Novella

Hello everyone, I’m back to inform you that I am starting a new story while I am working on Valhalla. It will be a novella that I will throw on ebook when it is finished and edited. In case you don’t know what a novella is it is shorter than a novel.

Short Story – A story with a fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel.

Novella – A short novel or long short story.

Novel – A fictitious prose narrative of book length, typically representing character and action with some degree of realism.

A short story is anywhere from 1500 to 30,000 words. A novella is anywhere from 30,000 to 60,000 words. A novel is anywhere over 60,000 words. In order to fit within a type of book, it would be a good idea to watch out for your word count when writing.

Now this novella is a type of rapture story. A massive city called Lumen Magnum in a large country called Marlela is home to a religion known as the Cristu faith. The entire country is run by the religious order ruled by a Papa Regem, a King. I borrowed heavily the religious rankings of the Catholic faith but because I need to focus on something specific in this story I won’t be going over it.

The story will be revolved around faith and how people perceive it and led to perceive it. The order is using the religion to control the masses, enslaving people who are different and murdering those who don’t convert. The Seraphim, with the permission of the mighty one above them, have allowed 7 demons to find 7 human hosts to purge the city from the world to hopefully save Eldara, the world, from damnation. In my story, the angels of Hevellum and the demons of Infernos have a much better relationship than most other interpretations of the two opposing sides. Some obviously don’t like each other but it is still somewhat a healthy relationship.

I participated in a contest on Wattpad, I lost, but a couple readers came forth wondering if I was ever going to go more in depth with the story because they really liked it. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I should because it didn’t win but I did like what I wrote. So my husband suggested writing it as a short story and sell it as an ebook for now, maybe with any income I can get from the story I can use the money to self-publish Valhalla. So I decided to turn it into a novella, mainly because after planning it I don’t think it can be short enough for a short story length book.

The story currently has no title nor a summary. I do have a placeholder title and I have an idea for a summary but I plan to get a second opinion first.

I have already done my research on Angels and Demons and Religion, build the world a bit, and finished up writing story bullets. The next step is the outline and then begin writing. I am still thinking about sketching out my characters so I can get a better visual on their appearance but I’m not sure yet. I will be sharing the progress here and on my YouTube account.

In case anyone is curious I do plan to post only the first 2 chapters of this novella. It is a lot shorter than Valhalla and won’t have as many chapters either which is why I will only post 2.

I think that will be all I will go over for this week. If you want to know more about this novella or Valhalla for that matter then please follow my blog. If you have any questions please let me know, I definitely want to hear them. Thank you so much for the read and please stay tuned for next Wednesday for another post on my novella.

Mythical Creatures Part 4

NOTE: I created this post to the best of my knowledge on this subject and have provided personal opinions and suggestions on each creature. In no way am I an expert on this subject and am learning still. Please keep this in mind while reading, thank you.

This list will actually be different from all the ones I did before as this time I will be focusing on mythical races seen and read in Fantasy. There are, I believe, a lot of races in Fantasy that have been used many times, as other authors just create their very own. This list will only focus on the over used races.

Part 1 Mythical Creatures Part 1

Part 2 Mythical Creatures Part 2

Part 3 Mythical Creatures Part 3

Part 4 Mythical Creatures Part 4

Part 5 Mythical Creatures Part 5

Part 6 Mythical Creatures Part 6

Humans

The focus race in a lot of Fantasy stories, humans. They are you and me, we are humans. Descriptions and ability is determined by you, the creator.

High/Light Elves

 

High Elves or Light Elves, whichever wording you’d like to choose, can also be up to interpretation but their appearance is light or pale with long pointed ears. Their skin is light, almost pale, with hair ranging anywhere from white to yellow with bright colored eyes. Elves have known to be fairly tall, about the same height or taller than humans. Their clothing make them appear radiant or heavenly. Abilities can be up to you.

Wood Elves

 

Wood Elves also have long pointed ears but they are somewhat darker in appearance. Their skin can range anywhere from fair to copper. Hair ranges anywhere from golden yellow to black. Their eyes are also known for being darker or just being similar to woodland colors. Elves have known to be fairly tall, about the same height or taller than humans. Their clothing is meant to be more woodland, almost appearing native or druid like. Abilities are up to you.

Dark Elves

Dark Elves have long pointed ears but have a very dark appearance. Hair, eyes, even their skin can be dark but some opt with grey or pale grey or white. Elves have known to be fairly tall, about the same height or taller than humans. Their clothing have always been up to interpretation, but some make them evil because of their names. Note: Because Dark is in the name does not mean they should be automatically evil. Abilities are up to you.

Half Elves

 

Half Elves have a mix of human and elvish qualities. Their ears are pointed but much shorter than other elves. Male Half Elves are capable of growing facial hair like humans but well kempt and kept short where the other elvish races are not. Appearances also range similarly to humans, including in height and clothing. Abilities are up to you.

Dwarves

Dwarves

Dwarves are much shorter than humans, ranging anywhere from 4’0 to 5’0. Depending on the creator they can have pointed ears or round but the male Dwarves always have beards, long or short. Appearances ranges similarly to humans. Clothing have been up to interpretation. Abilities are up to you.

Gnomes

Gnomes

Gnomes are very short, ranging anywhere from 3’0 to 4’0. Many mistake them for children unless they have facial hair or wrinkles. Appearances are similar to humans but clothing have been known to be brighter and cheerful. Abilities are up to you.

Orcs

Orcs

Orcs have been very much up for interpretation. They have been known to be tall, about 6’0 to 7’0, and very muscular with pointed ears, long or short, and sharp tusks protruding from the bottom of their mouths. Abilities are up to you.

Goblins

 

Goblins are another race up for interpretation. They are small but should never be underestimated. They fall anywhere between 3’5 to 4’5. They are known for having long, pointed ears and less then four digit toes and fingers. Abilities are up to you.

Angels

 

These beings are normally beautiful and holy in appearance. They have the appearance of humans along with their height or taller. These beings are graceful and powerful with massive white wings to allow them to fly through the skies and into the heavens. Some describe them with halos or wearing armor to protect them when in battle with demons of hell. The amount of wings on their back is sometimes described dependant on their angelic rank, the rank is dependant on you along with their abilities.

Fallen Angels

 

These beings are almost the complete opposite of Angels. They also have the appearance of humans along with their height or taller. These beings sadly have fallen from grace so most of their clothing and armor is black, tattered, and sometimes described bounded by chains. Their wings are also black and broken or with massive missing plumages. Some have even described them to be a bit more hellish in appearance by giving them demonic qualities such as horns and the like but their feathered wings stay as a reminder of what they once were. Abilities are up to you.

Demons

 

Demons have always been up for interpretation. They can either have the more human appearance or more of a monstrous appearance. Horns, webbed wings, and a barbed or spear tail is the frequent feature for this race. Abilities are up to you.

Gremlins

Gremlins can be shorter than Gnomes, going anywhere from 2’5 to 3’5. This race is also up for interpretation. They are known for having pointed ears, long or short, and sharp fangs and claws. Abilities are up to you.

Vampires

 

Vampires have at times been up for interpretation but the repeating feature is that they look and are dead. They have pale skin, cold to the touch, and sometimes glowing red eyes. Some creators try something new with their eyes like icy blue, silver, or black. Some either have the vampires turn into a monstrous bat or summon wings from their bodies to fly. Sometimes they have short pointed ears or just normal round ones. They do look like humans but if you have other races in your world you can make them any race. They suck blood and either turn other races into their ranks, give birth to vampires, or turn them into mindless ghouls to control. Abilities are up to you.

Were Creatures

 

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These races are forcibly or willingly capable to turn into humanoid animals, the more popular is the Werewolf, Werecat, Werebat, and Werebear. Like Vampires you can either specify them to humans only or other races can turn into such creatures. Abilities and transformations are up to you.

Fairies

 

Fairies are very small, about 1’0 to 2’0. This race is also up for interpretation, wings especially as some go the insect route or floral leaf route. They basically look like humans but with pointed ears, long or short. Their attire has also been very floral or leaf in appearance. Abilities are up to you.

Trolls

 

Trolls have always been up for interpretation as some either do monstrous or more humanoid appearances. They are very tall, about 6’5 to 7’5. They have long tusks protruding from the bottom of their mouths and less then four digit toes and fingers. Abilities are up to you.

Dragonborn

 

Dragonborn is another race up for interpretation. They either have a more human appearance or more of a dragon appearance. The features that remains is webbed wings, horns, a tail, and the capability to breathe fire. They are known to be taller than humans, about 6’0 to 7’0. Abilities are up to you.

Centaurs

 

This race is half human and half horse. The human appearance is very similar to humans minus size as half of the body is that of a horse making them very tall. Abilities are up to you.

Mermaids

 

Mermaids are always up for interpretation. They are half human and half whatever aquatic creature you want, it can be either a dolphin, lion fish, man’o’war, octopus, etc. Abilities are up to you.

Ents and Dryads

 

Ents and Dryads have been known to be together depending on who is telling the story, other than that they have also been separate. Ents are pretty much walking trees with faces, arms, and legs. Dryads look somewhat human but have much more plant and nature about their body. Abilities are up to you.

Satyrs

 

Satyrs are half human and half goat. Although the top half is human they still have a lot of goat features such as horns, hairy arms, and long ears similar to a goat. Abilities are up to you.

Harpies

 

Harpies have been known to be female only but some have been having fun creating male Harpies as well. They are half human and half bird. Their top half is human but instead of human arms they have massive wings to carry them and legs of a bird. Abilities are up to you.

Giants

 

Giants are well massive, human like creatures with profound facial features. They have also been up for interpretation at times especially their sizes, making them anywhere from 7’0 to 8’0 or much, much bigger. Abilities are up to you.

Naga

 

Nagas are half human and half snake. Although top halves have been human some add more snake like features to their faces or in Medusa’s case, snake for hair. Abilities are up to you.

If you guys have any questions about what I just went over please feel free to ask. I hope you liked my little insight on mythical races, I honestly can’t wait to hear some of the other races I have missed. If your favorite is not on this list please let me know so that I can add them as soon as I can. Please stay tune for next Wednesday for another post. Thank you all so much for reading and please have a wonderful day.

Before Writing Part 2: Creating Races

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NOTE: I did my best looking up as many references I could for this post. This world of ours is filled with amazing cultures from every corners of the continents and sea, from Polynesians to Spaniards. Your job is to look for the ones that best represent the race your are creating, real or not.

After you have created your world, your lands, mountains, forests, and lakes, now comes the next best thing, the races that live in your world. Climate can be a factor to how people can live comfortable lives whether in a smoldering desert to a frigid mountain top. Again the Internet is filled with a lot of great information for you to get started but it is hard to wonder where to start. If I were you, start where your main characters live and then spread out.

NOTE: You don’t have to create every race in the known world, you can always do just a few. As for your world you also don’t have to go in depth for every country, city, town, and race especially if your story is not going that way, but if you want to create a living breathing world then by all means, have fun.

Is the country desert like or forest like? Is it barren or lush? Is it cold or is it hot? Once you have an idea from the lands you created, look up countries with similar landscapes and climate then study the people in the countries to determine whether or not they are comfortable or miserable, it helps give you an idea on how the races dress. If it matches to what you were going for then it is time to dress your race. What era did you have in mind for clothing? 18th Century? 16th Century? The 70’s? What about the Victorian Era? This is your world and you can have them dress however you’d like but please keep in mind that the weather must also take in affect. Like the Renaissance for instance, Italy did get pretty hot during that time period however most of the clothing’s for the higher ups was long sleeved and puffy, so unless inside most of the time they will be known to sweat quite a bit like a farmer on the field. There is also just comfortable climates like in Greece and possibly Japan where it doesn’t affect the people as much. Look up as much as you can about the climate on certain countries you are taking reference from, it will really help. Remember to also know your North, South, East, and West, depending on how far the people live can help determine a proper climate. The more North means the more snow, the more south means more heat so either desert or tropical forest. The more East and West can be decided by you, desert, tropical, swamp, etc.

Now you are probably wondering, yeah all these known races are cool in all but what if I want to make up a race? Then make up the race silly. George R.R. Martin has his Valerian race in his Game of Thrones novels, a.k.a. his Targarien house. Violet eyes, silverish white hair, and fair skin, that was his Valerian race. I am just saying learning about how the other races live can help you in creating your very own. Now although I’ve been mainly talking about human races, depending on the kind of book you are writing you may want to do more races, and the way how I see it, it is your book so go for it.

 

 

 

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There are the usual Fantasy races out there that can be integrated very well into other types of genre, Science Fiction especially. You have the usual elves, dwarves, orcs, and gnomes. Now for the elves you have two types: Tall elves and short elves. J.R.R. Tolkien for his Lord of the Rings books did more to the elves with, I’m sure, the help of Norse Mythology. There are 2 realms in Norse Mythology that contain elves, one being Alfheim home to the Light Elves and the other being Svartalfheim home to the Dark Elves. With Norse Mythology he was able to create his more woodland elves while J.K. Rowling in her Harry Potter books kept with the Fairy Tale type of elves which were her small house elves. The Blizzard company behind the World of Warcraft games have their Blood Elves and Night Elves, I’m also sure taking reference to not only Lord of the Rings but also Norse Mythology for their Light and Dark Elves. There are a ton of Mythological races out there that you can either take reference off of or throw them into your story if you feel those races themselves actually do fit. There are also other known Fantasy races such as Goblins, Trolls, Fairies, Pixies, etc. Try looking into other Mythologies out there in the world to see what other races that were originally created to scare or annoy people.

Now I’m sure you’re thinking, what if I don’t want to use all ready created races? What if I want to make up my own? Then please do it! Other Fantasy writers out there such as Christopher Paolini, writer of his Inheritance(Eragon) book series, created several of his own races in his story such as the Ra’zac, Urgal, and Werecat(Beings able to transform into cats and back into “humans.” Even in human forms they still retain their cat like features.) Blizzard has also done the same for their World of Warcraft games when they created Taurens, Dranei, and Werewolves however each of these have also taken reference from certain Mythology like the Taurens can be mistaken as Greek Mythologies Minotaurs and we all should know what Werewolves are by this point, beings able to turn into monstrous like wolves and back if able to. Dungeons and Dragons also have a slew of original races such as Dragonborn(Humanoid like dragons), Tiefling(Demon like beings), Deva, so much races. NOTE: They have a lot of races and I didn’t want to keep naming all of them. If you want to check them out they do have books on the World of Dungeons and Dragons so why not go check them out. If you want to break away from the norm of the typical Human, Orcs, Elves, and Dwarves then do it. What normally makes a story Fantasy or Science Fiction anyway is the contents within, is there magic? Are you traveling through the vacuums of space? Are you using lazer weapons or normal swords or modern day weapons? As I said this is your story so create what makes sense for YOUR world. Just don’t be afraid when trying to create, creating something original is not easy but you shouldn’t have to pull a muscle to do it. Look around you for reference to help give you a bit of a push and you will be able to create a living breathing world that is either as good as or better than Hominum or Westeros. Now once you have created your many, many races living in your world, the next thing, and it is normally are hard topic, religion.

 

 

 

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Now I only say this is a difficult topic because we all have our own beliefs, our own religion, some of us don’t and you know what that is okay. Everyone has a right to follow their own path and never be judged for it nor should you judge others for wanting to follow something. That being the case when creating a race they may have a different religion, different from what your main characters follow. You look at all the different Mythologies out there and laugh at how ridiculous some of them were but remember those Gods and Goddess’s were followed and are probably still being followed to this day. You should have all ready created a religion when you were creating your world, if not that is okay, we can do it now. What is the religion like for each race? Is it like Catholicism(Catholic)? Is it like Buddhism? Is it like Hebrew? How about the Muslim Faith? There are many, many faiths and religion out there and there may be something you like from each of them or think, oh wow this is exactly how I want this race in this country to follow this religion. Please, PLEASE! Don’t look at a religion and assume how they follow their faiths, the last thing you need is some really bad controversy over your book on how you disrespected a religion by just guessing. Take your time and research right, the world and your story aren’t going anywhere. Now when creating the religion for your race, is the hierarchy built similar to Christianity? Pope at the top leading the religion with Cardinals, Priests, and Nuns beneath him spreading the word of their Lord? Maybe you decided to change it up and derive it more to use only women in the church or temple. There are religions out there where they only use one gender only, regardless of how faithful. Sometimes the faithful help with keeping the temples or churches clean or allow them to send offerings of either currency, food, or items. Then there are some religions that went the way of sacrifice, what does your religion sacrifice? Humans or animals? Why do they do that? Is it to please the God or Gods? Who does the actual sacrifice? The head of the religion or one of the underlings? Your race doesn’t have to be a tribal race to do sacrifice, they can be a more advanced race and it is just something they just couldn’t let go of. The possibilities are endless for you. Once you have an idea of how your temple or churches work with who it is being run by, the next is the military.

 

 

 

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Now with how I was talking here in this post, when I meant you can do whatever as long as it makes sense, I meant it. Maybe your races are so advanced they have machine guns instead of arrows, or maybe they still use swords and are just starting out with something called muskets, or they are just a peaceful nomadic tribe encountering armored soldiers for the first time.

Here are some examples for you:

1. Races YouTube Playlist
2. TopTenz YouTube Account
3. Extra Credits YouTube Account
4. Facts Verse YouTube Account

These links will take you to some educational videos and YouTube accounts on certain Ancient races, tribal warriors, etc. Some pretty, wow that is cool, to whoa, what the -, are you serious, moments.

I know when many think of Fantasy they automatically assume armored knights and magical wizards when now that is far from the case. Being in a far off made up place with a small hint of mysticism will now be included as Fantasy. George R.R. Martin Game of Thrones books has very little to do with Fantasy, it may have dragons and roaming undead from the North but that is about it. Magic is not in the forefront of his story and of course his world is completely made up with its own history.

Let’s say, if you enjoyed the history of the American Revolution, how the soldiers are dressed to the making of muskets and cannons to full on naval battles out on sea, and enjoy Fantasy and want to integrate the American Revolution into it, then do so. Taran Matharu for his Summoner(The Novice) book series has demon summoning and magic. Muskets and bayonets were recently created by Dwarves to help combat the Orc invasion. The military are even dressed similarly, if not a bit more fantastical, as the American, British, and French military officers before, around, and after the American Revolution. So clearly the concept can work it just depends on you, how well you research, and how well you can imagine it.

Who consists of these soldiers will also depend on you, is it a mix of both men and women? Do they accept all races or only specific races to fight with them? If there are specifics then why? Remember you must never forget the why, just because is not nor has it ever been a sufficient answer, remember that. Also does your religion have their own military? The Vatican has the Swiss Army and Game of Thrones The Great Sept of Baelor also had their own. Of course that being the case do they have their own set of rules that differ completely from the cities armies? Again you are able to do so much with your world to a ravenous tribe at war with armored knights to dragons fighting metal tanks. You can also have the city be more militarized instead of a simple crown or governed rule. It is also fun looking up military ranks from the Army, Navy, and Air Force perspective, yes each military branch has their own ranks. All right, now that you have an idea of a race, religion, and military, how about where they live?

 

 

 

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You may all ready have cities and towns created but if not, that is okay, we can create them now. As I have said repeatedly throughout this post, this is your world so you can have your people live how you want them to live, whether out on sea, in the air, or in a mountain. Do they live in a castle? What about a modern city? Within intricate tree houses? You truly get to decide. Will it make sense for each race? What about the climate they live in? Does it snow regularly or rain? Where do they get their water and food source? How to they bathe? As weird as some of theses questions are, depending on how you are creating your city it does need to function like a proper city. Are your people at least advanced to have a working plumbing system? What about electricity? Have they discovered it yet? Vikings were able to create homes and ships, hunt for food and warmth, and farm, its the littlest thing that helps bring your world to life. Once your city or town system has been discovered, your world is now fully ready to tell your story, although maybe just one more thing is missing, who are we following in your story?

If you guys have any questions about what I just went over please feel free to ask. I hope you liked my little insight on creating races for your world, I honestly can’t wait to hear how many of you created your very own. Please stay tune for Wednesday will be another post about how to create your characters. Thank you all so much for reading and please have a wonderful day.