Writing update...where have I been?

 Hello, my dear readers.

I haven't posted in a couple days. I encountered my first massive writer's block and haven't worked on anything book related since the beginning of the week.

It was the right thing to do...to step back and take a breather. I'm not completely over it yet, but at least I feel like easing into writing again.

It also means I will post the next character introduction soon.

I have been thinking about creating a regular posting schedule, meaning I will post here on the blog on the same days every week. Two posts per week, on Mondays and Thursdays, feels like a good amount to me.

Starting tomorrow with the next introduction.

Until then, my dears, I wish you a good day or night, wherever you are.

Amber

Sneak peeks and story snippets pt. 2

 Half way into the second week of writing and I feel like sharing another scene from the story.

I hope you enjoy this little snippet and I'd really love to hear your opinion, my dear readers.

 

“Well, don’t just stand there! Come closer, girl.” Genvil barked.

“He’s very different from Ciall…I can already tell.” The girl thought, as she stepped further into the room. She bowed in respect and allowed herself to take a closer look.

The resident sun mage was tall, his dark grey hair cut short. His purple eyes gazed at her, mustering her up. She felt uncomfortable under his scrutiny, judged. The magic inside of her was no longer calm and contently humming, it was sizzling and hissing to life.

“Ciall praised you highly,” the older said, “but I will judge your abilities myself. He has trained you for almost a year…let’s hope he taught you at least a few things.” He stepped to the side, revealing a small table. On it stood a single candle, unlit.

“We will start with something simple. Light the candle, preferably without damaging anything.”

For a split second Ayalynneah was tempted to conjure a large burst of flames and just turn everything into ashes, but she calmed her temper. This is a test, not only of my abilities, but my temper as well. She reminded herself. Instead of giving in to the temptation she focused her attention on the wick of the candle and sent out a small burst of magic.

In her mind she had pictured the wick catching fire, lighting the candle with ease.

Instead…nothing happened.

“Pathetic!” Genvil commented. “Is that all he taught you? Just as I thought…his high praise was just as much hot air as all of his bragging.”

The girl tried again. Not letting the words get to her, she aimed at the candle again. With the same result, her magic seemed to just fizzle out and vanish before it even reached the candle.

Think, Lynnie, think. There must be a reason the candle doesn’t light up. I’ve done this before, it should be easy.

She made a third attempt, this time paying close attention to how and when her magic failed.

It’s getting blocked! There’s a shield around the candle!

“Are you done trying? What a waste of my time…I have other students to teach, they at least have some degree of actual talent.” Genvil’s voice dripped with acid.

“Forgive me, master. Just one more try.” Ayalynneah replied. She focused on the candle again, this time feeding some of her annoyance into her magic. Picturing an arrow made out of flames in her mind, she gave her magic one more push and released it onto the candle and the shielding spell surrounding it.

The wick sizzled, sparks lit up around it and then a flame flickered to life.

The girl took a deep breath and turned to look at the other.

Genvil seemed unimpressed. He stepped up to the table and snuffed out the candle. Then he turned around and headed to the door.

“We’re done here.” was all he said, leaving her to stand there in the middle of the room.

 

And that's it for today. As always, I hope you have a good day or night, wherever you are.

Amber

Supporting cast

 Hello, my dear readers. I hope you're doing well.

Ever ystory has their main characters. And I have already introduced you to the four main characters in the Hidden Kingdom.

However, there is a multitude of side characters who are the ones to really bring the world to life.

And I want you to meet those, too. 

So, let's begin, shall we?

Aside from Humans (of whom we haven't met any yet), Elves and Drakya there is a fourth race which is human like, at least in appearance and only if they want to. Sounds difficult? It's quite easy, actually. They are the Elementals, otherwise known as Nature Spirits. Originally shapeless beings of pure magic and energy, they can take on any form they wish, humanoid or animal or even plant.

These two are friends with Althar and frequent guests in the gardens of his estate.

They go by the names Rishe (left, wearing green) and Yferrat (right, wearing brown).

They are basically Althar's neighbors, as they reside in the Spirit Forest, which begins just across the river from where the moon mage has made his home.

Rishe is a flower spirit, his element is earth. He has a friendly and bubbly personality but is also quite naive, since he never leaves the Spirit Forest, aside from the visits to Alther's gardens, and had never seen the world. But he is also curious and always willing to learn. He is very caring, but can stir up quite some mischief if the mood strikes him.

Yferrat is more of a broody type, at least at first glance. He, too is friendly and kind but can get really fierce if he senses danger.  His element is also earth, he is a dryad, a tree spirit. He actually is the guardian spirit of the Spirit Woods and as such can never stray far from it. Althar's garden is one of his favourite places to just hang and have fun. He met Althar first and introduced Rishe at a later time.

That shall be it for today.

Als always, dear readers, I wish you a good day or night, wherever you are.

Amber

The Hidden Kingdoms geography

 During the character introductions I already mentioned a couple of places in the realm. But I understand if it's hard to picture without a visual reference.

Not to worry...I got you covered.

One of the first things I did when I started the project, was creating a scrapbook with notes and artworks that I can always refer to when writing. For me, my writing and my art go hand in hand.

The first picture in said scrapbook is actually a map.

It only shows the most important places and lacks some detail, but it gives you a very good idea of where the places in the story are located.

Book one takes place in the two main cities, for the most part. I have a rough idea how the two cities look and have sketched down a few of the prominent landmarks, but I plan on making full color artworks at some point. 

This is really just a quick overview. If you, dear reader, would like me to go into more detail of the places and overall geography, let me know.

For now I wish you a good day or night, wherever you are.

Amber

Character introduction pt. 4

 Hello, dear readers!

I had to take a break from posting yesterday. Sometimes life happens and interferes with your plans.

But today we are back and I want to tell you a little about another important character in the story:

Cyrrick

Cyrrick is a Drakya, who are also known as the dragon people. They are considered the oldest humanlike race in the hidden kingdoms, even older than the elves, who are the biggest group in the population of the realm.

The drakya are a small band of tribes who live in the very north east of the realm, in a mountain range known as the Dragon Teeth. They stay to themselves but are usually welcoming to visitors as long as guests don't harbor any ill intent. The drakya posess very poweful magic, very primal and untamed, less refined than the magic of the elves.

Cyrrick has already lived for an impressive amount of years. He has gone through his life from hatching (yes, drakya hatch from eggs), adolescence to maturity. He is calm and exudes wisdom, but can get very playful, especially when with younglings. He hasn't chosen a mate, some instinct inside of him telling him that he still has some purpose and that there is someone for him out in the realm.

This someone is no other than Althar the moon mage. During the elfs stay with the drakya, those two fall in love.

Drakya go through one more stage of growth after reaching maturity. There is a ritual called the Ascend which every drakya goes through. It is a phase of transformation and once they have passed through, they are drakya no more. This final transformation turns a drakya into...

...a dragon.

Ther you have it, dear reader. That's it for this post. 

I wish you a good day or night, wherever you are.

Amber

Character introduction pt. 3

 It's time for the next character introduction.

Meet Althar, the red-eyed moon mage.

His road to becoming the mage he turned out to be, was a difficult one. Stigmatised by the fact, that his magic turned his eyes red instead of golden, he was a little bit of an outcast in his younger years.

That didn't impact his personality, though. Seeming distant but polite at first, he shows how much of a friendly and caring person he is to those who are close to him. He has always been very protective of Ayalynneah, his little sister.

He finally settled into his magic after being sent to the north of the realm, to stay with the Drakya (aka the dragon people). Althar rarely talks about what exactly hapened during that time, only one thing is known and he never hesitates to show: He fell in love.

Him and the male drakya names Cyrrick are bonded in more ways than one, but the most obvious one is the love they have for each other.

Althar doesn't like travelling all that much. He prefers to have one place to call his home and his estate in the south east of the realm is exactly that. Although he made it to the rank of archmage (which is one of the highest achievable ranks), he rarely actively uses his magic. He specialized in magic theory and focuses on research and refining of spells. In other words, he is quite the bookworm.

He is also called moon mage, because his magic has a cosmic association with the moon (similar to his sister with the sun).

He shares his estate with a few servants and a multitude of cats. He totally is what you'd call a (crazy?) cat dad.

There you have it, dear readers. Next up is the introduction of Cyrrick and a few facts about his race, the Drakya. So stay tuned!

I hope you have a good day or night, wherever you are.

Amber

PS: One more thing. I'm usually uncomfortable begging for things, and I know times are difficult for everyone. But if you have a little bit to spare and are willing to support me in my writing journey, you can do so here:

Buy me a coffee!

Sneak peeks and story snippets pt. 1

 Every so often I'd like to share pieces from the writing process, giving you, my dear readers, a peek into the story as it unfolds.

This book already was a long time in the making. I created the first artwork of Ayalynneah on August 4th last year. Since then the story around her, her brother and their friends has grown inside of me. Since then I have been writing down plot ideas, drawn more concept art.

Really sitting down to start writing the manuscript was a little terrifying, but also positively thrilling.

Days into the writing and I feel SO GOOD about it. It feels RIGHT, it is the right time to begin bringing this story out into the world.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but in my head there definitely are enough ideas to fill more than one book. Which is one reason, why I'm referring to this one as the "first" book, or "book one".

So, book one of "The Hidden Kingdoms" has the title "The Eyes of Magic".

Here's a little snippet which directly plays into that title. Happy reading and tell me what you think.

“Now I’m scared…what if the same happens to me?” Ayalynneah asked in a hushed voice. She had kept her voice really low, but apparently not low enough, as the headmaster had heard her. He smiled at her and gave her an encouraging nod, beckoning her to step up to him. She looked at Althar, who nodded too. “Go. It will be fine, you will see.”

Taking a deep breath, the girl approached the crystal and put her right hand on it. It began glowing, but there was something else, like it was humming. She felt the vibration in her fingers, giving her a tingling warm sensation. The feeling spread out, from her fingers up her arm and into her chest. The warmth grew and grew, until it felt like something burst open inside her and she immediately felt it. Her magic.

“It’s warm…” she uttered, smiling brightly. She let go of the crystal, its light dimming and disappearing.

Althar stepped up right behind her. He confidently reached for the crystal, expecting a similar outcome. Once more the stone lit up and everyone expected to see the boy’s eyes take on the characteristic golden color.

Only…they didn’t.

Villyrd gasped alarmed and took a step back, almost dropping the crystal. Sevandine and Ciall both jumped from their seats, mumbling protection spells.

Their reactions confused not only Althar, but also the entire crowd, people started murmuring. But then the young elf turned around and they all saw. His eyes weren’t golden.

The magic inside of him had turned his once silvery grey eyes a deep crimson red.

 

I hope you liked this little snippet.

Next up will be the introduction of Althar. So stay tuned!

Until then, my dear readers, have a good day or night, wherever you are.

Amber