authorisedgardian

[authorisedgardian]

I know I haven't posted in quite a long time, there is a good reason for that. My book is very close to being complete, I'm just in the last stages of reading through it myself and doing some final edits.

Once I've done that then I'll be looking for some more beta readers. If anyone is interested in books such as The Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid or honstly just mythology in general then let me know as you're very likely to enjoy my work as they are my biggest inspirations.

Other than history, as the book really starts to get going I introduce necromancy and that certainly begins to play a much larger role. One of my main goals with having necromancy in my book is to show the true potential it has, I hate how so much media just leaves it at big horde of skeletons or zombies. Sure that does have its place but I end up going so much deeper with undead and necromancers in general.

If anyone is interested then reblog this and let me know, I am happy to accept a few beta readers now if you fit what I've said above.

[authorisedgardian]

This post I'm going to mainly discuss chapter 5 of my book, maybe small bits of chapter 6 as well.

One of my main characters who I admit is loosely based on Aeneas from The Aeneid, who has become leader of the Human rebels, has now led his people to a new and at least to them unknown land. This chapter is very much going into them finding this land, setting ashore and begining to lay down the foundations for what they hope will later become a great city.

As they begin building some basic homes, in chapter 6 I have my other race preparing to follow them, of course can't let what they view as disobedient rebels to get away. Both of these chapters are the beginning of what will later become something much larger but that is something I won't spoil.

I am also curious to see what side people take after I release the book and all the information is openly out there.

[authorisedgardian]

Me every single day of my life. I'm happy that I'm getting close to finishing my first fantasy book but in my mind I am already multiple books ahead. My writing speed doesn't keep up with the speed that I can think of more story.

Even though I'm still on Book 1, I've been taking notes for the third book in the series that I'm writing even though it will likely be a few years or more before I even start it.

On my current chapter that I'm writing, my favourite race that I've made is currently fighting what is basically an underwater creature that can sort of do necromancy. I don't want to go into too many details or it will take up this entire post but anyone interested will see when they read my book. Even as I write this, I'm thinking much further ahead, but I suppose that's all part of being a writer and making sure things actually connect and make sense in the context of your world.

[authorisedgardian]

Since I started writing I really have searched some very odd things. Sometimes very random things that likely make me look very suspicious but at the same time I have learnt so many things that I never would even knew existed if I never started writing. Just to give a few examples, honestly quite a lot of random historical people whose name's I somehow thought of when naming my own characters. That alone has taken up much of my time just reading about these supposedly famous historical people.

Then on the complete other side in one of my later chapters I have one of my races who have made a city basically inside a volcano and I did an absurd amount of research into rocks, lava, magma, how volcanoes work, whether certain aspects would really make any kind of sense and many other odd things.

Though the worse things I have researched are most likely to do with necromancy, I mean anyone who has a load of searches looking up the dead/undead and trying to find out if there are any ancient necromancy books probably look a tad bit suspicious (Not that I secretly want to be a necromancer or anything).

But honestly I think it is all worth it, I really enjoy having the excuse to learn all of this stuff that without writing I never would have even considered.

[authorisedgardian]

I'm currently writing chapter 27 of my book, now 90,000+ words in and it got me thinking about chapter 3 and 4 of my book so in this post I'm going to speak about them a bit. I will be leaving some major parts out of this post but there will be very slight spoilers for my unreleased book ahead.

Both chapter 3 and 4, even though it is still early within my story are actually some of my favourite parts which surprised even me. I had expected any of the chapters on necromancy of perhaps some of the battles to be my favourite but no. In these chapters the Humans who started a rebellion and wanted to live a life free from others influence, end up up at sea until they reach some unknown ruins. After exploring they discover they are actually inhabited and this is where my race influenced from Japanese mythology come in that are based on the various Yokai of myth, I won't reveal anymore than that.

When I first wrote about this new race I only planned for them to be a minor part of the overall story, maybe even just these few chapters but as I continued writing about them, they really grew on me. When they first meet, they of course speak different languages, which I don't just have them all understand each other straight away. I think having multiple languages in a world is nice and makes sense if they had zero interactions with each other in the past and had entirely different upbringings. To summarise they do get to know each other and the Humans end up helping them in a way that I would rather not spoil too much.

In the end I actually ended up changing the "ending" of this little plotline as I actually felt truly guilty for one of the only times ever in my life. Originally there was going to be lets say a lot of murder but I felt bad for the leader of my new race and I instead had them go a different pathway which then allowed me to make them into a larger part of my story in the future.

Next post I'll probably speak about chapter 5, maybe 6 a little bit.

[authorisedgardian]

Not enough stories or even media in general utilise necromancy to its fullest potential. If I knew necromancy I would go around and bring back to life all of my favourite historical people. I bet more people would devote the time to finding the tombs of ancient people such as Genghis Khan or one of my personal favourites, Alexander the Great whose tomb has still not been know as far as I'm aware. Instead no it's always here are a few skeletons, if you're lucky the odd zombie here and there.

So many possibilities that never get put to use, I know probably in part due to people viewing necromancy as such a negative thing. Even with skeletons which are seemingly more common, why always make them so weak, I can think of multiple ways to make even a simple skeleton more special. If you still want it basic then just having some cool armour would be better sometimes compared to all the bare boned ones walking around. Obviously there are exceptions to everything I'm saying and there are some cool necromancers in media out there but I feel like it is usually worse more than it is good.

Just to note my book fill feature necromancy and I will definitely be going deeper than just simple skeletons, sure it may start sort of like that but it quickly progresses beyond that.

[authorisedgardian]

In this post I'll be writing about chapter 1-2 of my book and basically without too many spoilers, I'll be going into the general theme of the chapters. I'm going to avoid using names and saying certain parts just so I don't give away the entire plots before the book is even out.

As most people do I'll start at the beginning with chapter 1. To begin I will be introducing two races and this chapter pretty much lies the foundation for everything that is come in the future so I don't want to spoil it too much just yet. To summarize the entire chapter with one sentence, some of the Humans get angry at other race, start rebellion which lead to them fighting an impossible war (Of course it is deeper than that). This sets us up for the next part.

Chapter 2 is where I begin showing my influence from The Odyssey, a large portion of Humans are escaping by sea and of course run into some unexpected troubles along the way. I would say this is where mythology really becomes a part of my story and leads to one of my favourite early chapters (slight spoiler here) that introduces a third race inspired by Asian mythology.

But I will speak more about that in the future. I know I've been very vague with what I've said so far but otherwise there woudn't really be a reason to read my book would there?

[authorisedgardian]

I figured it's about time I actually start talking about my book a little bit seeing as I'm now over 80,000 words in, so let's begin with the genre and my inspirations.

Like many out there I am writing an Epic Fantasy with some darker parts to the world, but as to my inspirations that I believe is where I differ from most. I'm a massive history/mythology nerd, I've spent my entire life reading classics such as The Iliad, Odyssey and The Aeneid. I've of course read others too, one of my favourite books is actually The Epic of Gilgamesh. But back too my point, my books and short stories take very heavy inspiration from all of these ancient books that I've read and I feel like that has allowed me to create a more unique world that still has a sense of familiarity for those who enjoy history or mythology. If you're a history fan then I'm sure you'll enjoy my book when it is released, I would be surprised if you didn't

Next up, maybe my next post, I'll discuss a bit more about the beginning of my book, probably the first 2-3 chapters or so.

[authorisedgardian]

This is me today or pretty much any day. I always have so much I want to write down but so little time to actually do so.

Today I've actually done quite well and I'm finishing up chapter 23 of my book, a chapter that I've been wanting to write and have been thinking about for many months. One of main characters who becomes a necromancer is basically returning to his old home in order to recruit more to his side. A lot more happens than that but I doubt I could fit that into this post without it being way too long.

[authorisedgardian]

I'm like this except it's for the title of my book/books, arguably one of the most important parts. I'm now roughly 78,000 words in and I still haven't decided on a title, I've definitely put a lot of thought into it and many notes but still the right one hasn't come to me yet.

I think one day I just need to sit and stare at it for a while until I decide. The actual book itself I don't really have any issue getting myself to write, even chapter titles I manage with, it's just the actual book titles.

[authorisedgardian]

I saw this today and thought I would share, it's odd timing because the past month or so I have been thinking exactly this. I may be wrong or my information might be out of date and do correct me if I am wrong but I think there are maybe only two western authors who have had their manga turned into anime. When I say anime I do mean Asian as I personally think western animation is very different.

Recently I've been thinking how probably after I finish my first book I would love to adapt it into a manga and one day get an anime made of it. A probably extremely ambitious goal but might as well aim high and go for what I truly want.

I also think at least in the modern day that animation can bring better adaptations compared to live action, especially with books/manga that involve large armies, sieges or anything like that. Of course there will likely always be exceptions though.

If anyone does know any anime that have been created from western authors then do share who they are and I'll likely look them up.

[authorisedgardian]

I stopped worrying very long ago, I just accept it at this point.

I think too many people are afraid of making things too dark even when it is supposed to be and then it takes any impact away from the story. Fair enough if you worry about yourself when writing certain scenes but do not let it take away from your story/book, let your readers feel how you feel.

I've definitely got some darker parts in my book, many to do with necromancy but also some without, early on there is one scene I have in mind that will probably stand out amongst the others. Honestly it would probably be considered a war crime by modern standards so good thing my book isn't set in the modern day :).

[authorisedgardian]

I've done this in the middle of the night before. At first I said to myself that I would remember (I rarely did remember), but then I decided it's best to just note something down to help myself remember. At first I was just like the image above but over time in my very tired state I have started to put some more coherent notes together.

I remember one day I had an idea for an entire story/book and it actually kept me up because I couldn't stop thinking about it. I ended up not making any notes but fortunately this is one that I remembered in the morning.

A small tip I can give is either keep a notebook nearby or simply have somewhere on your phone where you can easily type your ideas down.

[authorisedgardian]

Although I always have some form of plan or idea on where I want to go and how I'm going to make it happen, I've lost count of how many times I've decided to change certain aspects or rarely even do something entirely different. I am at the mercy of my own brain, I merely follow along.

Even my first chapter which introduces two of the races that are present in my world and their relationship with each other, I've gone back to change over time, mainly just adding certain details or improving already existing ones.

I remember in I believe chapter 2 I actually incorporate mythology into my book a bit more directly, I won't say exactly what happens but it is inspired mostly by The Odyssey.

[authorisedgardian]

Am I the only one who feels bad for killing off characters? I obviously do have characters die but some I just end up feeling connected to in a way and going a different route. Even if I am the one who created them, it sometimes makes me feel a bit guiilty, perhaps that's a good thing though. There is one scene where I won't spoil anything which might be hard but one of my characters and lets call them his followers for now discover some ruins and end up helping in a civil war. In short I had planned on them completely wiping out one side but towards the end I (or maybe I should say them as I do have them debate/argue on what to do) decided to go a different route which actually led to more opportunities later on in the story.

[authorisedgardian]

The stuggles of being a writer.

A shame that I have to actually finish my book before I get to read it. I enjoy writing it just as much but I am looking forward to finishing my first book and getting to read through it, even if I do know what's going to happen.

[authorisedgardian]

A well earned break.

To be fair I try not to judge my "progress" or amount I've done purely based on the amount of words put down alone. Remember it's also important to edit and even just thinking about what to write and planning it out at least helps me.