Writing – World of Devera

The Long Journey

Aug 04 2020

My second novel is the longest and best-selling in the Deveran Conflict Series. This epic story begins with Garrick and Brenna, as they head to Marvic, Tamaria’s capital city, where he is scheduled to begin officer’s training. The demands are tough and he struggles to keep up. Brenna, separated from her boyfriend and still unfamiliar with the local language, wrestles with listless loneliness and feels spiritually adrift. She needs to find purpose, but also learns that her family, who have…

Jul 28 2020

It’s been a busy summer thus far, and while there are many demands on my attention, I’ve had more time for writing than I can recall in a long time. At present, I’ve completed six chapters in “Blood on the Warpath” and I’ve started the seventh. I intend for this novel to wrap up at around 100 000 words, which means I have four chapters to complete. That’s unlikely to happen in the next five weeks, and once school starts…

Jun 22 2020

I’m not done with this, yet. However, it’s the first draft of a cover for my latest writing project. Let me know what you think in the comments. 🙂 In this version I’ve adjusted the poses for both characters and added a different color of light for the sun. I’ve changed the position of Brenna’s left thumb and moved her hairline. The latter effort makes little difference . . . A lot of little adjustments later, and I’m fairly happy…

Jun 06 2020

Ideas are invisible. Ideas are intangible, but they have real impact whenever we act on them. I grew up in a deeply racist household. My mother, who came from a little town in Brasil, carried the prejudices of her own upbringing into mine. In my mother’s homeland many people have dark skin. Hers, in fact, is quite a bit darker than mine. My father had a German mother, his father was also quite fair skinned, and I inherited the inability…

Apr 25 2020

Major discounts on every title in the Deveran Conflict Series are available in multiple formats through the end of May. More than a million words in the series will set you back less than $8.00. Find your copies here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/2081

Apr 18 2020

While the title of this post may sound a bit pretentious, nothing about the way I write novels approaches the way I compose for a post-graduate class. I don’t start with the archetype and draft a plan. Writing stories is much more organic and subconsciously processed than is the case when I pen a thesis. However, since I actually teach creative writing, the idea for this post arose while preparing lessons for an English class. In my presentation, I encouraged…

Apr 05 2020

My latest writing project has been slow to develop. This is mostly because I’ve been spending more time on marketing than writing, and there are only so many hours during the week that I can devote to crafting a new novel. At this point, while I know how the story will end, getting there is very much a work in progress. While I’ve written three chapters featuring Algernon and Bronwyn, I suspect I’ll structure the story in a Part One…

Mar 24 2020

Mapping a World It all began with a drawing. I’d been working graveyard shift as a telephone operator after graduating from high school and I had a lot of time on my hands. As I drew the outline of the Deveran continent, filled in mountain ranges, rivers and cities, my imagination conjured ideas for the people who would occupy these lands I’d created. World building is a formidable task. It’s taken me many years to flesh out the nations I…

Mar 13 2020

We all know the story. In Chick Flicks: Two romantically-challenged people meet, realize they’re destined to be with one another, encounter a series of problems meant to separate them, but in the end, the magical force of love draws them together into eternal bliss. In Romance Novels: He’s a brooding bad boy who doesn’t talk very much. She’s a stunning beauty with grand ideas of her own. Circumstances beyond their control force them to be together. She resists him initially,…

Feb 17 2020

Introduction While they are secondary characters in the Deveran Conflict Series, the roles that Lord Lynden and Lady Alexina play are essential in grounding the story’s background, and providing a context into the way that Brenna – in particular – and, to a lesser degree, the Ravenwood siblings view functional family relationships. Their story as a couple begins long before the series starts, as Alexina is 70 in The Long Journey and Lynden is 68. Since longevity is characteristic of…

Category - Writing

The Long Journey

Progress

Cover Art Draft

Invisibility

Exiled for the Sake of the Realm Sale

Situational Archetypes in the Deveran Conflict Series

Blood on the Warpath

Building the World of Devera

Romance

Lord Lynden and Lady Alexina: Parents with Purpose