WIP Novel Progress

Desk Nap

is best nap

This.

Hi there!

Just a note by way of explanation...

I am going to be putting some stories and things on tumblr. I had originally started out using blogger, but decided to use tumblr also now for reasons too tedious to elaborate at the moment. When I have short stories to put online, there will be short stories to be found; however, most of the time when I plan to write a short story, it turns into a novel... when I plan a novel, it turns into a trilogy... when I plan a trilogy, it becomes a series... and series have a habit of turning into extended universes on me with alarming predictability.

The story I am mostly working on currently is The Crossing, and it takes place in one of the lives of my fantasy world Bennuma, beginning with a group of refugees in a part of the world without magic, in one of the earlier-ish ages of that life of the world, though not of the earliest ages. Eh, that would make more sense if you saw a chronology of the history of the world, ha. (as for that, my little blog on Legends of Bennuma is for historical notes, background, short stories, fables, tales, etc. regarding the world of Bennuma, written from the point of view of someone from that world)

The Crossing is a story that I decided to post online as I write it, and aside from having made some relatively minor edits recently to what had previously been on blogger (and has been updated there) is basically intended to be shared as what I consider to be a first draft...ish. It is one of my stories that originally was going to be a short story, but turned into a more complicated plot than the simple tale I planned at first, because it just grew that way. Although I have done a lot of work so far on the outline for the whole story, the actual writing out of it is pretty much still in the first chapter. I think it might turn out to be as long as a full novel or perhaps a multi-part thing... not sure yet.

I write slow, unfortunately, and cannot always post as much as entire chapters at a time; more like... scenes, or bits and pieces. Updates to be added roughly when I can; ideally I would like to do so once a week but it is difficult for many reasons. The first several bits I will likely post closer together until I get the blog caught up to how much has been posted to blogger previously. I am going to maintain the same length of posts as had been posted before instead of combining them, so any potential readers can get used to the idea of how long of sections of story bits may be normal, rather than anticipating that updates would be as long as all of what has been written so far together. Same also for the Legends of Bennuma.

Also, eventually, when I work on other stories/books, each novel-length (or longer) will likely have its own blog, and any short stories that are NOT from the world of Bennuma, I’ll put in another blog (ie, not with the shorts in the Legends of Bennuma) ...whether fantasy or sci-fi or whatever.

I think that’s all from me for now by way of introduction, so I say again, hello!

P.S. ~the “D.L.” in “D.L. Lane” may be optionally pronounced as “del”

Testing things out...

Although an attempt to reblog from a side blog to here previously had not worked when I tried it on the computer (it had only reblogged it to the very same side blog the post was from originally, go figure)

...apparently I can reblog from a side blog to the main one from the phone app.

I am sure this is not news to most people, ha... just saying that's what I'm playing with

Fairy Tales

Oldschool Fairy Tales from pre-industrial times: "These are cautionary stories for all ages, and also reminders that sometimes life is terrible for no good reason at all, or just makes zero sense."

Fairy Tales from the 1900s: "These are kids' stories where we try to teach that everything in life has meaning and moral lessons, and that if you work hard, believe in yourself, and are basically a good person, then you WILL be successful in life."

Me now: "The oldschool nonsense tales had it right, and basically all the other stuff is a lie."

(To be fair, I do believe that people should work hard, should believe in themselves, and should be basically good people because those are things that make life tolerable... I'm just convinced now that doing those things is no guarantee of success and that "anyone who says differently is selling something"

...also, I think it's weird when people make edits that seem to suggest that statement is in any way inspirational. It's not 'inspiring', it's just realism. It may be comforting sometimes to know that life is terrible for a lot of people out there and even if a person's suffering is unique to them, they're still not the only one suffering... but to act like that's uplifting in some way is weird to me.)

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

This is awesome.

Congrats to whoever made that cake, I know that sort of thing is not as easy as people sometimes make it look on tv.

3. (regarding this particular meme usage) Totally why I might come across better when writing, because I can edit it however many times I want before people read it.

When I do the same while speaking, people wonder why I am saying the same thing over again multiple times in slightly different ways... not understanding that's how I sound in real time when compulsively editing myself, because I speak the way I write, not vice versa.

(part of why I sometimes say written English is like my first language, and spoken English my second)

(also this only took me a few minutes to write, but although I lost count, I am fairly certain that I made at least several dozen edits to this and may have to do a few more before posting since I wrote this bit)

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.

BTW

...I have noticed the results of the poll I did before, asking about what Legends-of-Bennuma -related things people might like to see... I have put it next on my list for the Legends ( @legends-of-bennuma ), to write a bit (more?) about the geography of the world. Also, when I locate where I may have hidden my digital copies of Bennuma art somewhere down in my backup files, I will share some... and when I get more art, which I will eventually.

In the meantime, if anyone is interested, there's a short... episode(?) of my (original) fairy tales blog @onceuponasoup featuring further adventures of Duck.

Will do more writing when I can focus on it, have been having an extended difficult time with it, but absolutely not giving up.

Intro / Synopsis

This blog is for a story from the fantasy world of Bennuma, posted online bit by bit as I write it, which is likely to be a rather long tale instead of the short thing originally imagined. Much has been outlined, not much has yet been fully written out.

Also, I admit that what was originally planned as only an adventure story… grew a love story in it as well. So I am hoping (if I write it well enough) for this to have a bit of everything I like in it: action and adventure, some humor with the drama, some mystery and some seriousness, and yes… some romance, but not like… …let’s put it this way: I don’t intend to ever write anything that I would consider to be NSFW. Just thought I’d give fair warning though, because I know not everyone likes a love story with their adventures.

An attempt at a synopsis:

A broken man from a beleaguered camp of misfortunate refugees finds a mysterious stranger who happens to offer them exactly what they need most… and who has her own reasons for traveling far from her homeland.

In a part of the world where magic is almost unheard of (and believed in even less) they must learn what it really means to hope, trust, and stand together in the face of every kind of danger…

as the camp seeks a new home away from the war-torn lands of shifting borders and alliances, trying to find a way out before all the world that they know becomes a patchwork of battlefields and cemeteries.