Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Because I have to Write


As I sit here today at the job filling my brain with new knowledge, I find my mind drifting to my works in progress. I saw the above image while web browsing and the message really hit home. More so now than ever I feel this way. One would think that after completing one book in a span of three months a break would be expected. But as I anxiously wait for the edit to return. The cogs and and wheels in the clockwork of my brain are winding and turning, new visuals are formulating and though I should be learning my mind is drifting. I find myself resisting the urge to open up Dropbox and loading up on of the two new projects, the prequel and the sequel to Moore For Less Investigations: The Kid. I find and internal conflict forming , though my logical brain will shut the other side up. I tell myself the job is for now, the writing is for the future.  

I read an interesting blog to day about becoming a full time writer. http://www.kseniaanske.com/blog/2012/10/17/you-can-write-full-time-quit-your-job.html

Now this is not something I could personally do at this point of my life, still it did make me think. I desire to make writing my career, not a wish blown on a dandelion. Do I have the gift? There are those out there that seem to believe so. Can I make it happen? A few months ago I would have said "Nah, it just a dream or one of these days" or "I'll get that book done.( After I beat this video game.)" 

That was then, however now, One novel down, the game has changed. The prospect of being a writer full time is not some mythical creature dreamed up from the hopes and wishes of a child. The idea that I have the the will, the skill, and the desire to make this a reality is tangible. The question is "At what cost?" What am I willing to sacrifice to make this happen?  The only thing I have to offer to the Muse is time. Honestly it is the one thing that any writer has to offer. So we sleep a little less, we watch little to no TV, we play fewer games and surf social media site far less. Note: that I didn't say we sacrifice these things, we are in fact sacrificing the time we dedicate to them. I personally don't believe you should totally cut yourself off from these things. Why? Because our environment inspires us.

Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor. (Alexis Carrel)

I wish to wish everyone a Merry Festivius and as all ways thanks for reading.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Turning the Page

Some people fear change. I pride myself in being person that embraces it. Now, I'm not saying that some change does not bug me. I just adjust to it extremely well. This week was day one in a major change in my life. I started a "real" job, I use the term "real" in reference to the job being a 9-5 with real benefits and weekends and holidays off. What does this mean for Marcel the writer? Nothing. I've made the decision that being a writer is not a goal to achieve. I am a writer, my words define me. My job is a ends to a means, but it is not a backup plan. We are only limited by our willingness to fail. How do you fail at being who you are?

So, we have turned the page in the book we call life.

I had the pleasure of resurrecting the a long running Dungeons and Dragons game set in one of my homebrew continents know as "The Hunted" for my beta readers this Sunday past. It was the first time I had really gotten to speak with them about the book and they had been waiting 9 months for me to be able to run the game again.

The general feeling was that the work was good and a hair short from being great. I tell you, hearing that was like the world being lifted off my shoulders. The anxiety of waiting to hear whether or not you have what it takes, really beats you down not matter how optimistic you are. They gave me some points of interest that they felt needed a bit of revision and after listening to the explanations, these points made sense and are easily adjustable. Now, I'm just waiting for the return of the edit so I can make the adjustments.

With my new job I have a pair of four day weekends ahead of me. Whoo Hoo! I hope to get both some reading and some writing done. As my beta readers are already asking for the next book, lol.

Speaking of which, the muse returned today on the drive into work. Honestly the worst time for her to show up and my recorder was no where to be found. I had to get my laptop up and running as soon as I got in the office just so I didn't lose the idea. Book two got a little jump start today and was planing on working on it til the new year, lol.

In other news because my blogs all ways seem to be my random thoughts. I purchased my domain and setup the offical Marcel Alexander website. www.marcelalexander.org. I will be setting up links to the books there once they are up for sell.

Also if any of you wish to read the first five chapters of Moore For Less Investigations: The Kid. Check out the link.  http://www.wattpad.com/story/3090251-moore-for-less-investigations-the-kid


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The waiting game

Hey folks. Back again, so this past week I completed the reread  and sent the MFLI: The Kid  off to be edited as well as sent it off to my six beta readers. I find myself feeling anxious and nervous at the same time. Will they like it? Does it make sense? Did I keep my continuity together? Was it entertaining? I personally think it pretty good, But i'm admittedly bias. So now we wait. I know at least one of my readers has completed his first read, but is staying hush hush until  he has completed his second for a more analytical review. In the meantime I've been reading the WIP form a cohort http://odinsmusings.blogspot.com/ and started the MFLI: The Missing Short Story that's rolling around in my head. The Missing is intended to be Marcus first case that nearly got him killed and gave him the reputation of being resourceful and highly dependable among the upper class in Luimere.  In the weeks to come I will be sharing the SS with you all. As all ways thanks for reading.

Now for some thing completely random. Back in high school for my creative writing class I created my first world. With that world I created a history for each city. Being a gamer I ran a game putting my players in that world and over the years fleshed it out. Luimere is currently my forth and i decided to take all for and make them separate continents on the same planet. Anyway in the first world the Major trade Hub was a city  know as NuLief which translated to New Life. This was not the cities original name before it was known as Maji the mage city and was rule by the council of mages not by a queen. So years ago I started writing a short story explain the transition. And  I'm going to share a bit with you all today. This has only been seen by my wife.

Sample form "Elona's Tale"


             "You must not leave the forest. There are men out there and they wish to do harm to you. You must train your mind and your body to be strong, if you wish to leave and not worry. Now child eat your fruit and sleep, for your training begins.”
            These words were commonly spoken among the women of Abunlief; also known as the ladies of the forest. However, these were not the words told to Elona, the heiress to the throne, for she was told by her mother that she was to never leave the city, yet she must train to be the strongest warrior within it. And so she lived a life of routine, she would wake, eat, train, learn, and sleep. But like any young woman, one can’t always do as one is told. At night, she would use her trained abilities to sneak out of the city, with a small band of her dear friends. The troupe would always sneak to the line of the forest and stare from afar at the small farming town of Cirla, this town consisted of mostly men of whom the women of Abunlief had their children, and this place was also the trade post between Maji the mage city and Abunlief. On one particular night, however, things brought about change.
            “ Elona, are you not getting tired of doing this every other night, I mean all we do is stare at this place in hopes to see a man.”
            “True, and have we seen one yet?”
            “No, but I’m still not enjoying this very much.”
            “Then go home and stop bugging me, I feel lucky tonight”
At that moment, there was a loud scream from the north side of town.
Elona immediately drew her sword and ran in the direction of the sound. The others cried out to her not to go, but she did not listen, her only thought was to save whoever was in trouble.
            She came to a cautious halt and hid behind a barrel, only a few feet away from the situation. Before her, she saw a grotesque figure hovering over two fallen bodies, she recognized the creature as a bubear, a foul creature that would feed on both the living and the dead. It is said that a bubear’s touch will paralyze you, like striking fear in one’s heart. This hence the name “Boo! Bear” which later became, as it is known to this very day
 She heard the scream for help once more, “Well, now is the moment of truth, either I take this thing out, or that person and myself are going to die this night.”
With a war cry, she fired three of her hand crossbows bolts into the beast, followed by a full slash across its back. The bubear roared in pain and turned to strike her, she swiftly dodged its strike and countered by slashing its inner elbow, chopping off its right forearm. The creature lunged back screeching in agony, then suddenly caught ablaze. Elona paused, and as the Bubear fell to his burning death, she saw the boy captive with the glow of magic still around him. She moved over to him and held him while he caught his breath.
            “What is your name child?”
The boy looked up to see Elona’s green eyes and a circlet around her head covered in flowing white hair.
            “Meldoren” the boy whispered.
            “Well, Meldoren you are safe now, but you must not tell anyone of my presence here. Tell them that it was you, who defeated the creature. See to it that they find you a new home. And here take this to remember me by.” She handed to him her amulet, one of the gifts given to a made-warrior on their naming day.  As Elona rose to leave, Meldoren grabbed her hand.
            “Wait, what is your name?”
            “Elona” she told him and then vanished into the darkness.
Elona returned to her friends who were still waiting at the forest’s edge.
            “Nice of you all to have stuck by my side, as you promised”
            “Elona that was against the law.”
            “Yeah and none of us could see where you went anyhow, you are one of the best at moving swiftly unseen.”
            “Regardless to any of those claims, you stayed here, what if I died? Could you have lived with the knowledge that you could have prevented my death by keeping your promise?”
The three women hung their heads low. The look of loss on their faces would have made any court jester shed a tear.
            “Anyway, stop with the long faces, I did see a man. As a matter of fact I rescued him.”
            “Really, what did he look like?”
            “Just like the old stories say, minus the evil part, I dare say he was cute.”
The others gasped, and began to giggle. They went silent, however, at the sound of town’s folk stirring about.
            “Well ladies, I believe it is time we head home, we can't get caught out here.” 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Cold Days

Hello gang. Sorry about the delay in posting. I was stumped on what to write about this week. So I figured I'd wait until after I finished listening to Cold Days by Jim Butcher. Jim Butcher never seize to entertain, shock and surprise.  I'm not going to drop spoilers here. But if you like you like out of the box detective stories the Dresden files are the way to go. Jim Butcher definite took me on a journey I did not anticipate for this one and characters reacted different that i had guessed, which is all ways a good thing. The only sad part about the book is waiting for the next one, which who knows when we'll get that. Jim Butcher has declared he is diving into the steampunk genre after the completion and release of Cold Days and if you are like me, you're geeked by the thought.


In relation to cold days, I'm currently reading through MFLI: Kid as well as a story currently going by Nara for fellow writer and friend Odin. The idea being to have my book reread and adjusted by weeks end and sent for editing. We are looking at a January release on amazon for ebooks, if the sales do well, we will see about hard copies. The Violet Eclipse, my high fantasy series, I'm breaking up in a collection of novellas and will likely get a January release as well.

On a personal note I got a new job today!

Monday, November 26, 2012

The Road

   The road to Luimere is not only the road to a single book. I believe the road is the the path to chasing another dream. Last week I stated that Completed the first draft of MFLI. As of today I have also completed the first draft for the first in a series of novellas I intend to release, The Violet Eclipse. I find myself sitting here and wondering if I have what it takes to make it as a writer. Yes, lately I have whipped out the words and have done so much in the last three months,but there is that nagging voice wondering is it good enough?
 
Then I go to work and i get the reminder of the other reason I'm writing, the other reason I need to escape into my own imaginary world. One of my favorite rappers once said "Everybody has to work a job that they hate." Which is true at some point in your life you will. I, however am tired of it.

So I look down the road to Luimere and I see a better future. A future where I'm getting paid to write. Where I'm not working 2 pm to 10:30 pm and only getting 6 hours of sleep in order to get 6 hour of time with my family. Where I'm not coming home pissed off every day and going to work know i'm going to be pissed off before I sit down at my desk.

Anywho I'd love to answer any questions that my 20 or so readers  may have about either project. Feel free to ask a way.

Today's Sample is from The Violet Eclipse: Part one. (unedited)


Kritis lied down for the evening and Elenoren sang him a soft song. One of the songs of sword she would sing to him so often. Kritis had heard them all dozens of time, but Elenoren’s voice was so sweet that he never tired of hearing them. As she hummed the sword stances and strikes dance through his mind until he fell into unconsciousness.
The next morning Elenoren woke Kritis early and walked him through his sword drills. Elenoren was once the greatest sword-master in all of Daskan’s Fall some five hundred fifty-eight years ago. She hailed from the floating Mountains of Belanda home to the griffin riders. She had developed the twelve songs of the blade and mastered the use of the hand and a half sword. Elenoren was as beautiful as she was skilled and was often called on by many suitors. None however could stand up to her requirement. Nothing so brash and defeating her in a duel. She knew very well none could. Her prerequisite was simply that he maintains her level of training. Her last suitor however was her downfall. The last to call upon her was the then young elven King Olieni who sought to have the most attractive and most respected woman in all his lands as his bride.
Elenoren cared not that he was a King. She was not a traditional woman and she told him as such. She informed the king that he would as all the others; have to prove himself worthy of her hand. The King determined to have his bride did his best, but proved incapable. Infuriated and embarrassed the king ordered her capture. This was of course at the great expense of many soldiers’ lives. Before she was captured Elenoren had slain more than a hundred men with a single sword while still wearing her night gown. She was bound, gagged, and beaten severely. The King had Elenoren taken up to the high reaches of the Belanda Mountains. She was flown to the ancient forges high atop the floating volcano Aser.
There the king gave her an ultimatum to either be his wife or be his tool. At the time Elenoren did not understand what he meant by be his tool. She spit in his face and told him she would be neither. The King smiled a demented smile and had her taken to the Sword-Smiths. Ancient elves believe to have been taught by the Elemental Smiths themselves.
Elenoren was strapped to a stand with hands and feet bound and outstretched. Her bare body burned being so near to the intense heat of the molten rock. For hours she stood there being baked but not dying by the heat and watched the smiths craft a sword unlike any she had ever seen. The blade was three feet in length trailed by a foot long tang and was black as night. The cross guard consisted of four intertwining braids of silver. The handle was wrapped in a blackened wire mesh and the pummel was fashioned in a manner similar to the hilt.
The smiths cooled the blade and using their magic they assembled the parts. Hovering before Elenoren’s eyes the silver intertwining braid of the hilt slid smoothly up the tang and sat firmly becoming the cross guard. The hilt was followed by handle wrapped in the blacked wire mesh and the dark sword was made complete wire the placement of the pommel. The three weathered brawny elves laid the majestic weapon in the magic circle at Elenoren’s feet. They began to chant and fill the blade with magic. The volcano bubbled and swell as the master smiths drew strength from it. They continued chanting feeding the volcano’s immense power into the spell.
She knew then what was about to transpire and she screamed frantically. Elenoren pleaded with the smiths, with guards, with the King himself who stood by smiling. The chanting stopped, one of the smith picked up the glowing sword. His eyes were glowing the color of burning embers. He chanted the final words of the incantation and drove the sword deep into her chest.
Elenoren let out a horrid scream as her very essence was forcibly torn from her body and driven into the sword. Her soul torn from her body the King placed the black sword in the scabbard on his hip. King Olieni ordered his men to feed her body to Aser the Volcano as a tribute. The King returned to his palace with Elenoren at his side as his tool.
From that day forth Elenoren became King Olieni most prized possession. Many years passed before the shock completely wore off and she realized she could speak and be heard by those nearby. And speak she did, mocking the king at every opportunity. Before long he refrained from keeping her in his bed chamber. Soon after she was excluded from his training session as she would constantly correct him of his footwork and posture. Eventually, when he could not take it any longer King Olieni had her locked away in his vault. There she remained for over two hundred and fifty-eight years. Until Kritis and a traveling group of adventurers found the ruins of Olieni’s vault.

Kritis, your form is beautiful as ever. Shall we start the next song?”





Saturday, November 17, 2012

First draft completed

Today  November 17, 2012 is the day that I, Marcel Alexander, have completed the first draft of my novel Moore for Less Investigations:The Kid. WHOOOOHOOOOOO!!! (does a happy dance). It's been three month of work and have work diligently(cough,notreally,cough,cough,Guild Wars2,cough,cough) to complete the project. I initially aimed for a word count of  80,000 words, however my story is now complete as 75100 and some change. I feel if I try to force another 5000 words into it will sully the project with unneeded fluff.
 Phase one is now complete!  The next phase is to send the remainder of the book to my stepmother for editing. In the mean time, I will be working on some new art, Start a MFLI short story based off of one of the mentioned old cases from MFLI book one and maybe start book two as well.  As I had mentioned in an earlier post I'll be taking on the task of creating a tabletop RPG based off of the Luimere world and lifestyle.
I know I have around 20 readers and I appreciate everyone of you. Thanks for reading and do me the big favor of spreading the word!

Also I have finalized the cover.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Musical Inspiration


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw1qi9ofbg4

 So a few of the other authors I follow have been posting about what music they use for inspiration. So I figured I should share. The above picture is for the Rockstar game "L.A. Noire" A really awesome game that I have yet to finish  The game is based in 1940s LA and follows the case of a LA detective as he rises through the ranks. The gameplay however is not the defining feature of the game for me. The soundtrack features 40s noir style jazz featured in the old noir films. I had the entire soundtrack on repeat for nearly a month when I started working on MFLI. The horns would transport me to my vision of Luimere and into the shoes of Marcus Moore private eye. Marcus's words and thoughts would just pour out of me as the strings played somber sounds. If MFLI were ever to become a movie I definitely would insist on this style of music in steampunk world. The above link is to the extended version of the Main Theme as the song was titled. Enjoy!