Short Hiatus - The Right Thing

We are taking a summer break over at our D&D podcast The Right Thing contained in the Iron Archives. Someone is getting married, quite a few folks were taking some vacation time, and coordinating schedules made it logical to go ahead and hold up here. Currently episodes one through seven are available to listen to, so now is a great time to catch up.

Let me give you a little hint here and say that episode nine is a game changer. Some dragon dung really hits the fan and things go crazy. Not sure how things will shake out after that, but it will be worth checking out that is for sure.

Hope you are enjoying the show, we are having a great time making it.

The Right Thing - The Iron Archives

Hope you had a chance to enjoy our four episode adventure The Assassin in Dayo Gorge. That was a bit of a warm up to a larger story that is currently being released over at The Iron Archives.

The new story is called The Right Thing. This time the adventure takes to a high seas as a new group of heroes attempts to unravel the mysteries of the Brashen Isles. The party is a bit bigger for this series of adventures with six players and DJ our Dungeon Master weaving the story. You may recognize a few voices from The Assassin in Dayo Gorge if you listen close.

These sessions are a bit longer with each episode clocking in at a little over three hours. This is giving our characters a bit more time to breathe. In addition, DJ is editing these a bit differently. Our first adventure was pretty curated from an editing point of view. This new story is a bit more freestyle, so you'll hear us joking around a bit more, hear some of the player commentary as well as the character actions. It should sound a bit more like you hanging out at the table with us enjoying the game.

The events in this story happen about 144 years after the events in The Assassin in Dayo Gorge. So the world has changed quite a bit since then. This new set of characters are pretty diverse and interesting, and it has made for some very amusing moments so far.

What you can expect in the first few episodes:

• Fearsome undead horrors
• The miraculous uses for the Grease spell
• "The Winning Smile" - trademark pending
• Tavern brawling aboard ship
• A duel with a Silver Bow
• Moral dilemmas
• Dangerous new rules for critical hits - and what they cost a character

So far this adventure is a blast, and we are having a good time with the characters and the adventures DJ has cooked up for us. Looks like the situation in the Isles is bit more complicated than we first understood, and yeah, our characters are getting in over their heads. So if this sounds like fun to you, stop on by and give it a listen.

The Assassin in Dayo Gorge - The Iron Archives

The first full adventure in The Iron Archives is up on YouTube. This four episode series is a recorded Dungeons and Dragons game featuring one DM and five players. Each episode is a little over an hour long (the finale was nearly an hour and a half).

The adventure is The Assassin in Dayo Gorge. Five special soldiers are sent to hunt down a dangerous assassin after he has killed a key ruler working with the Empire. Three hunters are part of the Imperial Cohort, the elite soldiers who answer to the emperor. The other two are members of The Silver Bows, a group that specializes in guerrilla tactics. These five join forces to identify and kill the assassin, per the emperor's decree.

The plan is simple. The assassin is hidden in the remote Dayo Gorge far to the north. there is only one way into the gorge, and the group plans to set up an avalanche to trap the quarry within the area. They will use the town within the gorge as a base of operations. It will take a few days to clear away the rubble from the avalanche and allow the assassin to escape... he must not be allowed to escape.

During the adventure you'll witness the crew:

• Attempting (and failing) to stay undercover
• Track and hunt down a mysterious beast
• Get to know the eccentric town folk
• Explore an ancient shrine filled with traps and automaton guardians
• Come face to face with the deadly assassin himself
• Deal with a plot twist that no one saw coming

Of course there are plenty of swords swinging, spells slinging and silly voices, everything you expect from a D&D podcast. We had a blast with this one, so please check it out if you haven't already. With all four episodes up, the complete tale is now available.

What is Dungeons and Dragons?

(blows the dust from this blog)

Been a while since I posted something here. Time for a little gear shift for this blog, and hopefully something you'll find interesting. As I mentioned in my Looking Back at 2017 post on my movie blog, I recently got back into Dungeons and Dragons as a hobby. Maybe it was nostalgia, maybe this is my mid-life crisis manifesting (perhaps both), but I really missed some of the exciting storytelling that occurs around a table with friends and dice and soda.

In this blog I'm going to be charting my adventure returning to the world of group storytelling and discussing what I like about it, what I don't like about it and some of the specific elements of the game as we go along. I'll do my best to keep it more focused on storytelling and less on dice mechanics.

But I figured that before I even really start, I should cover what Dungeons and Dragons is and the basics of how it is played.

Essentially Dungeons and Dragons is a game in which two to ten people sit at a table and tell a story set in a fantasy world together. One player is the Dungeon Master (DM). The DM is like the narrator, telling the other players about the setting, other characters they meet, playing the antagonists, telling them about treasures or secrets they find. If you think of it in video game terms, the DM is the game itself.

The rest of the players take on the role of player characters (PCs). They control one (sometimes two) character's actions in the game. This covers everything from dialogue to actions. The DM does not tell the PCs what to do, but will tell them how they are effected by events around them.

So the DM could say, "A hail of arrows rains down on your character." The PC says, "I dodge the arrows." Some dice are rolled. The DM says, "Alright you managed to dodge most of them, but a few hit your armor. Only one sinks in." The player replies, "I growl in pain and let out a sharp curse in Dwarfish." The DM smiles, "What does that translate to?" as she rolls some more dice.

About those dice... They are used to add some randomness to the game. In the example above the DM rolls for the skill of the archers. The PC has a set ability score to dodge, so the rolls have to be higher to miss. Only one archer was able to succeed, so now the DM rolls some dice to determine how much damage the heroic dwarf takes.

The random nature of the dice keeps things exciting. You never know how the dice may treat you that night. But even failure can lead to more storytelling.

In a recent game my character tried to swim across a river, but he wasn't very strong. A bad dice roll and the currents swept him away. Suddenly the other PCs were trying to figure out a way to save my character before he was carried away downriver to the monstrous waterfall roaring several yards away. I kept rolling to see if he could break free of the currents, and they were coming up with a plan to get a rope thrown out to me. But even that was going to be based on how well they rolled. In the end, I rolled well enough to get closer to them. They rolled well enough to throw the rope far enough to my character and haul his butt up the bank like a sad sack of potatoes. It created a memorable and tense moment for a simple river crossing.

The current edition of Dungeons and Dragons (the fifth edition or 5E) focuses much more on storytelling over pure action. This was one of the main reasons I was drawn back into the hobby. The Players Hand Book (PHB) is full of character generating ideas to give your character background and backstory elements to really give you an idea of who they are. It is up to the player to fill in those blanks and come up with someone who they know well enough to be able to play at the table.

That is another part of the fun, playing a character who may react to events very differently than you would. Maybe they are more heroic. Maybe they are more duplicitous. Maybe they are more dedicated. But you get to guide them on their path through the story. And if your DM is good he will weave elements of your backstory into the adventure. This not only makes the players feel like they are part of the world being created by the group, but it usually raises the stakes for the players. What do you do when that little sister you left back in your village is kidnapped by the evil sorcerer you've been hunting down?

So that is the basics of Dungeons and Dragons. You have a group of people telling a story together. To get the most out of the current game, you have to be someone with an imagination and be a bit of ham to act out the character. Luckily I'm a bit of both.

Have you ever played D&D before (or any other roleplaying game)? Every try a group storytelling exercise before? Is there any D&D related topics you'd like me to explore on this blog?

If you are curious about the rules, Wizards of the Coast has the basic rules available for free in PDF form. Check it out here: Basic Rules for Dungeons and Dragons.

First Draft Completed !

I finally finished writing the first draft of my fantasy novel. It was a long road, but one that I enjoyed quite a bit. I haven't written a work this long in many year.  it did feel good to sit down with a long story and let it unfold.

Here are some stats for those who are interested, and for posterity.

Started prep work on August 1, 2016.
Started novel work on August 19, 2016
Completed first draft on May 9, 2017
134,016 Words in First Draft
21 Chapters with a prologue and epilogue that are both about half a page long.

There was a lull in there around December and January where I didn't work very much on the novel. I would probably have finished it in March or so if I had stuck with my schedule from NaNoWriMo. I'm curious to see if the break affected the writing at all.

I ran into my usual problem with long fiction. I started off full of enthusiasm and burned through the first third or so. After that it became a bit harder to work through. The final third was difficult because I had several action sequences. I find those very challenging to write because I am very conscious that I could be overwriting them. I usually end up just throwing down a bunch of stuff and figuring that I can work it all out in the second draft.

This  novel probably had the largest number of main characters in it since my first novel. That first novel was written back in the late 90s and was filled with youthful excitement and insanity. Kind of funny to go back and read now. But I kept piling on characters, and since it was inspired by anime series of the day, some of the characters and plot lines were just bizarre and in conflict with each other.

This time I worked out backgrounds for my eight primary characters, as well as some history about the main location of the story. I think that helped to have that all fully realized before I dove in. I didn't reference my "story bible" too often, but the work spent there made it quite clear in my head.

I am a bit worried that ending might feel anticlimactic. I also think that one of my characters came across as a bit too stereotypical. I'll probably have to do some work with her on the next pass. I'm looking forward to rereading it.

But I'm going to follow Mr. King's advice and let the story sit for about a month or so. I've done this in the past and it really does help when you go back and reread it. In the meantime I think I might work on some shorter fiction. Been a long time since I tackled a short story or two. While I was working on this novel, I actually had a couple of ideas I jotted down (that always happens, and they always seem better then what you are working on at the time).

But first time to celebrate.

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 29

And tonight I crossed the fishline for National Novel Writing Month. It was a fun ride again this year, and I have to say that I feel like I got a good chunk of my novel completed because I had that driving deadline in front of me. Official total number of words for this year is 51583. But that only represents a portion of the total word count of the book. I had already written about 27000 words of the novel when I started, and doesn't sound the 30000 words spent on the world building and character creation work that I started in August. All told, that is a lot of material for just this one book.

What is great is that I haven't really felt any drag in writing this novel. Each time I sat down to work on it, it really felt like it was flowing pretty good. There were a couple days where it was tough to work, but I still met the minimum word count and was able to progress the story further.

At this point I'm still working away at Act 2 of the story. I'm going to toggle between the protagonists and antaongists as they continue their journey toward the goal. This means I'll continue working on the novel until it ends. At this point it could be mid-January when I finally wrap, depending on how busy December gets.

I will continue to post updates on this blog, but they will be a little less frequent and be more focused on the process of writing this novel and less on the word count goals. Speaking of that, here are the stats for the final night of writing for NaNoWriMo 2016.

Page Start: 177

Page End: 184

Word Count Start: 76163

Word Count End: 79194

Nanowrimo Word Count: 51562

Music:

• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Jeremy Soule

Thank you to everyone who has been reading and cheering me on. Your encouragement means a lot!

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 28

So yeah I took some time off from NaNoWriMo. I was doing so well, I figured I didn't have to sweat things too much during Thanksgiving. We had people over, so that meant time spent prepping, time spent cleaning up and time spent recovering from massive amounts of food. So five days without writing a word meant that I felt a little cold when I sat back down at the desk to start back in. But I did a quick bit of rereading the first three pages of the chapter I started and it was pretty easy to get back into the story.

Protagonists are entering some dangerous territory this time and are about to encounter their first major obstacle. I originally had an attack by panther happening in this sequence, but I switched it for something a bit more bizarre. I left an homage to the panther idea as the priestesses discover a strange panther statue that acts as a warning marker.

Today I was listening to The Golden Voyage of Sinbad one of my favorite Harryhausen scores and one of my favorite Harryhausen films. There is also a little homage to this film coming up too. So I thought it was fitting to listen to it while I wrote.

Looking at the word count I think I'm going to meet my goal in my next writing session. That might be tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. Cutting this a bit close, but I'll still make it.

Tonight's stats:

Page Start: 169

Page End:n 177

Word Count Start: 72625

Word Count End: 76163

Nanowrimo Word Count: 48531

Music:

• The Golden Voyage of Sinbad – Mikos Rozsa
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion- Jeremy Soule

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 22

Another day I get a late start, but another day I don't let that stop me. I pressed ahead to finish may action scene. Gotta say that I could see this sequence appearing in a classic adventure film with the antagonists battling a stop motion Ray Harryhausen monster that emerges from the river and attacks. Had some fun coming up with a way for them to escape a bloody demise.

That chapter ends with the leader of the antagonists worrying about the toll the dangers are taking on the groups unity and if he has enough pull to keep them together to achieve his ends. Then I started in on the next chapter focusing on my protagonists as they begin their journey through the jungle to reach the same final location. Of course the path isn't going to be easy for them either. Some of the challenges will be geographical, but I have some monstrous elements in store for them too. Harryhausen creatures all around.

Of cours this meant I had to listen to some Harryhausen music. "Jason and the Argonauts" is one of Bernard Herrman's most bombastic and colorful adventure scores. Fit great with the monstrous creature attack that I started the writing out with, especially the music for the Talos scene in the film.

Stats for the evening:

11/22/16

Page Start: 161

Page End: 169

Word Count Start: 69360

Word Count End: 72625

Nanowrimo Word Count: 44993

Music:

• Jason and the Argonauts – Bernard Herrmann
• Fire and Ice – William Kraft

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 21

I got another late start today. We are hosting Thanksgiving again, so when I get home from the office I try to get some stuff down around the house. So I was messing around for a good while before I finally had dinner and then sat down to write. I was afraid I was going to end up barely meeting my goal, so I just focused on the task and kept writing.

I was even able to ignore the cat who came in to remind me when his snack time arrived with some yelling and a gentle tap on the arm. But other than a quick break for his snack, I kept writing and writing and writing. I actually passed by target by about 1000 words, which brings me ever so much closer to my final goal for the contest. That's great news, because I'm thinking that I'm not going to get much more writing done this week. We'll have to see.

What helped me keep writing was working on a pretty exciting action sequence, that popped into my head on break at the office. It made for a surprising peril and it actually leads directly into the original peril I thought up for this scene. Back to back dangers really put the characters on their toes. They were fracturing before, but now a couple of them are really questioning what the hell they are doing in this jungle hell.

As for the musical selections, well Goldsmith always writes great action cues. Both these scores deal with characters in and around water, so it seemed fitting for the writing tonight.

The stats:

Page Start: 153

Page End: 161

Word Count Start: 65513

Word Count End: 69360

Nanowrimo Word Count: 41728

Music:

• Deep Rising – Jerry Goldsmith
• Congo – Jerry Goldmith

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 20

I had planned to get some writing done on Saturday and maybe even get some more done on Sunday. But Saturday turned out to be a bit of a bust, so I was only able to get writing done today. Still traveling up the dark river with my antagonists. They are getting closer to their goal and things aren't going quite as well as they hoped. There is tension in the ranks, and they are about to run into a big challenge. I'll be tackling that tomorrow. But for today I got to write as the misanthrope for a bit. That was fun.

Not much else to add. I'm still having fun writing, even though i'm still a bit nervous about overworking this section of the story. I'm really curious to see how it reads and how much trimming it will need.

Here are the stats for today:

Page Start: 146

Page End: 153

Word Count Start: 62474

Word Count End: 65513

Nanowrimo Word Count: 37881

Music:

• Ben Hur (1959) – Miklos Rozsa
• Dragonheart – Randy Edelman

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 17

Got a bit of a late start tonight so I'm going to keep this one the short side. Had a bit of trouble getting back into the mind of the loathsome antagonist. But once i got there it wasn't too bad. I covered the first peril they run into and then they get to talking about some of the legends around the river they are traveling. One of the concepts in this story is that there are all these stories and legends that permeate this world. But some cultures see the same events in different ways. As they are talking this occurs with one story being about the birth of a glorious kingdom, and the other seeing it a corrupt race perpetuating itself.

I had a good conversation with my wife about one of my protagonists who was feeling a bit one note. She gave me some good insight into the mind of someone who strives so hard because they are insecure about themselves. That element is missing from this character, who is coming across more like a straight up bitch. I think my second draft will build on those insecurities a bit more, giving her a bit more depth and maybe even making her sympathetic at times.

Well that's all for tonight.

Stats:

Page Start: 139

Page End: 146

Word Count Start: 59506

Word Count End: 62474

Nanowrimo Word Count: 34842

Music:

• Dragon Age 2 – Inon Zur
• Red Sonja – Ennio Morricone
• Sword and Sorcery Spectacular – Basil Poledouris

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 15

Well it finally happened. I started act two. Yay! I got my protagonists on the Path of Trials and my antagonists traveling up the river toward their final destination. Now I'll get to write all kinds of challenges and perils for them to encounter and attempt to survive. I have a few already planned out. Some are environmental hazards. Some are wild creatures roaming the jungles. Some are traps laid out to prevent treasure seekers. And some will be generated by conflict between the characters as the path becomes more and more difficult.

This is actually one of the original portions of the story I thought up when the idea for the story first tickled my brain. I was reading about the Maya, and how their ruins were hidden in the jungle and the perils that archeologists encountered trying to find them. I suddenly had an idea of a fantasy adventure story set in jungle setting similar to that. I'd never read a fantasy story that used that kind of setting before. So I daydreamed up some of obstacles, some based on the history of the Maya book I was reading. Others based on fantasy tropes. I think I've got a good mix going and it should make for some exciting writing and I hope reading.

Writing from the perspective of a particularly loathsome antagonist right now. Its a bit challenging, because he isn't a very bright guy, but he is cunning. He isn't super observant and pretty much only aware of what he wants and needs. A very in the moment kind of guy. It is proving fun to write but also a bit of a challenge, especially after writing for four well educated and very pious women. This guy is a brutal pig.

Stats for the evening:

Page Start: 132

Page End: 139

Word Count Start: 56389

Word Count End: 59506

Nanowrimo Word Count: 31874

Music:

• The Hobbit (playlist) – Howard Shore

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 14

Didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so I wasn't really feeling the writing bug tonight either. But I pushed ahead anyway and actually met my goal. Most of what was happening was the acolytes going through some final ceremonies and rituals before they start on the Path of Trials. Again, I'm not sure how much of this will end up in the final draft. It feels right to be adding all these details to the world I'm creating, but how much of this is going to be interesting to a reader? Not sure.

But since I'm using the perspective of the different acolytes as they experience these rituals, we are getting some good character stuff in there too. In addition, the High Priestess tells us a bit more about what is actually at stake on this Path of Trials during he ritual. It is really spelled out for the first time here, and I think that works fine.

So my next writing session will have the four girls starting on the path and finally, finally heading into act 2. No really they are. :)

And yeah, I was listening to some Star Wars scores today. But in all honesty Star Wars is primarily a fantasy story with science fiction trappings. The music especially isn't particularly sci-fi. But it really falls into the swashbuckling adventure score mode of the Golden Age. I know these scores so well, they' don't distract me, but do inspire... well except for "The Jedi Steps and Finale" track from The Force Awakens. That is such a great build up, I just have to stop and listen to it.

Stats for the evening.

Page Start: 126

Page End: 132

Word Count Start: 53463

Word Count End: 56389

Nanowrimo Word Count: 28757

Music:

• Star Wars: A New Hope – John Williams
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens – John Williams

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 12

So this is the second weekend day I'm working on my novel for NaNoWriMo and I wasn't sure how well it would go. I wasn't really feeling the writing bug tonight, but I have a bunch of stuff to get done tomorrow and I wasn't sure when I'd get my writing time in. So I decided to give it a shot, and even thought about splitting my word count goal over today and tomorrow.

Surprisingly once I got started I was able to meet my word goal and get some important character stuff added to the story. As I mentioned I have four acolyte protagonists. I've been bouncing around between two of them primarily - the queen bee character and the rogue character. I've also go the bookworm who got her scene earlier in the week. I finally had some time to work on the Jock character. Yeah I'm kind of giving them these stereotypical names in the blog, but they are all a bit more rounded than those descriptions indicate. In fact my "jock" character is actually dealing with what she thinks is a loss of faith in herself and the Goddess. She's struggling with the idea of even attempting the Trials that will lead to full priestesshood. But her and the queen bee characters are intense rivals (at least in queen bee's eyes) so I have some fun with the sparks they generate whenever they run into each other.

But it was nice writing in the jock's head for a bit and giving her perspective on some of the events that have happened up to this point. I'm feeling like this is the end of act 1 (finally) and that once they start on that Path of Trials, act 2 will really kick in. That should occur in the next writing session or two.

All told a productive night. But I'm done for the week. That's fine because I just hit my halfway point in word count for NaNoWriMo. Right on schedule!

Tonight's stats:

Page Start: 120

Page End: 126

Word Count Start: 50542

Word Count End: 53463

Nanowrimo Word Count: 25,831

Music:

Sodom and Gomorrah – Miklos Rozsa

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 10

Well I wasn't intending on writing tonight, but I decided to go ahead and give it a shot anyway. I wanted to get ahead in my word count in anticipation of Thanksgiving weekend. But I was a little confused on where to take the story next. I know where the next big beat is, but for some reason I was having a bit of trouble visualizing how to get to it.

So I'm not sure how much of this chapter will end up in the final version. I had my rogue character talking to her friend about her encounter with the misanthrope. It was fun to craft the conversation, but I'm not sure how much new or interesting material is revealed. All it might have done was given the friend a bit more opportunity to be fleshed out in the novel. She hasn't been in too many scenes yet and she will have an important part to play. Of the four acolytes, she is the most devoted to the Goddess.

So the writing was a little tough tonight, but I met by goal and that was what I was shooting for.

Stats for the evening:

Page Start: 113

Page End: 120

Total Word Count Start: 47643

Total Word Count End: 50542

Nanowrimo Word Count: 22910

Music:

• Jupiter Ascending – Michael Giacchino
• John Carter of Mars – Michael Giacchino

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 9

So I had my first snag last night. I was all set to get some writing done, but life came in and smacked me around a bit. Between some bad news and all the craziness of the election I didn't want to do anything more than sit around and watch some mindless sitcom (Big Bang Theory if you must know). I'm a little worried only because my writing time is limited this week. Thursday and Friday are pretty much shot, and I doubt I will be able to write both days over the weekend. So I had to push past my typical goal of 2778 words a session. I managed 3709, not double, but a good boost. I've been over in my count this whole time and that is adding up. I'm at 20011 words so far. It is ahead of the average. That is where I want to be as we move closer to Thanksgiving - the time of no writing at all. :)

As for where I am in the story, well I just hit a new chapter where two characters play a bit of word fencing. I love writing conversation scenes (probably too much), and this one was a lot of fun. The time just flew by as I had each of these characters spar, giving hints as to their goals and how it will impact the protagonists and antagonists. Both of these characters feel they are puppet masters of sorts, but that is for the reader to decide when the story is done.

That section made me realize that one of the themes of this novel is going to be faith versus cynicism.  I never really thought about it in those terms, but that is one of the cruxes of conflict in the story. My protagonists are acolytes to The Great Goddess. They're actions are motivated by their belief in the path the Goddess sets before them. The antagonists are motivated by greed, fear and a world view that doesn't allow for faith in anyone but themselves (and sometimes not even that). I think that that time spent really fleshing out there backstories and perspectives of these six character will keep them from being one dimensional. I think the reader will really understand where they are coming from, and even sympathize with the antagonists on some level. When these two meet it will be a clash not only of arms, but also of ideals. And since I'm writing it, neither one will escape unscathed.

I don't think this is the only theme in the story, but it was made very clear in the dialogue scene I wrote tonight. In On Writing Stephen King feels that themes aren't something a writer should focus on in the first draft. They should be worked in during the later drafts, to give extra texture and depth to the novel. But identifying them early on it is always a good thing.

Stats for tonight:

Page Start: 103

Page End: 113

Word Count Start: 43934

Word Count End: 47643

Music:

• Gods of Egypt – Marco Beltrami
• The Monkey King – Christopher Young

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 7

Got started a little late tonight, but was still able to meet my word count. Tonight's writing was a lot of description. I'm not sure how much of it is going to end up in the final draft. I usually find that going into too much detail of settings or movement through the settings can actually end up confusing the reader. But leave too much out and you aren't actually giving the reader enough to flesh out in their mind. It is a delicate balance I think.

In this case, I have my protagonist rogue character sneaking around a temple complex. I went into a lot of details about her sneaking around guards, staying in the shadows and climbing walls. Fun to imagine all these details, but I wonder how it will all read.

What was interesting was fleshing out a bit of her backstory during this sequence. The reason she is going to all this trouble is to talk to another one of her race. She's been living among humans for a long time, so she is excited to meet someone like her. But as I mentioned in my last post, this antagonist is a misanthrope. So their dialogue was quite a bit of fun to write, as the protagonist goes from perky and cheerful, to confused, to disturbed, to outright terrified by the antagonist. Yeah it was good.

Here are the stats for tonight:

Page Start: 97

Page End: 103

Word Count Start: 40850

Word Count End: 43934

Music:

• Princess Mononoke – Joe Hisaishi
• Wonder Woman – Christopher Drake

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 6

Got in some good writing today. Finished one chapter and started in on another. Leading up to the moment when one of the protagonists actually interacts with one of the antagonists. It should be a bit of fun to write. The protagonist is a curious rogue character. The antagonist she chooses to meet with is a cynical, bitter rogue character, who pretty much hates everyone. It should make for some entertaining conversation to write.

I'm nearing the end of Act One here. The middle act is going to be the main journey/adventure portion of the story. I'm looking forward to seeing how my characters deal with each other and the perils in store for them.

Here are the stats for the day.

11/6/16

Page Start: 89

Page End: 97

Word Count Start: 37854

Word Count End: 40850

Music:

• Conan the Barbarian (Complete) – Basil Poledouris

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 3

So I reread what I wrote last night and did some slight editing. Mostly tightening up some repetition (my biggest fault in the first draft). Since last night was a rough one, I knew that what I wrote was needing some work.

One aspect of this novel (and many fantasy novels) is the journey. My antagonists are on a journey as the story starts and they eventually run into my protagonists who start their journey later in the story to the same goal. I need to balance story with world description, something I don't usually do too much of in my thriller/horror stuff. But i'm having fun describing the lands the antagonists are traveling through as well as their adventures and interactions with other characters.

The problem with the world last night was that a lot of that journey material was missing. So I added some good description where I could and actually used the antagonist's musings to feed on the environment around him. They on a slow river heading into a jungle Heart of Darkness style. I had some fun with the jungle setting affecting how this poor guy is feeling about the whole mission.

This mini rewrite helped me feel more confident as I got into the new material. This included a lot of description of The Great Southern Temple that plays a key role in the story. Had lots of fun painting a word picture of this ancient and colossal place. I may even get to use the Lovecraftian favorite adjective - cyclopean!

In any case, it was a good night of writing, and Jerry Goldsmith and Morton Steven's epic score to Masada made it even better. I'll take tomorrow off and then either Saturday or Sunday will be another writing day.

Stats for this this evening.

11/3/16

Page Start: 83

Page End: 89

Word Count Start: 34574

Word Count End: 37854

Music:

• Masada (Parts 1 through 4) – Jerry Goldsmith and Morton Stevens

NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 2

Today at work was a bit of a soul sucker. So it was hard for me to get back into the world of the novel. But I pushed myself and met my word count for the day. I finished a chapter and started a new one. I'm playing around with POV in this novel. I usually stick to one character in most of my horror/thriller stories. But with so many characters in this fantasy story I'm actually jumping around quite a bit.

I'm eight chapters in so far. The first three chapters were from one of the protagonists point of view. There are four protagonists. The next three chapters were from one of the antagonists point of view, and there are four primary antagonists. Chapter seven actually jumped between all four protagonists as they experienced a ritual in different ways. I felt it gives the reader insight into each of these women and how they are going to view the coming adventures. Chapter eight is starting with a different antagonist, but I'm not sure I'm going to switch away from him. I kind of like the perspective he gives everything.

Hopefully this experiment works. I try not to jump around too much, but I think I can pull it off in this story.

Stats for the evening:

Page Start: 76

Page End: 83

Word Count Start: 31672

Word Count End: 34574

Music:

• Copernicaus' Star - Able Korzeniowski
• Braveheart - James Horner