New Story: Aloi Who Learned To Fly

Since I need some time away from my novel in progress, I decided to turn my eye on some stories I've had on the back burner. One that screamed at me the loudest is a young adult fantasy short story collection. I figured it would allow an opportunity to work on something fun and stress-free.

Elementia is a continent home to four countries. The cultures and people are defined by their varied landscapes--each ruled by one of the four elements. I begin my journey in the land of earth, Grovenglen. My goal over the next few months is to post new parts of the story on Wattpad. I'll add more each week as I edit. 

Here's the teaser:

"It was nearly one hundred generations since the Faeryfolk came to Elementia and settled in Grovenglen. The orators spoke of the days when they could flap their wings and lift themselves into the treetops rather than climb rope ladders. That ability, or gift, as the Elders called it, died off after they settled. The trees were so abundant that Faeries only needed to leap from branch to branch. 

Aloi was just like every other Faery child--content with tending to the family garden, trading with the mushroom gnomes, or floating in the Mirrored Pools. It wasn't until her junior brother Mick was caught in a high tree that Aloi discovered she wasn't at all like the other children. Can she keep her secret and avoid being sent to live with the Elders--or worse--banished from Grovenglen altogether?"

As always, Wattpad is FREE TO ALL. Just click the link, sign up, and read!---> Click here to read.

New Story: The Man With The Robot Wife

I posted a new short story on Wattpad today. This is one that has gone through four drafts and three different endings. It explores psychological pain, loneliness, friendship, and the impact of technology on every-day life.

Here's the teaser:

"Gage Barman, a hermit and neighborhood curiosity, owns a junk shop in a crumbling building located on the corner of a busy urban intersection. In an era where electronics are inexpensive enough to use and repurchase months later and Modified Biological Organisms are commonplace, customers to his shop are a rare occurrence. But on New Year's Eve, 2049, a friendly young police officer and M-Bo, Ely Lonnam, begins making regular purchases. Will Gage befriend his new customer despite his appearance or is he destined to continue his reclusive phobic ways?"

If this sounds like something you are interested in, you can read the story here. Votes and comments are always welcome and support my efforts for exposure. Enjoy! And remember, reading stories on Wattpad is FREE to all.

How Sharing Stories Can Help You Connect

As an artist, I always tend to be my harshest critic, my biggest bully. No story is good enough. No turn of phrase impactful enough. No word just right. It has taken me quite a few years to feel confident enough to share work. I recently joined the fold on Wattpad--a story sharing site hosting a spectrum of tales from tween fan faction to highly renowned authors like Paulo Coelho.

Wattpad is fun. It is first and foremost a community of story lovers; readers and writers alike. You can post short or long stories, serials that you update weekly, or novel-length work. There are groups to join and loads of inspiring and fun stories to discover. You can "vote" on any work simply by clicking the star icon on the page to show you liked it. You can also comment on any section of work and converse with the authors. All in all, it is a great platform to connect with an audience.

I invite you all to join in.  Read my work. Post your own work. Or simply connect with others who love stories as much as you do. Hope to see you there!

2012

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I, for one, have enjoyed stepping away from my fiction for a time and spending time with friends and family that I put on the back burner while pursuing publication.

As 2011 comes to end, I cannot help but reflect on the year as a whole. A lot has happened to me both inside and out. I took the effort to make this blog a priority. I helped start a writer’s group with two amazing and talented individuals that has become a cornerstone of my writing progress. I drummed up all the moxie I had and began seriously writing my first novel. I participated in National Novel Writing Month and discovered a potential that I never knew existed inside of me. I have released that little goblin living inside my head that whispered doubts in my ear and infused me with fear of failure.

I will reap all the benefits of these actions in 2012. By mid to late summer, my first book, The Bloodsong Swords, will arrive. My fiction baby will have been birthed, reared, and grown prepared to face the world on its own two feet. I know that not everyone will like it. I just hope that more people like it than not. 

It is an exciting story full of colorful characters and places that span over 1,900 years.  There are gangsters—a lot of gangsters—vying to fulfill an ancient prophecy and they all have supernatural powers. If I had a gun to my head, I would call it science fiction, but really, it is so much more than that. It is in essence an urban science fiction historical action thriller. Obviously, genre bending is going on in all directions. 

I dedicated December to my day job. Retail work takes on a completely new level of insanity during the holidays and I have had little free time to write. January will be a very important month. I still need to finish my first draft. Then the editing and rewriting begins. I am going to make a bold statement and say that 2012 will likely be the most important and pivotal year of my life. By the time 2013 rolls in, I will have transformed from an aspiring writer to a self-published author and life will never be the same again.

I want to thank everyone who has followed my journey thus far. I wish everyone an exciting and safe New Year’s celebration. Cheers to 2012!

National Novel Writing Month

I've done it! I am an official participant in NaNoWriMo 2011!  While I am both excited and terrified about the prospect of compiling a 50,000 word novel during the month of November, I know it's the right thing to do. This endeavor will force me to complete my work in progress and rid me of my bad habit of editing as I go. My strategy is to pace myself at 1700 words per day to make things more manageable.

If you're already a member, please feel free to add me as a writing buddy. You can find my profile here.

I will definitely keep you updated on my process during November. Wish me luck and cheers to shitty first drafts.

Parallel Earth (Alternate History)

Alternate history fiction (also known as alternative history, allohistory, or uchronie) is a subgenre of fiction that takes place in our world, yet has strayed from our actual history. This subgenre usually has a science fiction, literary fiction, or historical fiction emphasis and has been in use since as early as the 4^th century. Considering my personal science fiction bent, I prefer to call this subgenre Parallel Earth—the story takes place on Earth, but Earth of a parallel Universe where things are not quite like the Earth we live on. 

As a massive fan and writer of Magical Realism (the most popular current form of which is Urban Fantasy)—fiction that takes place in our real world but contains fantastical or magical elements—using a parallel Earth as a setting loosens up the boundaries and provides a wider range of fantasy elements for use. I have in fact created an entirely fictional Midwestern city so that I am not shackled by actual geography.

Working on a novel with characters that are centuries old has depended almost entirely on strategic divergence from the actual history of civilization in small ways. With 10 protagonists, 5 antagonists and 19 secondary characters that fill out my story, it makes for a lot of research. I have been very conscious of having these changes make sense and in many cases logically link up with actual developments in Earth’s history. I’ve done quite a bit of brushing up on ancient Roman history and culture and will have plenty more to do with several isolated times and places as referenced by the origins of my large cast of characters.

How do you readers out there feel about stories that take place on a parallel Earth?  Are you distracted by historical inconsistencies? Or do you welcome a view into what might be rather than what is?