Tag: Storm Rising

Overworld, Updates

May Mission

Becca Lusher
Mu_Lea
Mushu by the river

It’s been a while since I last did an update and as May has now arrived, I thought it was time to catch up. So far this year life has been pretty busy in many mundane ways, which hasn’t left me much time to get myself organised. However, I do have a few projects on the go.

  • An updated version of Blazing Dawn.
  • A Courtship of Dragons is finished.
  • Storm Rising is about to be overhauled.

All alongside the ongoing Dragongift serial. Which means I’m firmly stuck in an Overworld mood – and that suits me fine.

The new version of Blazing Dawn isn’t massively different to the currently available one, I’ve just expanded a few bits and tried to ensure certain moments make more sense. So basically everything to do with Ushara. I’ve just finished the last big edit, so I’ll be running a final check and formatting it for upload. Hopefully this will be out in the next couple of weeks. After that I hope to start work on a paperback version.

While sorting out the paperback, I’ll also turn my attention back to Courtship. In case you missed the announcement, I’ve finished it! As I feared, it ended up much longer than I planned, but I’m not surprised. There are a few things in it that might affect the other books, so I’m glad I finished it before I released Storm Rising. This does also mean I need to release the whole thing before I release SR, so that’ll be fun.

I plan to keep going with the serial, as well as posting it on Wattpad. However, those who are too impatient to wait several months for the end, you should be able to download the whole thing. For free. Just give me a month or so to tidy it up first.

Once that’s taken care of, I’ll then turn my attention to Storm Rising. This book is long overdue and I’m sorry about that. Hopefully the delay will ensure that it’s a better book. I’ll definitely try.

While I work on all of the above, I also hope to get cracking on more paperback releases – Wingborn, Rift, SR and then I’ll work on the Aekhs. I’m not sure yet what the prices will be or how long each will take. I’ll keep you updated as I go.

So those are my plans for May and June. If everything goes to plan as I hope, by July I’ll be free to get back to work on Dragonlands #4 (Burning Sky/Sands – can’t decide). However, since all my best laid plans keep getting thrown out of the nearest window, I’ll neither hold my breath nor make any predictions beyond that.

Instead I’ll wish you all a Merry Mayday (and Beltane/Samhain for those who celebrate) and hope that life is treating you kindly, wheresoever in the world you may be.

Books, Updates, Writing

Where is Storm Rising?

Becca Lusher

Also known as Plans for 2017. Of a sort.

When I released Blazing Dawn back in autumn, the plan was to have Storm Rising (Dragonlands 2) written and ready to go around now. Well, the good news is that it is written, but the bad news is that it isn’t ready to go anywhere. Or it might be, I don’t know.

I’ve lost confidence in my writing. This isn’t unusual for me, but it’s kind of inconvenient. So for the moment, Storm Rising is on hold while I run through Blazing Dawn again. I’m half wondering if I should fully revise BD before going further with the series, I’m also wondering if perhaps I should write the whole lot out first before releasing any of them, and focus on getting the Wingborn books out first instead.

I don’t know what to do and that’s making me hesitate. Which is not helpful.

So I have a question (well, a few, but we’ll start with this one) for anyone who has read BD. Is there anything you wish I hadn’t done or had done differently?

I know there are a few things people didn’t like with it. I also know that SR does clear up a few issues (why Ushara is as she is, mostly), and that there are some things I tried to alter before release that I still might not have managed as well as people would like. The Ushara issue is particularly tricky because of perspective. The characters I’m writing with don’t know much about her and what’s going on until SR, which ties my hands a fair bit. I’m tempted at times to use Goryal’s pov, but they know everything and I’ll never be able to keep secrets again. (Also, I didn’t know everything until SR, so there is that.)

Basically, what didn’t you like? Please be as honest as you can, I won’t take offense. I’m trying to make this book as strong as possible and I’m currently doubtful that I did that before release, so I’d like to try really hard to clean it up now before going further with the series. (If you’d rather not comment below, feel free to email me aekhtales[at]gmail[dot]com. I will be exceedingly grateful.)

I’d also really like to work on releasing paperback copies of my books this year, so if I’m making changes, now is the time to do it.

And if there’s anyone out there who would like to read Storm Rising to help me figure out if it’s as messy as I currently fear, then that would be awesome too.

Oh, and since I’m doing a revised version anyway – even if it’s just clearing up typos – I’m thinking about adding a character list and glossary to the end. I have a few questions about how to go about that, but it’s probably best I save that for another day. Level of detail, mostly.

For now my plans for the year are rather nebulous but go sort of like this:

  • Revise and re-release Blazing Dawn.
  • Finish Rift Riders serial and release as an ebook.
  • Paperback versions of Wingborn, Rift Riders and Blazing Dawn.
  • Write more A Courtship of Dragons and serialise it properly.
  • Serialise Dragongifted (Wingborn Book 3)
  • Write Dragonlands 4 and 5
  • ?Release Dragonlands 2 and 3?
  • ?Paperback versions of Aekhartain Tales?
  • Write something else.

Beyond that I’m not certain. Nor am I willing to put dates on any of these (except finishing Rift serial, which should be next month sometime), because every time I project into the future something else comes along to smash my predictions to bits.

I also hope to actively start promoting my books this year too and search for some helpful reviewers. Word of mouth is amazing, but I need to put some admin work in on my side and reviews really work. So that’s on the pile too. Along with a proper Overworld map, which I may or may not attempt to put in the books at some point.

So, as always, I have many, many plans and am busy working away in the background. Hopefully it will result in something shiny in the end. I think that’s a pretty good goal to work towards.

Merry Monday, everyone. I hope your January is going well, wheresoever in the world you may be!

Overworld, Writing

And Also…

Becca Lusher

More from the beginning of Storm Rising.

“Th-there you are!” Mastekh greeted, his voice bubbling and frothing with various tones that told Estenarven so much more than the mere words. Mastekh had worried about him, he had missed him and Estenarven was forgiven.

Humming a low greeting of his own, Estenarven circled around Mastekh a second time, letting his tail trail behind him, rubbing over his fellow aide and lover. Though he was often tactile in his human shape, Estenarven wasn’t a dragon well known for public displays of affection, but he felt the need to reassure his dearest friend, so he twined his tail briefly with Mastekh’s.

The blue of the Rainstorm dragon’s scales deepened, bringing a green flush to his belly. Waiting for Estenarven to pass over once more, Mastekh reached up and gently rubbed his head against Estenarven’s.

“Oh, build a nest, you two!”

The shout startled Mastekh into withdrawing, leaving Estenarven flying upside down and alone. Righting himself, he used his tail to thump Jesral’s ribs. Even though her words had been full of amusement, she’d embarrassed Mastekh and now the poor Rainstorm was practically green all over.

“Don’t be jealous, Jessie,” he reproved lightly.

Grunting from the none-too-gentle buffet of his substantial tail, Jesral dipped under Estenarven and brushed an apologetic wing against Mastekh’s. “Sorry, Puddle. I was teasing him not you.”

Still a deep shade of green, Mastekh ducked his head and mumbled something about joining Kalaha before sinking out of sight.

“Thanks,” Estenarven growled.

Jesral had enough sense to dip her head as she drifted alongside him. “He shouldn’t be so sensitive,” she muttered, defiance and a touch of apology warring in her tone.

“He is who he is,” Estenarven replied, allowing her to hear the affection and warning in his words. “He has no need to change.” Clan Flowflight dragons were prone to being more sensitive than others, possibly because of their watery natures, possibly because of all the Clans the Cloud Curse had affected them the most, covering their ancient heartlands and leaving many of them lost.

By the same measure, Jesral and the other Skystorm dragons tended to act first and think later, rolling over their fellows like a storm in full force. That didn’t mean they couldn’t learn to have a little consideration for others, though.

Take care, my lovelies, wherever in the world you may be.

Overworld, Writing

Something Cute

Becca Lusher

Since it’s Wednesday, I’m supposed to be doing a NaNo progress post, but, well, since it’s this particular Wednesday, I’m not really in the mood. I had big plans for today, lots of writing, maybe a big push on the word count.

Then the boiler broke last night. Again. It broke on Saturday, was fixed on Monday, is broken again. So now I’m waiting for someone to come look at it.

I also woke up and, well, I’m pretty sure the world knows… However, since it’s not my country, I’m not talking about it.

Instead I offer something cute, and if it makes someone smile, then good, mission accomplished.

This is a snippet of a scene somewhere near the beginning of Storm Rising and contains a baby dragon and no spoilers. If the name Rhiddyl means anything to you, then yes, it is that Rhiddyl, only smaller. A lot smaller.

NERA WINCED AND glanced back at the high grasses swaying behind her.

A pair of pale blue eyes stared out from waist-height. Crouching down, Nera put herself on their level and made a chirruping sound.

Grass rustled as Rhiddyl wormed his face towards her, casting worried glances towards Feruli and the others.

“Would you care to join us?” she asked the dragonet. “We’re having honey cakes.”

Rhiddyl bounded out of the grass with a high-pitched whistle and scampered a circle around her as she stumbled back to her feet, startled by his speed. Then he stopped, sat up on his haunches and raised a silvery paw towards her.

Smiling, Nera held out her own hand. With his head coming up to her waist, and his long tail tucked over his free arm, Rhiddyl tugged eagerly at her hand, clearly wanting to get to the honey cakes before they were all gone.

“You are the strangest child I’ve ever walked with,” she informed him, but Rhiddyl didn’t seem to care. Rather ungainly, but strong enough to drag her when her pace lagged, the dragonet led her across the flattened circle of grass towards a low building that had been carved out of the mountainside.

Several weather-beaten columns stood guard along the front, and Rhiddyl soon showed why they looked so scratched and beaten as he used the nearest one to scramble up onto the balcony above and vanish within.

“He’ll be back,” Feruli called, standing in the doorway, waiting for Nera to join them. “He’s no doubt gone to find some treasure or toy to impress you with. He seems to be taken with you, Nera of the Rift Riders.” Eyes the colour of lightning assessed her thoroughly and the nursery attendant smiled. “Come in.”

It was hard to tell just how old Feruli was. Their face was round and smooth, utterly without lines of age or wear. Their golden skin glowed with health and their eyes were bright and curious. Yet there was a steadiness about them, a certainty and sureness, that said they knew their exact place in the world and was comfortable with it. Then there was their power – a distant but distinct crackle of energy that reminded Nera a little of Goryal, but more of Elder Skystorm and the older dragons that she had met.

Feruli was old, they just didn’t show it.

Since it would be rude to ask such a question about them, Nera approached shyly and said instead, “How old is Rhiddyl?”

“Oh, he’s only a babe,” Feruli said, shutting the door and leading Nera down a wide, spacious corridor with claw-scuffed floors and scratched walls. “He only turned twenty last year… Or was it the year before?”

Nera almost tripped over her own feet. Twenty one, or two? Rhiddyl was almost as old as she was, yet he was only a babe, not even able to talk. Ai, Maegla!

“Where did you say the honey cakes were?” Reglian shouted from somewhere down the passage. “Rhiddyl better not have eaten them all.”

A sharp whistle of protest answered the Thunderwing as Rhiddyl himself appeared in the passage, galloping towards Nera in a lopsided manner. This was because he could only use three legs, his fourth one busy cradling something against his chest.

“Ah, a treasure to impress you with. As I said.” Feruli chuckled, edging around the dragonet and striding into the room beyond. “What is all this fuss about, Reglian kin Thunderwing? Perhaps if you stopped emptying my cupboards out all over the side, you might actually find what you’re looking for?”

While the voices rose and chattered down the hallway, Rhiddyl stopped in front of Nera and rose up on his hind legs again. He chirruped invitingly and held up his front paw towards her. Nestled on the soft pads was a glittering stone, somewhat chipped and battered, but nonetheless beautiful for it. A quartz, if Nera wasn’t mistaken, rough and unpolished as if it had been pulled from the ground only the day before. Except that some edges were already worn smooth, likely from regular handling if the way Rhiddyl was stroking it now was any indication.

“That is very pretty,” Nera said, bending down for a closer look.

Rhiddyl chortled and held up both arms to her.

Unable to resist, she bent a little further so that he could wrap his paws around her neck. When she picked him up, he snuggled into her arms and wrapped his tail around her waist once more. Then he tucked his special rock into her jacket and rested his head along her shoulder.

“Someone’s made a friend,” Anhardyne chuckled as Nera finally joined them all in a great cavern of a room, with windows all down one side and a kitchen tucked away on the other.

Nera looked down at the dragon curled up against her and smiled. She wouldn’t mind more friends like these.

No sooner had she sat down beside Gharrik, then Rhiddyl was off, scrambling up Reglian’s back and onto the big Thunderwing’s head so that he could reach the top of the cupboards. From there he tossed several boxes and tins aside, muttering nonsense, before emerging with the much-sought honey cakes. Which he brought straight to Nera.

“I could do with a friend like that,” Vish chuckled, as Nera nodded towards Gharrik and the dragonet shyly offered the older lieutenant first pick. Then he hopped into Nera’s lap and seemed content to devour the rest himself.

Until Feruli took the lot away from him, causing a growl of protest.

“Behave,” Feruli ordered, tapping the dragonet firmly on the nose. “We have more than two guests. Share.”

Rhiddyl muttered a grumble, turned around and draped himself over Nera’s shoulder in a huff.

NaNo talk tomorrow, when hopefully I’ll be back on track once more.

Good thoughts to you all.

 

Writing

Anyone for NaNo?

Becca Lusher
october-rowans
Gidleigh Common, Oct 2nd 2016

Yup, it’s almost that time of year again. With November only a week away, who’s giving NaNoWriMo a go?

Me!

Now that Storm Rising is finished – and after a read-through, not needing as much work as I’d feared – I plan to tackle the third Dragonlands book, Cloud Cursed. Mostly because I need to get as far through this series as possible so I can make sure the spoilers that show up in Wingborn #3 are actually true. (Hopefully by the time I get there, I should have written up to DL5, even if I won’t have released them all yet.)

Of course, best laid plans and all that, so take the above paragraph with a pinch of salt.

I have a strange relationship with NaNo and have never officially taken part. Mostly because I already know I can write a novel in a month if I push myself. Also because the one time I tried it, I found out the last week of November would be lost to family commitments, so I sort of went overboard and got over-competitive with myself and ended up three weeks in with an 85k+ MG novel that wasn’t even finished yet – and a massive headache.

So… this could be interesting.

As things stand, I know a fair bit about where I want this book to head – which is a first for this series – but I’m sure there are many surprises and plot twists just waiting to spring themselves on me. Because that’s what always happens.

I can’t quite decide whether I’ll actually sign up properly or not. On the one hand, yay, connecting with other writey people! On the other hand, eep, connecting with other writey people. I’ll keep thinking about it.

But enough about me – Who else is accepting the challenge this year?

Do you have plans? A strategy? Are you just going to wing it? Do you do it properly or are you are shady lurker like me? Or do you prefer never to think of those four letters together except in very, very small ways?

Overworld, Updates

Dragging it Out

Becca Lusher

[I was going to do a terrible dragon pun, but I thought I’d spare you (except I kind of haven’t… oh well).]

Work has resumed on Storm Rising and I’ve now passed the halfway point (I think). In terms of word count it’s coming along fairly well, but wow, it feels like I’m dragging it out of my imagination, one stubborn chapter at a time.

I’m lucky because I’ve always been a fast writer. I usually have a vague idea of where any story I’m writing is heading, and the details helpfully fill themselves in along the way. This often means that the deeper into a book I get, the faster I write. Which is great, as long as I have time enough to harness the creativity. When I don’t have as much time, the slower pace usually means I can spend more time thinking about what’s coming up and maybe playing with details to make them fit before I have to write them down.

Not with this book. It doesn’t matter how much time I spend thinking about it, the plot still refuses to let me know anything further ahead than a chapter at most. If I think I know where it’s headed, it almost always changes on me as I’m writing it. I don’t know why, but this series really doesn’t like to be thought out in advance. The first book didn’t go anywhere near where I wanted it to, and now that I’ve given up on reaching the one main goal of the second book, suddenly they all veered off course and have now arrived.

I’m not complaining, as such, because the words keep flowing and things are progressing, but it’s not how I’m used to working and I just hope this isn’t going to be how everything goes from now on. One good thing about this series, though: it might not let me see the plot in advance, but it does keep throwing up images of the places they will hopefully end up next. I just wish I had any kind of fantasy landscape artist skills, because I would love to show them off in more than words.

Ah well, I shall just have to stick with what I have and maybe one day I’ll be lucky enough to afford to commission someone to do it for me.

In the meantime, Wingborn is definitely loose in the wild now and I’m finally going to update the links on various pages. If you’ve been waiting for it turn up free somewhere other than Smashwords, here are a few:

B&N || iBooks || Kobo

It’s still not free on Amazon, but if you really want to pay for it then I’ll add various links on the Books page under the Overworld header.

Merry Midweek, all!

Books, Updates, Writing

The Last Link (and Wingborn Shorts)

Becca Lusher

Blazing Dawn Cover 2

Barnes and Noble have finally joined the Blazing Dawn party. Yay!

I’ve had a pretty busy week in which I managed to write about 700 words of Storm Rising before my brain shut down mid-sentence. Next week looks to be pretty busy too, but hopefully I can get back to it after that and finally make some sense out of it. Thus far this seems to be a flying book. I have three and a half chapters and it’s all flying, all the time. I’m hoping to change that in the next chapter, because I have some pretty amazing locations that need exploring. There may also be a baby dragon… called Rhiddyl. (If you one of the few who read the original Rift Riders back on Elfwood, yes, that Rhiddyl. As a baby!)

As for Wingborn news, well, I need to carve out some time for edits, but so far I have three requests for short stories and, me being me, I want to write all of them. I’ve already finished one and have little doubt I’ll throw over all the other things I’m supposed to be doing and scribble down the other two soon. I’m still open to requests, if anyone desperately wants to know something about the Wingborn bunch.

So far, the ones I have are:

  • Cumulo and Hurricane’s first meeting (written – about 3.5K)
  • A survival lesson with Stirla
  • When Stirla met Lyrai (done – about 3.5 K)
  • Milli and Stirla romance (old tale – about 5.5K)

When they’re done I’ll post them in various places for people to read, hopefully before the start of Rift Riders. Although that’s creeping up on me quite quickly, so I might not manage it. Nevertheless, they will appear.

In the meantime, merry Sunday, everyone!

 

Books, Overworld, Updates, Writing

What Now?

Becca Lusher

So now that Wingborn is complete and fully posted, what happens next?

Well, currently I’m in the middle of formatting my next book, Blazing Dawn, which is set in the same world, but two hundred years before, when dragons still dealt with humans and women hadn’t yet been banned from the Rift Riders. It’s the start of the Dragonlands series, which I was supposed to have published last month, but I got Tour de France distracted – as I do every year – so I’m a little behind with it. I hope to have it out by the weekend, but we shall see, since I still have the cover to finalise, the blurb to write and other little niggly things to take care of.

However, it contains dragons. Real dragons! Grumpy ones, ethereal ones, soggy ones and rock-headed ones. So many dragons. I should probably do some introductory posts about them at some point. I’ll see if I have time.

Once that’s taken care of, I shall be turning my editing attention to Wingborn once more. It’s mostly just typo catching and tidying up, so although it shouldn’t take long, I’m giving myself a few weeks to play with it all. Then I’ll smarten up the cover, format the whole thing and release it for free through Smashwords. I’ll also put it up on Amazon, but I can’t say whether or not they’ll allow it to be free.

Writing-wise, I’ll be working on the follow up to Blazing Dawn, which for the moment is called Storm Rising. 

It seemed like a good idea at the time when I decided to serialise Wingborn. I hadn’t started Blazing Dawn then, and still thought it would prove to be a couple of books at most. Now I realise it’s a series, covering quite a few years, taking up an undefined number of books, and I need to get cracking on writing it before the Wingborn series starts issuing spoilers. There might be a few at the end of the next WB book, but it’s really three and four I’m worried about. (Because that’s how far I’ve already written in the WB series.)

Which means I need more time to write up to these points and make sure I don’t have to change anything in the WB books. Rather than wait until I finish all the Dragonlands books – which could take years – I’ve decided to release both series effectively at the same time. So DL#1 will come out this week, followed by WB#1 before the end of the month. Then I’ll get cracking on DL#2 with the aim of publishing it around winter time. And because it would be cruel to make everyone wait that long for the next WB book, which is already written, I’m going to serialise that one too.

So, if you’ve already finished Wingborn and want to know what happens next, you’ll start finding out at the end of August. I warn you, the cliffhangers in this one are going to be intense. I’ll talk more about it closer to the start.

In short, the answer to the What Happens Now? question is as follows:

  • Blazing Dawn (Dragonlands #1) to come very, very soon.
  • Wingborn (Wingborn #1) ebook version to come over the next few weeks.
  • Rift Riders (Wingborn #2) serial starts August 26th.
  • Storm Rising (Dragonlands #2) around December/January.

 

What does this mean for the Aekhartain?
Well, right now the Aekhs have taken a bit of a back seat. I’m not sure anyone will even notice they’ve gone (if you do, let me know). They’re not gone forever, but for the time being the Overworld has taken control. Maybe at some point I’ll be able to grab some breathing room and unwind with a few tales of jealousy, death, hope and starlight, with some poetry thrown in. For the moment, though, my focus remains elsewhere.

And what about those Regency things you were hinting about a little while ago?
They are definitely on their way. Once I’ve finished messing about with Wingborn, they are my next big editing project. I’m hoping to release the first one in September, but the Olympics and Vuelta might derail me in the meantime. I’ll try not to let them.

So that’s what’s going on with me in an authorial way – busy, busy, busy, but in good directions. I hope everything is going productively and well in your own worlds.

Merry Lammas and Lughnasadh, or Imbolc, to you all!