Last night I had the pleasure to take part in a panel of superhero writers discussing antiheroes and fallen heroes. Enjoy!
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Life moves more slowly in the era of Quarantine, but stuff is still happening. On a personal level, Benita and I have been working on our house, planting trees, and catching up on projects. The medieval library is almost done, the stairs are almost done, and it’s time to fix up the garage and get my shop out there functional. I haven’t been writing or drawing, and that weighs on my soul, but it just hasn’t felt right for a while. I think the tension in the world is getting to me a bit. Well, a lot, but that doesn’t make me unique by any measure. I have been editing on Name of the Shadow, which is almost there, and I plan for it to come out this Autumn. I’ve also been hard at work on fantasy cartography, labeling and detailing the the giant (3′ x 5′!) Aorlis map. I’m taking my time and doing it right, because I believe it will be a masterpiece. I recently did an extended and very candid interview with B.W. Morris on his site. You can read it here. I’ve put up several new videos on my Youtube channel. For the time being, I’ve ceased writing articles on Shoutfyre, because my creative wells on the comic book front have run dry. Blacksmithing and longsword training both got stopped by the pandemic. I’ll probably not pick up any blacksmithing courses until next year, and I’m not sure about time on the longsword. I was stretched a little thin when I was doing all of it at the same time, I suppose. This time has really reinforced what introverts Benita and I are. We can both be outgoing, we both make friends easily, but being to ourselves comes so much more naturally. Having said that, last Sunday we did go visit my mom. I was really missing her, but I’m glad to say that she and Floyd are looking great. I didn’t get to see my sister, because she was busy elsewhere helping one of her friends. While we were out, Benita and I went to a Half-Price Books in Avon. We didn’t buy anything, because they were pretty sold down, but getting out and getting some “bookstore therapy” was exactly what our hearts needed. That’s a feeling that the internet can never replace. Our air conditioner is out, probably low on freon, so we’ve lived the last three days without it. Luckily, the temperatures have been low, but it’s still humid. It’s strange, because it all reminds me of my youth on the farm. It makes me think of green grass, bumblebees, the musty smell of barns, and open fields that reach into the horizon. It also makes it hard to sleep, because we are use to keeping the house cool. Thank goodness for ceiling fans. The weight loss journey took a few bumps, and I’m sad to say that for a little while Benita and I cheated on our diet. It was a weird combination of boredom, frustration with the world situation, and opportunity, I guess. I’m not making excuses, it just is what it is. My weight fluctuated up about five lbs, although since then we have reset our systems with an egg fast, and I’m now back to my lowest weight. I need to walk more, and I’ve still got 42 lbs to go to reach my goal weight. I’ve lost 48 lbs. in the last six months. What else? Well, I’ve gotten a copy of the Deryni Role Playing Game, and the Codex Derynianus, both are amazing products, and they make me appreciate the amazing Deryni world of Katherine Kurtz more than ever. I got a Peter Ginn book on Slow Tech, which is beautiful and full of amazing information. You may know Peter from War Time Farm, or Secrets of the Castle, or other BBC shows. He’s an archeologist and presenter, and I’ve valued his work for a long time now. I finished reading the first book in the Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin, and I was hugely entertained. It has really reinvigorated my desire to be world building and writing low fantasy historical-themed fiction. I’ve begun the second book in the series. We’ve also watched a lot of Ghost Hunter type shows, because that’s a genre we love. And, we’ve watched quite a few Tony Robinson walk-with-history type of shows. Love that guy. In this video, I show off the art included in our new anthology Story Studios Presents Changing of the Guard, explain some of my art techniques, and show who the characters in the book are. I’m back to editing my next book. It’s almost done, and it’s big. I’m not going to mention it again until its done and ready to go. One thing I’ve learned in the last couple of years is don’t show off work, be it art or writing, until it’s done. Don’t use up people’s energy and interest for a project, and don’t make them invested and then take forever to get the project done. Hard lesson learned.  I am also not going to bother with all the “surefire” methods and master classes and books on the foolproof ways to self-publish. Been there, and now I’ve seen through it. I will promote, and I will be even better at it, but ultimately writers should deliver a product that readers want. You don’t have to be a hack, and jump on every bandwagon for a quick buck, but the work needs to be good. Having said that, I can see how my work, and my storytelling, could be improved. No, I’m not saying how, nor offering a masterclass, or foolproof method, or a surefire program. I simply am going to tell the best story I can. I have some personal writing mentors, I guess you could say, and I can see how they structure their promotions, and that’s what I will do. Maybe I’ll even try to get my next book published through traditional publishers rather than do it all myself.  I haven’t been blogging lately, and haven’t inaugurated that newsletter I promised. I should, but I haven’t. I guess I’m still dealing with burn out from my days of having a web comic. Taking that step forward fills me with trepidation. (OK, it’s more like PTSD, but you get the idea. I haven’t spoken here about the Diamond Distribution shutdown because I don’t personally have a horse in that race. I do have friends in the industry who are very much impacted, though. I feel for them, and hope they all make it through this time. I guess we’ll all be interested to see what the general lay of the land is at the end of the pandemic. Scott. Hello, Friends! Lots of stuff going going on, but no real thread or theme within them. Wednesday I begin my next installment of blacksmithing classes at the Indianpolis Art Center. The first classes were a success, and I began to get a handle on what I’m doing there. I’ve got some neat stuff to show off next time we do a video.  For the past two Saturdays I’ve worked out with the Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) instructors and students at the local fencing club. It has been humbling and educational. The longsword, aka the bastard sword or war sword, has long been my favorite medieval sword. So far I have not gotten the hang of it, but I’m willing to put the work in. I have not been writing prose in a while, and I miss it. I have not been creating art for a while, either. What I have been doing is continuing my work on the infamous medieval room, and it’s looking really cool. I also have not made the videos I intended to make to cover the medieval room and its progress. They are coming, and they’ll be fun and educational. I just do not have the technical expertise to do them myself, and Benita has been very busy with work. I have come to recognize a real sense of detachment when it comes to promotion of my various projects. It seems to be a strange mix of impostor syndrome and out-of-body phenomenon. I’m beginning to feel I can’t wake up and get a handle on it. Some of my creator friends are really good at it, but so far not me. I think I burned out somewhat back in my webcomics days. It’s probably been obvious from my recent posts, but my creative subject matter has switched from superhero material to medieval. Benita and I have a ten-issue Johnny Saturn comic roughly plotted out, but I don’t think either of our hearts are in it. We’ve both moved in different directions since them. I believe I will do comics again at some point, but when that is a bit uncertain. If you are into medieval stuff for writing, gaming, Larping, whatever, I have a new Facebook group called Medieval World Building. Come, join. Be jolly. Huzzah! Now that the book launch period is over for Story Studios Presents Changing of the Guard, it’s probably a good time to look at what worked, what didn’t, and what I could have done better. What Didn’t WorkBookfunnel: No effect that I can tell KDP Rocket: Again, no effect Asking Fellow Authors for Reviews: Of the 20 authors who agreed, four actually did reviews. Asking and following up was an awkward process, and I hated asking people for favors. It’s not in my nature to ask for help. I suck at it. What WorkedNot much. This was my first time at seriously trying to self-publish a book, and my efforts seem to have had a limited effect. What Could I Have Done Better?Lots. But, let’s get a little more precise. I could have been much active in self-promotion on social media. Since I spent all my money on Bookfunnel, having the novel formatted by a pro, Vellum for future books, and KDP Rocket, and a broken copy of Kindle Samurai (for which I never got much help from the publisher OR a refund), I didn’t buy any promotion. When I say I didn’t purchase promotion, I mean like the giveaway sites like Bookbub. I didn’t join in any group promotions with other authors. Frankly, I didn’t understand the process, and I still am pretty fuzzy on it. I didn’t solicit any interviews, podcasts, etc. These have never helped in the past with other projects, and I don’t like doing them, so I skipped that part. For reasons that need not be elaborated on, I quit a writer’s group that has pretty reasonable promotion capabilities. I stand by my decision on that. There may be more reasons, but one of my main shortcomings is I have not begun a newsletter. My reasons include fear of commitment, and not wanting to add one more thing to my plate. What’s Next?I plan to do much better this time. This last time, after all the hassles to wrangle reviews and failed attempts at formatting it, I was burned out bad. That was not the mental state to go forward in. I cannot do that to another book. Greetings and Salutations, Friends! Story Studios Presents Changing of the Guard is now available in paperback, as well as an ebook, on Amazon! I’ve also updated our Bookfunnel page to reflect this. Sadly, the ebook and the print book entries have not yet combined on Amazon, but we just have to give them a little time. Plus, read this great new review! Brian K Morris5.0 out of 5 stars Straight From the PulpsFebruary 14, 2020Format: Kindle EditionThe Changing of the Guard takes me back to the days where every pulp story-based city concealed secrets in every shadow and war occurred in neighborhoods where decent men and women feared to tread. However, a select group of special beings existed to combat evil…and this book by the Storys continues that tradition. And what a cast of characters. This is a setting that definitely shows the benefits of detailed planning and I’m looking forward to exploring it further in future volumes. By the way, the artwork inside and out is beautiful. Well done! This is a new series of blog posts that I’m going to write about world building for my coming books, although the same information would also help gamers. It’s a little different for gamers because the end goal is a different storytelling medium, but it’s in the same ballpark.  The setting I’m detailing is a fantasy, historic-like world. It’s Medieval, and it focuses on character, politics, intrigue, religion, and magic. So, here’s the thing I’m thinking about: monsters. High fantasy is full of them. Dungeons and Dragons brews them up wholesale. Mythologies get mixed and matched and smashed together as if in some literary particle collider experiment. I’ve been there, played D&D, and read many of those all-inclusive, monster-rich variety of worlds, most notably Piers Anthony’s Xanth novels. That’s not really what I’m looking for. So, maybe it’s more a Katherine Kurtz’ Deryni books type of thing that I’m aming for? Well, those novels are awesome beyond compare, but not quite the thing. Maybe monster-lite, like Game of Thrones? Hmmn, no. Not that either.  So, after much thinking, here’s what I’m going to include in my world’s bestiary: Undead: By undead, I mean vampires and ghosts. I’m not sure how much of a tradition there is for walking corpses in medieval Europe, so I’ll have to look into that. Taxim, maybe? Artificial: This category can include aquastors, simulacrum, monstrum, brass heads, automatons, even golems and the like. If a wizard can whip it up, then yes.  Dragons: Five of them, because that’s all that’s left in world. Just five individuals. I will also include the subclasses of dragons, like wyvern, wormes, knuckers, sea and lake monsters. Full-on heraldic dragons have magic and shapechanging powers, so it’s not unheard of for a human to have dragon ancestry. These creatures are rare and never seen, so for most people they are old legends. Humanoid: Ogres, yes. Troglodytes, trolls, I’m not sure. There are some dog headed peoples that show up a lot in Medieval bestiaries. I like the idea of them. Giants: These are a type of “Other,” for the most part, but they are rare and only tiny communities exist in the mortal realm. Angels. Yes. And other divine counselors and saints. If angels are here, then I suppose too there would have been the Nephilim. Lycanthropes: Werewolves and selkies, without question. Demons, Spirits: Yes, they are all present. Demons, demon lords, succubi, witch’s familiars, hell hounds, and other similar summonable creatures from hell. Technically, demon ancestry is included, so cambions are possible too. Summonable Beings: Elementals, as well as angels and demons. Faerie and the Other: Faeries don’t live on earth, as such, and have no cities or castles or holdings of their own. They do visit earth when they want to from their own plane of Faerie. So, while you never run into an elf or dwarf, or any of the “Others,” you may very well meet people with Faerie blood or heritage. Dwarves and Giants in fact are a type of Faerie, and part of the family of the “Other” as well. The Faerie secondary creatures, such as Faerie hounds and horses, changelings, and so forth would also be included. They are not native to earth, but they can follow their elvish lords over sometimes. Does this sound limited? It’s not as short a list as you might think. For example, mythology also is full of singular legendary creatures. These one-off’s would fit pretty well in my world. These would be the “King of x” creatures, the paragons, the racial avatars, divine hybrids, spell-casting versions, demonic versions, giant versions, etc. Other rare monsters that I have an affinity for: Affanc, Wolver, Ysfach, Parandrus. Of the monsters I have made up, the Pernicon (a type of demon) also gets a pass. Maybe I’ve gone too far here. Maybe this is too many monsters. I’ve got a whole bunch of creatures you can summon from other worlds, some you can create, a few native creatures, and assorted hybrid humand and x-humans (undead). Well, more thought and consideration is forthcoming. Dreaming up these things takes time. It’s got to make sense within my setting. |
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