Year-End Reflections
So, 2017 is already coming to an end. Can you believe it? I know I can't.
A lot has happened this year in my life... and with the world. The main highlight is the new addition to my family. My daughter Aeris was born this spring. Things have been a whirlwind since! Haha.
Regarding my New Year's Resolutions...
I pledged to write at least three books. And I actually wrote four and will start a fifth before year's end.
They weren't the books I expected to write, though.
I wrote:
Dark Dayz 2: Shaded Noon
Severed Chains 1: Fateless (rewrite)
Omega Virus 6: Omega Hour
Crimson Wars 1: Blood Sisters
(and I'll be starting)
God Forge 2: Forge of the Body
My second resolution was a crash and burn situation.
I wanted to edit and publish five of my books...
Strange World was published, but that's it.
Omega Virus 2, should be published by the end of this month (Dec). We'll see. I'm editing it now.
And I have to edit God Forge 1 before I write book two.
My third resolution...
Draw a lot! Well, this one went so-so.
I did around 40 pieces of work this year. Better than some years, far worse than my best.
Most of them were done in the first couple months of the year, and a few now this month.
I really would like to make a comic again, like back in high school. Maybe in 2018. We'll see.
My fourth resolution was an utter bomb.
I wanted to read three books from beginning to end. I THINK I read one... The Legend of Drizzt (book 31): Archmage.
I tried to read Diablo: The Sin War Book 1, but I fell off the rails and never picked it up again. This is in no small part that my Kindle doesn't want to stay charged anymore. I have the 2nd gen Kindle Fire... It's old now, and it often shuts down on its own. Maybe I need a new one. It's so hard trying to find time to read. I miss it...
I didn't make a resolution regarding video games, thank gosh!
Somehow I managed 10 platinum trophies... I'm not sure exactly how many Bronze, Silver, and Gold I obtained, but it was an okay year for gaming. I played 23 different games, although most I didn't make it far due to life. Not lives in the game. Life itself. The real world.
So now what?
The holidays are coming... I won't have as much time to work because of that fact, so I doubt I'll get too much more done this year. I'll be out of town, so I won't be doing any gaming the last two weeks of 2017. I hope to keep drawing and editing until Dec 31, 11:59pm. And I REALLY want to start writing God Forge 2 before 2018.
I'll write my resolutions for 2K18 in January. We'll see what I challenge myself to do. And with a daughter who has reached 7 months, I hope to get more done. I can't wait until she can play video games and watch anime... and play Dungeons and Dragons! I'd also love to take her to Anime Expo... Disneyland and Six Flags... Haunted Halloween Events at amusement parks... Oh my, there are many good times to come!
Life is never boring, I can say that much.
....
Did anyone read Crimson Wars? It was a surprise book. I really didn't think I'd write my vampire novel for at least 10 years from now. I think it came out rather well. As far as the sequel... I have no clue when I'll write it...
Next:
God Forge 2: Forge of the Body
--The next book I plan to write.
Dark Dayz 3: Fading Dusk
--Can't wait to write this one. Dark Dayz is my favorite series!
Strange World 3: Ether
--I owe you this final novel in my main Strange World trilogy.
Severed Chains 2: Tribulation (rewrite)
--I want to make this series as amazing as possible.
Omega Virus 7: Alpha Hour
--Last but not least, the end of my first major novel series!
Stay tuned everyone. Let's see where 2018 takes us!
Back to Writing 2K17
BLOG #38: BACK TO WRITING 2K17
If you missed it, in January, I finished writing Dark Dayz: (book 2) Shaded Noon and edited it as well.
In February, I published Strange World: Grimoire! Pick up your copy here: amzn.to/2kODrRU
Then, for the rest of the month, I went on a drawing streak and took a break from writing for the most part...
However, I did start my next WIP (work in progress). Which is... Wait for it...
Rewriting Severed Chains 1 from the ground up. I'm rewriting it because when I first typed the story, it was ten years ago. I had no idea what I was doing, and it was a blemish compared to all my current books. Especially after I tried to edit it from 150,000 words to 90,000. I gutted too many essential components, and the story felt stale. So I outlined a new version, and cut certain scenes while keeping in the most exciting ones from the original. Let's just say it's going to be much better than the first. I DO want to publish it... sometime this year. I'll be giving Severed Chains Book 2 the same treatment. I'll also rewrite my never released versions of Severed Chains 3 & 4.
As of today, March 2nd, I've rewritten ten chapters of Severed Chains, the final version.
So that means I'm 1/4 of the way through the book already. If I can keep up a good pace, I may be done before March is even over. Then I can edit Strange World 2, Severed Chains 1, and Omega Virus 3. All of which will then be moved to the publishing stage behind Omega Virus 2 and Dark Dayz 1.
Given... if I can get all of that done promptly, I'll be writing Omega Virus: (book 6) Omega Hour, before the end of summer. It depends on how long editing each book will take. I can typically edit a book in two weeks if I set my mind to it.
I recently put together a work schedule that encompasses every book I plan on writing (I may add more depending on series/character popularity). I gave myself two months to write a book, one month to edit, etc., for years to come.
But I hope I can get ahead of schedule, and keep ahead by several projects... because I want to write and finish all my current series, as well as get to starting the next ones. There will be other series in most of the worlds in which I write, which is exciting because one day, I want to write a book that goes through all of my worlds... They all exist in the same multiverse. So don't be surprised if you see easter eggs, hints, and characters crossing the series barriers.
I fear I've been disappointing fans for the lack of sequels. To tell the truth, I dug a grave when I started a total of five series and thought I'd go through them and finish each quickly. I'm still trying to climb out of that grave, and it's increasingly difficult with a publishing schedule worked in. Still, I WILL get out my promised sequels this year. At least Omega Virus 6 and GodForge 2. When this year, is a good question. I'll find time.
If you've read this far, I thank you and ask for your patience as I work out things the best I can.
Stay tuned as always for more writing info, artwork, Wattpad chapter postings, and book publications.
Now I must bid you, adieu.
Friends in Art
FRIENDS IN ART
Lately, I’ve been on a drawing binge. It started about ten days ago when I decided to draw one of my best friends… and by that I mean a character I’ve been drawing and writing about for nearly twenty years now. Julie Ulicia Lockhart. She goes by Julie Ulicia in my novel series: Severed Chains (Which some of you may remember as the original Dark Dayz…).
Julie… was likely the very first character I ever drew. She starred in my short story: Silence Y2K: Year to be Killed, which I penned in 1999 or so. Other than Jacob (originally Jake), she is the only character I still write about from that story. There were eight stories, all about 40 pages each… but I digress.
I call her my friend because as I said, I’ve known her for about twenty years. And even though Severed Chains has more than 15,000 reads on Wattpad, I know way more about her than anyone else. Why? I created her. I was there when she was happy, sad, angry, hurt, and every other conceivable emotion. While she is one of my closest friends, there are others of course; all of which are from Severed Chains. Sure, I’ve drawn the Omega Virus characters, but I barely created them a few years ago.
Jacob Ashe, Majo Berenson, Azen Zenlil, Vale Galanodel, & Cassie Stargaze. Those are the five that I brought to life with my art. Honestly, I started by drawing their descendants… Akira, Raquel, Krayko, Tobias… Back then, I never thought I would write an entire, full-length novel. But in 2007 during a story writing class, I began writing Severed Chains… what I called a ‘prequel’ trilogy because I’d already written a 400+ page story on their children (in a notebook, which I hope I still have somewhere). For some reason, though, Jacob and Julie’s story ne ded told more than the others, and thus, I began to write.
Ten years later, I’m rewriting Severed Chains with my new skill level, and I aim to make it a hundred times better than the original 150,000-word mess. Maybe I’m too critical of myself. Anyway…
As I said ten days ago, I started drawing again. I had barely drawn anything since 2015.
According to the drawings I currently have uploaded to my facebook albums these are how many drawings I’ve done each year since 2002.
2K2: 40
2K3: 65
2K4: 98
2K5: 190
2K6: 46
2K7: 166
2K8: 60
2K9: 104
2K10: 37
2K11: 109
2K12: 84
2K13: 51
2K14: 35
2K15: 110
2K16: 47
2K17: 14 (so far)
Just by looking back on the past 15 years of drawing, I can remember what happened those years. Years where I had barely any drawings, usually was because I had a bad year in life. Anything from family passing, to bad living situations, etc. But these drawings not only are characters who have become my friends; they’re milestones in my life. While some people only keep a journal to hold memories of their lives, I both draw AND journal.
Indeed, art has gotten me through a lot, and I don’t give my artistic skill the credit I should. So hopefully this year, I can make many drawings… there are unannounced things coming that will change my life for the better, so this should be my comeback year with art. And of course, plenty of novel publications and debuts on Wattpad.
Stay tuned for all my art on DeviantArt: jakeastrife.deviantart.com/
All my debut novels on Wattpad: www.wattpad.com/JakeAshStrife
And my published books on Amazon: amzn.to/2kODrRU
Thanks as always for following, reading, and listening to my rambles.
May we all have the best year possible.
Dark Dayz (companion)
Today I’m going to fill everyone in on some things in the Virtual Reality world of Dark Days (featured in my new novel Dark Dayz - Book 1 - Dawn).
So let’s start with the world.
The world of Dark Days, in my novel, is the first full-on Virtual Reality game. It comes with a headset that immerses the wearer fully, with every one of the senses. The VR headset is initially is launched with its first game (Dark Days). One million copies of the headset and game are sent out to gamers in the United States.
The game traps all one million gamers inside the game by uploading their consciousness’ to the Cloud.
A hacker named ‘Z’ claims responsibility and demands that the best gamer in the world be sent to beat the game, and only then will the nightmare end.
The story begins with a news report and a teenager who believes himself to be the best in the world. The teen, calling himself ZycuhHunpo puts on the helmet in order to enter Dark Days and save the one million trapped inside, but soon he finds himself in over his head, facing realistic monsters that can cause actual pain and kill the players, rendering their bodies brain dead in the real world. The creatures are nightmares incarnate. If you want to compare real video games… think Bloodborne meets World of Warcraft on steroids.
Dark Days, was a fantasy world that features architecture from Victorian England. Players are able to choose a class that offers them different abilities, strengths and weaknesses. They also have a leveling system typical in a Role Playing Game (RPG). The system allows them to get stronger as they defeat monsters and complete quests while also learning new abilities. In most MMORPGs, characters can choose a race alongside their class, but in Dark Days, players can only be humans. After the hacker Z changes the game, the fantasy setting becomes a Dark Fantasy setting, where nightmares reign.
The classes players can choose are from the following:
Blader
Assassin
Executioner
Sniper
Disciple
Creature Tamer
Doctor
Priest
Sage
Bladers:
Bladers can use any kind of blade with great skill. This includes everything from short swords to great swords and all in between. The starting weapon for the Blader class is a longsword. Bladers are the ‘Warriors’ and ‘tank’ class of Dark Days.
Assassins:
Assassins specialize in Daggers, Poisons, Garrotes, and Traps. They sneak through the shadows and sneak up behind enemies. Once in position, they strange the opponent with a garrote, or they stab them with often poison daggers. They are a high damage-dealing class, but can also be considered support.
Executioners:
Executioners use large, two-handed weapons to smash, slash, and chop enemies into bits. Their typical weapons include Great Axes, Mauls, Greatswords, and Scythes. Physically, they are the strongest class and deal the most damage, but they trade in the dexterity and speed.
Snipers:
Snipers use long range weapons to kill their enemies from afar. They specialize in making their own weapons and ammunition. They can use anything from crossbows to flintlocks and rifles. A damage dealing class at range, they are the most likely to strike first, and most likely to leave alive.
Disciples:
Disciples are the martial arts masters of Dark Days. They use their bodies as weapons, and can take the hardest hits. Eventually, they are able to use their chi to manifest energies and damage their enemies.
Creature Tamers:
Creature Tamers have the ability to act as Tanks, Support, or Damage Dealers. They start with one of the several different kinds of creatures and specialize in that type. Still, they have the ability to tame other creatures and/or control them to fight for them in battle. Being the most diverse class, many beginners choose this as they have a high soloing ability.
Doctors:
Doctors are the healers and also alchemists of the game world. They create medicines, potions, and also dangerous elixirs. They are mainly considered a support class, but should still never be underestimated as they are often the final blockade between life and death for foes and allies alike.
Priests:
Priests have the ability to cast spells of light. They are best at fighting undead and demon type creatures, but also have the ability to heal. A full-on support class, they rarely travel alone. A holy spell from their repertoire often is the last thing an evil creature experiences.
Sages:
Sages are the opposite of Priests. They use dark magic to do major damage to enemies. Using the elements themselves, Sages can manipulate the world. Sages are the second best soloing class, as they have the ability for support and damage. To cross a sage is to cross a demon, so they say.
:: So, as the story of Dark Dayz progresses, new classes may be added, and perhaps specialization classes of the currently listed. I welcome you to the world of Dark Days, and I hope you have a fun time reading this ongoing novel. Thank you! Make sure to vote for the story, read it, share, and leave comments!:
2K16 Novel #1 Complete (#12 Total)
2K16 Novel #1 Complete (#12 total)
Greetings and salutations everyone!
Another milestone has been accomplished in my world of writing!
Yesterday, I completed my 12th novel, and 1st of 2016.
“GodForge – Book 1 – Forge of the Mind”
This epic, fantasy adventure begins with an artificer having to make a terrible choice; to allow the world to be destroyed, or to sacrifice the life of one he holds most dear—His ten-year-old son.
The story then follows the adventure of a newly awakened machinated creature named Angon as he searches for who created him, and why. Along the way he meets new allies, learns about the world of Anhsook Del Iris--its many wonders and dangers, and dangerous enemies.
I came up with the idea for this novel several years ago while playing Dungeons & Dragons in college. My character was a Warforged Barbarian. The DM was a friend nicknamed ‘Tiny’, and we were in the Roleplaying Guild at the Art Institute of Los Angeles. We had several players, and a wonderful adventure, but the most memorable part was being on an airship with monsters attacking, and my character Angon being made captain. His first order was, “Do a barrel roll.”, and thus, we did, unfortunately sending some NPCs to their doom. The character, A.N.G.O.N.’s name was an acronym standing for, “Absolute Neutralization of Gods and Opposing Nemesi”. At the time, I made the name up on the spot, but years later, as I continued to play Angon, I got to thinking… what if were to write a story about this character?
I started to brainstorm and think of a background.
A.N.G.O.N. became a machination with the soul of a mortal child within him. And I gave him a father, another D&D character I played named Azteron (A Minotaur Artificer). The father would be responsible for forcing his soul into the machination’s body. His goal was to defeat the gods! Why? Because they were evil and destroying the world of Anhsook Del Iris (my custom fantasy setting I made originally for D&D).
It still wasn’t until 2014 (when I created him in 2008) that Angon became the beginnings of a novel called A.N.G.O.N. – Forge of the Mind.
I started the novel in 1st person POV, and made it a few chapters in… I realized then that it wasn’t working with this fantasy setting. I needed a more omnipotent POV to help describe my world of magic and monsters, thus I began to write my first 3rd person POV story. Sadly, I put the novel on the backburner in favor of other stories (multiple times).
Finally, after finishing Omega Virus #4 Sigma Hour, I decided I needed to go back and finish the A.N.G.O.N. novel under a new title: GodForge – 1 – Forge of the Mind.
I was, after all, 17 chapters deep! So starting just 23 days ago, I began writing one chapter a day. If I had finished the story two years ago, it would have ended up being maybe 120,000 words or more. I didn’t understand that a first book in a series should (usually) be shorter than 100,000. So with this new skill in mind, I made sure to write no more than 2,000 words per chapter until I finished (just yesterday) at 92,000 words—Pretty spot on, if I do say so myself.
So there you have it! GodForge – Book 1 – Forge of the Mind is finished.
I’ll be writing the sequel: GodForge – Book 2 – Forge of the Body, sometime in October of this year. Then Book 3 – Forge of the Soul… sometime in 2017. I’m unsure if I will continue the series then, or call it at a trilogy, but we will see how the fan base holds up.
With the completion of GodForge #1, that makes FOUR separate series that I’ve begun. The fifth began yesterday as well.
I posted the first chapter of a new one called, “Dark Dayz – 1 – Dawn”.
This novel is about a teenager who enters the first true virtual reality game in order to save a million other trapped gamers. He will face a VRMMORPG world filled with nightmarish creatures; part virus-part AI, these monsters can kill a player in reality. Can our teenager, username: ZycuhHunpo, stop the hacker Z? And save the lives of all those trapped? Or will the game Dark Days be the grave of a million souls. Read to find out!
With that, I bid you adieu, and thank you so much for reading my blog.
Please check out all of novels on Wattpad for free (for now).
Omega Virus (bit.ly/WP-OV1-00)
Strange World (bit.ly/WP-SW1-00)
GodForge (bit.ly/WP-GF1-000)
Dark Dayz (bit.ly/WP-DD1-00)