J-Dx

Glad you liked it! I'm loving writing it, when I find enough time, and it adds to the motivation to write when people also like it. I can send you the link for the other chapters if you like?

Quick update... the next chapter is almost typed from notes so, after some editing, will be available to read reasonably soon I hope!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4696046/Chapter%20One.pdf Here's the link to Chapter One. Hope those that read it find it enjoyable!

Sorry for being so quiet here lately. I've recently been offered a job (at last!) and have been preparing for that! I aim to post a link to just the first chapter soon, and hopefully will find the time to start typing the next chapter from my notes! For any who have read the latest chapter, what did you think??

Cossacks II used roads fairly well along with fatigue/morale. Made for some interesting tactics and strategies at times, though the AI wasn't the best ever. I quite liked the way their formations worked too, though in that games it was all about formations and lone units were useless...

I was thinking of self-publishing on Amazon for the Kindle, so that won't be a problem for that. I don't know whether it would ever get published by a proper publisher, but the very popular (somehow) series 50 Shades of Grey was available as fan fiction to the Twilight series, and then the author changed the names and places so as to publish it as their own work (ethically a bit iffy if you ask me!), so having it available on a public forum isn't necessarily a barrier. Of course it was removed from those places one it was published so no doubt I'd have to do the same should it get that far! Perhaps a link to the first chapter being available would help people decide if they wanted to request the full link? Although I am looking for feedback the story has reached a point where I wouldn't mind people reading it just because it is (I hope!) enjoyable! This is currently the only place it is made available for people so it hasn't reached a massive audience yet! I have only had half a dozen requests for the link, yet 2000 thread views, that is a little strange to me!

Well, I'm closing in on 100 pages long... do you think I should make the link available for all on this thread? Don't know if there's much more interest, but it gets a fair few views so maybe I should...?

Finally it is done!! Chapter Five has been completed and the link should be updated! I believe this chapter will need a lot of work when I go over it at some point, but for now I hope you enjoy!

Sent you a link! The more honest the feedback, and the more detailed, the better! Thanks for the interest!

I have moved! Settling in well with the family, and the change (much for the better) has already inspired me to start another chapter in note form! I aim to finish the current chapter fairly soon! Thanks for waiting!!

Moving house on tuesday, so not long! Once the family is settled I'll be able to do a bit more writing! Life is hectic at the moment, but its fun!

I have a super-story half set out, so I could write near-endless novels based in the world I've created. My inspiration for that is certainly Tolkien as I love the way he created a world with its own history and such incredible depth. He knew what had happened in Middle Earth for thousands and thousands of years, and some things impacted events thousands of years later. For the story I'm writing I have very little idea where it will go! I'm making that up as I go along (though having some idea of what Endari is like in the future dictates some plot developments!). My main aim of all the short stories was to develop a history to make the world as deep and rich as possible. Hopefully that is coming through in some of my writing! Bottom line though is that I just love writing! Even if I never published it or ever let anyone read it, I'd still write! I do like to think it is interesting, well written, and (once edited) worth buying! Those that have read what I've written so far can answer those questions with less bias than I! Most of my short stories revolved around a major event like a battle. The current novel became long because I started to develop the characters and then I just couldn't keep it short! I still don't know whether it will be a short novel or a long one! As I have a super-story in which this whole novel would be little more than a chapter, I guess I could just carry on until I choose to stop! I always write on paper when I need original ideas. My fathers day present from my wife was 10 good quality writing books in which to write notes! So far I've stayed a couple of chapters ahead with my notes, and when I start to run out of ideas I type the notes up and then edit them. Normally, by the time I've edited all the chapters, the direction of the plot has developed on its own. It's definitely the editing that takes the time. I can write notes anywhere, whether its a line or two or a whole chapter, but I need an hour or so of quiet to edit properly. The editing ties all the plot lines together, makes sure its realistic, and adds things to make it more interesting and fleshed out. I'm hoping to get at least ten chapters I think. It could end up being a lot more, but ten is the least I'd be happy with! Maybe when I've hit ten I'll go back and re-edit them all. Some do need a bit of work and I'll probably change quite a lot. I hope it doesn't take too long to get it ready to publish!!

Over the years? Many. Now? Not so many. Favourites are definitely the original C&C and Red Alert. Loved Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights. Battle for Middle Earth was great. AoE wasn't bad when it was released - not really tried the later versions. Cossacks was fun for a while, Cossacks II was better. Fifa Amongst others!

I've been writing different things on and off fairly seriously since 15. I even wrote a Star Wars novel that got to about 120,000 words! Never finished it though. For the world in which Endari is set I've written countless short stories, some good, some bad, which have helped develop the world and characters. Plenty of what I've written I've decided won't make it into the 'official' story/stories. Plenty never got past chapter one or a few pages. I think I value imagination over most things! I've always had a good imagination, playing games when I was a kid, to inventing/developing board games. Some were pretty good! It helped that I had a brother only two years younger that I could bounce off. But between drawing, writing, reading, game-creation, song writing, I've always been exercising my imagination! Exercise does help - seems to clear your head. And getting away from everything always helps! I always found it annoying that, a lot of the time, I'd have my best ideas late at night when trying to go to sleep. Quite a few times I've got out of bed just to scribble something down. But then this was supposed to be a short story. It simply seemed to grow of its own accord and now is seven chapters long (in notes). I have definitely found that having written dozens of short stories based on the Endari world, set across a very wide time span, has made it so much easier to write a longer story/novel. I hope to eventually publish this, probably self-publish on Amazon or something, but its got a long way to go before its ready! That would be very interesting to read!

Thanks! Well, I've edited about half a page so far. That's two nights' work - both times felt too tired to do more - sleep deprivation is growing! But I've started!

Well I've managed to type up the notes for Chapter 5! Now the long task of editing them so its readable!

Thanks! Thanks! So far he's blessed us in the form of all three of the kids (all under three!) being asleep!! And thanks!

Well, after 24 hours of no sleep, I can announce the arrival of my daughter, Rebekah! The contractions that started at 3am ended up stopping by 6am. As my wife was due to be induced we went to hospital anyway, where she was checked, and then at 12:30 her waters were broken. Two and a half hours later the baby was born! Everything went pretty well. My wife had a little bleed so had to stay in overnight, and hopefully will be returning home later today. I had to return home when she was moved to the ward. Now I'm watching our other two children whilst waiting to pick my wife and Rebekah up! She was born 2:55pm on the 19th, and weighed 7lb 11oz!

Looks like labour started on its own! 3am isn't the best time however!

Well I have two and a half chapters' worth of notes to type up! We are also planning on moving in August so will have a busy month of so! I'm doing some typing whilst I have the time now, and hopefully I won't keep you waiting too long!

Well the next chapter, for those who are interested, will probably take quite some time to edit as my wife is being induced on Thursday!

I've not been overly impressed with the Total War games that I've tried. They're not bad, just not quite as good as I expected. Might be worth a try, this one, though.

Anyone else fancy reading through and giving me some feedback? Fans of Tolkien or Game of Thrones would be good - I'm interested to see how people rate it against those, and whether its too similar!

Hearing a lot about it. Anyone read it?

Chapter Four is completed! In its first edited draft version anyway! I'll update the link for those that have it! This was a tough chapter as it contains the most important plot development so far, and it could probably do with a lot of work. I'm relatively pleased with it, however, and would be interested in hearing some feedback about it, especially regarding the ending of the chapter. Hopefully the time-frame for the events is reasonable, as well as the distances involved in keeping with the map. I've pencilled in some new details (castles/estates) on the map and will add them soon. As difficult as it proved to write, I'm kind of sad that its finished, as those who read it might be able to tell why. The notes draft of Chapter Five is already complete, so hopefully it will be an adequate continuation of the story following the events in chapter four. I've also edited out a few spelling/grammatical mistakes I noticed in previous chapters, but I've not read through it all so there are likely several I've missed!