Kingdoms & Curses Author Blog
The Raven’s Tale Continues
- Details
- Published: Saturday, 11 March 2017 19:45
- Written by Michelle
After taking a half a year break, Travel Log of a Raven picks up where it left off with our Raven traveling a treacherous pass in the Tarrelesse Mountains. Though you may have forgotten about our dear Raven in these past several months, for me this transitional entry, "Day 22 - The Spectacle", has been simply a slaughterhouse of drafts edited and rewritten. Running the gauntlet of hookless endings, long-winded narratives and aimless writings about “tripping out”, The Spectacle finally reaches a quality equal to its name. With 30-40 pages of scraped drafts behind me, I am relieved and ecstatic to bring you something amazing that will carry you, my dear reader, past this bizarre twist in the story and not lose you entirely.
Please note, the views of our Raven in this tale do NOT reflect that of the author... I'm reading a character's transition into something else... Not necessarily my own views on life... and death... Insight into the Raven's experience was gathered from Dan Carpenter's book A Psychonaut's Guide to the Invisible Landscape.
The Spectacle’s entry image is as eager to make it’s debut as well. Taking me over four hours just to draw on it’s small 8.5” x 11” page, it is one-of-a-kind in the realm of my artwork. That’s right, I don’t draw tiny little trippy circles all the time. In fact, that was the first time I ever drew anything like that. You can attribute most of my ability there to an excellent artbook I got from the library for my young daughter called ZenTangles for Kids; that book is brilliant for breaking down complex doodles to very simple elements, enabling even the unartistic to create something they can be proud of. Without it, I don’t think I could have ever created anything that intricate
The Near Future
With The Spectacle behind me, I have a few more semi-polished entries before my prewritten content on The Raven’s storyline becomes quite first draft. Don’t worry, though. Other ideas on this storyline lurk in my brain, and The Raven is only a small part of a much bigger piece that I am writing. Oh yes, this world is MUCH bigger than you, my dear Raven. The King that the Raven scribes for exists too and has a whole storyline of his own that also includes an awesome Queen who doesn’t want to be a Queen.
More to the Story?
This world in which The Raven exists was first created in my novel, Kingdoms and Curses (hence the url you’re visiting). If you want to read the precursor to The Raven’s adventures, please check out my first novel, Kingdoms and Curses; the Raven’s storyline takes place just after the end of "The Chosen One", but before any of the other stories.
Expanding to Audio and Video
Be on the lookout. Coming soon, I’ll be doing a series of live readings on Facebook and Youtube.