Poisonroot - Chapter 6

I'm going back to work next week. Can't help feeling slightly trepiditious for a number of reasons. That's not even a word, but I'm claiming it.
I'm worried I won't be able to fit in writing, D&D and schoolwork; the latter pays the bills, though I sorely wish the former did. I have to concentrate on that. However, I'll be putting as much of my time as possible into this project.

I'm also now unsure who the audience is for this. It's turning into a sort of young adult type thing. Do those sell, I wonder?

Anyway, Chapter 6 after the jump!

(Fixed the numbering btw. Ended up with Chapter 6 on about three posts. This REALLY IS CHAPTER SIX.)

Poisonroot - Chapter 5

The next chapter; thanks to everyone who's commented, it means a lot. I managed to bash this out today while sat in the Barbican, London; it's a really interesting space, coffee nearby and small tables in the carpeted area. Lots of people there today as it's Bank Holiday Monday!

South-Western Lyria - Map

I'm playing a game of D&D with the fantastic John Aggs at the moment. I made some of the maps available to the players as part of the game on the basis that they'd have seen them or, in one case, be given them.

John was kind enough to produce this:

Location: South Porton

As part of the D&D campaign I'm running, I've typed up a description of South Porton. The players have now left South Porton and are unlikely to return there in the near future; with that in mind I've decided to put the description of South Porton up on the blog. To be honest the majority of these things are either already-discovered by the players or things they could find out by asking a passer-by.

Poisonroot - Chapter 4

I wrote this in several sittings so it's not as polished as it should be, but it's a first draft and of a decent length. I'm satisfied with it for now.

I'm heavily influenced by D&D at the moment. I've been running a campaign now for about six hours, maybe more, and I have to say it's freakin' awesome. I have a great group to play it with and they've been really imaginative.

I'm hoping I can use some of their ideas in this, and vice versa.


Today is Bank Holiday Monday, I plan to drink coffee from my favourite coffee place and write this novel.

It's worth pointing out that this is set in the same world that we play D&D in. The stories are subtly different for a couple of reasons; my 'Poisonroot' continent of Ehrian has only humans as sentient species, pretty much, while a D&D Ehrian has a mix of D&D races. The protagonists of Poisonroot started their journey in Monk's Retreat; the PCs in D&D have started in South Porton, though last night they made it as far as Oakedge and in the near future will undoubtedly go travelling again.

Writing for D&D has provoked some interesting ideas; I'd not had to think about the shape of the leaves of the One Tree until last night, for example. They've helped me populate South Porton and Oakedge; particularly in the case of the former there's a load of flavour text that I'm just going to put up here in the next post. In the canon of their D&D campaign they could ask pretty much any passer-by to get this information, and it looks like they're set to leave South Porton for a while anyway.

Chapter 4 after the jump!

Poisonroot - Interlude

This is more of an interlude than a chapter, standing at only 700 words, but for now it's a chapter. Also mainly because it takes place in a different character's perspective and a different place.

Anila; to be fair she's got no fixed idea in my head yet what she looks like. She's more like a bundle of ideas and concepts at the moment, but that'll change as I write more with her. Eventually she'll be a proper main character with her own perspective chapters regularly.

For now, please enjoy this!

Poisonroot - Chapter 3

Chapter 4, and we find out a little more about Victor. Public opinion has this guy as some sort of saint, but the reality is apparently far from the truth. I've used some older material on this chapter, and I'm hoping it still comes together to make a coherent chapter; much of it, about 80%, is brand new and written this evening, mostly after a pint of beer, so I hope it still makes sense. As always, this is a FIRST DRAFT.

Poisonroot - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - we find out a little about what's going on.

Visually, in my mind at least, Victor is based on Sarge from Quake 3. No shit. Down to the cigar and everything. He's a world-weary fighter, seen it all, done it all, killed it all, retired but not really; he's something like Bruce Willis' character in that film about the retired assassins.

Poisonroot - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - I've sat on this for far too long, so I'll just get it out there. As always, this is a FIRST DRAFT.

Poisonroot - Prologue

I know that a prologue is meant to be written after you've written most of the rest of the story but, screw it, I know where this story is going; I've got it planned out, the whole document. It probably means I'll fall into JK Rowling's trap where my final chapter is still doggedly trying to fit into a dress that is ten years too small for it, but we'll see. I'll be glad to get to the end of the book!

So here it is, the FIRST DRAFT (and those two words apply to everything else about Poisonroot that come onto this blog) of the first part of Poisonroot. This is a special project for me, because I'm writing it twice, effectively; parts of the world and setting are being used for my D&D campaign which I'm running with the brilliant Nana Li, John Aggs, Chippy and my beautiful wife Susan; somehow, miraculously, all four have blogs I can link you to!

The Prologue!

D&D and Poisonroot update

I've been busy recently doing a variety of things; I went to Edinburgh for a short holiday with friends and I've generally been relaxing into my summer holiday period. I've indulged my new hobby of jewellery-making and made a bracelet for my sister; it's good to stay interested in things I think, and I get bored easily. I've done a little writing as well, mainly reworking some previous things and, more recently, some world-building.

I've come up with a way to make Poisonroot, which is a project I started a while back, work and still be interesting, and I've also persuaded some friends to begin a D&D campaign with me as the Dungeon Master. With that in mind I've done a lot of reading and a lot of writing in preparation, and I've fleshed out the city of South Porton, one of the cities of the country of Lyria. It's much easier to set my D&D campaign in the country, and on the continent, that I've already named, mapped and designed. I've never liked playing with other peoples' characters or settings; this is a happy medium.

As the campaign progresses, and I write more, I'm going to upload things to the blog. I can't do it right now, though; if John, Nana, Sue or Chippy came here to read it, it'd be spoilers. And we can't have that. But at the same time, there's information they might never hear about, things I'll write that aren't ever going to be heard because the party chooses to go to The World's End for a coffee and pastry rather than a watered-down beer at Jakes'. Well, maybe I'll be able to work it in there somehow. But I think it will provide an interesting amount of unforced background if the things are available here, and I still get to say that I have a writing blog.

I'm hoping that our travels will flesh out the entire Lyrian country. There's no magic in Lyria, but we're playing D&D so there'll be magic. Hell, one of the party is a sorcerer. Disregarding the magic, the way the players see my world and the things they add should help to make the place come alive in a way that I can't on my own. It worked for Raymond Feist; why shouldn't it work for me?

All this said, I've actually got a new lead on Poisonroot, and I've gone back, added another 500 words and changed a few things around so that it fits in with what I've come up with. I'll say only two words: Zombie plants.

I'll update this blog with excerpts when I have more, both Poisonroot and D&D