Saturday, June 3, 2017

A Hunter's Story

I’m sorry for my long silence. It’s been quite a chore getting settled here in North Carolina. I’m happy to report I’m fully settled and have started working at a job that enjoy. I’m working at a privately own botanic garden and nursery. I work in the gardens. I’ve had a blast despite the ups and downs with the job. Thankfully my body has started adjusting to the environment here. I’ve lived in Utah for three years and lost the ability to handle humidity. I did grow up in Maryland which has some humidity but not as much as North Carolina. I truly love it here and could never imagine leaving it.
However, during my time after work and on the weekends I’ve been busily playing Destiny on my Xbox One. For those who don’t know Destiny is an online game that was made by both Bungie (the makers of Halo) and Activision (the makers of Call of Duty). The game takes place in the far future where humanity has been able to grow thanks to the help of an alien entity called the Traveler. With its help humanity expanded into other planets and this created a Golden Age. However, a few centuries later the Traveler’s enemy the Darkness attacked us and ended our Golden Age. When the game begins humanity is all gathered into a haven here on Earth to hide from the different alien races that hunt us. Guardians are those brought back to life by the Traveler’s Light and can wield the Light as a weapon against these enemies.
  With the advent of the second game in the series coming out in September the game has an event going called the Age of Triumph. As you complete objectives you gain rewards for your guardian. When I started in year One (or Vanilla Destiny to my fellow guardians) I began as a Warlock. However, as life closed in I wasn’t able to play as much and this year in order to help gain some of the class based awards I created a hunter and a titan. I found while playing out of the three classes I identified heavily with the hunter class.
Just like the hunters in Destiny, I enjoyed exploring new places and preferred a very free following life style. I also have an interesting sense of humor and often am found on my own. I may have friends that I care for deeply but I’m mostly found by myself. I’m curious and adventurous by nature. As I’m forging my own path by changing the course of my life now mirrors a hunter’s mastery of the wilds beyond the City.
So, to honor this and my love of Destiny before the next game comes out I’ve decided to work on the story of my hunter. The actual story will be set just before and during the Taken King expansion. With the help of the lore I’ve learned plus some experiences from my own life I’ll bring Krya Masters tale to life. I can’t wait to post it to wattpad for you to read. Also, I may put up some experts from various chapters here on the blog for you guys to preview.
Until next time!

~ChildofCourage~   

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Finding the Words

            I often find that it isn’t easy to find the right words when I’m working on a story. I’m left struggling to come up with the right phrasing to convey my intentions for the scene. The effort to come up with the right combination can either flow easily like water from a faucet or, as it happens most of the time, feels like I’m bashing my head against a brick wall. I know what I want to happen in my writing but left stalled by the inability to write a single word.
            It is puzzling to know that you have an idea of what you want to happen but struggle to find the right way in which to say it. After all, the best writers show what’s going on rather than tell the audience. That is a hard balance to find, especially for an amateur writer trying to practice their craft before taking it to the professional scene. Perhaps, that’s often what stops me from finding my way even through my first draft of my novel. I worry so much about how bad it is currently that I forget that it’s a first draft.
            However, help has been found online. Trolling pinterest and other parts of the net has turned up several aids for writers looking for help on how to do certain things in their work. I found these sources very helpful even if I’m working on side projects like the occasional fan fictions that I work on. It is all practice no matter what form the writing takes. So with these aids at my fingertips I’ve begun working once more. If any of you want to find these helps for yourself I’ll leave a link to my creative writing pin board below.
            I hope to see you all again next week with more from either of my stories for you to read over.

~ChildofCourage~    

Thursday, February 16, 2017

New Story and Characters in development

            Since setting up shop at home I’ve begun work on a D&D based story. The full story and major characters are still in development. I’ve also decided to do the same with my Lunar Revelations book as well. Some of the characters felt a little under developed and as the main vehicles of showing the worlds that I’m working on I wanted them to be a little more flushed out. I wanted them to feel more real to you as readers of my stories. However, some major edits will be underway with Lunar Revelations to cut out some of the backstory I placed in. I don’t want to hit my readers over the head with a ton of backstory from the beginning. The stories I aim to tell should focus less on the characters' backgrounds and more on the world they find themselves in and how the learn about it and learn to survive in it. 
            However, I wanted to give my readers a chance to meet my two newest characters. These two adventurers will be the main stars of my D&D story. First, there’s Leslie Williams. A 25 year old college student who finds herself pulled into an amazing but dangerous fantasy world and fights to return back to the modern world from which she came. As some of you may note, her first name is my own. It’s for three reasons I gave this character my name. One, I like the meaning of my first name. Boiled down it means strength and that’s the trait I want this character to have. Two, I identify with this character. To be honest on some level all my characters come from some part of my own personality. So, this is an acknowledgement of such a connection. Three, it’s also a little vanity. My first name is very rarely used and I love it. So, I at least wanted one character to bear that name even if nobody really gets to see my work.
            Leaving the modern lead and going to the second, Kalandorl Rilynana is a drow warrior that risks his life to flee the life he’s been leading in the Underdark. For those who don’t know much about Drow or D&D, the Underdark is an underground realm that exists in Dungeons and Dragons where many evil, banished races live. The Drow are also known as dark elves. Their culture is cutthroat and violent. Most drow tend to live only a few hundred years or so due to the chaotic nature of their culture which is led by a tyrantical matriarchy that sees the males of the race as a step above slaves. Kalandorl wishes to leave this world of betrayal and bloodshed behind him.
            Both characters find themselves thrown together in an evil fey King’s dungeon and must try to escape but more dangers await them outside of the castle. However, to give you a taste of what these two characters are like here’s a little information on both of them.

Leslie Williams
    • Age: 25 
    • Race: Human 
    • Height: 5’ 1”
    • Build: Petite 
    • Skin tone: ivory white 
    • gender: female 
    • ethnicity: White
    • identifying features: pixie-cut dark brown hair and pixie-like features with extremely dark eyes 
    • Profession: College student/Medical Assistant (her other world profession ends up a being a ranger)
    • hobbies: writing, reading, gardening, video games, watching anime and tv, and art
    • Habits: sleeps in late (isn’t a morning person), keeps clean and organized room, quiet person unless around the right person (ambivert tendencies)
    • Faults: shy, pessimistic, often fights depression, has trust issues (especially with men)
    • Clothes: At work: medical scrubs and tennis shoes; At school: jeans, graphic t-shirt, and converses; At home: loose t-shirts and shorts
    • Body language: eye contact level: eyes constantly scanning or focused forward on her path or glued to her phone or writing journal; gait: smooth; carriage: slightly nervous; posture: upright with head held straight and often moving; hand movements: often flourishes hands when passionate, movements can be jerky or smooth depending on mood; nervous ticks: bites lower lip, often has a nervous laugh or messes with her hair when nervous
Kalandorl Rilynana
    • Age: 126
    • Race: Drow
    • Height: 6’ 1”
    • Build: slender but well-muscled
    • Skin tone: Obsidian black
    • Gender: Male
    • Ethnicity: dark elf
    • Identifying features: piercing lilac eyes that almost seem to glow in the dark and a scar on his right cheek from an old duel
    • Profession: Drow warrior
    • Hobbies: gambling, playing cards, training physically, and music
    • Habits: Sleeps little (due to elven heritage), practices his fighting skills on a regular basis to keep them sharp for battles with enemies (often other Drow), often likes to gamble with fellows in his patrol to trick them out of treasure he wants, only does anything musical when he’s alone but enjoys what music he can find, constantly on the lookout for threats to him
    • Faults: Distrustful of others due to the culture he grew up in, Defensive about his hobbies that aren’t in line with the life of a warrior, has deep rooted prejudices against other races from his upbringing
    • Clothes: at “work”: black leather armor, belts, and weapons with all tools he needs; At home: a simple red tunic with leather belt and black cloth pants and leather boots
    • Body language: Eye contact: Holds the gaze of anyone he sees as an equal except when it comes to women were he looks away or down to show respect; gait: long strides that are smooth and precise; Carriage: confident and proud; Posture: stands up straight with shoulders squared as if in formation, Proximity: keeps a fair distance between him and those around him; Hand movements: deft and flowing but almost minimal when not fighting; nervous ticks: glances around the room when nervous and often will mess with the hilt of his sword

Hope you guys enjoyed learning about these two! See you next week with another post!


~ChildofCourage~

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Pardon My Dust

Sorry I’ve been away for so long. I’ve been going through a bit of an adjustment over the last year and now have made a permanent move back to my home state. I will soon be posting regularly again about my current writing projects and cosplays. I thank you for your patience and hope to post something more substantial soon for you all to read. Until next week on Thursday! Have a good weekend!