Barely a writer

I already knew in high school that I was bleeding words onto pages. I had been doing it since I was eight. But when I read "Worlds of Wonder" by David Gerrold, I started to see the art of craft. I've read plenty of "how to write" kinds of books since, but none stuck with me as much. One of the biggest lessons that stuck with me was a single page titled "The First Million Words." Those million words, Gerrold puts it, are all practice. No matter what happens to the words after you write them, they're practice. I loved that perspective. 

I'm barely a writer because I haven't got a word footprint to prove otherwise. I just haven't had enough practice doing what I'm doing. I certainly don't think that there is anything magical about any arbitrary number. Its more about awareness of the material, just as a carpenter becomes intimate with dead trees. It wasn't the number, its the eye for craft. I want to get better because I love the material so much I want to do it honors. As I said, I've been bleeding words onto pages for a long time.

I do recognize that there will never be an end to practicing. There is no finish line because there is no way to complete art. Art is our collective soul speak, to the best of our abilities. From the first cave paintings to the most post of modern, we are all trying to connect through our passions. Our perspectives are lenses bending the light of the world into wonderful rainbows of color. 


I hope to share with you many words, but the number won't matter as much as your enjoyment. Although this is a learning curve for me, I want it to be the most entertaining curve it can be. After all, without a reader the words are quite useless. Let me know when I succeed in entertaining, let me know when I fail at any step. I appreciate your time and your mind, I don't intend to waste either.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Potential meets opportunity

Hello cosmic fam,

I know that I am still very new to writing books, but I'm a fan of outlines. Outlines allow me to see the overall structure of the story before I start working the details. It might just be that I'm a visual learner and I generally like to see the big picture.

In any case, I have already begun writing the sequel to Hunting Artemis, but this week marks the first time I have really seen the whole shape of the story fill out. Obviously, much of it is still in a fluid state, but the outline I have now (4th? 5th?) seems to fit snugly. I'm energized by it.

As I might have mentioned elsewhere, I've wanted to make books in one form or another since I was eight. I'm still learning how I go about making any book, let alone a series, but I'm delighted to have the opportunity to write for you all. I'm excited to see how this story evolves.

I want to honor both my inspiration and my readers by what I make. I want the story to live in your head separate from the page. When I fail at this, I will learn. If I succeed in this, I has happy face. Let me know either way so I can learn what I need to and smile when I hope to.

As the shape of my sequel takes form in my mind's eye, so too the first sights of the general structure of the rest of the series. The idea of Hunting Artemis struck me like a bolt of lightning while I was trying to write the group of short stories that would later become my short anthology Cherished Convictions. I wrote Isisa's story as it poured out of my head more or less, and I knew the big picture but never saw it take form in an outline until now. Now that I am beginning to see the lay lines of the landscape and I'm excited to share it and learn from the journey.

I can only hope that the story weaved is interesting and entertaining to those of you who would honor me by reading it. To those who have read my work, and to those reading this here blog, thanks! I appreciate your support and patronage. Have a terrific day!

Sequel Writing

I have begun penning my first sequel (to "Hunting Artemis") and I'm bouncing off the walls excited about it. Sequels tend to be my favorite kind of stories (I know many people hate movie sequels but I find them fun even if the plots don't match the potential) because the characters have been framed up and the action can really hit the glass right at the jump.

While I have been outlining I have been horrified by the news and current events, and I am using those feels to pour onto the page. When I created Isisa and her idealist revolution I knew it would be a perfect cast into which I could pour such frustrations but I had no idea it would be in such a horrible climate. 

So many things have changed in the world around me since I first thought of Pollux Max, but few of those changes have caused the basic plot to be altered. Essentially I have only discovered new details to paint with.

As I have been on this journey I have focused largely on learning as much as I can through this process. All I ever wanted to do (since being 8 years old) was write stories and share them with the world. Now I am doing that, and I am trying to hone my skills and develop my creative process so that I can honor my readers through my work.

I'm well aware that "Hunting Artemis" (link to read it) ended in far too cliff hanger fashion, and I want to give those of you who read it a truly remarkable tour de force in the upcoming sequel. I am planning on finishing Isisa's saga back to back so I can take a wide angle view in my writing.

Your thoughts and feedback during this process is invaluable to me, so any messages you can send me about any of my writing will be appreciated and beneficial as I grow. I consider each reader to be more precious than gold. I am honored and my goal is to be a good use of your time.

Looking to the future, I hope to look back on the sequels I am writing and learn from them. The sequels and series I write in the future should benefit from every lesson. In the meantime, I hope that I can entertain you and give you a good story to remember, so that when you look back you will say that you were glad you found this site and this author. I only hope that I have honored you and that you will come back and see how I've grown.

Thanks! Have a great day!

Rimworld Storytelling

Games have always fascinated me, but the ones that hook me are the ones that tell a complex and evolving storyline. Any game can be fun to play, but my favorite games are those that are fun to share and tell stories about. 

My Manasaloka Base

Staples of that kind of genre are megalithic games like Minecraft, which cast a long shadow filled with new stories daily (YouTube can attest this fact). Rogue like games such as FTL and Dwarf Fortress offer truly nail-biting moments where you feel invested in the outcome. Big sandbox games like Mount and Blade: Warbands, Elder Scrolls & Fallout let players tell their own unique story by the order and manner they tackle the various obstacles. 

Rimworld is another such experience. My recent game was an ode to the triple goddesses of Hinduism: Sarasvati, Lakshmi and Parvati. I deliberately chose three women to be my initial colonists and named them Saras, Laksh and Parva and set out to build them a spaceship to "send them back to the stars."

My first wanderer to join the colony named Hamsa, a noble. Worthless in cleaning hauling and manual labor (so often needed toward the beginning of a colony) I set him to work on being my primary researcher. 

Later, a wanderer named Raven joined the colony and I was so glad to find her more useful. She was immensely helpful until I discovered her setting fire to the main resource stockpile. It was only then that I checked her personality chart and discovered that she was a pyromaniac.

Such people are rarely (according to the internet) invited to join colonies and I soon learned why. Even though she had brand new clothes on her back, a spacious room of her own and plenty of food in her belly she still found it perfectly necessary to set fires everywhere she went. 

Hamsa had a heart attack and died (maybe due to all pyromania under the mountain) but I buried him in a sarcophagi and discovered that "art" depicting his life was carved into the side of it. This little detail impressed me greatly. After he was buried the other colonists would periodically pay him their respects. 

Raven soon had a sarcophagi of her own, and though she had been in the colony for a short time, Parva and Saras had both developed friendships with her and were glad to see her honored and remembered. These little touches help mold a richer story told through the game characters that I rarely see in games.

Parva got injured in a raid or something and was in critical condition with a major infection when I got the first crytosleep pods constructed so I decided that rather than lose one of my starting goddesses it would be best to just put her to sleep to wait for the ride off-world.

I did finish building that space ship and the three goddesses are waiting (what could take forever) for the random event that brings the AI persona onto the field to send them back to the stars. I saved the file to return to later (maybe messing with the storyteller AI to help increase the chances of the AI drop) but I consider the save a success because it lent me a good story to tell about one of my first games of Rimworld.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day!

Alien Buttons and Fractals

One of my friends loves the original Alien movie, and while he was showing me the new Alien: Isolation game we decided to re-watch the 1979 classic sci-fi. What a time capsule, that film!

One of the things that stood out to me was the self destruct panel's keyboard toward the end of the film. I asked my buddy to pause it so I could read what it said and I was blown away by what I saw.

 

My last blog post (link) discussed my new-found appreciation for Manasa Devi and my decision to proudly release "Scaling Oath Mountain" -link on the day of Nag Puja, and what I had not planned on was watching Alien will my buddy and seeing the words "yoni" "pranic" "shakti" "lingha" "padme" and "hum" which all relate quite clearly to Tantric Shivaism that I have been learning about. 

The "lingha" symbol pointing upward is an obvious reference to the Linga of Shiva. The "yoni" symbol pointing downward is in reference to the Yoni of Shakti. Together the two symbols form the altar associated with Shiva from time immemorial. Pranic lift is a reference to the prana energy so spoken of in Tantra and Kundalini texts. The number 777 might be a reference to the seven chakras.

What's more is I discovered that the mantra "Om Mani Padme Hum" is widely known in Buddhism and a favorite for those searching for the divine mother's compassion and is said to encompass the entirety of the Buddha's teaching. What's more is that these connections were brought to me on the day of Naga Puja itself, while watching a sci-fi where the alien is referred to (albeit in the offshoot Alien vs Predator) as the "serpent or snake." 

 

Fractals abound.

If you are interested in learning more I found a great expose on this keyboard here:
https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/12/01/alien/

"Scaling Oath Mountain" release

To my cosmic fam,

I have recently come to appreciate the deep mystical wisdom imbedded in the Vedas and the Hindu cosmology at large. I started my studies with the two snake divinities Kadru and Vasuki. It was with their inspiration that I wrote the world dragons in my story "Scaling Oath Mountain."

Read or download it for free here:
www.rabbitrevolutions.com/som

Since then I have learned a good deal more (with only a thimble-full of understanding) and I recently discovered a wonderful Devi by the name of Manasa. The daughter of Shiva, noted to have helped him with the deadly poison he drank to save the world.

Manas is often translated as intellect or mind or soul. Snakes are esoteric symbols of kundalini and pranic energies. The snake's distinctive hiss is used as a metaphor for your breath. As an aspect of Mahadevi, Manasa is the goddess of tantra and control over the mind and breath.

Naga Puja is the annual festival to honor the world's snakes so I can think of no better time for me to release "Scaling Oath Mountain" to the world than this auspicious time.

The geography of Rodauce is based upon the land of my grandmother, the beautiful and diverse landscape of Ecuador. When I visited Ecuador I was awestruck by the variety of truly breathtaking landscapes. Off the coast is a dozen or so islands lifted from the Greek archipelago.

The rivalry between my two principle cities is inspired and based upon the fierce vendetta between Athens and Sparta. I hope the map provided is helpful. The war is told through the eyes of four characters as they try to find their place amongst the madness.

I offer this humble story to you and the world in the name of Shakti-Manasa-Mahadevi and a happy Naga Puja. I hope you all enjoy it. Please feel free to give feedback as I am always learning about my craft.

I love you all.

Cherished Convictions Launch

To my cosmical family,

 

A few of you may notice that the first two stories are already (in a previous version) available on my website. My original intent was to write a short story and post it on the site once per month. In the end, I was four short stories in when lightning struck my heart. The idea for my first novella “Hunting Artemis” caught fire in my head and I couldn’t do anything but get it out.

So I broke my new years resolution (to write more short stories) in order to pursue the story of Isisa. I put them aside knowing that I would return. I added “Oversight” after my sister brought the show “Dexter” into my life. I added the Appendix because I wanted to give some canon background to Pollux Max. Now I’m sharing the collection while working on the sequel to “Hunting Artemis.”

I welcome feedback as always, I am still an apprentice author and I can use every bit while I sharpen the tool between the ears. I appreciate each and every person who read the first book, and thanks to anyone who will read “Cherished Convictions.” I hope to grow and do this whole thing better as time rolls.

For those of you interested in meta: I consider the universe the “Intrepidverse” and so far these stories are part of the “Indigo” Epoch. More on that at some later time. Be Awesome!

Link: http://www.rabbitrevolutions.com/intrepid/cc.php

Yours,

Derek