A Flashback To The Beginning
I've never been one for blogs before. Following them. Starting them. Actually following through with posting once I've created them. It's a never-ending cycle of thinking I'll actually follow through with something like this and then deciding to drop it the second something more interesting comes along.
We'll see if this whole blog thing will be part of the exception or the rule.
To start off, hello dear reader! My name is Nichol Catherine and I have been an aspiring writer hobbyist since June 17, 2019. I've enjoyed smaller writing projects most of my life, doing them here and there as I get some kind of inspiration or another. But it's never been an official, dedicated hobby before that date. The story of how I got here is fairly interesting and doesn't take long, so I will be brief and explain it for you here.
Flashback to February 2018. I was invited to join a D&D Fantasy campaign. So I set to work creating my character. I made her an intricate backstory, worked with the dungeon master (for the uninitiated, this is the person who runs the whole thing for the players) to integrate my character and her story into the world of the game, and the rest is history. The campaign was beautiful. It weaved an intricate tale of love, loss, and betrayal with adventure, evil, and epic questing. There was some gooberish hijinx in there somewhere as well -- just for the flair and fun of it, of course -- but all in all it was a story that stuck with me and would not let go. For a year and a half, it would not leave my mind.
Now would be a good time to tell you that I love stories. I always have. I grew up devouring novels, I have a passion for film and cinema (and even considered being a film major for a long time, but that's a different story for another time), and my favorite video games are the ones that have a heavy focus on plot arcs and character development.
I wish I could tell you what sparked it. Maybe it was Christine Riccio, a BookTuber I had been following since the age of 14, who released her own book only a month before (p.s. it was really really good) and chronicled her journey for me to see on her channel. Maybe it was the incessant story and characters that went spinning around my head on a twenty-four-hour loop. Maybe it was me wanting to find a tangible hobby to sink my teeth into. Perhaps it was chunks from all of the above.
Regardless of the reason, one day I woke up and decided that I had to write it down. I had to get this story out on paper. I had to tell my character's story from beginning to end in its entirety. It needed a space to exist permanently, where it wouldn't fade off into something non-existent once the dice of the D&D campaign stopped rolling.
It has now been over four months since I started writing this book and it has grown and expanded into something I never could have predicted it would be.
Firstly, the story itself has expanded from one standalone to a five-book series with a prequel novel and novella in the works. And it looks very little like the story that originally inspired it. There will be throwbacks and references in it of course -- and the general structure of the adventure is still basically the same, in the first book at least -- but this has evolved into its own entity. Something created from the depths of my imagination that I can be proud to put my name to.
Secondly, and more importantly I think, it has ignited in me a love of writing I hadn't realized was there before. Stories I've always loved. But to create them, to be the one that shapes and refines them into the epic tales scrawled on the page. Well, that turned out to be a whole new way to fall in love with the concept. It's a place I can pour my heart and soul and see something fruitful come out the other side.
My first book -- titled 'Huntress' -- is still being drafted. As of today, I'd say I'm just over halfway finished with the first draft.
I'm also participating in NaNoWriMo this year! For the month of November, I will be taking the time to draft the full-length prequel novel I've had in the prep stage for ages now. This one is called 'Soldier'.
Hopefully, my next blog posts will be more interesting. But it's important for you to know how I got here so you can understand where I am on this journey.
'Huntress' Current Word Count: 41,365
A Song From My Writing Playlist: Hostage by Billie Eilish
Currently Reading: Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
May you, dear reader, have a blessed and fruitful day!
- Nichol ❤
We'll see if this whole blog thing will be part of the exception or the rule.
To start off, hello dear reader! My name is Nichol Catherine and I have been an aspiring writer hobbyist since June 17, 2019. I've enjoyed smaller writing projects most of my life, doing them here and there as I get some kind of inspiration or another. But it's never been an official, dedicated hobby before that date. The story of how I got here is fairly interesting and doesn't take long, so I will be brief and explain it for you here.
Flashback to February 2018. I was invited to join a D&D Fantasy campaign. So I set to work creating my character. I made her an intricate backstory, worked with the dungeon master (for the uninitiated, this is the person who runs the whole thing for the players) to integrate my character and her story into the world of the game, and the rest is history. The campaign was beautiful. It weaved an intricate tale of love, loss, and betrayal with adventure, evil, and epic questing. There was some gooberish hijinx in there somewhere as well -- just for the flair and fun of it, of course -- but all in all it was a story that stuck with me and would not let go. For a year and a half, it would not leave my mind.
Now would be a good time to tell you that I love stories. I always have. I grew up devouring novels, I have a passion for film and cinema (and even considered being a film major for a long time, but that's a different story for another time), and my favorite video games are the ones that have a heavy focus on plot arcs and character development.
I wish I could tell you what sparked it. Maybe it was Christine Riccio, a BookTuber I had been following since the age of 14, who released her own book only a month before (p.s. it was really really good) and chronicled her journey for me to see on her channel. Maybe it was the incessant story and characters that went spinning around my head on a twenty-four-hour loop. Maybe it was me wanting to find a tangible hobby to sink my teeth into. Perhaps it was chunks from all of the above.
Regardless of the reason, one day I woke up and decided that I had to write it down. I had to get this story out on paper. I had to tell my character's story from beginning to end in its entirety. It needed a space to exist permanently, where it wouldn't fade off into something non-existent once the dice of the D&D campaign stopped rolling.
It has now been over four months since I started writing this book and it has grown and expanded into something I never could have predicted it would be.
Firstly, the story itself has expanded from one standalone to a five-book series with a prequel novel and novella in the works. And it looks very little like the story that originally inspired it. There will be throwbacks and references in it of course -- and the general structure of the adventure is still basically the same, in the first book at least -- but this has evolved into its own entity. Something created from the depths of my imagination that I can be proud to put my name to.
Secondly, and more importantly I think, it has ignited in me a love of writing I hadn't realized was there before. Stories I've always loved. But to create them, to be the one that shapes and refines them into the epic tales scrawled on the page. Well, that turned out to be a whole new way to fall in love with the concept. It's a place I can pour my heart and soul and see something fruitful come out the other side.
My first book -- titled 'Huntress' -- is still being drafted. As of today, I'd say I'm just over halfway finished with the first draft.
I'm also participating in NaNoWriMo this year! For the month of November, I will be taking the time to draft the full-length prequel novel I've had in the prep stage for ages now. This one is called 'Soldier'.
Hopefully, my next blog posts will be more interesting. But it's important for you to know how I got here so you can understand where I am on this journey.
'Huntress' Current Word Count: 41,365
A Song From My Writing Playlist: Hostage by Billie Eilish
Currently Reading: Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
May you, dear reader, have a blessed and fruitful day!
- Nichol ❤
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