Tag: Chronicles of Viredia

Taking the Next Step

It’s been a while since I’ve written here, which is pretty bad. A lot of things have happened, some good, some bad, all life. Even so, I wanted to set out my vision for the next steps here and what it will look like:

One day, I hope to make this site a fully interactive, dynamic lexicon of all things Viredia, with schwifty graphics, animated maps and databases filled with the errata that sits behind the books I’ve planned and one day will bring to life.

Until then, though, there are a few things I can do…

I’m working on that map myself and may even be able to show some sneak peeks over time before the full reveal in the final novel! I’ve lots of ideas to draw from and am excited to see if my idea of a multi-layered map is of interest to you all; let me know what you think in the comments!

Putting some of the world bible into hidden pages, ready for future publication. I know, it’s mean to say it and not pony up the goods, but think of it as a carefully planned reveal. Much more fun!

It all rather feels like a walk down a road shrouded in mist with a hand-drawn map as a guide! XD

I’ve also thought about posts talking about writing itself, my methods (such as they are), how it feels as an autistic writer to travel on this path and even the odd post on autism. If any of these interest you, please let me know and I’ll explore them.

Lastly I’m going to (slowly) start to post the odd review here and there about books I’m reading or have read, simply because I need to talk to people about the incredibly rich and vibrant worlds people craft that let me just tumble in and become enraptured.

So, I’ll leave it there, but I truly would LOVE to hear from you! Comment or use social media to spread the love!

G’night, Legends.

Alive and Kicking!

Well…it has been some time, hasn’t it? I confess I am surprised my blog has survived and not been culled into the zombie internet. However! That means I can crawl my way out of the digital shadows once more and poke myself into keeping my writing habit going.

Which brings me on to the main point, really! I’ve had ideas bubbling, seething and developing since I was 15 or 16 years old regarding a sci-fi/fantasy world. I even kicked it all off back then in an online roleplay game on a Final Fantasy fan forum with some proto-info on the world I was slowly drawing together! (Though let us not speak of the acrimony that eventually it all fell into – teens are moody buggers) So for years I had all these ideas and talked to friends and family about it and what I was going to do…but I never really got it anywhere.

Until I met Ray Feist (yes, THE Raymond E. Feist) and David Gemmell (the LEGEND) at their book signings in Southampton. David was wonderful and said “I would like to see that, some day!” when I word vomited all about how I was an aspiring author and wanted to write my own books. Sadly, I never got the opportunity to show him as he passed away before I got the chance. But Ray (I feel I should call him Mr. Feist…), he gave me solid, if honestly blunt advice:

“You aren’t a writer unless you are writing. Until then, you’re a dreamer.” Ouch.

I’ve met him twice at different signings since then and pathologically have avoided mentioning it to him each time. Probably because I still hadn’t gotten my novels off of the ground at those points. Still dreaming, apparently!

But I don’t want to dream any more. I want to live the dream and actually do something about it. Not least because I have two kids to whom I want to be able to say: “You don’t have to just dream. You can live your dream.”

So. Writing! Two chapters and 13,103 words in and I am writing! Huzzah! I even have some short story ideas puttering around set in the same universe (or ‘world?’ not sure what the right way to put it is there…) to give more depth to it. Some of you (if anyone actually reads this) may be wondering what it is that I am writing about. Possibly. Maybe. It’s a bit like showing a newborn to the world, you want to protect it and keep it safe. But with a novel – or even (gasp!) a series of novels, you need to let people see, let them wonder. So, this is me letting my fledging novel and its world blink sleepily at the light of day and for everyone to know about it.

I call my world Viredia. Be gentle, she’s still fragile.

Nick