A Series of Updates on Dark Soldier:
Because I have absolutely nothing else of interest to blog about and I don’t want this blog to go completely out the window, here’s some updates regarding the book I’m in the process of writing, Dark Soldier!
In regards to the teaser trailer, we are finally along more now than ever! Now that we have both actors ready for action, we have to make the props, find a special effects makeup… person……
Because I have absolutely nothing else of interest to blog about and I don’t want this blog to go completely out the window, here’s some updates regarding the book I’m in the process of writing, Dark Soldier!
In regards to the teaser trailer, we are finally along more now than ever! Now that we have both actors ready for action, we have to make the props, find a special effects makeup… person… whatever their title is… and start filming! We’ll be posting pictures on the Facebook page as things come along.
As it gets closer to beg-publishers-to-sell-my-book time, we are getting down official canon looks for the characters. This means y’all get to see General Zenti in all her “five feet tall with a five foot six inch sword” glory. (The drawing version, I mean, not the real life version. I would like to see the real life version too, but we can’t all have it our way. You lied to me, Burger King.)
The overall tone of the second draft is darker than the original, although there is more humor. Surprising how that happened the way it did. It gets a bit more political as well, but I don’t mind that so much. I typically am quite against fantasy being so incredibly realistic, because fantasy is about letting people get away from all that. But I think this has enough non-realist stuff to get away with a bit. That’s what happened with Game of Thrones I think – murder, politics and dragons. Obviously the Soldier Chronicles is nothing like Game of Thrones, but you get where I’m going with this.
That’s it for today! Hope you have an excellent week!
Happy to be bringing in two awesome actors, Jake Holland of Vine and Sonny, a local NY actor, for the book teaser for Dark Soldier! Always exciting to see things progressing!
Things get epic as the deadline to getting the second draft done gets closer. So, things are changing, and I’m going to tell you some of them.
1. Dragons are officially no longer in the series. For a fantasy writer, maybe this seems pretty weird, but it’s true! I decided I wanted to change things up quite a bit, and so while we are going to have winged lizard-like creatures, they most certainly are not dragons. It’s very likely they’re not even going to breathe fire. However, they are going to be able to change their colors. And they are called noggards. Yes, I’m not always very creative.
2. Familiars will now be in the series! No, they aren’t reporting to the devil, but they’re there! They can communicate and practice some basic magics. You won’t see much of them in the first books, but they definitely play a part in book 2 and 3 as of right now. And the first one is going to be a froad, which is a lot like a toad, and somewhat like a frog, but mostly like a chameleon.
3. We are way closer to getting the teaser trailer done. After many months of searching, we finally found an actor in the New York area, and we weren’t even looking for one at the time! We were going to do it all by animation, but it looks like God had other plans. His name is Sonny, and he may just become our face of evil. And from what I heard, he is super pumped to be doing this. But now I feel bad about him only being seen for about twenty seconds. I feel like he needs to do more. We shall see.
4. The main country of the book is now by the water. This means the mountains may no longer be mountains. They may just be really big hills. In fact, this country may even be a peninsula. This means there could be some epic fights on the water. No, there ARE going to be epic fights on the water. Pirates are in order.
And that’s really it. I haven’t come up with anything terribly exciting otherwise. Have a good weekend!
I decided to follow up on a New Years resolution. I have officially started running again. And let me tell you… it is NOT fun like some people may claim. (I have actually met people who say such things. I am determined they are liars or have done it so long their brain is confused.) It is absolutely awful. I don’t ever want to do it again, but I know I have to if I want to be fit by the end of the year like I said I would be. However, I do remember having a good feeling after working out, and maybe that’s what people mean by that statement. I specifically find that it goes better if I start chanting Spartan war cries – whispering to myself of course; I’m not going to let people realize I’m completely insane.
In recent writing news, the podcast went decently well. Eighteen plays within a couple days, not terrible for my first time. And, better yet, we are officially on iTunes! However, you won’t be able to find it by a podcast search until around Wednesday or Thursday. And speaking of such things, fellow blogger/writer David Brennan and I will be working together for the next one, recording tomorrow and arriving this Sunday or early Monday morning. Perhaps that will brighten up the way to work! We’ll talk about writing genres, specifically contrasting those in our novels. And with how we interact when we’re together… this one is going to be fun.
Also, after a whole long time of waiting, we may be getting closer to getting the book teaser trailer finished (yes, book trailers exist). We finally decided to toss the live-action idea, as no actors came around, but we will definitely be doing some animation. You may even get a glimpse of the map in the beginning couple seconds. And the voice for the trailer – it’s going to be fun. Let’s just say we somehow got a semi-popular Vine maker to help us out, and I think he’s flawless for the job. But no more spoilers, I’ll let you guys see it when it gets here. Until then, fair travels, and may phoenix fire forever guide and light your way!
It’s only been five hours into my day and I’m already tired. This is what happens when I try to do writing while on break, my brain just doesn’t know what to do with itself.
It all seems to be revolving around one simple line from the novel, which for purposes which are to be seen later understood, needs to be revised or permanently kept the way it is very soon. The line, as implied by the title, is a line spoken by a being made to be the perfect antagonist. He is one without rules. one known worlds around as pure unadulterated evil. But how exactly does one reflect that in a single quote?
That is the question that plagues me. After all, the one who speaks the line has to see a good version of it. (Slight spoiler for its purpose, I know, which is coming later this month.) So I give it to the collective to read. We have writers and readers, scholars and common folk, mothers and fathers, businesspeople and artists, Americans and the rest of the world in my group of followers. I think between us all we should be able to get a good final line that works.
Here we go:
“What is good… but an ideal? Has a good man ever existed? None, not one; they yearn for that darker side of themselves, and it is darkness that I shall give them…”
“…And then break them.”
So there you have it. And thus concludes probably my shortest and concisest blog to date, but after all, it’s the comments I’m most interested in here.
Good evening, my friends!
So close to coming home! I can’t wait! Honestly, I love my campus, and I love my roommates, but I do not miss studying for finals. I personally have been up until 4am and 2am in the past couple days due to… all right, so the 4am had nothing to do with studying. It was just because my dorm-mate is nocturnal and his computer screen shines into my face when I sleep. But the 2am, that was studying. Sort of. It was a drawing that was a final exam for one of my classes. But it’s like studying, right?
Right?
I’m a failure.
However, good news in regards to the novel! We finally have one man who is considering the step up to the plate, who has agreed to try out this voice acting thing for the teaser trailer coming out later this month, and that is… Jake Holland of Vine! Perhaps it is surprising that a funny guy like Jake is interested in the role, but he indeed has done similar roles in short films. It’s that beefy body and beard of his, ‘ya know.
Soo to those who actually read these, you all get to have a little spoiler to the teaser. The very first line of the teaser. Prepare yourself.
**SPOILERS**
“What is good but an ideal?”
**END OF SPOILERS**
I’m fully aware that these spoilers do nothing for you but that’s the point. I don’t give spoilers, and I certainly won’t give away a big one this early before its release. Come on, people. I’m better than that.
Further notes on the novel, I CANNOT BELIEVE that we are releasing the first draft to those who request it in only a week! How exciting is THAT? That’s pretty friggin’ awesome. And to those who have not yet requested it, leave me a comment, like “YO I WANT UR FIRST DRAFT SONNN” and I’ll be like “SURE THING BRAH” and give it to you on the 15th. Awesomeness.
That’s it for this week, darklings! Talk to you next time!
“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” — Maya Angelou
Making the link between anarchism and Christianity.
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