters – Currently on hiatus due to Life and also NaNo. Scheduled to return… probably halfway into December, if not in the first week of January. That’s my current ETA. If I hit 50k before the end of NaNo I’ll pre-record some episodes and then flip-flop between working on finishing Urien’s story and continuing Grifters. Because I… like to make stuff. Or something.

That’s all from me, this month. The grind continues! The stories are taking shape. The troubles continue to require copious bonkage with spanners. Keep on keeping on.

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September Update – All of the Things

Howdy, folks! It’s uh… it’s been a while.

I did kind of expect to get lost in pre-production for a few things last year at this time, but I didn’t expect to fall off the face of the planet quite as thoroughly as I did. So you may be wondering…

What Happened?

So, September of last year we accidentally adopted a cat. His name is Cannoli, he’s (now) a little sweetheart with very sharp toes and a big voice, but when my brother brought him home a year ago it was because nobody expected him to last the night and he wanted to give the little bean a chance. That little cat said, “stomach surgery WHOMST?!” and proceeded to become… my problem. 😀 He’s a good problem to have. A lot of the last year has been taken up caring for the wee lad and trying to introduce him to the other – far more senior – felids of the house. With… mixed results, so far. It’s an ongoing project.

In November, I wrote my half of Iron (title WIP) – the next book in the Barbarians series. It will be a series, don’t worry, it’s just that Life Happened in the meantime. I think my dad was writing – or trying to write – the Wizard’s Cat at the same time? I don’t really remember.

In December, I finally got to the conclusion of the Dawnbreakers’ Saga, took about a month off to recover from that, and then started on my new Skyrim series – Grifters. It has a slightly different tone, and is a lot more simple to produce, this time. Which turned out to be a very good thing because…

Just after I started Grifters, Life Happened. Those of you who are more familiar with my dad’s works/blogs than I am already know that he was diagnosed with cancer. Since then, I’ve been focusing on the YouTube uploads while also doing my best to step up and do some of the things that dad usually does/did around the house. (Right at the moment his biggest priority is recovering – a priority I fully support.) I haven’t really had the brain space available to sit down and write something (that wasn’t scripts for Grifters, anyway) for a while, but I’ve been noodling away on things anyway. Trying to find stories to write.

It’s a weird thing, life happening. A lot has changed in a year and I’m not sure what kinds of stories I want to write, anymore. I know where I want to write them, but not what the stories are or should be. I’ve basically put Omnia and its stories in the, “It was a good first try,” box, but I’m ready to move on to another world. More on that below.

What Am I Working On?

Grifters – Obviously. I need to update my Music page and a bunch of this website in general to make it easier to find the new things, but that’s a project all on its own. I’m actually quite proud of the music I made for Grifters – it’s definitely some of my best yet, and I think Atlug’s character theme might appeal to Solar Clipper folks even if the rest of her doesn’t. 😀 Yes, she does sing sea shanties. She’s fun. They’re all fun.

Uthir – Uthir has become… far more than Urien, who may or may not end up getting renamed at some point. It’s become a full-on worldbuilding project, which has kept me more or less sane between all of the things. Uthir is now a planet in a solar system with a couple hundred million years of evolutionary history, a few thousand of cultural history, seven language groups sprouting out of the ether, and a bone-colored moon. It’s all still kind of nebulous at the moment, but there is magic, there are dragons, and I’m hoping I find good stories to tell in the course of building the bare bones of this world. Uthir is becoming my love letter to geology and paleontology, which is something I’ve never really tried to explore in a fantasy setting before in spite of it being something that Really Interests Me, and has for as long as I’ve been alive, as far as I can tell. The roots of the world go deep, and they are fascinating.

Iron – I have half a draft sitting around waiting to be looked at again. At some point, I’ll come back and see how I left Sukhetai and company. It may not be until next year at the rate I’m going. Maybe until November. We’ll see.

And with that… I return to my anvil. I have a lot of words to build so that I can name things and people properly. Keep on keeping on, folks.

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August Update – SALT!

Big News!

My dad and I finally got our first collaborative work done! The whole process was rather enlightening – particularly getting to see comments from an Actual Legit Editor, which wasn’t actually as harrowing an experience as I expected. (No surprise to anyone, the neurodivergent person writes like a neurodivergent person.) With any luck the next book of the series will enter the planning phase before November so that I can write my half for NaNoWriMo.

And with that, we return to the irregularly-scheduled update.

What am I working on?

The Dawnbreakers’ Saga – Still going! This month marks the four year anniversary of this absolute madness. With any luck, the final episode of this series will go up on the last Wednesday of 2021, and then I’ll be able to take a break for a while. I’m feeling the burnout more and more with each production-heavy episode, but I’m determined to see this thing to the conclusion in a timely fashion. Four years is a Long Time and I’ve learned a lot from this story/set of stories.

Urien: The Dragon of Norwood – I’ve made my peace with the fact that this is going to be in pre-production at least over the winter if not until next August. (Seems like my best-luck things tend to get going in August. Superstition? Maybe. Jars of dirt all around.) I decided to buckle down and hammer out the most relevant worldbuilding for the part of the world (which has been named Uthir – or, “All-Home” in Tireni) in which the story takes place – in particular the clothing, because That Matters for a visual medium. That and the architecture are my two worst sticking points because I’m mostly a character artist. Which is good, but it’s not everything. One tinker at a time.

Worldbuilding Channel? – One of the side-effects of me falling into my ill-managed chronic Worldbuilder Syndrome is that I’m contemplating making a worldbuilding channel specifically to showcase some of the weird/cool stuff I’ve come up with for parts of Uthir that aren’t relevant to the main plot. Like, the Rohitian Sand Riders. (Basically, I want to make the universe in my head pay its rent for all the space it takes up.) Do I regret any of this worldbuilding? Absolutely not. 😀 I might write other stories in Uthir at some point. It may become my next “main” world since I’ve learned a significant amount about myself, life, and storytelling since writing anything in Esper’s world.

And with that, I once more become an internet cryptid. I really should address that at some point.

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March Update – Slowly but Surely

Howdy, folks!

Welcome back. For some reason this is my first post of 2021 – I guess I’ve been hibernating since December! I can’t really blame myself, there, after the year we’ve all had.

What am I working on?

The Dawnbreakers’ Saga – Still clunking right along. In the last post I made, I mentioned we’d just started the Civil War arc, and a few days I go I recorded the last episode of that arc. Progress! We’ve got two more major “seasons” left of this thing before I can take a break from Skyrim, and let me tell y’all, after three and a half years of working on the same story, I’m starting to feel the drag. I’m glad I’ve lasted this long though, and I am going to see this through to the end! Will there be more stories with the Dawnbreakers characters after the saga ends? Maybe. But I’m going to have to take a break first so I don’t end up hating myself and everything else.

Urien: The Dragon of Norwood – Still in pre-production, and having seen how strenuous three years of story has been in a medium I’m used to, I’m starting to doubt my abilities again. I shouldn’t, necessarily. I did a test comic (Dawnbreakers-related) over on my Patreon to see how easily and quickly I can do this kind of thing, and I can actually work a lot faster than I expected. The trick now is getting all the assets done and stop worldbuilding for five minutes. I fell into the hole of Worldbuilder’s Disease and stunted my progress on the actual story a bit. Will I need the information later if I do more stuff in that universe? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I just handwave it. I need to work on assets and get a buffer made before I start publishing this thing, but I’m almost done with the WHOLE script, so that’s fun! It’s doable, even if it might be a slower-moving thing than I expected. (That’s just how I am – slower-moving than anyone expects.)

Salt – The Great Collaboration Novel went off to the editor and came back in the space between posts. The manuscript is back in my dad’s hands and I’m now in charge of finishing the cover. We had planned to get it out sometime in March, and while there’s still time… there probably isn’t enough time to meet that deadline. Soon, though. Soon.

One more big announcement – I now support Pleistocene Park, which is topical considering that both Skyrim and Uthir may contain Mammoths. (I’d have been supporting them before now but I didn’t realize they had a Patreon until recently.) The park is working on reintroducing the Mammoth Steppe ecosystem to a park in Russia to measure its effects on permafrost, ecology, and ultimately climate change. The badge on my blog sidebar leads to their Patreon page, and there’s a URL on it that will lead to the project’s website. I think it’s an awesome idea (obviously) and even if you don’t support them yourself, you can rest assured that in supporting my weirdness, you’re indirectly helping a crazy awesome scientist do crazy awesome science things that might one day help save the world. I hope. 😀

And now, I return to my cryptid ways. Stay safe, as always, and have a good one!

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December Check-In – What a Year

Howdy, folks!

Around the time that I make my peace with being entirely arbitrary with these updates is most likely going to be when I start having an actual schedule, I’m sure. Anyway. It’s been a roll-with-the-punches kind of year and there have been many… many punches. Time for updates!

What am I working on?

The Dawnbreakers’ Saga – Will always be at the top of the list. Still going strong, and we’ve just started the Civil War arc. With any luck it’ll be a good balance of gameplay and scripted videos; while I don’t have a problem with either and quite enjoy writing out scripts, gathering footage for scripted scenes and editing it all together takes a lot of time. It’s good to be back in the “More Gameplay” zone though.

Urien: The Dragon of Norwood – Still in pre-production. I got stuck on the script about a third of the way through (so, chapter 11/29-ish) and have taken time off from writing to A) build out the world a little more (dangerous business, I realize) and B) work on assets like character sheets and landscape noodles. The only unfortunate part of having a new world to play around in is that I want to explore all of it. 😀 This has been my consistent “Back-Burner Project” so while progress is slow, it’s because I’ve been working on it between other things. I may have an adjacent project in the works something along the lines of another YouTube channel but specifically for worldbuilding.

Salt – The Great Collaboration Novel is back in my dad’s hands, after copious reworking of Sukhetai’s bits. With any luck the first chapter works better and starts his character off on the right foot – or at least a decent foot – so that his weirdness throughout makes a little more sense. We’ll see! Next phase: Dad’s going to send the book to an editor, and I’m going to finish the cover design. Tentative (very tentative) release date may be some time in February.

Other things I’ve been doing between last post and now include getting better at guitar, working on Black Marsh (very slowly), and making music. I can’t actually remember when I added the Music tab to my site but it’s there now!

And with that, I’ll go become a local cryptid once again. Stay safe and have a good one.

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Under Construction (‘Tis the Season)

So! I’ve been pretty much radio silent over here since… *checks watch* 2017? I believe I bounced after some technical difficulties that have since been resolved. I was also trying to use a website as a blog, which is an issue because A) I’m not real great at blogs and B) I didn’t adequately understand the function of EITHER a blog or a website well enough to use either of them properly. This is changing.

This is also the second thing that comes up when you google “Ej Lowell” so I figure I should probably give it a facelift. I’ve been over on the other website (talesofejlowell.wordpress.com) but have been just about as prolific there as I have been here. (Which is to say… not very.)

It’s also construction season in Colorado. Might as well dig up the road around here, too. Anyone have spare traffic cones?

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A Big Project Win and NaNoWriMo Fail

Hello friends!

So I tried to do NaNoWriMo this year… and I got a bit distracted. I live in the United States, I’m not sure anyone can blame me if I’ve been a smidge preoccupied. With all that and the fact that I haven’t really written anything in about a year – I was going to back in April but due to an unexpected death of a close friend, it didn’t exactly happen – Marcus, Evaline, and Kisuke might have to wait a bit for their second book to actually get going.

However. Whilst in the middle of trying to do anything related to the Redgate Chronicles, I picked up a project I started back in February, which might seem a little unorthodox. I didn’t really want to say anything about it here in case it ended up being nothing but a pipe dream, but sometime in late November I started the project back up after a several month break (April was rough) and managed to bull my way through it in the space of a couple weeks. That’s the power of a Taurus, my friends.

What is this mystery project? The Five Realms Oracle. The art from which I’ve been posting on my author page over on Facebook since I started. Spoilers are kept to a minimum, I promise. Unless you’re really good at symbolism and theory crafting.

Why am I making an Oracle deck and not, say, a Tarot deck? I certainly have enough characters to do so, between all of the stories. I actually did try to create a Tarot deck once, but the characters and stories changed so much by the time I was done with just the major arcana that I couldn’t continue it. A full 78-card deck is also a massive undertaking, and one I didn’t really think I was ready for after completing the major arcana.

The Five Realms Oracle is a 40 card deck – which might change after I’ve gotten a chance to look at the proof copy, we’ll see – featuring 34 diverse characters from the Five Realms as well as five landscapes (one for each Realm) and a Wyrd card. The deck uses my own hand-made font, Ratatosk, and also pictures 33 runes from the Elder Futhark and Anglo-Saxon Futhorc. I plan to create a full guidebook for the deck at some point, and be able to sell the cards and the book as a set. There are a lot of steps involved in that process though, and I anticipate the cards won’t be out until sometime late next year.

This project has been and will probably continue to be a massive undertaking, for me at least. I find it an excellent way to pay homage to my universe and my characters, in a way that might help guide someone else through their life, or even just have around as a curiosity. It’s something I can hold and work with, which is important to me. At some point I might end up revisiting my previous attempt at a Tarot deck, but that will likely take more than a year to complete.

Have a good one, my friends!
φ

02-bard

 

 

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Aside: Character-Driven Workouts

Okay, hear me out. This one’s for writers who struggle to exercise.

Also this is especially fun for people who play D&D, Pathfinder, or whatever-have-you. Like moi.

You know that t-shirt that says, “I’m working out so I can do some of the things my D&D character can?” Well, the way I see it, doing – or attempting to do – some of the things your characters can do is a great way to learn about your character and get into their head, while getting exercise. And it’s kinda fun, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Think about it. How often have you played, say, Assassin’s Creed and wished you could do parkour? And if you can… props to you. All the props. All for you.

Now I’m not saying you have to go out and buy a sword or something to swing around, or go leaping around trying to do flying kicks or weird, super-human abilities. That’s a great way to hurt yourself. Or you wallet. However, picking out an action that your character does that might seem trivial to them, and trying to do it yourself, can and probably will help you write that character better. And it might just put some muscle on those bones. (points at self; I am twig)

For example: many fighters, soldiers, warriors, and mercenaries (so, many main characters) in fantasy stories wield swords. What do you think their training looks like? What would they do every day to keep their skills honed? You don’t have to have a sword to do this. For some, it might make sense to go outside, find a decent sized branch on the ground, and start swinging it around. For others, try one-handing a five or eight pound dumb-bell (or heavier, if you’re much stronger than I am). It’s a little heavier than an actual sword would be, but I feel like the extra weight compensates for the fact that the center of balance isn’t farther away from your hand. Once you have your weapon of choice, imagine you are that character, and start walking yourself through the motions. How would they slash? How would they parry? It might be a little weird at first, but if you think of it as warrior training, it might be a little less tedious. Especially if you’ve been sitting down and typing all day.

Archery types who don’t own bows – either because of money or lack of aim, or fear you might break something with it – can invest in a resistance band, which can be pulled up and let down as though you’re drawing back a bowstring. Since there aren’t any projectiles involved you don’t have to worry about breaking anything. Or anyone. The closer you hold the band, or even by doubling it over on itself, the more resistance is provided, and the heavier the “bow’s” draw will be.

Of course if you’re like me and you have characters that tend to walk everywhere because they don’t actually own horses, they do something every day that you might be able to do as well. Walking. It doesn’t have to be a long walk or a strenuous one, just some time spent on your feet every once in a while can help a lot of issues.

If you don’t feel comfortable walking, play a monk or mage, or feel awkward leaving your chair, I recommend Tai Chi and/or Qigong. Most techniques can be done seated, with a little creativity. The key is integrating all parts of the body, just to get them moving.

My current exercise routine varies from day to day as I feel the need to change, but I do stuff based on many of my characters, from books or otherwise. I practice Marcus’s ranseur techniques with an oak walking stick, I practice Eirnin’s archery with a resistance band. I have a ten pound dumb-bell that I can swing two-handed as though I’m using an axe, rather than a sword. For two of my tabletop RPG characters – Sadiq, a monk, and Hyena, a brawler, – I practice both Tai Chi and Kenpo, which is something I have prior experience with. Esper is a special case, since I do actual own a (not sharp) saber, and can work out his style with it, as well as Aelius’s to some extent. And, like all of my characters, I don’t own a horse (or a car), which means I walk everywhere. Thankfully, I live in a smallish town and built up excellent endurance via high school marching band. And no, I never do all of those on the same day. I would be exhausted and probably risk injury. My knee already gives me enough crap from the walking alone!

I would like to emphasize that you should never do any fitness program or exercise that makes you feel uncomfortable, or that you’ve been told by a professional that you shouldn’t do. If you pick up a big ol’ rock to heft around because your character carries people or things out of danger for a living, but you find that you’re straining, put it down and walk away. The goal is to have fun, get a break from the keyboard, and not hurt yourself. Please don’t hurt yourself. Be careful.

– Ej

ps. If you want to try this but lack inspiration, look up, “[Your favorite character here] Workout.” I know there’s one on the Witcher out there somewhere, which partially inspired me to start doing this.

pps. Again, check yourself before you wreck yourself. Listen to your body. If it hurts, stahp. Especially if you aren’t used to doing crazy business like flailing around with a weight in your hand. Do what you can, don’t feel bad if you can’t do as much as someone else, and celebrate that you did a thing in the first place.

Bonus fun fact! This is how I taught myself to draw! Getting up and acting out what the character on the page is supposed to be doing so I knew how it looked in 3D. I still do it sometimes. I have applied it to writing as well. A few combat scenes in the Tales of Esper Ravenwood trilogy involve actions that I stood up and acted out so I could figure out how to write them. See? Told you it was useful.

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Good Morning

Hello, my friends!

Welcome to the official page for my books, my world, and the art thereof. I’ll be updating this more as time goes on, but for now, I have Chronicles to plan and paperbacks to format. I’ll be back with news soon.

Yours,
E.J. Lowell