Steelgods, Where Gods and Mortals Dance, and other odd shenanigans

Plans

I'm revising my upcoming plan, and for those who care...well here it is. For those who don't care, too bad. You'll get a real blog post soon, where I talk about how Starcraft 2's story is total bollocks. I might write about something else, too, once I get past midterm season.

Here's the new plan:
1. Re-read Might of the Steelgods for very basic edits. Nothing major, then we'll let it sleep.
2. Plan and begin WGMD edits. This is going to actually involve a lot more planning than usual. I might not even get to editing before the end of October, but I'll try. Maybe a good goal is to get half of it edited.
3. Get Might of the Steelgods to an Alpha, get it out to people to read. I want to have it in a submission edit before 2011. Yes, I'm serious about this.
4. Try and finish WGMD edits before 2011, if possible. I'm not certain if it is.
5. Still do Effulgent Corruption for Brandon's class or Steelgods Book 2. That will depend on how confident in Steelgods I am.

That's it.

Fun Facts


- I have written three complete books this year. Two YA and one Epic Fantasy.
- Total I have written ~350,000 words this year. Considering it is said your first million are practice, I'm getting a lot of practice in!
- I have written almost completely consistently this entire year. The exceptions are during Winter Semester when I didn't write every day, during August when I was slacking with Effulgent Corruption, and right now when I'm on break. But I am editing.
- Actual time writing books from nothing was: 5 months for WGMD, 1 month for Paradise Seekers, and 1 month for Steelgods. So seven months out of 9. Wait, when did I edit then? I'm confused. Maybe it was 4 months for WGMD. Must have been; that sounds accurate (January - April).
- Out of the 15+ places I submitted Paradise Seekers to, I've heard back from four. Thanks for making my postage worth it, guys.
- Just because I'm insane, I'm secretly considering writing Steelgods book 2 before the end of the year. Just like pick November and go while Alpha readers have Steelgods book 1. Hmm...

That's it from me. Expect posts less egocentric soon.

Bonus Round: Nathan can't sleep.

You probably follow this blog because you want to hear about writing. Now you get to hear about how I can't sleep, and I have school at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Yay!

Actually, this is just me rambling about writing and stuff, so unless you have some sort of an emotional investment in my writing career, you might prefer to not trouble yourself.

Quick Hits:

- Got my final back from Brandon Sanderson's class (hooray!). More details later, needless to say it was extremely helpful with WGMD ideas.
- On WGMD ideas: I've decided to edit it in October. And by edit I mean rewrite a good 1/3-1/2 of the book. It's a big task, but I think it would be worth it.
- More on WGMD: Tonight Bec and I did one of our famous "we should be sleeping, but instead we are talking about books" things, and I managed to figure out a lot of things to do to fix WGMD. This includes almost completely cutting a side-character's story arch. While certainly a "darling" (as Writing Excuses would call it), this guy's gotta go. He just overly complicates and already complicated plot, and axing him actually makes lots of things fall into place. There are lots of other bits as well, but knowing that, at last, I have a goal with editing makes it much easier.
- Steelgods Book One - As part of the previously mentioned brainstorming, Bec and I figured out the general gist of the rest of this Steelgods book. I also am going to make a timeline for ideas I've had and which books (in the series) I want them in, so I can stop wanting to put ideas I need to use later into this one. Bad. But knowing where I'm going is extremely helpful, and will accelerate writing, to be sure.
- Steelgods is also suffering from a problem Lacrymosa had: sitting on that line between epic adult fantasy and YA. I'm certain the series will probably transform into more adult as it progresses (as our protagonist ages at least six years over the course of the books), but as for what I'm writing now, it is hard to say. But, I figure there are worse problems one can have with a book, so I'm going to bite my lip and move on.
- Starting next week, I'm upping my minimum daily count from 2k to 3k. I had to work long hours last week (and this week) due to school starting and my job being understaffed, but after that it should calm down and I'll be back on track.

On a side note, a few things I've noticed/learned while writing Steelgods:

- I'm trying harder to make my sentences flow better, as well as make them shorter. I have a big problem with this.
- A few alpha readers mentioned Paradise Seekers starts slow. I am doing my best (or have done my best) to remedy this in Steelgods.
- I'm trying to be less wordy, i.e. use one word instead of two whenever possible. Brandon actually mentioned this in my WGMD bit I sent him, so I'll double my efforts.
- Less passive voice. This has been a weakness of mine from the very start (Lacrymosa is like...90% passive voice). I've been slowly getting better, but it creeps in from time to time.
- Less "ly" words. This is a big one, and one I still struggle with a lot. However, now that I'm aware (and cutting sentences usually involves cutting "ly" words anyway), this should help reduce editing once it gets finished.

I don't know what the point of all this is. I'm tired and I still can't sleep. Maybe I'll write more. I'm pretty sure 1:30 am writing from me won't exactly be the top of my game. Maybe planning is a better idea. Whatever.

*has Brain Stew by Green Day stuck in his head...it's strangely applicable to my situation*

Updates: Nathan thinks back about crap he wrote and is writing.

It'll probably be easier if I just do this by book. Helps organize my thoughts, too.

Where Gods and Mortals Dance


I'm considering my (hopefully soon) edit of this, and trying to figure out what needs to be fixed and how. I currently have come to a few conclusions (which I'll try to keep spoiler free):
- The first 1/3 needs to be condensed and fixed. This was because about 2/3rd of the way through the first 1/3 of the book (confused by the fractions yet?) was when I really figured out what was going on with regard to Dire's politics. Now that I have an idea, I can rewrite it to make it less...boring.
- There needs to be a part between the current Part 1 (Condemned) and Part 2 (Voice). Specifically, Part 1 needs to focus on Ailene's distrust of Dratan (a theme never really brought into focus) and then a more detailed evaluation of their plans and how they come into fruition.
- Part 2 works currently, but needs some trimming. Also, Ralf's entire involvement in the scheme needs to be clearer, something that would hopefully be fixed in the yet-unwritten Part "1.5."
- Part 3 is, to me, almost perfect. It could be a bit longer, explaining the two factions that take Dire over after the...*ahem* rather dramatic plot twist at the end of Part 2. Also, the ending reveal could be hinted at more. Or not, because I'm considering doing a sequel (The Truth Behind His Voice) should this ever go anywhere.
- Also considering rewriting the Epilogue from Useless's POV. Or not. As of now, there are two chapters total from the Useless God's POV, the first real chapter and the last real chapter. Actually, I like that. Forget what I just said.
- Fixing the Dratan/Ailene relationship, but I already figured that out.
- Random thought: I'm considering starting the book with Ailene already usurped, or something to that effect. Though, I suppose having her city Condemned is an exciting start, it just...is slow going. We'll see.

Writing this got me pumped to edit it. I'll also have to do something about the 4044 "ly" words in the stupid book. It runs at 186k currently, and I'm afraid even after extensive edits it might end up longer. I seriously think this is the best book I've written (it is certainly my favorite, even over Paradise Seekers), and I'd like to have it in a state I'd feel comfortable sending it to agents/editors.

Paradise Seekers


- Still editing, about half way through my extensive edit. So far, I've not added much to the overall plot, though I have been cutting sentences like crazy. The plan is that, once I finish this edit, I'm going to print it out again (just for me though), grab a red pen, and go through figuring out which parts to just straight up chop out. I need to cut it's length to about 65 or 60k, so I'm gonna do it.
- I have this love/hate thing with the novel. Not with the story, but my prose. Sometimes I feel like I write great, and other days I completely despise it and think I should just quit and get a real job. I have no idea what the deal is with this.
- Despite me dissing it, Paradise Seekers really makes me want to write more YA, specifically some fast-paced YA series. I have an idea of one currently, and with Effulgent Corruption slowly trying to die, maybe I'll do what I did with Paradise Seekers (read: plan the first book in the Might of the Steelgods series while writing Effulgent Corruption, then blast through it with a month as my goal). Here, I'll devote a section to it.

Might of the Steelgods (Book 1)

- This is my YA series that I've been considering. It would probably span any number of books I wanted it too, as the setting and characters make it ripe for multiple adventures. It's a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid, which is cool, and is in first-person.
- As stated above, I'm considering just extensively planning the novel as I did with Paradise Seekers, then taking a month off from Effulgent Corruption to write this entire book. A 70k novel only requires about 2,500 words a day to be finished in a month, which I could totally do if I forced myself. It would be a fun goal, and would give me something else to show agents/editors if they didn't like Paradise Seekers.
- We'll see what happens with this. Maybe September will be "Steelgod September."

Effulgent Corruption

- As you can guess, I haven't gotten anywhere on this novel. Again. What the crap. Even though I've planned the whole thing (and even have some crazy-cool ideas for my main character that I want to implement), I'm stuck. Probably because I'm having issue telling myself "It's a rough draft. Just write it." Especially since the next few chapters involve Drake in prison and prison politics, and as stated above politics are not my strong suite yet (see WGMD). It makes me anxious, so I don't write for fear of screwing it up.
- Despite my stupidity, I had a few plans for this novel. While the first will be a standalone, this is another book I could see easily developing into a 5+ series of novels. The setting and ideas are way too good for just one book, and I think it would be good for me.
- I really like all the ideas in this book, but for some reason I'm sucking at it hardcore. Maybe Steelgod September is a good idea, then I can get back to this in October.

Lacrymosa


I know right, WTF? My first book? Why is this on here? For a good reason...

- I want to rewrite it, as a YA novel. Really. I'm going to do it. But not for a while, I'm just considering it currently.


THE GENERAL IDEA


Here's the plan, people.

- For the rest of August, I'm not going to write anything new. That way, if I don't, I won't feel guilty about it. Instead, I'm going to focus on finishing all the remaining Paradise Seekers edits, and plan Might of the Steelgods (yes, I'm outlining. Hush now)
- September is now "Steelgod September", aka, I'm going to write the first Might of the Steelgods book in one month. 2.5k a day minimum. Gonna happen, people.
- After that, business as usual. Back to Effulgent Corruption, yada yada.

So there you have it, Nathan's life goals. Plus, school, work, all that other good stuff. Maybe I'll survive this fall. Maybe not. Oh well.

Re-reading WGMD

I miss Useless. :/

Writing Tuesday - An Update

So as you may (or may not) know, I'm currently in school this Spring semester at BYU, but I am taking work off (my lovely wife is providing funds for us this summer) to write more. Because of this, I have no school Tuesdays or Thursdays, which led me and my writing group to coin "Writing Tuesdays." This is a day where they come over and write (though they usually get distracted) all day, in an attempt to, you know, bump the whole word count thing.

I wrote over 5k today is where I'm getting, which is more than usual for Paradise Seekers. Also, after a brief walk (remember, that's my cheat to write more), I realized exactly how close I am to the end of this story. I very literally have four chapters and an epilogue left (if I decide to write an epilogue; still up in the air).

The idea is to finish tomorrow. It would probably be around 6-8k, minimum, assuming I don't write the epilogue. If not, I can split it up into two parts. In either case, I'm still sitting at writing a full-length YA novel (rough draft, of course) in about three and a half weeks. I'm perfectly fine with that.

Also, the final word count estimate has dropped, which is a nice relief after Where Gods and Mortals Dance just kept getting longer and longer (I meant it to be 150k tops, and it ended at 185k. It's going to need some tightening). Paradise Seekers will probably be around 70-75k, which I think is a great length for a YA novel, so no complaints there.

I'm curious to see how I feel about this. When WGMD finished, I was genuinely depressed a few days after. It isn't ever intended to have a sequel, and if it did, only one character would carry over. Paradise Seekers is a stand-alone as well, only there is no way on earth I could write anything past it. At any rate, it usually takes me a while to get fully invested in a novel emotionally, and I'm not certain if I've done that with Paradise Seekers at this point. I've done some pretty devastating things to them (almost as bad as what happens in WGMD), but I don't feel as...attached. I'm wondering if my writing isn't as good (Bec swears it is just fine), or maybe a time thing? I don't know. This whole "writing" thing is weird.

Also, I apologize for not putting a "Ramblings on Writing" last week. You got exciting CONduit stuff instead, written by people a lot smarter than I am. I'll be sure and put something up come this Thursday.

For those interested, I am willing to share the rough draft of Paradise Seekers with whomever wants it, once it's done. Those who opt to hold out for the second draft be warned: I have another, 185k novel to edit and another one to start before I'm getting to revising Paradise Seekers. That's just the way things are gonna be.

Have a great week, and happy writing! We should have three-day weekends every week.

Also: Review of Mr. Monster tomorrow, I swear. That book was really good.

WEEKLY WORD COUNT - Week of May 24-30 - PARADISE SEEKERS

Week Dates: 5/24-5/30, 2010.

Total Word Count This Week (Paradise Seekers): 16,233.

Words Total for Paradise Seekers: 51,922

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Excerpts from this week:

“Yeah, Zade told me about the book,” Julia swallowed, and I thought I saw some anxiousness creep across her face. “I...took a nap after he explained my assignment, a Gatherer because of my dream. I...I had the dream again. It was a little different, but it was for sure the same general idea. Marks, up and down my wrists, like tattoos.”
“Like tattoos?” I pushed, curious. “There’s a girl, Maria, back in Crimson House. She had the same dream, and I’m fairly certain many have had it before. Jen, our Keeper-”
“Yes, I met her,” Julia cut me off, still staring out the window, light on her face.
“Yeah,” I continued, “anyway, she said it’s a common dream. And everybody says the same thing: they are tattoos, sometimes with different marks.”
“I...guess,” was all Julia said. I blinked, looking at her worried face, and got the distinct impression she wasn’t telling me everything.
“Did something else happen?” I pushed further.
Julia blinked, then shrugged, and when she answered she didn’t look me in the eye. “Eh, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it. Anyway, good to see you, but why have you come? Are you going to sweep me away, be my knight in shining armor?”

- Paradise Seekers, Day Five - Lavender House

What I saw made me pause, my tongue a dry lump in my throat. There, on the ground, lay what appeared to be a dark Gatherer’s cloak. It was fluttering quietly in a heap, separating me from my precious dark doorway. I swallowed hard, trying my best to not scream, the tension eroding at my sanity like water through a canyon. Try as I might, I found it hard to tear my eyes from this cloak, this seemingly empty thing that was blocking me from my safety.

Still, none of the creatures surrounding me made any indication of moving. The cloak lay, a black mess on the ground, its darkness like a sunken hole between me and Lavender House’s entryway.
And then it started to crawl towards me.
Bone-white hands, like a human’s, stretched out from the sockets of the sleeves. They clawed the stone path, the horribly long nails scratching against the rock, dragging whatever thing was hiding within the depths of the cloak. Its movements started slow, but within seconds they were accelerating, those horrible hands heaving the black robed creature I could only assume was a Gatherer straight for me.

- Paradise Seekers, Day Six - Gatherers

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Great week this week. I'll cut to the chase and give the averages: 2,319 a day. Most if it was actually the nights after CONduit, despite being exhausted I was pumped to write, and it made it all the better.

As stated, CONduit was this week, and I'll be posting my synopsis of Saturday soon. I didn't take as many notes this time around, but I really enjoyed it; I spent most of the time either at panels or talking with authors, which was very agreeable. We also spent all our money, and here are some of the books we got:

Servant of a Dark God - By John Brown, who is a very awesome guy. Signed, of course.

Mr. Monster by Dan Wells, the sequel to I Am Not a Serial Killer. Also signed, and technically this book isn't out in the states yet, so it's the British version.

Psychosphere and Vamphyri! - By Brian Lumley. He wasn't there or anything, but Elitist Book Reviews posted a review of the third book and said they were good, and we found these first two for super cheap at the used book section of the CON, so why not?

Monster Hunter International - By Larry Correia - Actually I didn't buy this one, but Jason and Derek did, and Jason lent me his copy because I tear through books.

So far, both Rebecca and I have already read Mr. Monster, so expect a review of it also shortly (blurb: it's great). I semi-started Monster Hunter International, but I'm probably going to read Servant of a Dark God first.

The CON made me realize one big thing: how neat groups of authors are. Everybody generally got along great with each other, joking and hanging out and carrying on. It seemed like a lot of fun and a great community, which only made me want to get published EVEN MORE. I was also inspired when John Brown mentioned Servant of a Dark God was the second book he ever finished, which gives me hope.

Another thing it made me realize is I need to keep submitting stuff to agents and editors, even if I think it sucks. WGMD is just a few revisions away from being sent, and Paradise Seekers will be finished soon as well (though it also needs some revising). Now that it's already June, I'm going to spend this time finishing Paradise Seekers, revising WGMD and having it workshopped by my writing groups, and send WGMD out to everybody who moves. That's the plan, anyway.

Speaking of Paradise Seekers, things with it have been going quite fantastic. As you can see, it crossed the 50k mark, something which took WGMD a lot longer than three weeks to accomplish. The book is technically in the third act now, which means it should be finished soon. I told myself if I finished the book (which has about 30k words left) during the long weekend, I'd give myself a treat. I think that might kill me.

A downer is my computer is currently out for repairs. Luckily I save everything I have to Dropbox, but unluckily I saved it in the Mac document format (.pages) instead of .doc. Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, made it completely impossible to open .pages in any program on their OS (while every Mac can open both .doc and .docx straight out of the box. Even Windows Vista can't open .docx straight out of the box. Genius.). So, while I had the foresight to change Paradise Seekers to the right file format, I didn't for my documents containing notes, or any of my schoolwork. That is bad.

In either case, my computer will hopefully be repaired by Thursday at the earliest, then I can drive up to SLC and get it back, and I'll be back in the game. In the mean time, I'm using my wife's Windows 7 PC, which (as stated) isn't my ideal choice but it'll have to do for now.

My writing group also began the contest we had last summer: writing every day, no matter what. We dropped the previous word count requirement, making it so you only had to write SOMETHING in your novel (planning doesn't count) every day or else you lose the day. Also unlike last year, you can't "make up" words later (since we are counting days, not words), so if you miss you are just out of luck. Last year I won and got a copy of Well of Ascension, courtesy of the losers. I'd say that's pretty strong motivation to write!

Overall? Great week. I had fun, wrote plenty, learned a lot, and got some awesome books to read. Current goal: Finish Paradise Seekers this week. If so, I'll have completed an entire novel in just one month. Can I do it? Let's find out!

Happy writing!

Beginning with the End in Mind

I think one of my favorite things about writing is the fact that you can take people by surprise with a story. Whenever I begin a book, as stated before, I always have a final twist, reveal, or just generally interesting ending in mind. This is partially because I'm a dedicated discovery writer, but I also think it's because I have such a firm belief that endings are the most important part of any story.

Now, I don't think every ending needs to wrap up perfectly, or with a typical "happy ending." The ending of Where Gods and Mortals Dance doesn't offer an actual resolution, but rather it provides the characters with the means by which to fix their problem. I leave what happens in the minds of the readers, which I feel both shows a great amount of trust in the imagination of my audience, as well as the idea that, like real life, many issues are ones that require years to finally accomplish, if they are accomplished at all. The conflict in WGMD was such that it wasn't possible for it to be completely fixed at the end without feeling like a cop-out, a "happy for the sake of being a happy ending" ending. I think these endings, above all, are my favorite to write, though they might actually not be my favorite to read.

Beginning with the end in mind is also a fantastic motivation. Knowing I have something fantastic and mind-blowing to present is an excellent motivator, one that can help push me through slow or boring portions, knowing the payoff (for both me and my readers) will be well-worth it. It also give me a basic framework which I can build my story; because I have an ending, I know what needs to be foreshadowed and implied. This also makes the foreshadowing, something I admit to have problems with, an easier task to accomplish.

Just a random musing concerning work in Paradise Seekers. As we are a little bit into the second act, with the third one right around the corner, I'm finding it important to keep the point of the story in mind. The truth behind the Paradise Seekers, their dreams, Dissipation, and more is integral on both the hints leading to the ending and for readers to find the ultimate underlying meaning behind the book. The point of Paradise Seekers is to both tell an interesting story in a unique environment, and for those who wish to dig a little deeper, they'll find the hidden symbolism and analogies throughout. As I am now in the point where I have to put the right amount of hints and foreshadowing, if I didn't know what the overall point of the book was, I wouldn't be able to accomplish it.

All in all, beginning with the end in mind has been very helpful for me in all my books, and it is something I'm going to probably do throughout my writing career. If I start with the point of the novel, producing it is much easier, and (I feel) makes for a better ending (if I have it fresh on my mind throughout the entire writing process, I have that long to refine and perfect it).

A Brief History of Myself as a Writer

I decided that for those who are new to the blog, it might be beneficial to know more about me as a writer, including my past projects, current projects, and future projects. Keep in mind this is meant simply as a basic introduction as of the day of posting, and may not be updated as time progresses.

My name is Nathan Major. I am currently twenty-four years old, and finishing my last semester at Brigham Young University in Utah. I'm married to a wonderful woman named Rebecca. I was born and raised in central California, in the town of Paso Robles. It was there I first began writing, both in school and under the guidance of my mother. I remember, for fun, she'd assign both me and my brother "30 Minute Writes," where she'd give us a title only, and then we'd have 30 minutes to expound on that writing prompt in the form of a short story. It didn't take long for me to have reoccurring characters and themes, regardless of how odd the titles were. After finishing and some editing, the best of these short children's stories we compiled into a short book, which we bound. I still have it on my shelf, and often consider it my first "complete" novel.

My passion for writing continued, though I never really embraced it until 2006. It was then that I first read the novel Eragon by Christopher Paolini. After reading it, I thought to myself, "Hey, I have a lot of ideas for a novel, and I know how to write! I bet I could write something as good as this and get published!" Perhaps not the best way to get started, it certainly worked.

For the next three years, I worked on my first novel, Lacrymosa, based on ideas and concepts my friend and I (a writing buddy from years ago) had thought up. It was slow going; I even took almost an entire year off (2008) and didn't write anything in it. Luckily, my work ethic has improved since then. I finished it in April of 2009. At around 150,000 words, it was my first full-length novel.

Lacrymosa was intended to be the first in a trilogy, revolving around a war between a winged, magical race called the Ala, and a mechanical, steampunk race called the Orion. The Orion had long been Ala slaves, but this changes when a girl named Lilly, an Orion raised by the Ala, essentially defects and joins the Orion's resistance. While certainly a first novel and riddled with the issues that entail that (one of the members of my writing group even described a particular scene as "High School Musical: Ala"), it was still a first, finished work, which was a huge leap for me. I could finish a novel, and so I would continue to do so.

Determined write more, I began my second novel, Harbinger, on April 1, 2009. It was then I discovered that a good technique to help me write was forcing a daily word-quota. For this experiment, I resolved to write a minimum of 500 words on weekdays, 1,000 on weekends, all while working a full-time job. I finished on June 30, meaning I wrote a full length novel in under three months (by one day!). It ran at around 100,000 words total.

Harbinger was my first attempt at complete discovery writing, as well as a generous mash-up of genre blending. Described as "Vampire Wild West Cowboy Angels," it takes the standard Western setting and fuses it with copious amounts of Fantasy elements. While certainly not the best book ever written, it proved I could meet a word-count, and finish a second novel. It also helped me realizes my style of writing: discovery writing, with a touch of planning when necessary.

Where Gods and Mortals Dance is my most recent work, after taking July - December of 2009 off. Starting as the school semester did in January, it was my attempt to write something polished enough to be publishable. It also was an experiment to take me away from two key things I'd had issues escaping in my previous books: guns and magic. Focusing less on fighting and more on religious and political intrigue, as well as character development, WGMD also wanted to reaffirm the belief that I could write a novel quickly, and with a deadline. After the semester in the beginning of April, I committed to writing a minimum of 5,000 words a day until it was completed, no matter what. A month later, on May 4, Where Gods and Mortals Dance was completed. Clocking it at a whopping 188,000 words, written in just over 100 days, it is my longest work yet, and easily my best.

The last of the royal family, Ailene’s world is one of mystery and danger. Eight wandering gods roam the city-kingdoms of Octavia, a visit from the gods bestowing blessings or curses based on their purpose. Six years ago, the Condemning god came to Ailene’s city of Dire, casting the provence into a mess of assassinations, poverty, and heresy. Her family dead and kingdom overthrown by the man she once loved, Ailene seeks help from those who she’d least expect: a brilliant blind crew-leader and former street urchin named Dratan, and the Useless god, the only god without a purpose. As Ailene and her new allies seek to reclaim the throne, they begin to uncover a centuries-old plot that will shake Ailene’s faith, her loyalties, and the very foundation upon which Octavia is founded.

Currently, I am writing another experiment. Tentatively titled Paradise Seekers, it is a YA novel set in the first-person perspective, both of which I've never done before. Meant to be both a distopia and a philosophical novel, the book focuses on the boy Sam, who awakens to find himself without any memories of his past, save the same dream he has every night. He is welcomed into this new world by a group of similarly-aged teenagers, who call themselves Paradise Seekers. Living in a veritable utopia in the walled town of Haven, Sam's life seems to be perfect. He even becomes close friends with a new Paradise Seeker, Julia. However, as the dream becomes darker and truths about where they actually are come to light, Sam realizes his choices may influence more than he knows.

Following Paradise Seekers, I am currently planning my fourth and fifth adult fantasy novels, part of a series called Effulgent Corruption. I won't give too much away now, besides they are a two-book set, focusing on a world where the gods have died and left quite a mess in their wake.

That is about all there is to know about me. I will probably post more about my style of writing, as well as particular points of writing that stick out to me during the weekly Ramblings on Writing.