I am back.

hello again. I have finally reached a place with my two little ones that allows me to write again and I have been working on the 3rd draft of The Shadow of Vale.

I have hit a hiccup that requires that I overhaul the story, so while I am still working on the 3rd draft, I am mostly piecing the story back together around some of the major changes I had to make.

With that said, I really think I will actually be active on here again, though I can’t fault you if you doubt me.

I look forward to sharing the next phase of the journey with you guys.

Thanks for reading!

Hello! Update

Alright, so when I completed the second draft of The Shadow of Vale, I made my hard copy and loaned it out to someone who wanted to read it and give some feedback. Well, we both had babies and it didn’t get read but I started to work on it again so I got my hard copy back recently and am actually making progress on the story.

My plan is to finish the detailed read through, which I am about halfway through, before moving on to outlining the third draft. I want to do a rough outline and then a more detailed revised outline which I may end up doing several versions of. Once that is done, then I will begin writing the third draft in earnest. I think my failure to do this prep work is why I have been unable to make any progress in a third draft.

As I am doing this read through and making my notes I am learning a lot about my writing and my craft. There is a lot of work to do and I anticipate this being a much slower process than what I have been doing simply because I think the story has moved beyond simply getting it out. I have done that twice now and it’s close enough to its final form that more refining work on characters, plot lines, and the actual prose is needed.

Thanks for following and hopefully I’ll have some more interesting updates to give soon.

Best!

-Michelle

Hello!

I am back! Due to some rather major life changes, mainly becoming pregnant, I have been much less active in writing for the past few months. I have been able to write more as of late and have actually been able to begin the 3rd draft of The Shadow of Vale in earnest.

This week I wrote just over 1,500 words bringing the current word count to, just over 1,500 words haha!

While my updates may be a bit more sporadic than my previous draft, I intend to share updates as I work through this draft.

Thanks for reading!

What I am working on

Writing the third draft has proven a much more painful process than I had envisioned. It is a completely different focus and level of work than the first two drafts were. I know the story and characters better and getting through this opening bit is almost physically painful for me.

As a result, I am largely unhappy with most of what I have written and don’t feel particularly inclined to share it.

But, I have picked up a second story, a sequel to The Shadow of Vale which I wrote for fun after the second draft was completed. It is a second draft and I am enjoying it much more. I am still working on both stories, but in the interest of sharing something, I wanted to leave a little snippet of the sequel. Enjoy!

              Alethia grinned as the guard below the window looked in his hand, utterly confused. He had been forming a small flame as he walked, a form of amusement for the bored sorcerer.

              “And now…” Chiron grinned and brought the small hammer down on the stone he had set out on a cloth on the windowsill. The stone shattered, a few shards falling to the floor, unnoticed by neither the nymph princess nor the wizard servant.

              As they watched, a large flame formed over the sorcerer’s hand. He extinguished it abruptly and looked around to see if anyone had seen. He finally shoved his hand in his pocket and went about his round.

              Giggling Alethia fell back from the window.

              Chiron smiled and folded the broken stone in the cloth. “Your father would rather I not show you things like this.”

              “Well, you’ve already taught him.”

              “Eh,” Chiron waved toward the princess as they walked toward the door, “I wasn’t one of his teachers. He hardly knows the blocking magics actually. He focused more on the healing magics and imbuing.”

              Alethia smiled as Chiron rattled on, telling her the same bits he always did. He’d been proud of what minimal role he had played in supporting her father, Zuriel, as he trained in his early days, before facing the great sorcerer Samael. Her father, the great dueling King with access to three of the four Vale magics.

              And here she was with not a fourth of one of them.

              “Of course, if you want a really solid charm, the stone has to be of the right grade and cut. Granted, some spells don’t require a certain cut, spells for focus and such held in a charm would hold just as well regardless of the cut, given that the stone was right.” Chiron was saying as they moved through the halls.

              Alethia smiled, letting his words wash over her, turning her attention back to him when one of the stones or spells he mentioned was unfamiliar to her. Mostly she looked over the various murals that lined the walls. Beautiful works of art of various colored stones, skillfully cut and arranged to show vivid scenes from the history of Tala.

              She ran her hands along the stones of one that showed the exodus of the Tala nymphs during the rise of Samael.

              “Alethia.”

              Chiron fell silent as they both turned back to the witch who was calling the princess.

              “Alethia, Alina wishes you to join her in the east garden.”              

Alethia forced a smile. She had been hiding from her sister since she heard their youngest sister, Avira had linked to Tara that morning. She was well intentioned, but Alethia’s lack of magic was a problem that Alina wished to solve and she never wished to solve it more than when one of their sisters progressed in their own magic.

Update

Hello!

I have been working on The Shadow of Vale this past week. I am taking a different approach now in the third draft, I am trying to create stronger scenes to tell the story rather than just getting the story out. As a result I am still on the first scene after a week. I did get about three scenes in at one point, but came up with a stronger opening scene and started over. I probably wrote about 3,000 words in it, but have only kept 500 or so.

I probably will not be able to update as regularly as I have in the past, I will try to keep you updated and leave some snippets as I go.

-Michelle

Update

I have been rather unsuccessful in setting this book aside. I however, have done nearly nothing that I have wanted to keep.

I made part of an outline for the prequel story, Fall of the Shadow, and then decided it was far too complex and scrapped it. I have been working on ways to roll that story into the main story since I remain unconvinced it is necessary to tell the prequel story in detail.

However, this has left me, again, without a firm idea of where to begin the story. But I am scribbling out different scenes and playing with ideas. I have rewritten a lot of the early scenes between Aila and Zuriel because I don’t believe I built their relationship up well. I have struggled to capture actual human reaction to the chaos that is involved in being brought from earth into a realm of magic.

In short, I am working on it, but I have not reached the point of beginning a third draft. Or an outline frankly.

Thanks for reading! Blessings!

-Michelle

One parting Excerpt before I put it away

              Halvar stood and wiped his nose. “I’m going for a walk.”

              Zuriel sat up, “Halvar.” He looked with concern at his friend.

              Halvar let out a heavy breath and turned back. “Come here.”

              “What?”

              “Get up, come here.” Halvar said. Zuriel obliged.

              Havlar took him in a hug with one arm over Zuriel’s shoulder, the other under his arm. Zuriel hugged him back, feeling his composure begin to crack.

              “I love you, Zuriel. You are my family. My brother.” He closed his eyes. I’ll keep her safe. On my life.

              Zuriel closed his own eyes and nodded. Halvar pulled away, leaving a hand on Zuriel’s shoulder a moment before he turned away.

              Aila watched him go, confused before turning back to Zuriel whose eyes were wet with tears.

              “Zuriel? What’s going on?”

              He shook his head. “Nothing. Just having a brother moment.”

              “I have never seen Halvar cry.” Aila said, looking at Zuriel with alarm and concern.

              “Come here.” He opened his arms to her. She welcomed his embrace.

              “You better not be saying goodbye. You’re going to beat him.” Aila said, feeling Zuriel trembling.

              He pulled back, resting his forehead on hers. “I love you, Aila. With everything that I am.”

              “Don’t.” She said, her voice shaking.

              “If anything happens to me tomorrow,” he continued.

              “Shut up, nothing is going to happen to you.”

              “Let Halvar protect you. I’ve asked him to. Please don’t fight him, don’t argue. I need to know you’ll be safe.”

              Aila squeezed her eyes shut, tears leaking from them as she nodded.              

He kissed her and held her close. “I love you.” He whispered again.

News: It’s finished!

This morning I completed the second draft/rewrite of The Shadow of Vale. It is 121,024 words long, much longer than I thought it would be. I am going to shelve it a while, let it rest before revisiting it. Thank you all for following me this far. I’ll see you in a few weeks, maybe months depending on how wrapped up I get in what ever project I do in the mean time.

Blessings,

Michelle

I wrote so much this week

I had so much fun writing this week. I loved writing the new sequence. It was really fun and I think it will be good once its polished up. Reading over it, it reads like its written in fast forward if that makes sense? Everything just happens really quickly without a lot of description or down time. I’ll fix that later.

So this week I added a new high for me. 19,286 words bringing the total to 113,389 words.

I had no idea it was going to be this long. I’m getting close to the end now.

Here’s some highlights from the labors this week:

As a warning, there is death and mourning/loss and suicide discussed in the second scene.

I wanted to share about six more, but it would be really cumbersome post.

             “You’re the king? He made you the king?” Halvar demanded, interrupting Zuriel as he spared with Cyrus.

             “What?”

             “Agur. Agur made you king?”

             “Agur made me king?” Zuriel looked at Halvar confused.

             “You didn’t know?”

             “I knew he was going to name me his successor, he made me king?”

             “What do you think it means to be a successor?” Halvar asked, incredulous.

             “That when he died, I would step in. Where did you hear that I am king?”

             Halvar handed Zuriel the note he had snatched off a messenger. “He sent out messengers with this.”

             Zuriel grabbed it and read it over quickly. “The end of the month. I become king in a month.”

             “You didn’t tell me you were going to be the king of Vale?”

             Cyrus stepped forward, “You’re going to be king?”

             “Excuse me, I need to see Agur.”

             He made to pass them but ran into a block both of the naims put up before him.

             “Oh no you don’t. How long have you known?” Halvar asked, Cyrus stepping beside him.

             “I don’t know, maybe a month.”

             Halvar opened his mouth in surprise. “A month?”

             Zuriel sighed, pushed his hand through his hair. “I needed to decide if I was going to accept or not. It wasn’t a done deal yet. I would have told you before you found out another way if I knew he was planning to tell everyone today.”

             “You’re going to be king!” Cyrus said as a cheer, clapping Zuriel on the back.

             “Does Agur not want to be king?” Halvar asked.

             “He thinks his rule has been undermined by Samael’s deceit. The people already follow me in the north. It might make the transition away from Samael easier if I take over. I am untainted, so to speak.”

             “I had to twist your arm to get you to lead the men out against Samael and now you’re willing to accept the crown?”

             “I would prefer to fight and get Agur his throne back, yes, but he thinks this is best. I can’t explain it very well, but it made sense.”

             “I think it’s a great idea.” Cyrus said with a smile.

             “I didn’t say it wasn’t a good idea, I just don’t know what to think of it. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.” He gave a short laugh and shook his head. “Well,” he drew his sword and stabbed it into the earth before kneeling. “Just want to officially pledge to serve you.”

             “Oh, Jesus. Halvar, get up.”

             Cyrus smiled and copied Halvar’s display.

             “Guys,” Zuriel shifted uncomfortably. “Get up, I’m not even king yet. He is just announcing the intention to crown me before we march south.”

             Halvar rose with a grin, followed by Cyrus.  

             “Am I free to leave now?”

             “You make the rules, majesty.” Halvar said, still smiling.

             Zuriel rolled his eyes and turned away.

             “Aila?” He called, looking around the empty room. Hearing no reply, he made his way slowly through the house, finally noting the back door standing open. An obvious trail was left in the dust before it.

             He found her seated on the ground before a mural of stone. Without a word he sat down beside her. She rested her head on his shoulder.

             “When I came here with Kyra and Zelena we came here. We were exploring all the gardens. I had never seen stone gardens before.” Aila said, eyes fixed on the mural before her. “I looked forward to coming here. I thought we could warn them, that they could flee north with us and we could all join Agur and fight Samael.”

             Zuriel glanced at her. Her voice was flat and her face expressionless despite the tears that glinted on her cheeks.

             “When we got here it was dusk, just like today. We could tell before we reached the city that there was no one here. It was too dark. A nymph city would never be that dark at night. Maybe I should have been happy to see that there was no one. The city was empty, but the nymphs hadn’t been slaughtered. The buildings hadn’t been destroyed.

             “But I just felt empty. It was dark. Just like Lux; just like Enid. I desperately wanted to see the light again. I needed to.” She absently wiped a fresh tear that fell. “I was so broken. I stood right here and wanted to die. It wasn’t fair. Leora was dead. My parents. But I was here in this dark city and I didn’t want to be. I wanted to be with my sister.”

             Zuriel moved closer to her as her voice shook, wrapping his arms around her.

             “Zelena told me that I couldn’t quit.” She smiled, tears dripping from her chin as her eyes remained on the wall before her. “I asked her why. Why did I have to live and she told me because I am the light. I am a nymph and therefore a light bearer and if I want to be in the light, I had to keep going and carry it with me.

             “She told me that if I quit, he wins and he doesn’t get to win after what he did.” Her body trembled with the effort of keeping herself composed enough to speak. “Here I am again. Before this same wall, without them.” She broke, allowing herself to cry freely as Zuriel held her, his own eyes watering. He had been so distracted; he forgot the scars she lived with.

             Aila sat up and wiped her eyes. After a moment she lifted her eyes and smiled, her lips trembling. “It’s still there.”

             Zuriel followed her gaze. The stone which represented the sun in the mural before them, either rising or setting over the mountains, shone faintly with nymph light.

             Aila got carefully to her feet, keeping her eyes fixed on the stone. She walked to it and softly touched it, as if afraid she might put it out. With a faint smile she pushed more light into the stone until it shone as it had the day she first infused it with light.

             Zuriel stood beside her, taking her hand. “Darkness flees before light.”

             Aila nodded, squeezing his hand. “Light is real and the darkness is not.”

Belated weekly update

Bit late this week, sorry about that. Got sucked into Roshar (Stormlight Archive) for a few days then just busy.

Slower week this week, for the same reasons I am late posting this. I added 3,748 words bringing the total to 94,103. (its getting so long)

I honestly have been super knocked out of my head space for the story, though I have a whole ‘nother arch in the story that occurred to me today. Not sure I want to to it or not. Might just write it given that I can always cut it later.

At any rate, here is an excerpt from this week’s labors. Enjoy!

             “What’s bothering you?” Aila sat down on the fallen tree beside Zuriel.

             He shook his head, taking a bite of the dried meat he was snacking on. “Something is off. I can’t figure it out.”

             “About this?” She gestured back toward the village.

             “Why? Why just send seven sorcerers to say there would be no reinforcements?” He shook his head again and stared at his boots.

             “Why fight for the village?”

             Zuriel turned to look at her. “How many villages did we find destroyed? Burned to the ground? Littered with the dead? But not here. Here he just sent messengers.”

             Aila sat staring at the ground a moment. “Maybe he didn’t have time?”

             He looked at her almost sardonically. “It’s the last village. He literally could not have had more time.”

             “Well, what do you think he is doing?”

             “I don’t know! That’s what’s bothering me. It doesn’t make sense.”

             “But you have accepted Tirich’s account.”

             “I can’t accuse him of anything until I have a better idea of what is going on.” He glanced past Aila at the sound of approaching steps. “Fintan.” He called in greeting.

             “Sir.” He said to Zuriel before nodding to Aila. “I apologize for intruding.”

             “What’s on your mind?”

             Fintan looked at Aila a moment, then back to Zuriel. “I don’t like it.”

             Zuriel grinned. “I don’t either.”

             “This isn’t Samael. Samael wouldn’t have left a village for us.”

             “But the messengers were the ones who bound the counsel, they weren’t acting on Samael’s orders. Maybe that’s the disconnect.” Aila said.

             “Seven sorcerers overthrowing a counsel?” Fintan said with amusement. “No. Wouldn’t happen. Kaskata would have been ruled by an egotistical counsel who would rather die than give up control. Even if what Tirich says is true, the counsel should be dead. Samael doesn’t keep prisoners unless they are some use to him.”

             “But what about the messengers, they aren’t Samael. They know Samael is now fallen back completely from the North. They can’t count on his support.” Aila spoke quickly, eagerly.

             “It doesn’t bother you?” Zuriel asked her.

             She sighed, “I guess I prefer to think its over in the north. That we won cleanly. There have been more and more deserters, is it so outlandish that an entire village would defect from a defeated king?”

             Zuriel looked to Fintan who only shrugged. Zuriel let out a deep breath and got to his feet. “We’ll just have to keep our eyes open.”