Craxius heard words in the river. At first, he thought it was the other soldiers from the fortress laughing about the ambush. Then he was sure that it was the whispers of a band of Northerners sneaking up on the encampment of soldiers. Finally, he heard children singing. But it was only the water rushing against the stones. Craxius blew his breath to warm his hands. He was too old to be … [Read more...]
The sun adrift behind the hill
The sun adrift behind the hill Our breaths as one a visible chill Huddled we wait the warmth of light The yellow bus sudden in sight Another day arrives to part I hurry home with folded heart Away away your life will be But know forever you are of me A poem I wrote for my daughter last Valentine's Day … [Read more...]
Black River – Work in Progress
Sand lifted in a great gust forcing Shield Scyldmund to close his eyes. The fine particles blasted against his skin, sharp, at the edge of pain. It hissed as it slithered beneath the rings of his dented armor, twisted into his beard, and lodged itself into the wrinkles that masked his eyes. These fierce sands wore down city walls, witnessed the fall of kingdoms, tore the skin from corpses. Yet … [Read more...]
Jiro
Boots poked out of thick undergrowth within a stone’s throw of the heavily rutted country road. What was visible of the armor – a bronze plated lamellar jacket – was congealed with blood. Jiro – hungry, cold, and tired – saw the armor as the means to fill his aching belly. Judging by the dead man’s white sash, now ruined with blood, Jiro suspected he was one of the many soldiers – without a … [Read more...]
First Lines
Another piece of advice coming out of the Book Passage writer's conference was to look at the first lines of books to see how they both draw the reader in and already begin telling what the story is really like. Here are a few powerful first lines that I have recently come across. "From the twisting, smoke-filled clouds, blood rained down." -from Steven Erikson's Midnight Tides "The summer … [Read more...]
Who’s the Audience?
One of the often repeated rules of writing is: Know your audience. The idea behind this seemingly simple piece of advice is that as a writer you have to understand who it is you are writing for and what their expectations are and, that once you know your audience, it will be easier to write for them. So in my case, this apparent audience is kids between seven and ten years old and their … [Read more...]