Excerpts 2: Offbeat quotations

The whole series is a more serious piece of work. It takes a gritty and real view on moralities and war. The fighting is certainly very anti-heroic (as opposed to the LoTr hack-and-slash battlefests that have become so popular). But there are still some pieces and quotations that are a little less-than-serious. Here are a few:

-"Am I to stay with you too?” Jacob asked. “Fine, I guess there’ll be no tavern-going for me”.

-Cursing, Laldan scrambled to his feet (after being knocked over) and screamed that he would put the offending man in the stocks. He fell silent when he saw the offender was Usor’an.
“I do not believe your stocks will hold me for long” mocked the destroyer.

-"The more you talk the louder I'll snore" Talvar stated lazily, "just get to the bloody point".

-"Don't let the draconites escape their cages" warned the master. "Last time that happened I was washing guts off the roof for two days"

-“Demonic plate mail is weak around all its joints to allow mobility....Yet the most important weak spot lies around the bottom of the center of the tasset, just above the two cuisses”.
“So the crotch” Halivor blurted out.

-'I swear' thought Anar as he drew away from the doorway to hide the incredible sight, 'sometimes I feel like I'm living in a fairy tale'.

-"First man to break and run dies!" threatened the Rushersonic sergeant as the battering ram struck the door again. His men tensed themselves against the impending attack...The ram broke the door open and the first wave of demons came in. All held their ground, except the sergeant, who made for the shadows with all haste.

-'What's so fascinating about the way a woman walks?' Rook wondered

Peoples: The Valkyries

The valkyries are a race of people that appear within the series at some point or other. They are not very common and isolated to one single region of land. They worship the moon and draw their religious dogma from real world pagan sources. All valkyries can fly through the air without wings.
There are no external differences between humans and valkyries except for one thing: all valkyries are female. They reproduce by meditating at night and that impregnates them (playing into their mythology of moon-worship). They are a kindly race who only want to be left alone by the chaos which goes on around them. They play a relatively major role my stories and are one of the primary protagonistic forces (in places other than book 1).

Eray: Rated R

If there is one concern I have when I am typing it is that I am writing about things that are unacceptably dark. My writings are certainly not an excerpt from the screenplay of "Elmo in Grouch Land" but they aren't exactly the most light-hearted of stories either. This is fantasy for teens and the odd young adult so I shouldn't hold back too too much. The youth of today don't give a crap when the good guy punches someone in the face or if someone gets killed with a sword. All five books I am working on have death and blood in them to some extent.
I am not afraid that the violence is too dark, by books are no darker than Lord of the Rings in that respect. But there are some parts that are worrying to me.
The first one is Rook the anti-hero. He's a GOOD guy for pete's sake and he kills with impunity, is apparently sadistic, and betrays, degrades, talks down to, and even attacks his friends.
The second part is going overboard with the violence. While being killed in no big whoop in a book, talking about men bursting into flame and turning to dust might bring about some sickness in the younger readers. Tripping over a dead man in battle only to realize he's mortally wounded but still alive and screaming for help (something that happens in book 3) might be pushing it for the weak-stomached.
The third are some particularly frightning examples that I had to be careful with. I had to be careful when writing about the torture of a 13 year old boy (book 5) the execution of that same boy, sexual themes (most prevelant around book 3) and the systematic extermination of civilians (book 3).
I have an antidote for all three.
For Rook I have my characters remind him (and therefore the reader) that his actions are unacceptable and he sometimes has to atone for them.
For the second, I try to make such brutal descriptions of violence only during the largest fights, when it it stylish to depict the gritty nature of warfare. Instead of the fairytale battles where a bonk on the head slays the orc, I write about the realistic fight where a gutted soldier takes 23 hours to die. ONLY WHEN IT IS STYLISH. Meaning very rarely.
The third varies from case to case. The general idea is I merely imply that the thing has happened. In the case of torture, I showed the prelude and aftermath to the ordeal but not the "interrogation" itself. In the case of sexual themes, I keep it so modest that you have to know what you're looking for to notice or I imply the possibility. Cause how will anybody know that Anar had sex during that twenty minute gap of time when he was parting with his woman in book 3 unless they are thinking about it? For things like extermination of civilians I merely state that it happened and showed the aftermath (but not the bodies) as well as some accounts of the destruction (withholding the actual killing).
In conclusion, I can merely say that the best way to keep myself from writing about things too dark is to avoid them. I only write about dark themes if it is absolutely needed for the plot, unlike vampire stories and the fluff for Warhammer 40000. And I don't personally think my stories are too mature in that way either. At least, I don't think they are...

80 pages in 4 weeks

I have written 80 pages in 4 weeks. This is quite an accomplishment for me because I do not recall ever having done so much. On average, one page takes a little over an hour to write from start to finish. Although there are may variables that come into play when I am writing that determine my page-per-hour count, I can safely say that I have spent the equivilant of three days during the past 4 weeks working on my stories.
I am trying to finish another 20 pages by the time this week is done in which case I would have finished 100 pages in 5 weeks. In reading format (if these pages were the pages of a smaller novel) 100 pages on Microsoft Word in the format I have would equal about 230 pages. So that's the equivilant of writing a 230 page novel in 5 weeks. But that will only be so if I actually acheive this "100 pages in 5 weeks" goal. As it is, I have only done 80 pages in 4 weeks.
Well, I've just blogged. Back to the binge writing.
**********UPDATE**********
It's Sunday May 11th and I just finished writing the 100th page so I am at 100 pages in 5 weeks. wOOt

The Cure for slacking off: piss myself off

What a strange concept? The cure for slacking off when writing is to get myself angry, or rather, cheesed off. Genuine anger is distracting and makes me upset, pissing myself off gets me worked up and frustrated. It is the ultimate cure to writer's block (as long as I have some kind of idea). That should be an antithesis of writing coherently, I mean, shouldn't frustration scramble my thoughts and make myself think less clearly? No.

I noticed it first when procrastinating. I do it alot when I am writing and have access to the internet (I'm doing it right now). YouTube videos are some of the best things in the world and I cannot get enough of them. I was watching a video which featured a Christian bashing the fantasy genre as being evil and satanic, thus all who even glance at it turn into sinners and go to hell. That really frustrated me. I got really frustrated, which made me passionate and excitable. To the video, I thought "you don't like witchcraft, eh?" The next minute I had written four pages about a demon destorying a city with magic of the most evil kind. It fit into the story like a puzzle piece.

Now, if I feel lazy or lacking in motivation to write, I go straight to the internet and read statements from missionaries (GeT a LiFe YoU iDIOtS!!!), statements about creationists (ThE DuMbEsT pEoPlE iN tHe WoRlD!!!) or remind myself of the Inheritance cycle (SoMeThInG sO bLaTaNtLy PlAgArIzEd AnD aWfUlLy WrItTeN sHoUlD nOt HaVe BeEn AlLoWeD!!!) The next moment I am pumped and ready to type. As a bonus, I can think of more firey scenes when I'm furstrated

Eg. I'm bored (Wraith pressed Anar against the wall and leveled his sword's blade against his throat. "Where is it?" the demon asked.

I'm pissed ( Wraith fiercely clenched Anar's throat in his his hand and threw him painfully against the closest wall. He brought face closer to the eyes of the panicking human and pressed his sword against his neck. "Where is it?" the demon demanded "

A picture of Rook a friend drew for me

A friend of mine, Aaron Dalzot, was kind enough to bring Rook to life with his artistic talent. I gave him a description and Aaron drew him. I only just managed to find an image of the drawing on his facebook page. And so here it is, an image of Rook, all credit goes to Aaron of course.

All about one of my characters: Skander

Alone and nervous. Divided and eager. Treacherous and persistent. Skander is one of the minor villains of the series, appearing in a minor role in book 2 and taking on a more important bit during part 3. He is an anti-villain, as Rook is an anti-hero, although you'd never guess when you first meet him. Skander is a half-demon and was raised demonic society, therefore he feel sympathetic to the goals of the Demon Empire. He tries his best to see that Usor'an's goals are fulfilled. When he first meet him, he is devoid of feeling and seems completely soulless. He appears to revel in carnage and fanatically loyal. How then can Skander, a heartless ass, be a person who pursues evil intents with a good persona? The answer lies in his blood. Skander is only part demon. All demons are devoid of sympathy and enjoy fighting, but Skander doesn't truly have these qualities. His human side gives him compassion and the ability to feel.
Skander doesn't want to be a half-demon, he wants to be a full demon. The only way he can be a true demon, according to Skander, is to have no emotions and to love killing. So he pretends to be a soulless freak to try and beat emotion out of himself. Skander hates killing because his emotions keep getting in the way. He prefers to negotiate, forgive, and make peace. So he is alone, stuck with the wrong friends and trying as hard as he can to be like a demon but never managing to lose his feelings.
Skander is still a villain, he believes in the ultimate demonic goal. Alas, he cannot try to bring this goal about through violence because he is bothered by fighting. One important thing about Skander: he is dishonest. He is one of the only villains with the capacity to betray...