I’m trying out new designs for the blog, so pardon the construction mess. I liked the previous design for an art portfolio, but it didn’t flow with everything else that I do. I’m a versatile person, so I need a versatile theme. I will continue to play with this. Meanwhile, I have some good news to share.
Elf Gate Series Update
I have officially started formatting The Teufling for publication. Woot! Woot! I have spent the past two days hunting down inconsistencies in technical content in preparation to collate the script from Scrivener into a Word document. And from there the Word document will be formatted further toward Smashwords and Amazon guidelines.
I am attempting to streamline some technical aspects of the series to improve consistency from one book to the next. These are things like setting rules for myself about when Elvish words should be italicized like foreign words and when they should not. I am correcting confusion in capitalization of some titles. And I am deciding which place names should translate into English and which should not, as well as which words should continue to be hyphenated versus which words should stand apart or be compounded. In other words, most of these changes are extremely nitpicky and minor, but should improve the overall flow of the story. I’m also trying to knock word count down some more.
Another way I’ve been attempting to streamline is through reorganizing my worldbuilding wiki. The magic section in particular needed a big overhaul, so I’ve been pausing periodically during revisions to make templates for the spells the characters use. This helps compare and contrast for consistency. For example, today I tackled the differences between psychoportation magic and biokinetic magic because Trizryn’s dream walking spell was starting to blur with ethereal shape-shifting. Ethereal form is part of dream walking because the physical body must be able to fade into a metaphysical state to teleport. However, dream walking is not part of ethereal form. Just because a caster can make himself ethereal to walk through walls doesn’t mean he can also transport himself miles away on a metaphysical journey.
I feel like a Hogwarts professor trying to make logical sense of illogical magic, but you get the idea. 🙂 I prefer hard magic systems in worldbuilding because I am as much a gamer as I am a writer. Limiting magic prevents “God Mode” from consuming the plot in fantasy worlds where magic is plentiful and common. So, this overhaul is more for me than you, but if I do it right, you will have a more immersive reading experience.
The longer a series runs, the harder it is to be consistent because there’s more information to track. I once worked as a data consultant for Wizards of the Coast on an in-house wiki project for their Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels, so I’m attempting to do that for my own books now. But it’s just me, instead of a whole team of consultants collecting the data.
So, follow this blog, and I will keep you informed when Teufling is ready to launch, as well as when the previous books are updated!
TEFL Certification
In other news, I got my TEFL certification last week! (Yay me!) So, hopefully I can begin adding English tutoring to my services in the future. In the past, I have tutored a learning disabled student, children K-12, and adult ESL students. I have a passion for learning languages. So, when I set that up, please keep me in mind if you need to improve your English skills, or just need some editorial work done on specific projects.
Illustration Fun
Finally, I had to put aside my illustration projects to focus on finishing the TEFL course, and now to make sure that I publish Teufling before the end of this year. I feel like I’m limping without any daily art time, but I had a chance to pull out my watercolours and make a birthday card for my son this week. (That is his cat, Pepperoni.)
I’ve made hand-made cards for friends and family ever since I was little. There’s something special about hand-made crafts, and I would love to branch out someday and sell greeting cards and other hand-made stationary items. But first, I have to finish my books!
Bad Cat Ink 