Art

WIP novel progress

(see @bennuma-crossing for most recent and all previous sections of the story, skip pinned intro post if desired)

Starting chapter 3 of my WIP-titled story "The Crossing" ...about a camp of people who fled a bronze-age equivalent war zone in a magic-deprived portion of a fantasy world, who come across a traveler from a different (magic-rich) part of the world, who shows up and helps the people from the camp when they need it most, only asking to travel with them in return.

Who is this stranger, where did she come from, and what is her real objective? How will they find a new home where they can live in peace and safety, and what part will be played by the (arguably) most broken man in the camp?

(note: though originally intended to be an adventure story, future chapters may contain a love story, but rest assured I will be keeping it SFW)

also, if anyone happens to prefer blogspot format for reading long posts, you can find the same story on my blog here:

One-question survey

Re: my Bennuma Crossing story

(which btw has a new update, section 2.2 posted (aka chapter 2, second part)

Intro:

Assuming that a fair proportion of followers to this blog are actually followers of The Crossing story ( @bennuma-crossing ) ...and that no one has bothered to follow that blog because they are following this one instead, because I tend to make posts here when I update that story, and random comments or whatever else (including unrelated things) goes in here so that I won't clutter up that blog...

(I could be wrong, but otherwise I have no clue why anyone at all actually follows this blog)

The Question:

Would people reading The Crossing prefer if I post relatively short story sections, in order to attempt to post more frequently? Or, do people prefer to have long sections to read, even if it means they are posted less frequently?

Please reply via comments, choosing one or more of the following multiple choice answers:

"please post more frequently, even if they are short sections"

"please post long sections, even if they are infrequent"

"I choose to write some other kind of comment for some reason"

"What are you even talking about? What is this blog anyway?"

klmklfnvjuiawehbn CSNzvzfzevoivwakpo zlk vcn dv (translation: "I am a cat." )

A Couple of Notes

In The Crossing (current WIP novel) I hesitate to refer to the camp of travelers as refugees or exiles, since although they left their home in order to escape war and being threatened (also raided, plundered, etc) by local armed forces and mercenary types... they weren't specifically evicted or told to leave, nor forced out because of their culture, race, beliefs, or any other such sort of thing. Not... directly.

It was more like, they wanted to remain peacefully neutral and not join the fighting, and being in small unfortified villages and hamlets in the countryside, they simply were easy targets for people who wanted to pick up supplies in quick raids... because of where they lived, and not because of who they were (except for their choice to be neutral). The survivors of the raids found these conditions intolerable, and decided to pack up and leave instead of moving to join any of the (sort of) neighboring fortified burgs that were at war with each other. This doesn't quite fit with a lot of what I read about current common definitions of 'refugees' and I don't wish to confuse people nor in any way minimize the plight of people in the real world on planet Earth who have become refugees or exiles because of their religion/beliefs, culture, ethnicity, or other sorts of differences. I also hesitate to refer to them as 'nomads' because although they have taken up a nomadic sort of existence, it is more of a temporary thing (they hope) like pilgrims or pioneers traveling out of necessity while they seek out a new home to settle in, and not an inherited, cultural way of life like I think the word 'nomad' usually denotes. Likewise, I don't want to refer to them as 'travelers' because it seems in some parts of Europe, that word (in English) specifically is used (perhaps as slang) to refer to the Romani people and their cultural way of life, which is also not what is going on in The Crossing. Sometimes in hash tags I am putting 'traveling people' because I am not sure what else to refer to their current nomadic sort of way of life as, since although they might accurately be referred to as a type of pioneers (in Bennuma) that term could also be confused with a specific time period and the geographic area of North America... and similar issues with the term 'pilgrims' exist, in addition to that term typically also designating having religious reasons for traveling, or 'making a pilgrimage'.

Perhaps eventually I might figure out what would be a term to use that I'd consider ideal, or at least acceptable. For now, it's something of a muddle to me.

Also note: regretfully, I cannot currently be sure to post updates to the Crossing WIP novel @bennuma-crossing according to a regular schedule (as also, the informational, sometimes-containing-short-stories, worldbuilding sort of background blog @legends-of-bennuma) but I am trying to do so without huge gaps in time between posts. After section 1.7 of The Crossing, I plan to get into what I currently consider to be chapter 2... the novel being more or less a first draft, someday after the thing is completed perhaps the novel will be divided differently chapter-wise, I don't know yet... admittedly I sometimes get in a muddle over where to make chapter divisions.

Rotisserie Chicken

Do you ever feel like one, when you are trying to sleep but constantly wake up and are feeling too warm and have to turn over every time?

Also: Have posted section 2.5 of my WIP novel in my own personal fantasy world of Bennuma, for which I have done extensive world-building. This currently-working-on WIP novel is working-titled as "The Crossing" and can be found @bennuma-crossing

Desk Nap

is best nap

wip novel part 3.2 !

Got the next part of my wip novel up in @bennuma-crossing !

I gotta say here, I really really really enjoy switching pov characters from time to time because I absolutely love exploring the ways that different characters will look at things differently from each other, see others in varying ways, and spend their time thinking about different things. If you like that sort of thing, too, please check out my story. :)

Also, as always, if anyone prefers blogspot format for reading long posts, it's also here:

(someday I might make my own website or put my writing in other places to make it more widely accessible, but for now it's just in those two places)

Had this keychain for years, I forget where I got it. Anyway, it sums a lot up in a far more concise way than I ever managed to on my own.

Done. Did It.

It has been a very common thing in my life, that the list of things that I need to accomplish on any given day, will far surpass what I am capable of actually accomplishing.

At the end of the day, it's easy for me to get overwhelmed by all the things I hadn't managed to cross off the list, especially when other things that hadn't started out on my list crop up during the day and end up taking place of priority for legitimate reasons.

So, although I may have spent all day keeping busy doing things that needed to be done and having minimal break time, I may have ended up accomplishing almost nothing that was on my list at the beginning of the day.

At such times, I've found it is helpful for me to keep a list of the things I did that day, everything I did accomplish regardless of whether it was on my "To Do" list or not. Seeing my "Done" or "Did it" list at the end of the day can help me feel less like a failure, and focus on the positive-ness of having spent the day accomplishing things that were worth doing.

Worth a try for anyone who may experience some of the same anxieties about never having enough time for everything that needs to be done.

To everyone: please do not use my "asks" or any other way of messaging or mentioning me, in order to ask me to donate to you, or to help promote your donation requests.

1. If you genuinely need help and are not involved in a scam, I wish you all the best and pray that you can find real help, even if it isn't what you expect. HOWEVER...

2. I cannot reblog or otherwise promote any fundraising requests without first researching each and every single one, to determine not only whether the request is legitimate, but also whether or not a person requesting aid is using a legitimate site and not one that may be scamming them. I currently am mentally and emotionally unable to put in the time and effort required for such research, so therefore I can neither validate nor recommend any fundraising efforts from anyone.

3. I personally am unable to donate to anybody, because I simply do not have money. I myself am destitute and in need of funds. I cannot in good conscience attempt to compete with all the people who are simply asking for donations, but one day maybe if people wish to help support my writing, I hope to earn enough with it to get by.

Please don't anyone hold this against me; it doesn't mean that I don't care, and it does not mean that I think everyone is scamming, and it does not mean I am against people trying to raise funds for their families or other causes. I'm just stating what my limits currently are, and why it is wasted effort for anyone to ask me to donate or to help them promote their fundraising.

Read the Fine Print (if you can)

An obscure artist of some sort gains sudden attention and fame from creating a series of new art pieces entirely different from before, with each piece including cryptic markings or symbols of a sort that nobody can decipher and the artist mysteriously declines to comment on.

An old school friend of the artist visits, and the artist tells this friend something that no one else has been told: the artist does not know what the symbols are, because all of the new art pieces were made while under the influence of something the artist says is "like absinthe, but not" ...and the artist afterwards can never remember anything that happened for the entire night after drinking it.

The artist agrees to let the old friend stay over and do an experiment, wherein the idea is that the friend would keep out of the way until the artist got to the point of putting the cryptic symbols on a new art piece, and then come out and ask the artist what they mean. They are hoping that the artist will be able to give an answer at that time, and then the next day, the friend can tell back to the artist what the answer was.

So they go to a very strange shop in a remote area and buy a bottle of the drink that has no name and where the shopkeeper always acts like it's the first time the artist has been there, in spite of being a very regular customer by now. That night, the friend sits someplace hidden but with a view of the entire room, and prepares to watch and wait while the artist plans to drink the drink and spend the night making art...

...and is surprised to find that when the artist takes the first drink, it's actually a potion that summons someone or something, that plans to possess the artist. However, becoming aware that there's someone else hiding in a corner of the room, things take a different turn.

(post a reply if you have any fun ideas about what might happen... or if you play with making a short story of this, please do make a mention of it so I can read it)