“In these vast lands, there are places and people beyond imagining. Because they are beyond the reach of the imagination, one must travel to reach them.”
—Seinnad Bek
Journeys Through the Eastern Provinces
Image by Fawnheart
If you're tired of reading books for writers where you have to plow through so much verbiage to learn anything, I'd like to introduce you to Rayne Hall, matriarch of pens and writer of writers.
She writes books on how to write books. Sit down with one of her books, and within fifteen minutes, you'll have half a dozen new and practical ideas to improve upon your own writer's craft. Invest in yourself, and check out one or more of her books in her Writer's Craft series. They will seriously change your life!
I'm reading Writing Scary Stories, and it contains such nuggets as:
The flavors of fear and how often to use them.
How the sounds of words make people feel different types of fear
Changing the elements of a scene to trigger different flavors of fear
A basic walkthrough of a scary plotline
And so much more.
Her books are fecking brilliant, I tell you. Plus she even took the time to email me back, which thrilled me so much. This is not an ad. I just think her work is well worth your time!
Ye olde shellphabet
Every new alphabet starts with letter collection! Currently, not assigned any sound, I am writing down a collection of shapes that could be useful.
After this stage, I'll choose the letters that fit the vibe best for a tropical island campaign where people scratch letters into seashells and assign them sounds.
Imagine it like this, but way better.
I don't have money for an artist.
Snow in Northumberland is not terribly unusual. But it is May, and the snow is falling in the corridor. No, actually, it is May, and the snow is falling where the corridor used to be.
The corridor appears to have absconded. And the rest of the manor too, actually. And Mother with her whip.
Looking out from the threshold of the Brown Room, there is no sign of Thornehall’s dim, second-story hallway. There is no sign of Mother who was pounding on the door, fury in heart, whip in hand, but a moment ago. There is nothing but a heavy mist and some thick flakes of snow.
My skin prickles, both for the sudden cold and for the sudden stillness. My ears still ring with her cries of, “Con-trol! Con-trol! Con-trol!” but there is nothing here but winter and fog.
I should be relieved, but it will be but a temporary relief at most; Mother will be furious that Thornehall has gone. Or that I have disappeared. And it shall not be long until I am better acquainted with the whip. There is little chance now that I shall avoid the whipping after this, especially since I have rankled her so much already this morning.
Without warning, the wind whips around the whole chamber, and it wobbles gently up and down. All the hair upon my body stands on end. I may be a girl of very little cleverness, but I am fairly certain that rooms ought not to rock like boats.
Would you like to see a discussion about how imaginary creature biology affects fictional language development? Verity from Hit Point Press and I talk about the cat language Eluran coming out in Humblewood 2 from Hit Point Press.
Come see me talk to Hit Point Press about a cat-based conlang (fictional language) called Eluran on June 28, 2024 streamed live on Hit Point Press' Youtube channel!
Shao hush'tlao'ya'zeem thov tao she'ngozh hem Hit Point Press ar wouzh'et she'ta lal'et Eluran shel Shao'tlo'uth'an oosashao oo'ngeh'oosaur!
Book 1 of the Peculiar Travels series is coming soon!
Meet our protagonist, Henrietta, a ho-hum, half-mad Victorian lass kept locked up in a room for her own safety when one day, a series of events transpire to free her.
But it's out of the frying pan and into the fire as she explores the seemingly abandoned city into which she has been yeeted with no supplies beyond an extra petticoat as one particular demon closes in.
Fans of intriguing characters, epic worlds, and steampunk fantasy should look out for Mother of Worms, coming soon!