Category: writing

Chapter 17 of A Hero Among Monsters

Latest attempt at drawing Tad and Glum.

I’ve posted the seventeenth chapter of A Hero Among Monsters, titled “Decayed or Incomplete,” to Royal Road. Of course, all of the previously posted chapters are available there as well. I also completed the second draft of the book (finishing on chapter 37) on December 1st, clocking in at a whopping 136,000 words! Hopefully I can cut that down a bit in editing. The chapters I post to Royal Road are the edited versions of the second draft.

I still struggle with a look for the goblins in my illustrations. I had received some feedback that previous sketches made them look like just weird looking guys you might find trying to sell you stereo equipment at Best Buy. So I’ve tried to make them a little more cartoony (see the above image for the latest attempt).

Chapter 8 of A Hero Among Monsters

Sketch of Ayara and T’loran Designs 8/11/21

I’ve posted Chapter 8 of A Hero Among Monsters to Rolling Road. You can read it here. As I revise this book (and post it Royal Road) I continue to get better at drawing these characters. The elves have been especially challenging. Here, I’ve drawn Ayara, who has a Middle Eastern inspired garb as she’s lived in a desert region for the past thousand years. Also pictured is Ayara’s uncle, T’loran, although this style of clothing wouldn’t suit him as he lived in the more urbane Yendell, a city built inside a mountain, for most of his life. Previously I’d drawn him in more bookish clothes, not unlike Milo Thatch from Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire, but it felt a little too on-the-nose for his character. He was a rebel against the somewhat uptight society of Yendell, so giving him a little more haggard look, borrowing from The Big Lebowski’s The Dude, might be the right approach. I’ll have to rethink some of his dialogue if that’s where I’d take his personality.

They’ve certainly come a long way, looks wise, from my earliest sketches of them! Although I’ve always kept Ayara as wearing a hood or scarf. As this pair was originally conceived, they were sibling mercenaries from the woods. It was only as I developed the story and built the world that their relations and homelands changed.

Early Sketch of T’loran, Ayara, and Tad 4/4/20

A Strange Little Obsession

An aerial view of Cumberland, MD. Photo from Joanie Rilling Johnston.

I recently crossed over two thirds of the country to visit with family. Being a cheap person, I wasn’t staying in fancy hotels in nice towns during each three-day trip. Venturing off the beaten path for dinner and a night’s sleep, I found myself in some beautiful little downtown wherevers. Places where there was no Starbucks, movies played in local, independent theaters, and there were signs up proclaiming “God bless America!” (I’ve no issue with God blessing America; it’s just not something you normally see lining the streets in bigger cities.)

However, one place struck me as particularly remarkable and I regret that it was positioned just so that it never warranted a stop for a meal or a night. This city, Cumberland, MD, seemed so picturesque that my mind reeled with possibilities in just the few minutes I passed through it on the highway. The buildings look old, having seen good times and bad. The way it’s bisected by the river implies cultural divides of the haves and have nots. The courthouse, which is almost centered in the above photo, stands prominently in the skyline. Is it a beacon of hope for the citizens, or a reminder of wicked oppression? This city lacks the sleek chrome and glass of (post)modern architecture, having been passed by the most recent booms, and instead thrives on red brick and Romanesque flourishes. It seems a place where old ways could thrive, largely ignored by the outside world. Weary travelers arriving from points west might stop by to see this quaint east-coast burg, a pit stop before the bustle of points further east, and be taken in by locals to see the sights, only to succumb to some hidden horror.

It’s the New England hellscape of H.P. Lovecraft of Stephen King … just a bit further south and removed from the coast.

Have you ever been inspired just by the sight of a place?

I Still Breathe

The cover for A Hero Among Monsters, made on Canva.

What have I been up to lately? A lot of writing and drawing! My Instagram account has much of my art, as well as random photographs from around town (Denver, CO.) Unsurprisingly, I draw raccoons. 😊 However, you’ll also notice that I’ve been working a lot with drawing monsters, specifically goblins, orcs, and even the occasional troll. This is because I’ve written a novel, A Hero Among Monsters, which I am posting on Royal Road. It’s the comedic adventure of a goblin, Tad, as he finds himself caught in up in the politics of elves and evil mages while he dreams of a bigger life for such a little monster. I’m trying to put up a new chapter every two weeks and I’ve just posted the fifth one.

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