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NaNoWriMo 2018

NaNoWriMo 2018

Last year I got sick during November and didn’t finish National Novel Writing Month. I did write a novel in December but that broke my NaNoWriMo win chain. But this year I am coming back for another. One lose isn’t a reason to stop the trend.

Today I filled out my NaNoWriMo 2018 profile. Have a look.

I am announcing my novel for 2018, Shao Island. If you have seen previous years you would be familiar with the story. Each time that I work on the story, I have learned more about the story.

I used a cover generator to come up with a mock cover for this year. Poster Wall is the name of the generator.

Here is the synopsis I have written so far: 

Something draws members of the mystical and magical community to a small island in the Pacific Northwest. Shao Island. When a new resident moves to the island with her parents, Cailin Alexander can’t help but to make friends despite a past of evil.

Something else comes to the island though. In hunt of something new resident Alyssa doesn’t even know she has. A secret her family has hidden from her. Now Cailin must protect the whole island from a sudden set of killings. Answers don’t come easy.

Keep tuned as I write for November and you will find out more as it comes. That is the beauty of National Novel Writing Month, I learn about the story as I write and create!

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I’m Starting Medium, An Amazing Writing Platform

Medium Website

There are a lot of different platforms out there for sharing your writing but not a lot of them work as well as Medium does. I discovered Medium through Scribophile (Yes, I do spend way too much time there). I was on the forum when I found a thread that is now over a 100 pages long with people discussing the website. With so much discussion I figured it was worth taking a look at.

It turns out Medium is a writing platform that allows writers to post their work to the website. It reminds you of a large blog with a lot of different contributors, or maybe a newspaper. Either way, the number of writers that power the website is pretty big.

I was curious as to what level of content I would find when I went to the website and was incredibly surprised. The three free articles I read for the month were all great. In fact, I even recommended one to a bunch of friends who also liked it.

You noticed that I said free there? Medium is ad-free and as such allows free accounts to read only three articles a month. If you want to read anything more you will need to create a paid account. I believe its $5 a month? Not too bad to get access to a huge amount of written content for both education and fun.

So I saw that you could become a writer at no cost. Guess what I did? Created an account. So far I really like it. It is a versatile writing platform with a lot to do. I have published 4 pieces with more to come. Here is my first piece: Adoption: A Road To Discovering My History.

My Medium Profile

The only thing I don’t like about Medium is the very long links that articles have. Try sharing one of these without copy and paste: https://medium.com/@iandustinscofield/adoption-a-road-to-discovering-my-history-8a3b52a6cdaf?source=linkShare-e35a2a8480d8-1535366475. That is the link to the article I mentioned above. You see how long it is, and it is a bit of an eyesore. But with that many articles from so many authors, I guess they had to come up with a solution.

I hope my Medium articles provide you with some reading entertainment.

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Short Story Review: A Man To Die For

A Man To Die For

It isn’t often that I read or write outside of my normal genres: Fiction, Sci-Fi, Thriller. Recently I was on Scribophile when I saw a fellow Scribophile user had published their short story on Amazon. Wanting to help a fellow writer from Scribophile I read the short story despite it not being a genre that I normally write in.

Here is the Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Man-Die-Short-Story-ebook/dp/B07FLP2TQC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1532249065&sr=8-3&keywords=a+man+to+die+for

Here is the description from Amazon:

Aishling marries a kind, decent man who gradually turns into a violent monster. When she finally leaves him she thinks it’s the start of a new life for herself and her kids. But will Josh ever let her go?

Aishling (an interesting name) is a moving character that portrays a modern woman who is suffering from domestic violence. All she wants to do is believe that her husband is a good person and keep the family together. Then, Aishling believes it is all her fault. Finally, it moves into the part where Aishling must escape.

Time and time again this is what we hear about domestic violence victims go through. It is a whole different story to be put in a victim’s shoes. And the ending? Something you would never expect.

Despite being what I thought would be a drama, there was quite the mix of writing in the book. Val mixes in action, suspense, and thriller aspects to this piece.

I read this book and really enjoyed it. If you have Amazon Unlimited I highly recommend you try reading the book for free. Otherwise, it is just 99 cents.

Val Collins does a great job at writing and what impresses me more is that she has self-published this short story to Amazon. Something I don’t think I have ever seen before. It is an inspiration. I hope to see Val go far and grow as an author.

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Aleria: Worldbuilding 101 Exercise/Contest

Aleria

A group that I belong to on Scribophile recently had a worldbuilding exercise/contest. Users were encouraged to try their hand at building a world. The caveat? The piece can only be 300 words long total. It was an interesting challenge and there were some great entries.

I tried my hand, here is what I had:

With Cailin’s hand in hers, Alyssa crested the large, grassy hill that hid Aleria from view. Her mouth dropped open as she took in the valley below and the stone fortifications that held one of the most magnificent medieval cities in the world. Stone walls wrapped around a city with fields encircling the walls. Buildings made from brick, stone, and wood alike could be seen in the distance lining the streets of this massive city. Aleria, the home of Magic.

“How has this remained hidden for so long?” Alyssa asked those who surrounded her.

“For one, it is a very well-kept secret,” Cailin answered as he started to gently pull Alyssa down the other side of the hill. A tugging feeling hit Alyssa’s stomach as she started to step down. “You feel that? That is the other reason it has managed to stay hidden for so long. It is very well warded.”

Shao Island was a small town, so were a few of the other places that Alyssa had lived but none of them had fields like the ones she passed through on her way to the main gates. Growth of all kinds bordered the roads into the massive city.

Wooden gates with wrought iron adornments loomed in front of her, three or more times her height. Alyssa felt a pang of sympathy for whoever had to open and close those doors, they must weigh a ton.

Once through the tunnel, the gates opened onto a marketplace filled with vendors and shops selling just about anything. Alyssa couldn’t keep her attention in any one place. Nothing in the modern world could compare to such a city, and she had only just taken her first few steps through the gates.

If you have read some of my past work on Purple Fire, then you know that this work is about it. This is a sample from some of the changes I am planning for this year’s NaNoWriMo. While I was quite happy with this, this was a quick draft and something that I enjoyed writing. When NaNoWriMo comes this will change but Aleria will be different from past writings about it.