Tag: update

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February Check-In – Clunking Right Along

Howdy, Folks! And happy Lupercalia to all the werewolves out there. (Whut?)

I’m actually getting into the habit of this monthly post thing – although next time I’ll mark my calendar so I don’t almost forget. Habits are hard to form, but I’ll get there!

Many thanks are in order this month, some to say goodbye, some to say hello. First, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Stu King (aka CouchwarriorTV and fearless leader of the Character Crusade) for seven years of amazing storytelling, voice acting, and audio-visual production over on YouTube. He recently announced that he was moving on to other things, but he was the reason I started the Dawnbreakers’ Saga in the first place, which gave me the confidence to do things like speak at panels and keep writing novels. Stu is, if anyone is, my voice acting and character building sensei, and to him I give a hearty thanks, raise a mug (of coffee), and wish the very best on his upcoming adventures! Skål!

Second, a big thank you to my dad – Nathan Lowell, the man, the myth, the Captain of the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper – for boosting All’s Well in Asgard. He didn’t have to, but he did. And because he did, I feel like I have even more reason to be present. So, hello! All you Asgard fans who crossed over from the Deep Dark now know why I keep calling Pip “Space Loki.” 😀

What Am I Doing?

Hostage: The full draft is currently with the other Lowell. He’s working on meshing the two stories together and getting the manuscript formatted so that we can scrape it into shape a bit more. I haven’t seen the other half of the story yet – aside from the very end of it – so I’m quite interested to see what they look like side by side.

Charge: Surprise Project! I intended to pick Gate Strider back up when I was done with Hostage but I had so much fun writing Loki for All’s Well that I had to dip my toe back into Norse Mythology land for a while… and fell all the way in, as one does. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with Charge – it’s a story set mostly in Vanaheim but dips into 9th century Norway for a little while. It’s been coming together in bits and chunks for the last like eight years or so, but may not lend itself well to novelization. It’s a very visual story, and significantly more adult than All’s Well, so I may be producing it as a comic or graphic novel. Which would be a Challenge, since I’ve never been able to keep focused on the same thing long enough to make a go of sequential art. (Though, I do have a couple of unfinished animations under my belt now. Shhh, secrets.) I’m about 13k words into a rough draft if 4theWords is correct, which I will likely be using as a base for comic scripts later on. Character design is underway, and I’m enjoying the process a great deal!

That’s about all for this month! With any luck I’ll be seeing you again soon!

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Slowly but Surely (Don’t Call Me Shirley)

Howdy, folks!

Been a while – again – but this time it was primarily because my day job is in retail and 2019 was the first holiday season I’ve had to deal with in a Big Store rather than a little one. Boy howdy did it ever beat my stamina to a pulp and leave it for undead. All kinds of things fell by the wayside – art, writing, social media presence, heck even Dawnbreakers had to go on hiatus for about a month. The plus side is that in trying to get my feet back under me I’ve been able to suss out some things that I Really Want To Do, some things that I Really Don’t, and a few test-strategies to get things going and/or situated.

CoSine 2020 was an awesome time, and I learned a lot there that I didn’t know but should have. You’d think someone whose dad has a doctorate in social media would know how it actually works but Nope! So I’m adjusting due to new information and fresh motivation: This year I was actually on panels for the first time ever and it was so much fun! I stepped out from behind my dad’s shadow a little bit, so now I’m not as scared about sticking a flag down on the internet. It wasn’t even something I was really aware of, but now that I am, I can deal with it.

Plans:

With any luck I’ll be doing a “Story So Far” recap for the Dawnbreakers’ Saga at the end of the month, and from there out do shorter “what happened this month” recaps. I plan for mid-month “what am I working on that isn’t Skyrim” updates so that we’re all on the same page, and both of those will be cross-posted to my new Facebook Group! (Which is one of the things I learned at CoSine – I had a Page but they don’t work they way I think they do.) And hey! Since it’s slightly after the middle of the month…

What Am I Doing?

Barbarian, Book One: Hostage – Cowriting this one. I’m in charge of the steppe nomads, and the other writer has been waiting on my half of the story since the middle of November. I’m at 41k for word count on the first draft and my “protagonist” is fighting me. (He’s not exactly a Good Person.) With any luck I’ll have the first draft done before the end of the month.

All’s Well in Asgard – First draft done! My plan was to sit on it and let the words fade while I work on Hostage, and then do a first pass while it was with my cowriter’s editor. Obviously that has taken a lot longer than I expected, so the Gray Horse crew will just have to be patient. (Loki is getting antsy, I can feel it.)

The Raven-Friend’s Saga – Gate Strider got stuck while I finished All’s Well, and Blackbird is in a similar situation. They’re still on the list, and I suspect I’ll pick Gate Strider back up when I’m done with Hostage. It’ll be a long while before we get back to Esper’s story but we will get there eventually. At a stretch, I think I’ll end up alternating Esper’s books with other things, depending on how said other things go. No promises.

Paperbacks – I’ve currently got a proof copy of Redgate: Old World waiting to be covered in red ink. (I kid, mostly.) I’m going to paper those ones before the Tales from Liserna, because they need significant work, and if I remember correctly, the Redgate Chronicles are pretty clean. I can even keep the covers!

So there’s an example of what’s on the way in the future. My next step is to set up an e-mail list (like, a real one this time) and actually finish my half of Hostage so that we can whip that one into shape. I may also see about getting my genre looked at – I met a guy at CoSine who was doing really well promoting his books as YA despite being a little more mature. I know the guy who pushed him in that direction, and that may be worthwhile for at very least the Redgate Chronicles and All’s Well in Asgard, should I ever get that one out. Just thinking out loud here.

Alright, shocker, I made a long-winded post. See ya’ll next time!

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Unlimited!

Hello, my friends!

I’m typing this in the middle of a rather severe thunderstorm but I’m very pleased to announce that all of my books are now available to read for free on Kindle Unlimited! The Tales from Liserna trilogy has been updated, finally, which means all of the dialogue tags and bugs have been fixed (the ones I had knowledge of anyway) and I can get on to other things.  Namely, finishing the second Redgate book.

I’ll let you all know when next I have stuff.  Slowly whittling down the pile of projects. Slowly.

See you when I see you,
-Ej

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Slow Updates and Anniversaries

Hello my friends, long time no talk.

Seeing as my last update was in December and I haven’t spoken since I figured I should probably fill you all in on what my wee brain has been up to. Namely, too many things. So many things.

First of all I’m happy to announce that I’m in the process of scanning through the Tales of Esper Ravenwood and the Tales of Liserna, fixing typos and dialogue tags, and adjusting some personal and plot bugs that make me wince every time I think about them (like the end of Lightbringer). The Tales of Esper Ravenwood (Revenant, Scourgemarked, and Lightbringer) are all complete and have been updated in the Amazon Kindle store, as well as had a bit of a price drop. They and the first Redgate Chronicles book are also enrolled in Kindle Unlimited now, so you don’t have to pay for them in order to read them, if you’re a member. The Tales from Liserna (Runesong, Heartnet, and Winterdream) are still in progress but are next on the list. I’m also thinking about revamping the covers, but that’s on the back-burner.

Current projects in the works include finishing up the second Redgate book, New World, as well as a third(and maybe fourth) in planning, tentatively titled Other World. Esper Ravenwood is also bugging me about the tales from his “youth,” including how he met Veraggo, the beautiful Efreet fire dancer, and the rest of the band of bards he used to call family. His prequel series has a working title so far of The Adventures of Esper Ravenwood, or possibly The Bard Chronicles, I haven’t decided yet. Legion might be getting a prequel as well, currently titled “Gatewalker,” but I do believe that title is taken, so it will likely change. “A Long, Cold Road,” featuring Tiberius Winters and a shade named Erron Rook, is in a weird writing/planning limbo at the moment, while I try to figure out what goes where, and more importantly who. Blood of Hyperion is currently cryogenically frozen because the plot got so tangled that I might need a minor miracle in order to pick it up again. Last but not least, The Mythology of Omnia is a project that currently consists of a bunch of ideas for vignettes and short stores, Prose Edda style, about the First Gods, the Old Gods, and pantheonic shenanigans. My plan is to write the little vignettes in between doing other things, since they’ll all be in the same book, hopefully. I have dreams of short story collections, but short stories are very hard to write.

I’ve got a bunch of art projects going on behind the scenes, mostly for other people, but I did finally figure out what I wanted to do with the conglomeration of stories formerly known as both Charge and All’s Well in Asgard. I’ve never been good at sequential art, but I’ve decided to try vignette comics. We’ll see. I’ve got two pages done out of the first seven, so far.

It’s also April. This time last year – in a few days anyway – my best friend was in an auto accident and didn’t make it. First anniversaries are tricky at best. I’m dealing by way of having a list of projects the size of Mt. Evans. Obviously. Don’t worry, I have priorities. Just wanted to mention this as an explanation, if I’m a little bit more quiet than usual around the various tubes in the next few weeks.

See you when I see you, my friends.

ps. It apparently took me the better part of four years to figure out that having an undead main character definitely constitutes Dark Fantasy. WHOOPS.

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NaNo Update – Final Word Count

Wooooooooo!!!!

Hello, my friends!

I have finally, finally, after much heartache, distraction, and struggle, finished book one of the Redgate Chronicles. I say finally because shortly after the halfway point I had a couple of days where I only managed to write a couple hundred words because of a family vacation of sorts(totally worth it, btw) and a few days in the mix where I didn’t write anything because, *alien hands* life. Not sure what I’m complaining about. I’ve managed to outrun my dad, the man who inspired “The Lowell” as a unit of measurement for productivity(which, if you’re curious, is 10k words in a day. I can write a half-Lowell.) which is a feat in and of itself.

The final, verified word count came in at a whopping 60,998 words, which, for me, is absurd for a first draft. Old World is going to be a long book, as far as my writing goes, and I am so excited to read back through it in a month or so(maybe less if I work on something between then and now) and relive all of the hilarity, heartache, and Huge Monstrous Mistakes again. And edit, of course. That too. Also cry. I suspect there will be a lot of crying involved. *curses at Marcus*

So, what comes next? Several ideas. My current projects include updating the Tales from Liserna covers to match the style of the Tales of Esper Ravenwood ones, more stories for the Lazarus Anthology, actual art for the cover of the book I just wrote because that’s a good idea, and a read-through of All’s Well in Asgard.

Actually, I might do something different with that last one. The “reality” parts of All’s Well in Asgard are really boring, and not really the story I want to be telling. The fantasy bits, on the other hand, are basically what I tried to do with another project, that has long since bit the big one, but in a way that actually works, and feels like a complete story, even though it’s only 26k or thereabouts. I may end up renaming the project to Charge, which was the title for the bit-dust project, and make it into a graphic novel/comic. It’s a story that would work quite well with the medium, and put a challenge on me that I might actually be able to complete this time.

As for non-book projects, I’m working on, of all things, developing a tabletop game with some friends of mine for the Three of Wands RPG Company. I’m currently the one spearheading the project, as it were, and thus far have the only testable prototype. I work smart. I’ll probably be running that into the ground for a while, which should sufficiently take my mind off of the Chronicles. Should be a good time!

So that’s where I’m at. Tomorrow, I will be a very confused hermit because I won’t be writing a book. Oh…wait. I’ve still got New World to plan. *evil hand wringing*

See you soon!
-E.J. Lowell

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NaNo Update – Halfway There

Hello, friends!

I’ve never written a story this fast before. It’s terrifying. I just hit 30,000 words and am on Chapter 7 now. Those of you who’ve read my other books know that I tend to write long chapters. My average is 11 per book, with my longest so far(in terms of numbers of chapters) being Winterdream. Old World will end up being 12 chapters long, and possibly something like 60,000 words by the end of everything, which would make it my longest book yet, other than Revenant.

And I’m only on day nine. How am I doing this?

Whatever. Keep rolling, Ej! And the rest of you, too. We’ve got worlds to explore!

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NaNo Week 1 Update

Hello, friends!

So far so good! I’m a week in and already almost to 25,000 words(which is a higher word count than my dad has right at the moment. Didn’t expect this at all). I probably won’t end up with that by the end of the day, but maybe tomorrow. I’ve got a distraction today that I really wish I didn’t, but do I wish that because it’s not worth it, or because it’s dragging me out of my house while I’d rather be home writing and drawing? Remains to be seen.

Old World is writing itself in a blaze of creative glory, much like Revenant did. It’s rather refreshing, actually. It’s all planned out and is following the path in a gently meandering way…right up until the wall smacked everyone in the face. I’ve just gotten past the first earth-shattering ka-boom and it was awesome. If draining.

I’m learning a lot about this world and the characters in it that I didn’t realize in planning. They keep writing in little bits about themselves, like Kisuke spontaneously becoming a lore-nerd, and Marcus swearing in Abyssal. Evaline is still a little bit of a mystery, but she’s one of those characters that I know is going to bloom majestically when she gets into serious trouble. Ivan Valenshine is a bit of a surprise, though. He’s much more involved and sarcastic than he was when I first “met” him, and he and Evaline get along weirdly well. Surprisingly, the hardest character to write so far is Queen Elenora. She was much more vivid in my mind, but perhaps that’s because the only chapters in which we get to see her so far are through Kisuke’s point of view.  I didn’t expect her to be the problem child, but, hey. There’s always one. Except for Winterdream. That entire team worked together like a well-oiled machine.

Here’s to the next week, and the next couple of chapters. Marcus is about to meet one of my favorite characters from the planning stage, and the world is about to be thrown into utter chaos. *evil cackling*

Catch you later. Keep going strong, fellow WriMos!
-E.J. Lowell

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NaNoWriMo 2015 with OddBard

Hello, friends! Happy National Novel Writing Month!

Last month I got All’s Well in Asgard to a grand total of 50,969 words, but it’s still not quite to the end yet. I mostly got stuck after I put the two halves together, and I’ll probably come back to it after November to whip it into half-decent shape. I do quite like the story, though, and it’s one that I want to tell, eventually, but I think it needs a bit more time to percolate before I finish it and put it through the Edits.

I also started putting together the first tales in the Lazarus Anthology(currently 12,000 words long, ish), a collection of short stories set in Esper’s world. There are currently three written, with seven more potentially planned(five of those being from the Companions of Jay). The finished ones are Mixed Blessing, a third-person account of Nuin’s curse, The Way He Smiles, an excerpt from Leon’s journal, and Sanctuary, a short story set after the events of Lightbringer in which we get to see Captain Heartnet in action. I’ll probably be working on the other short stories while I work through my NaNo novel, since I anticipate needing a break every once in a while.

This month I’ll be writing The Redgate Chronicles: Old World which is all planned out(I’m not pantsing this one, thank goodness) and should be a wild ride. My author page is over here, if you want to come be my writing buddy and watch me struggle my way through yet another tale of craziness and trickery. This is going to be a good month!

To my fellow WriMo’s: May the Words be ever in your favor. Good luck!

RedgateOW Working

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The Redgate Chronicles and an Unexpected Story

Hello, friends!

I’ve been meaning to post something here for a long time but haven’t, obviously. Mostly that’s because I hadn’t thought of anything to post, and was going through a bit of a story hangover after having gotten Scourgemarked into print. I’ll start working on Lightbringer when I feel like it’s worth it, but right now I’m not selling anything. Kinda disheartening, but it happens. Not everyone is a Nathan Lowell their first year out the gate. Not even his elder progeny. (Crap, it’s only been a year, what am I worrying about?)

So, projects. I’ve got a new series in the works that I’m going to start seriously cracking down on for NaNoWriMo, a two-book story called the Redgate Chronicles. The first book, “Old World,” is planned in detail already and I’m working on the plot for “New World,” on and off. It’s fantasy, just like the two Tales trilogies(which I should probably just start calling the Omnia saga or something), but it’s not set in the same time or society as they are. It’s going to be a little different. New deities, new history, lots of cool stuff. I’m pretty excited. I’ll probably end up designing a cover for Old World before October is over.

I also accidentally started a work of Mythic fiction, which borders on historical at times, after just plonking down and trying to get ideas going. I’m 12,000 words into that so far, I could probably get it to novel length before the end of October, or I might end up putting it on pause and picking it back up in December if I don’t finish. It’s also the first draft so I may find myself at, “Would you know yet more?” before I get to 50,000 words. The story behind this one is that a while back I tried to write a modern-day Mythic fantasy called “All’s Well in Asgard,” but it didn’t work out. I got 30,000 words in and decided it wasn’t the story that I wanted to be telling, so I just dropped it. This thing I’m working on now is tentatively going by that title, even though it all takes place in Midgard, Vanaheim, and Jotunnheim at the moment. It’s currently focused on the journey of an Eshnahai(a Vanir from back before the elves and jotunns decided to become two different things) not named in lore called Vursythian, and his apprentice Erisath. Loki is also a main player. Because Loki…is Loki. He does whatever. I’ve still got the mock cover that I made for that when I tried to write the first iteration, and this second one is probably going to get merged with it somewhat. Given that I’m basically pantsing this one, we’ll see how much editing it takes to get it where it needs to go.

That’s all for now, folks. See you again soon, hopefully.
-E.J. Lowell

AWiA Cover

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Scourgemarked is out in Paperback

Hey, friends!

Esper got his turn on Revenant’s cover in July, so here’s Leon’s face on Scourgemarked! If you want to get a copy and read the stories for yourself, here’s that for you.

Also, I’ve been working on maps behind the scenes, as well as planning out my next series, so hopefully I’ll have some pages up soon about the world of Omnia.

Until then, see you soon!
-E.J. Lowell