Kenn Ghannon: Blog

TeNderLoin - who has graciously edited 'Runesward, Tome 1: Hasp' - has accused me of being in love with the semi-colon. He's right. I admit I use it way, way too much. It just seems - convenient. While, technically, it should only be used to conjoin related sentence fragments - sentences that can't stand on their own - or a sentence fragment with a related full sentence, I use it to conjoin related whole sentences. It's a failure of mine.

So far, I've ignored his advice - but he has a very valid point. So, I'm going to go back through - hopefully later today but definitely soon - and get rid of them as he's been after me to do. Mostly. I reserve the right to keep a semi-colon when I want - artistic license. :)

As you might have noticed, I've been lucky enough to acquire the editing services of Anne N. Mouse and TeNderLoin. Both of them have contributed significantly to the 'crowd-source' editing previously and were kind enough to agree to edit the full Tome.

This doesn't negate the 'crowd sourcing'. It's in addition to it. Anything the three of us miss is a bonus to be crowd-sourced.

While I like the thought of asking everyone to be an editor, I'm not sure it's sustainable for the long term. It actually takes a bit longer than I thought it would - and I'd rather front-load the effort as much as possible. Of course, Anne N. Mouse, TeNderLoin and I are only human - so we're bound to miss something (probably because those two caught it and I was either too stupid or too lazy to correct it - but I choose to think I left it just so you have something to send me mail about; I'm vain that way).

Some of the story for Tome 2 - tentatively titled 'Callisto' - has run through my head. I've begun outlining it and fleshing parts out. This isn't a commitment to immediately continue the story, however. I don't want to get to the point where I'm not having fun with it. I'd rather, if it comes to that, move to another story. I'm committed to writing - though not daily - for the long term. I just refuse to commit to any specific story (beyond what I've already revealed as my plans).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter 16. Runesward, Tome 1: Hasp came in at 29 chapters, so we're definitely on the second half.

I've completed 'Runesward: Tome 1, Hasp'. It resolves a few things on my 'To Do' list for the story while opening a few others. Honestly, I think it is pretty good.

I'm going to do a variant of the 'Crowd Source Editing' with the rest of the story. I've requested two experienced editors to look over the rest of the story and mark it up. Anything the three of us don't catch will still be crowd-sourced.

I'm writing at least a bit in Tome 2 - just some ideas I want to get out while I'm thinking about them. I'm not sure if I will continue the story immediately or move on to 'Rings of Command' or 'Fairly CAPable'. Those are the 'Big 3' in my queue at the moment. On the one hand, I'm enjoying this world that's in my head. On the other, I've been writing in it for over six weeks now - which is a bit of a record for me. I want to keep the story 'fresh' for me so we'll see what happens.

Thanks to all who have helped make this story better. I appreciate all you've done.

I hope everyone will forgive my writing two blog posts in a single day. I was going to include this in the previous post but it didn't seem appropriate.

'Runesward' is doing well - better, honestly, than I expected. I'm more than humbled, honestly. When I came up with it, I honestly never thought it was good enough to upload. I mean, there are some really, really great SFF stories - my favorite genre - on SOL, stories such as 'The Black Rabbit' (a shameless plug, since I'm helping to edit it - you'd think editing someone else's story would make me better at editing my own but, obviously, that isn't the case), 'A Love For The Ages', 'Law of the Blood', 'The Rise of Azkoval', 'Always on Guard', just about everything from 'AStrangeGeek' and 'TechnicDragon' and so many others I'm missing. How could I compete with those?

However, I had - and am having - genuine fun writing the story. Plus, I was able to do something I've not accomplished in a long time - I was able to maintain concentration on this story and these characters for over a month. Usually, I might get a week in before I become bored - or, in some cases, overwhelmed - and move on to another story. I've been writing 'Runesward' now since early December 2018 - and I'm still having fun. I'm not certain what has changed.

So, since I was having fun writing it, I decided to share it. I'm glad I did. It has, so far, gotten positive attention from a very fun, very vocal group. There have been some negative comments - a few - but I've never minded people being critical of my writing. Even the e-mails that say "This is shit!"; my words, my made-up story, was able to evoke a response from someone even if they hated it. By far, most of the comments have been positive. I love it either way.

I think, honestly, by far the best feedback I've received is from the speculation of what is coming. It means I've done something right because people are invested in the characters and story enough to speculate on who they are, where they're coming from, and what they're going to do next. I feel proud of that - and I only hope I can continue to meet or exceed everyone's expectations.

Finally, I have to thank EVERYONE who has written to me with typos, errors in verb tense, sentence structure and all the myriad little details that I screwed up and others caught. This story would not be half as good without your contributions.

I'd like to take a moment and say 'Farewell and God Speed' to Xalir. I didn't think it was appropriate to write about him immediately; I felt it was better to leave that to people who were close to him. I honestly didn't know him and, as far as I know, I've never written to him. I have, however, read all of his stories (with the exception of the 'My Journey' series) - starting with 'Trading Up' which, honestly, was pretty much a masterpiece to which I was hoping to get a sequel. The SOL community is much darker without his bright light.