Troublesome Toe Again

I am just excited and need to get it out of my system. Troublesome Toe passed the Smashwords premium evaluation and will soon be available on Barnes and Noble and other retailers as a free E-book!!!

LOOK OUT!

Writing again has been an energizing experience to say the least. Editing on the other hand has been an awful experience to say the least. I am excited to announce that after a final line edit for spelling, and sentence structure issues I have E-unveiled my first official release ever. It is a short story coming in around the 3,500 word mark. It is a self published on Smashwords and everywhere else I can do so, and this is the best part, IT'S FREE!

(SPOILER ALERT)

Troublesome Toe is a short story based around the interactions of a blacksmith and a troublesome customer. Viktor the blacksmith suffers and peculiar injury and this cute almost fairy tale-ish story is about the lengths he goes to in order to recuperate.

Holidays. Are they even worth the mention?

The holidays are approaching fast. We are a mere 40 minutes away from Halloween as I type this. Here is a concept that I started pondering a few minutes ago. Halloween will be here in mere minutes whether I like it or not, even if I wanted to change it I couldn't. Aren't our characters faced with the same things? Assuming that your world even has celebrated holidays by its peoples.

As long as time passes in your world their are bound to be holidays celebrated by the characters in your works. Your main character may not celebrate the holiday but that won't change the fact that the holiday is there and others probably will be celebrating it. If I chose not to participate in Halloween it would not stop hundreds of trick-or-treaters from roaming the block in search of candy.

Now the big question of the day is, are holidays worth even just a passing mention in your stories to reflect the culture and goings on of the world your characters inhabit, or is it just useless fluff that adds to the word count unless it bears a direct influence on your story?

Troublesome Toe.

As of just a few minutes ago I have a free short story published on Smashwords titled Troublesome Toe. You can view it on my Smashwords bio at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/clarencematthews

Spoiler Alert: If you do take the time to read it, first of all thank you, but be prepared to view some pretty heavy fantasy cliches. It is simply meant to be a cute short story and that is all.

Another writing course down!

I took another free writing course online. This one was offered by http://www.creative-writing-now.com/ I took the three day e-course by email on story ideas. Day one lesson one takes you through character writing. Day two lesson two takes you through writing conflict. Day three lesson three talks about writing settings for your work. I enjoyed it, and plan on scouring the internet for more writing courses and workshops.

Character Profile: Viktor Borruksson Stonehammer

(Spoiler Alert) Warning, if you continue reading be prepared to face a fairly strong fantasy cliche. Throughout the fantasy genre one of the races I have fallen in love with is the dwarf. The rugged mountain folk who often work with metals, and ores, whether mining or smithing. 

Viktor Borruksson Stonehammer. A dwarf who resides in Hiffolk Mountain. His occupation is a blacksmith, he runs his own smithy and produces common tools and farming equipment. He is average height with black hair, often tied back with a leather band. He like most of his race sports a long flowing beard.

He is somewhat gruff, not a profound drinker unlike many of his race. He is not a complete recluse but is not bothered by an active social life either. He lives in the back of his shop, and currently has no apprentices.

Inspiration hits!

I have put my first short story on the back burner for a little while and started on a second to give me some time to let the first one settle. Well what took nearly twenty hours for the first story to grudgingly be put to paper I did the same to a larger second story in eight hours. I am excited to have two rough drafts done. both are medieval fantasy shorts. the second one I finished today comes in at a word count of 6,297 and just feels cleaner than the first story.

I hate to have favorites but I like the second one better. It just seemed to write itself without my help. I had much less planning put into this and more 'winging it'. Maybe I was rusty getting back into writing again and the first story was just me cleaning some of the cobwebs out? Who knows.