elizabeth_oswald

All About Goblins

I'm starting to get into what's going on with the goblins, and it's fun to actually 'spill the beans'. I've been dancing around things for so long, though, that sometimes I'm like, 'Did I give them enough clues?' or 'Is this too sudden?' I suspect, however, that two and a half books and however-many-pages in we are, nobody thinks anything is too sudden anymore 😏

Inspiration

I think I'm a little different from most writers. When I write, I rarely make significant changes unless they're required by the story as a whole. If something doesn't happen the way I meant for it to, I just run with it. If one of my characters gets lippy, well, they're going to have Consequences.

In any case, I don't write and rewrite. I don't really even have 'drafts' the way other people talk about them. like, they write, and then have to do a massive overhaul because it's just disj...

What to read?

I had an interesting (to me) realization the other day. Since I started writing LF, what I read has actually changed. I used to have more...threshold for misery? Like, as long as there wasn't too much angst and torment, I could enjoy a good book even if it lacked light-hearted moments, but now...no. I think I have a bit of a tendency to head into serious and sad places in my own writing, and what I read affects what I write.

I mean, I'm not out there plagiarizing anything (other than th...

Military names and ranks

My dad was a marine, and other than mentioning that he peeled a lot of potatoes, he never really talked about it. So, when it comes to all things military, I pretty much depend on the power of google, and the few military SF books I've read. That said, I was researching names for this next segment coming up, and I wanted some giggle-worthy options. I stumbled across this relatively ancient Reddit post, and thought I'd share it. I did steal a few, but I didn't want to get too crazy, s...

Wish me luck!

I actually only got four chapters written last week because my daughter stayed home sick on Friday. (You'll be glad to know it's not Covid.) I'm going to release five chapters anyway, and my goal this week is to make up for that shortfall and write six chapters, instead of 'just' five.

Can I do it? Well, it's happened before, but usually more or less by accident, when a chapter got really exciting or someone started talking a lot, and what should have been one ...

Still working on those covers

It's like when the edge of the label on your bottle peels up. You just can't stop picking at it until the whole thing is in shreds on the table in front of you.

Or maybe that's just me.

ANYway, here's another attempt at the cover for book three. Still the same idea, but more video-game looking, rather than table-top game looking. What do you think? Better? Worse?

Updated covers

I've reworked the covers for book 1 (Tilling) and book 2 (Sowing) pretty significantly. I think they look a lot more professional, and will hopefully catch more reader's eyes. Now, do I update the cover on RoyalRoad, or no? People are used to the old one, and I don't want to confuse anyone 😂

I just did book 3, so mainly I'm just trying to figure out how to make it more cohesive with the style of 1 and 2. Any thoughts?

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year! I slept through all but the bit where the fireworks woke up the dogs. Sigh. Still, it's better than when the fireworks used to wake up the baby, and now the child sleeps like a rock, so, um, I guess that's a win?

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you again, and let you know that thanks to my 'niece' (she's actually a second cousin once removed, I think, but she's only five years older than my daughter, so we went with niece) I actually...

Book Three begins tomorrow!

A few quick notes before we get into Book Three: Reaping. (Edit from 'Harvest': I went back and forth between Harvest and Reaping and finally went with the more ominous one. Sounds like my subconscious thinks I went the wrong way 😅)

The chapters will continue to be numbered since the very beginning, since this is how they're listed on RoyalRoad. I'm going to change how I do the chapters in the final draft anyway, so it's easiest to just stick with this for now.

Cover for Book 3!

Please remember I'm doing this on my own, so if you have any suggestions about what I can do better, please let me know! I hope to someday be able to afford to pay a real artist for covers, and you guys helped me buy a couple of pieces of this, so thank you very much!!!!

(Also, I threw together a couple of Christmas images, just for fun. Hope they make you laugh.)

Still painting minis

My husband printed Codswallop, Rouge (with Silus, though Silus is a bit big), Aspen, and Motte on his fancy 3D printer. I bought Lich Lord Akuji, FantumHat, and a [Poof!!] spell. I had to make Sumi from scratch, since none of the spiders I could find were at all ant-like, which is Toxeus magnus' schtick. Hopefully I can paint her so she doesn't look quite as awkward as she is. Plus, there's always Photoshop... We're going to use my niece Katie's hand to substitute for Zoey's. 

Side...

Twelve chapters?

Okay, so Khor gets twelve chapters. By the time I finished writing number 11, it was just over 5700 words, and my target chapter length is 2000-2500. Not that it really matters, but in this case there was a natural break in the chapter, so I used that and just split it. Yay, Khor, you get more time and some character growth!

One...more...chapter!

Khor is going to have eleven chapters which will be scattered through book two at appropriate intervals. I have ten chapters done, and will write the last one on Monday! That will put the first draft of book two as officially complete!

This weekend I will be painting all of the minis I'm going to be using for the cover of book three. I should have that cover done next week, and you guys will get to see it before anyone else! I wish I had a good hand model for Zoey, since her hand will b...

Moving right along...

I hope you all had a wonderful week! It was crazy hectic here, and while I got to write on Monday (and got two chapters done!), my daughter threw up Monday night, so I didn't get to work on Tuesday because she was at home. She's fine, but it messed up the whole schedule. Sigh.

Anyway, we kept our holiday quiet (it's Thanksgiving in the US, if you're not from here) but between cooking, baking, making an epic gingerbread diorama, and putting up holiday lights, no more writing was done, so...

Original prologue and timing

I got a review on RR that made me decide to finally just take down the original prologue (about Bree). I wrote it almost as its own short story originally, and while it's very important, it is misleading to a reader just starting out, so while it makes sense in MY head, it doesn't make sense in the flow of the story (much like the initial introductory chapters will also be changed around so that they happen chronologically, at least as much as I'm able.)

In any case, since I'm not going...

Educational materials

I truly believe that in order to be an author, you have to enjoy learning. For example, so far today I've learned about spider book lungs, the kinds of berries that grow wild in the spring, and that while goats have excellent vision, that of ducks is actually better.

I can't count how many times I've had to stop writing in order to look something up, and then double-check my facts, since the internet, as we know, is a rather dangerous and misleading place. I think if I was an author in ...

Insert celebratory dance!

Khor's arc is finally begun! In writing it, I realized that Khor is totally a tsundere. Anyone who watches anime or reads manga will know what this means, but for the uninitiated, it basically means that he's going to come across as very cranky, while actually being quite affectionate. Of course, right now the only ones he'll admit to liking are the unicorns, but maybe that will change by the end of the arc?

Anyway, I just read the beginning of a manga called 'Endo and Kobayashi's Live ...

Minis, anyone?

We bought the bad guys, so they're not pictured, but here are Rouge (with [Poof!!], Wally, Aspen, and Motte. Rouge lost her foot (three times), Aspen lost his head 😬 and Motte dropped his axe and shield. Codswallop is the only one who emerged from the cleaning process intact, and I kind of want to ask my husband to reprint everything bigger, since they don't need to be actual table-top mini sized. Except I'm pretty sure he'd kill me, and then you guys would never know what happens...

Formatting!?

I've been pondering what changes I'm going to make to the books when I do my final edits. For now, I'm creating chapters, since that makes the most sense in this format. But I was thinking that when I edit later, I may squish sections together more based on whose PoV it's from. So instead of 'Chapter One hundred - Rouge', it would be just 'Rouge' or 'Aspen' for a section. Or I could bundle all of the chapters from that PoV into one, which would drastically reduce the number of chapters. What ...

Book 3

I'm starting to plan out the cover for book three, and these custom HeroForge minis may be making an appearance! None of them is perfect (Aspen's hat isn't nearly disreputable enough, and Silus is both too big and a 'meerbat') but I can solve that with a Dremel and some Green Stuff, if I can't figure out how to change the STL files. What do you think?

Name changes

No big deal, but I've known for a while that when I do final edits on the book, one of the changes I was going to make was taking out the underscores in Rouge_the_Rogue, among others. That's a holdover from Time Long Past, but by the time I even really thought about it, I was quite a ways in. So this is just a quick heads-up that in the future Rouge's full character name won't have those underscores, and that is correct, not a typo. You may now continue about your day 😂

Demons and Undead??

My husband loaned me three books. 'Pathfinder: Book of the Damned', 'Pathfinder: Horror Adventures', and 'DCC RPG: The Forgotten Rites of the Moldering Dead'. Now, I'm not going to use them as more than inspiration, but, y'know, they may come in handy soon...

Also, since I managed to write five chapters last week, everybody gets five chapters this week! A chapter for you, and a chapter for you, and...

(Though next week will likely be three (I'll never do less than three), because ...

Posting changes and AMA

Hello everyone! I just wanted to touch base with you guys about a few things.

First, you may have noticed that Monday's chapters aren't scheduled at 4am any more. That's because I can actually write during the day now, instead of staying up until midnight or 3am, so I can do these when I'm actually awake! Yay! Hopefully this doesn't bother anyone, but if it does, I can go back to the Old Way. Just let me know!

Second, I've now gotten back to about ten chapters ahead of you guys, a...

No vacations for authors

You guys, I totally forgot what some of my characters were up to. I took a week off for vacation. Then a week off to recover from vacation (Hopefuly the kids enjoyed it more than I did. Adulting. Is. So. Stressful.) and then I was like , "eh, it's almost time for me to be able to work during the day while K is in school, and I have to clean my covid-filthy house for her birthday party (darn you, pandemic!) so I'll just wait..." and then it was over three weeks, and getting started again was H...

Millie and Struthio

Honestly, Millie and Struthio were throw-away characters who only came about because I needed a way for Rouge to replace her mount after leaving Blackie behind in Bright. They were never supposed to be mentioned again. But then, there were the cinnamon rolls. I mean, you can't let an item with a stat like that go to waste, right? And if you knew where to get an item with a stat like that, you would definitely find your way back there, especially if it seemed to be kind of 'hidden', and you we...

Short-timer's disease

Have you guys ever been reaaaallly close to the end of something (a job/school) and just struggled to do anything except the basics? Yep, here I am. My daughter starts school in one week. ONE. WEEK.

Unless you're a parent, you just don't even know. Which isn't to say that I don't adore my girl, and I won't miss her and worry about her and be excited to get her back every day, but for a whole seven hours a day I get to be ME. I can clean. I can nap. I can go to the gym. (I mean, theoreti...

Back on the farm (spiders and spoilers)

Nope, not actually ready to start releasing Khor's arc yet, but I'm going to give you guys a pictorial spoiler, because all of these characters will be showing up. You've met almost all of them, and some have "vanished", but don't worry, now you have a hint as to where they are!

Seriously, how big a deal is a birthday anyway?

Mainly, I'm using my birthday as a feeble excuse to get you guys closer to where I'm writing. That said, I'm currently in Orlando. FL, because my mom is taking me to Disney.

Also, I'm 45 years old now 😂

Okay, so me getting to go to Disney is a side effect of taking my daughter, and we've been planning this since (I kid you not) 2018. We were scheduled to go in August 2019, which is when everything started to shut down. Then we hoped for 2020, but, well, wi...

Sarave and Nekthadt art

Have you wondered what the deal is with these two? Like, why are they so...not gobliny? Well, they still have some secrets. Some of them will be revealed in Khor's Arc, and  then the rest will come out in the last book. Suffice to say, though, that even in Veritas Online, they're atypical, and another example of World Quests bringing people together in strange ways. For now, though, I can give you a look at my inspiration art for them! I make my images using a combination of art...

School days and writing

My daughter is going into kindergarten in the fall! She's also going to summer school. When I was a kid, summer school was something that happened when you were behind at the end of the previous school year because you needed some help catching up. Now, it's just for fun? If she was older, I don't think I would do it, because we missed so much last summer, and this is our last time to just be together before 13 years of Education. She's really loving it though, and since it's going to be her ...