Finished the Draft of my Fourth Book!

 I'm so excited to announce that I finished The Trinitas! It is done with the drafting process and is ready for revisions. Once I have revised the book a few times, I will write four final scenes to begin each part of the three-part novel, plus a prologue. I wait to write these scenes until the book is finished so that they will more accurately foreshadow what is to come in the next part of the book. These four scenes are the hardest writing I have to do in the entire books that I write, so I save them for the end. 

The Trinitas is the climactic conclusion to the four-part quadrilogy I've been writing for the past decade. The series is called Fragments of Alchemy. It is a Middle Grade / Young Adult urban fantasy. The Fragments of Alchemy series is also the origin story for the high fantasy series that I will start writing once I am officially done with the Trinitas. I have been world building for these series I will now be able to write for quite some time. Some of the ideas I will incorporate into future books will include ideas I had when I was in middle school dreaming up my own books. I'm so excited to finally be thinking ahead to these wonderful books I will be able to write.

Wish me luck in the revision process! I usually start my revisions with a focus on setting descriptions. I know this is one area of my writing that I usually skimp on when I'm drafting because I am always so much more focused on what my characters are saying and doing than where they are. So I usually add quite a lot of detail in my early revisions of a book. It is usually lots of fun.

One other thing I am doing right now is posting chapters of the first book in the Fragments of Alchemy series, over on WattPad. Check me out there if you are interested in getting a sneak peak at my Urban Fantasy series.  Here is the link: https://www.wattpad.com/user/ACSutliff

Side Topic: Potty Training

I've been reading up on potty training. My child is approaching two years old, and it just seemed like time for me to learn up on this huge milestone. I started by reading articles from different apps I have (Babycenter and BabySparks) and then checked out three books from the library. I'm really glad I am reading so much about it, because certain aspects of each book and article are all ringing true to me. So it is starting to seem to me like I will have a hodge podge potty training plan. Much of what I have read reflects the idea that you need a plan that will fit your child. I think to be successful, the plan needs to fit me too. So for example, I will wait until my child is really ready, but I will also wait until I am ready too!

I still have one book that I started reading and need to finish, but so far I am formulating a plan that will incorporate everything a little bit. Here's my plan:

When: Next summer when my child will be 32 months old. As a teacher, this makes the most sense to me because we can take the whole summer off from daycare to really nail it. I also don't think my L.O. will be too old, though I've read in one book that over 30 months is too old.

Method: Somewhere between child-centered and the three day potty training boot camp. I will have all summer long to work on it, but I don't want to stretch it out just because I can. I would rather do things correctly and quickly at first so we have time to refine the skills all summer long so that he can start daycare after summer with a solid foundation of learning. We will start with a few naked days so that I can tell what his signals are when he is having accidents, and so I will hopefully still have time to sit him on the potty before he stops peeing.

I don't like some aspects of the potty training boot camp (I'll get to my biggest problem with it below) but I like the idea of practicing. This method has kids practice running to the potty from where they had their accident a certain number of times. Makes sense. I can make this fun by running with my child or chasing him to the potty. 

Practice makes progress in my opinion. As a teacher it wouldn't make sense for me to have any other attitude about it. But I also believe in breaking things down into smaller steps. As a teacher, I know that big learning needs to be chunked into right-sized lessons. Therefore, we will learn things before we even start, like work on getting dressed and undressed, toddler bed training, drinking from a small open cup instead of a sippy cup (to limit the amount of liquid at bedtime and make night training more successful) and hand washing (something I have already started now that we have a step ladder). 

Finally, when we really do start, we will begin with learning what it means to pee and poo and how that feels (by reading lots of picture books about it together and wearing only a diaper with a wetness indicator so I can point out when he went pee). Then we will progress to where does the pee and poo go? And then start with learning (for me and him) what it feels and looks like when he needs to go, so I can remind him and he can feel it and go before he has an accident. Finally, as we get better at making it to the potty before accidents, we will progress to self-initiation, and I will stop my consistent reminders and instead ask him if he needs to go occasionally (by the end of summer, I hope!).

Motivation: Intrinsic. The last thing I want is to associate learning with rewards; potty training, while it may not be the first learning my child has done by any means, will be the first major learning that doesn't come completely naturally to my child. There will be a huge learning curve, lots of opportunities to learn from mistakes, and lots of growth involved. Just like we did a dance and got excited when he said "please" we will get excited and dance when he goes potty.

As a teacher, I have always been an advocate for growth mindset feedback. "Neat!" instead of "Good job!" and "Wow you did it!" instead of "You're so smart!" I'm going to carefully think about my wording for moments of success. "Doesn't it feel great that you did it right?" "You did it! Don't you feel proud/happy/excited?" "Let's dance to celebrate!" I will NOT be giving little toys or M&Ms to my child because he peed in the potty.

I also believe in logical and natural consequences. For example: my toddler hits me with a toy. I say "Hitting hurts," and I take the toy that he hit me with and put the toy in a "time out". That is not a natural consequence by definition, but rather a logical consequence. If my child hits the cat or pulls the cat's tail, the cat gets put out of reach and my child gets a time in to think about it, usually in his bed which is a very calming place for him. Soon I will be incorporating emotional training to help my child process his emotions and calm himself down, but for now we give time ins without his binky (which usually stays in the crib but magically disappears during a time in).

So natural consequences will help us through accidents. My child will need to help me with clean up (within reason), and I will remind him of that often, and often point out that if he goes potty it is faster than having an accident and then needing to help clean up. He can't play while he is helping clean up. It is better to take a break from playing and go potty when I remind him, rather than ignore me, have an accident and need to stop playing for a longer period of time to help clean it up. My little one loves to play and hates to be interrupted, so this will be an area I know already will have huge fallout if I don't plan ahead. And he will have a tantrum when I tell him that it's time to clean it up, probably every time, but I plan to stay firm and do what I say I will do, which is require him to help me clean it up.

Another natural reward that I have thought of is that I can keep my child on the hard floor in our living room and kitchen and make the carpeted playroom off limits until my child has been accident free for a period of time (maybe a week or a month, depending on how confident I am in his progress). This natural reward of allowing my child to go back to playing in his playroom will motivate him but it is a natural reward because cleaning up accidents on the hard floor will be much easier than accidents on the carpet and it is only natural to stay on the hard floor in the beginning. If I use a sticker chart to track his accident free days, that in my opinion is slightly different than giving a sticker for each successful use on the potty. One is a way to track progress (which is how I want to do things), the other is a reward (which is not how I want to do things). Then finally, if I use the same system to help us decide when it is safe to start going out and doing things to enjoy our summer, then we will have that tracker and motivation too.

Then instead of buying toys as rewards, I am thinking about buying fidget toys (like calm bottles, drip drop timers, and slime or putty) that he will only be allowed to play with while on the potty. This will make sitting on the potty very appealing to my son, because he loves new toys, and though the novelty will eventually ware off, it will be easy to rotate in and out new fidget toys and won't be nearly as detrimental as creating an addiction or dependence on rewards for going potty. This along with a plan for him to choose a few books he wants to keep near the potty will all add to the appeal of needing to sit for an extended period of time.

The Potty Boot Camp method recommends increasing fluid intake and rewarding kids for success with salty snacks that will increase their thirst and thus keep up their fluid intake. At first I thought I might offer my child chocolate milk or juice (when we have never given him chocolate milk or juice before) after going potty to achieve this outcome, but now I'm really second-guessing this idea. Even if I don't come out and say, "You used the potty! Nice job, you can have chocolate milk now!" I think my child is smart enough to notice the connection. He will have a meltdown if he doesn't get to have his juice, which will make his failures seem even worse. I will ask my husband what he thinks, but for now, I am going to stick with regular milk as often as my child wants a cup, and getting a new cup with a straw for water, which will make it more likely that he will drink a lot. I will NOT be rewarding my child with salty snacks to make him thirsty, but if he wants a snack, I will give him something that will go well with a drink, such as crackers and milk (rather than yogurt or applesauce which he typically doesn't need a drink to eat).

My L.O. will need to learn how to use the big toilet as well as the potty, and of course this needs to happen before we start going out to enjoy our summer with trips to Reptile Gardens and the library and the park and the pool. I'm an advocate for giving children choices within limits, rather than letting my child run the show. Saying something like, "I can see you need to go potty and it's time to go. Pee goes in the potty. We have this little potty or you can use the big toilet with the potty seat. It's up to you to use the potty before you have an accident." And then walk away and put the pressure on the child to do the right thing. Giving him that choice within limits will help him decide to go instead of have an accident. And if he starts choosing to use the potty seat on the big toilet, then it will make it all the more likely that we will be able to have success going out and enjoying our summer.

Night training has been on my mind a lot, when I didn't even really think about it at all before I started reading. I feel right now like going cold turkey on diapers will be the best method. No diapers at nap time or bed time either. I will come and wake him up in the night to go potty until he learns to wake himself up. (Which I know will take a while, but sleep deprivation during the summer is much better for a teacher than sleep deprivation over the school year, and he has to learn night training sometime. It might as well be all at once.) He will have accidents and we will clean it up together. I already use a triple layer sheet and mattress protector set up so if he has an accident in the middle of the night, all we need to do is change clothes and pull off the wet sheet and mattress protector and then try and go potty and go back to sleep on the second layer of sheets and mattress protector. I will purchase more sheets and mattress protectors so we only need to do laundry once a day and I can add sheets and mattress protectors to the bed after naps so that there are always three layers on the bed. 

I'm also planning on not using pull ups, which can feel so much like a diaper that it's practically the same thing, and using boxers instead of undies. Boxers will feel more like shorts than a diaper and will give him that very different feel that will help him remember to go, and is not as extreme as going commando (which is what one of my books I read suggests!). He can choose his boxers, which will make them special to him. I've read that kids can be more motivated to avoid accidents if they will be peeing on their favorite characters (which makes a lot of sense!). It's rather common for men to sleep in nothing but boxers, so it will be a natural progression for my son, I think. Getting sheets with favorite characters will help with naps and bedtime too!

So all in all, I have one more book to read and the beginnings of a very solid plan. I think we will start toddler bed training over winter break and start using small open cups instead of sippy cups at spring break. Then it will just be up to my daycare provider to keep using open cups until the end of the school year. We will start the last week of school with books about toilet training, all the while saying, "When mommy and daddy start staying home with you for summer, we will start potty training." Then on the first day after we finish teaching, we will go buy new boxers and sheets for the bed and new fidget toys and books for the potty, plus a few cups with straws for increasing his fluid intake. He will have one more day with diapers where I help him notice when he went pee in his diaper and change him every time, and in which I will put the poop from his diaper into the toilet instead of just putting it into the diaper pail. Then before bed that night, we will donate the rest of his diapers, so that there won't be any diapers in the house to tempt anyone into going back. And we will push forward and never look back.

Real Life Happened

 My goals went by the wayside last week. I had what seemed like totally realistic reasonable goals to write every day, but it just didn't happen. It's been almost a week. I know why this happened. I spent all day running after my toddler taking care of him and trying to engage with him and his toys and work on his development. By the time nap time came around, I was exhausted and frankly didn't even think about writing. Other things came up, such as running to the store while my husband stayed home in case the toddler woke up. 

Then I spent some quality time with my husband rather that write after bedtime in the evening, which I think was perfectly okay.

It makes me wonder if I need to revise my original goal. I also need to look at these three days when my child goes to daycare as days when I need to be as productive as possible. 

New goal: Read, revise, and post an old chapter every day. I think I can handle that, considering that I have at least an hour or two every day while my little one is napping, which I can easily quickly post an old chapter of my first book. I also can post a blog entry every day quickly enough. I need a better idea of what my focus should be for my blog posts. I have watched videos about writing before making posts and it takes so much longer than a post like this where I just reflect and write. Who is going to read this anyways? Just me, likely. But if you are here, what sorts of realistic goals for writing as a Momma of a toddler do you have? 

Amateur Writing Mistakes: Reflecting

Read for a peek into what AC Sutliff chooses to do on a day when her child is at daycare and there's literally nothing to do but write:

I watched videos about writing today! Rather than finish that pesky fight scene I mentioned yesterday, I decided to go down a rabbit hole. I went to youtube. Bad idea. Wasted too much precious writing time. But I left with something to think about, mostly for when I'm revising my writing, but also to keep in mind while I'm finishing up this novel. If I'm going to spend thirty minutes listening to writing videos, I might as well make use of this new knowledge by reflecting on it. Here is Alexa Donne's 22 amateur writing mistakes. With a little thought from me about each one.

Tense shifting. Been there. Done that. Of course, that was back when I was in middle school writing my lovely fanfiction for the Dragonriders of Pern series. Ah, Anne McCaffrey, how I love you. Moving on.

Info dumping. Does it count if your character literally has been living in the dark about everything and is very inquisitive and asks tons of questions? Alexa mentions info dumping from character dialogue as well as in exposition. I might have to cut this back on a future revision. My current series opens with my main character venturing out into the world from a magical prison in which she was raised, so she needs to learn a lot about her world. Perhaps I will need to ask my beta readers if they think it is excessive. Anyone interested in beta reading for me? 😇

Excessive dialog tags. Alexa didn't talk enough about what TO DO instead of using dialogue tags. Essentially, if you have to tag each line of dialogue with he said, she said, your characters are talking too much without any action. I usually include some sort of descriptor with each paragraph of dialogue, unless it's quick back and forth conversation, which only needs a dialogue tag every now and then, after you first introduce who is talking. I think I have mastered the art of dialogue tagging, which means only when necessary to make sure the reader knows who is talking.

Over the top telling dialogue tags. In other words, not just he said she said, but instead he shouted, she whispered, he smirked. Very amateurish. I admit, when I was first trying to cut out my dialogue tags, I would mistakenly think that changing that she said into she whispered would make it okay. It doesn't. Don't do that anymore!

Repetitive sentence structure. I realized when writing my very first novels that I had repetitive sentence structure because I wrote in first person and nearly every sentence in this one chapter I was revising started with I (verb). It was very boring. I like to think that I have overcome this very basic amateur move. I've written nearly seven books now, which means I have had plenty of practice in writing with variety.

Melodrama. I'm not sure if my first books had melodrama or if it was actual drama, but it was one or the other. Probably both at once.

Redundant writing. Alexa describes this as overly descriptive. You describe something and then use more words to repeat the description. I could see that being a problem, in my earlier works, but I wonder how I would evaluate my own writing now if I went back to read looking for this problem. Not sure!

Grammar/usage errors. I aced my high school and college grammar lessons, and then went on to teach grammar to middle schoolers. SO I'd like to think that I am not making grammar errors that would flag me as an amateur.

Filler scenes/excessive description. I HATE overly wordy descriptions! Even more than filler scenes and fluff. My original novels were not guilty of this and in fact might have suffered from not enough description.

Poor pacing. Rushed? Slow as molasses? I'd like to think I have found a balance, but that's something I will make sure to check for when I'm revising and when quizzing my beta readers. Again, anyone interested?

Clunky exposition via dialogue. Alexa describes the writer introducing a character just to have them talk about something important, so that the writer isn't 'info dumping' but this still counts as info dumping. Again, I ask, if the characters meeting is the main point of the scene, and their conversation is necessary for the characters to then go do what they're supposed to do, then is it really info dumping? Or is it just good writing?

Word Counts out of whack. I checked my first book in my current series and it is only slightly longer than she said a fantasy novel should be. So I think I get a pass on this one! If you're curious, she says a debut fantasy novel should be at most 120,000 words, and I am up there at 128,000. Very close to the average!

All A plot, no B plot. Do your books have any subplot? Do you even know what subplot is? My original work included a subplot with the characters left behind after the main characters move away to a new school. My current works involve the lessons my characters are learning while they are working towards reaching the main plot points. A lot of my B plot happens in the middle of the book, while the A plot takes place in the first act and the last act. Is this okay? I don't really know.

Flat characters. Well, I'd like to think I have created three dimensional characters who are anything but flat, but again, this is something that I think I need a beta reader or editor to tell me. I've read a book on breathing life into characters (I think that was actually the title of the book!). I also have a book on fleshing out those characters so they are more than just archetypes. The problem is that it's been years since I've read those books. I think a refresher is definitely needed.

Excessive capitalization. Alexa says this happens a lot in fantasy and science fiction. When writers will capitalize something to make it a proper noun, excessively. Every once in a while is fine, but capitalizing every occupation or spell name gets redundant.

Head hopping. I tried to get around this amateurish move by creating a book that switched viewpoints every chapter. The problem was I didn't realize at the time that my chapters were too short, and instead were more like scenes within a chapter, and even though I had a section break for each time I switched PoVs, I was still very close to head hopping. Luckily I have since completely moved away from this idea. Now, with my currently novels in progress I switch view points between three main characters every three chapters that I write. And they are long chapters. Think Rick Riordan's Olympian series. It works much better than switching PoV every little scene!

TELLING. This is one that I think everybody can think about while they are drafting or revising. Did I show enough with this action, or does it come off as telling? Do I have too much inner monologue, which is a form of telling (in which you basically tell the reader what your character is thinking). I was very guilty of this with my first project, but I have to consider this when revising to ensure that my writing doesn't come off as amateurish because of too much telling.

Poor story logic. Does your antagonist do something that makes absolutely no sense? Does your protagonist make choices that baffle your reader? Avoid poor story logic by grounding your character in your world and making them feel like real people.

Purple prose/overwriting. I HATE writers who take the time to describe every petal on the flower bush. What are the characters doing? That's what I write about. I probably could do with some added setting description when I revise my writing, but I certainly do not error on the side of too much purple prose.

Stiff, formal writing. I'm the opposite of this as well. It actually struck me that I don't even know how to write character dialogue that would sound like old English, what could pass for authentic epic fantasy dialogue. I need to think about how my characters talk when I reread. Does that sound right for that particular character? Then beyond that, what about the descriptions? I don't think I come off as very formal in that regard either. But it never hurts to make sure I'm finding that balance.

Too many characters. I'm guilty. Enough said. But I would like to think that I introduce them slowly enough that it doesn't get too overwhelming for the reader to keep everybody straight. At least I hope so.

Perfect, passive characters. This is the last tip. I create characters with many attributes, including plenty of flaws. My characters DO things. They don't simply sit around waiting for their lives to happen, or waiting for bad things to happen to them. Bad stuff happens after my characters make choices, as it should. This is what makes stories interesting.

So that's it! 22 tips to avoid amateurish writing. Now that I've got that off my chest, I am going to attempt to write that fight scene that is looming over my head. Wish me luck!

Writing for the sake of writing - Fight Scenes

Here's my thought of the day: I need to finish a fight scene I started writing a while ago. I've done a little research on fight scenes, but nothing major, and what I found was very opinionated. Though it made sense to me. Here's what I learned about writing fight scenes from Jenna Moreci:

1. Ditch the technicalities

2. Powerful Verbs

3. Onomatopoeia

4. Skip the Play by Play

5. Pick up the pace (short sentences)

6. Variety (make each fight scene unique)

7. Create disadvantages

8. Make wounds matter

9. Visualise the fight scene before writing it (consider getting in the mood with music)

10. Get inside the character’s body and describe sensations and feelings

I think there's a lot to unpack here. For one thing, does it make sense to completely ditch the technicalities? I think not. A good fight scene won't bombard the reader with technicalities, but that doesn't mean you have to completely do away with them. In a previous book, my character performs a flying double side kick. I call it a flying double side kick, because that's what it is. But using those technical words doesn't detract from what she is doing; in fact I think the name of the move is rather descriptive in a way that allows the reader to visualize what is happening. So do away with technicalities, but at the same time, use them when they help inform the reader in a descriptive way of what is actually happening in the fight.

Powerful Verbs: this is a no-brainer. My character hits the bad guy. No no no! She slaps the bad guy, shoves the bad guy, socks the bad guy over the head. In this way, you also do away with technicalities, because more often than not, technical jargon for fighting moves are devoid of powerful verbiage. One of my characters is a fencer. I did some research on fencing and learned that when they shuffle their feet forward while in their side stance with arms up and blade at the ready, it is called marching. MARCHING? Talk about the absolute last word you want to use when describing how a character is moving during a fight. But, because I did the research, I really wanted to show that my character was an expert at the fighting style. So I had my character reflect on this absurd word while he was training, and thus I successfully used my research to reflect the moves accurately, while still using powerful verbs, like shuffling, charging, and advancing during an actual fight.

Onomatopoeia. Thwack! Smack! Thud! Thwip! I looked it up, and it comes as no surprise that my top search results were about Batman. Onomatopoeia is more common in comic books, but I think, with a fair amount of variety using these other tips, that a well placed Onomatopoeia descriptor would work quite nicely.

Skipping the play by play is not something I naturally do. On the contrary, the play by play is what drives my rough drafting. I feel like this is one of Jenna's tips that doesn't jive with me.The enemy does this, the hero does this in response. How do you write a fight scene without the play by play? Well, for me, I have to go back and read my draft later and take it out. But only when it starts to feel like my characters are getting mired in the blow by blow. If the play by play is effecting the flow of the action, it has got to go. But if you don't know how to write the fight scene without it, just let yourself write it that way to start with. You can always smooth out the edges later.

Using shorter sentences for fight scenes is also a no-brainer. It can be hard to pick up the pace without sounding stilted though. Shorter sentences can be awkward, lack details, and fall flat. Don't write short sentences for the sake of writing short sentences. Just look for long convoluted sentences while you are revising and shorten them up.

I like the idea of making each fight scene different in some way. Variety really is the spice of life. The last thing a reader wants is to know how the fight is going to go before it even starts. If all the fights are the same, if will start to feel like there aren't really any stakes. An easy way to accomplish this is to really get into the setting of the fight scene. What about that specific place will make the fight unique? How would the fight scene change if it happened on a hill? Inside instead of outside? In a dark place instead of in the daylight? Make each fight scene unique to keep your reader engaged. In a recent book I wrote, I had two fight scenes take place in the same general setting, but each fight scene was in a different place inside that setting. Each fight scene then had some similarities, such as who the characters were fighting. But I made each fight unique with specific details, like the state of the rooms and making one fight a hand to hand combat fight while the other was a mounted battle type fight. I think the two fight scenes are distinctly unique and all in all the end of the book was very exciting because of these two fight scenes that happen back to back.

Create Disadvantages. This makes me think about a manga comic I read a long time ago, where a swordsman with a giant sword had to fight an entire entourage of enemies. Boy did he have a disadvantage! Sheer numbers can be a disadvantage in a battle. But on a smaller scale: your character recently twisted his ankle on a tree root while running for his life; your character just fell off a short cliff and now has a concussion and a banged hip; Your character's weapon is on the other side of the battlefield. Your character's mount just died and now he has to traverse the battlefield on foot. With this tip, I think it would be wise to plan out the disadvantage before hand, so that it doesn't come out of nowhere when the fight starts. Instead, if the disadvantage is something the reader knows is coming, it won't feel so contrived. Don't create a disadvantage for the sake of disadvantages. Make them count, but don't make it feel contrived.

I think visualizing a fight scene before writing it has the benefit of not only making sure you know what is going to happen as the writer, but also making everything that happens feel more well described because the writer has really imagined it happening. I'm the kind of writer that stays true to my characters, and I like to let my characters do what would make sense for them to do. But when it comes to a fight scene, I think it's more important to map it out completely than to let the character be spontaneous in the middle of the fight and do something that I wasn't anticipating. Visualize it first, keeping in mind all the spontaneous things your characters might do, so that you can describe it like you really witnessed it.

Make wounds matter! Of course, it's a fight. Your character should get injured and then have to deal with the injuries. And as a bonus you can get inside your character's thoughts and feelings while your character suffers the injuries to take care of the last suggestion on this long list. Different people are going to go through a fight differently. Some of them will panic and others will be level-headed. Getting into your characters thoughts and feelings is a great way to develop your characterization while ensuring that your fight scenes are amazing and fun to read.

There is a lot to think about when writing a good fight scene. I have my work cut out for me. It's time to revise my fight scene that I have so far and then finish it!

Until next time, this has been another glimpse at A.C.'s Desk. Thanks for reading!

Getting back into the swing of things

Everyone who's crossed the line into parenthood understands what I am about to confess: It's been two years since I've really written anything, and even longer since I worked on this blog. My little boy is almost 22 months old, and I am finally ready to get back into the swing of this thing called writing.

I have a few goals: first to write every day. Even if it's just some revisions on my current work in progress, or if I pump out a whole chapter in one day, I will be satisfied. But every day is a lofty goal. When the school year starts back up, I will be back in the library at my elementary school, and my time I send writing might be limited to a quick check in on my blog. I think I could share funny anecdotes from my job fairly easily and I could also easily post chapters of my books on Hubpages and Wattpadd. These are two ways I can get some readers for my work, which will be important when I start self-publishing my fantasy series. And this counts as writing too!

My second goal is to finish my current book in progress, which is the fourth and final book in my Fragments of Alchemy series. I want to finish this book hopefully before the school year starts back up, so that I can focus on revisions during the school year. That gives me less than a month to work on this, and my toddler goes to daycare on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so hopefully I can write a lot on those days.

My next goal is to create some sort of a following for my writing. I am hoping to do this on Hubpages, Wattpad and my blog. But I am open to doing some researching on where else I can post my fiction and get followers. I'm willing to release my whole first book on these platforms to get people interested in the series.

My last goal is to get my books edited by a professional editor. I need to find a good editor that I know I can trust, in order to make the process as helpful to me as possible. Then I will begin the process of revising my books one final time before I self-publish them. 

At that point I will make some new goals, so for now, this is what I will focus on! In the meantime, look for me on Hubpages or Wattpad under the name ACSutliff, to check out my fantasy world. My first installment is already available here: Code Keeper Prologue 

Tales of Elda'ri: Chapter One

Tales of Elda’ri

Chapter One: The Shadow Melder

“Shadow Melders are easier to see in the fog,” Uncle Drakan’ay reminds them, for the second time since they left their home at Foxhole a short while ago. “Without the fog, we’d be fighting blind.”

That’s easy for him to say, Elda thinks. He’s the one with the living staff covered in bioluminescent Foxfire shrooms, which give off a green light bright enough to illuminate several paces in all directions. And her brother Arro’ay follows behind her, carrying a small flame in a lantern hanging on the end of his spear. Even with the fog, she is the only one of their trio who will be fighting blind if the Shadow Melders attack. Despite walking between the two Sylvan, Elda’ri still stumbles as she crosses the Fox Clan’s wheat fields with her brother and uncle.

Traveling across Sylva at night is like exploring a mossy cave, thanks to the cloud city Nebula, which floats above the Rainforest Sylvan Realm and blocks all light from the moon and stars. Elda squints up at the giant gray cloud, silently cursing the darkness while rain patters on her nose. She stumbles on after her uncle, her bo staff at the ready just in case.

“How much further to the Fringes, uncle?” Arro’ay asks in a soft voice that barely travels to Elda’s fox-ears.

When their uncle doesn’t answer Arro’s question, Elda pipes up. “We’ve been walking forever. Did we accidentally pass the Fringes already?”

“Patience, Pup,” Uncle Drake says. “The Fringes are well guarded, even in the wee hours of the morning. We couldn’t possibly miss it.”

Uncle Drake has called Elda’ri Pup for as long as she can remember. They are all members of the Fox Clan, but somehow, out of the many cousins and siblings she said goodbye to this morning, Elda is the only one Uncle Drake ever calls Pup. And maybe it’s an apt nickname. Her whole short life, Elda only left her Smallclan one other time, so she fits the visual of a young fox kit bravely venturing forth from her den for the first time. She’s glad to have her uncle guide the way to Foxden, but as she thinks back on all the goodbyes from this morning, tears prickle at her eyes. She wishes her parents could have come along, even though she knows that it would have been impossible. But now is not the time to dwell on long goodbyes.

Elda focuses instead on the journey ahead and the chances it will bring. She will finally meet members of the other Sylvan clans. Despite being human, the Clans of Sylva all have distinct animal features thanks to their magic and their Clan Animals. So Uncle Drake, Elda, and her brother Arro all have pointed fox-like ears, fiery-red hair braided down their backs, and sharp fox-canines. Elda hopes to meet a fellow Duellator of the Wolf Clan. She’d love to win a duel and prove once and for all that a fox’s craftiness in a fight matters more than strength.

Uncle Drake stops walking, and Elda comes to a sudden halt and shifts uncomfortably when she recognizes the Fringes. The mist ebbs and flows over the man-made clearing. Off in the distance, the first signs of the sun’s light bend over the horizon. The far-off thin line of blue, orange, and red light only reminds Elda that she cannot see a thing more than a few feet beyond the range of the viridian Foxfire. But dawn is upon them; they timed their departure perfectly. And the foggy morning will give them a distinct advantage over any Shadow Melders that lurk in the forest ahead.

Even with everything aligned to work in their favor, Elda can’t stop her insides from quivering. She looks about the Fringes, which at first sight appear to be a natural clearing dotted with knobby bark-like growths protruding from the moss. On closer inspection, anyone would notice that the bark barricades have been set up in a formation that completely encircles Foxhole and allows the Duellators to protect the Smallclan dwelling from any outsiders—Flitters and Melders alike. Uncle Drake just stopped beside one such barricade, and Elda finally notices the Sylvan Duellator kneeling behind the barricade, keeping watch.

“Any sightings tonight?” Uncle Drake asks.

“More than most, I’m afraid,” the Duellator—a distant cousin on Elda’s mother’s side—answers. “They seem to be gathering in a group at the forest’s edge just to the east of here. Would it be safer to head west before making your way south to Foxden?”

“The Root is closest to us here,” Uncle Drake replies. “Ready yourselves, Arro and Elda. We will make a dash for the safety of the Root soon.”

Arro kneels down near the bark barricade to adjust his pack. Elda kneels down beside her brother and tries to ignore her shaky knees. Now is the time to tap into the primal force of the rainforest and activate her elemental staff. Elda folds down into half-lotus position on the mossy ground and focuses on her breath. Beside her, she senses her brother doing the same.

After meditating upon her mossy pillow for a long still moment, the power of her Root Chakra begins to stir. She mentally catches hold of the energy and draws it up and out of herself by visualizing a lotus in bloom. Elda tugs on the flask hanging around her neck and pours a small amount of the precious water into the palm of her hand.

She inhales as the water seemingly grows in her hand and forms a giant globe of ebbing water. Then she exhales loudly as she waves her hand over the staff at her side; the water ripples over the wood and intermingles with the weapon. Her staff might not be alive like her uncle’s, but Elda knows how to wield the powerful water staff in combat. She knows it will protect her, should they come across a Shadow Melder.

She returns to her feet and watches Arro infuse his spear with the fire he keeps in his lantern—which he already moved to a hook on the back of his pack. Arro is one of the fortunate Duellators whose Smallclan could afford to trade for a glass lantern. Without the Terran glass from the Mountain People to the north, his fire would be snuffed out by the constant rains of their Rainforest Realm. Fire is not a common element of her people, and Arro knows how to use the element to his advantage. Elda knows she is safe beside him.

While Elda and her brother infused their weapons, their uncle also prepared himself for combat. He already bound his living staff to his back and brought out his round shield instead. Uncle Drake is a Cultivator, which means he can manipulate anything plant-based with his powers. The round shield can grow to be five times its current size if needed; it also provides light by way of the same bioluminescent Foxfire shrooms, which grow all along the inside of the shield.

With his Changeling magic, Drake can take on any of the characteristics of their Clan Animal. He now resembles a fox more than ever. Where he once only sported the subtle pointy canines of the Fox Clan, he now has a full mouth of pointy fox teeth. He has no need for a weapon, because those teeth, along with his newly grown fox claws, make naturally sharp weapons. His pointed ears now appear more foxlike than ever. Finally, his fox Companion Auma has returned to his side from wherever she tends to wander off to when he doesn’t need her. While small and seemingly useless in a fight, Auma can easily move into enemy range, where she is very meddlesome and distracting, and then easily slip out of danger due to her small size and craftiness.

But the hope is that there won’t be a fight. If everything goes according to plan, the three travelers will make it to the nearest Life Root before a Shadow Melder can reach them. For whatever reason, Shadow Melders tend to avoid the Roots of the Life Tree. Elda thinks it’s because the Life-force Leylines are sacred to her people, and their power turns away any who are not worthy of treading upon them. Other Sylvan speculate that the Life Roots are the only landforms which aren’t shrouded in shadows during the day, so the Shadow Melders feel exposed when they stand on them. Whatever the reason, when they reach the Life Root at the exact moment of sunrise, and the sun’s rays spread over the Realm, they will be safe.

“Arro, you will go first. Your sister will follow close behind, and I will bring up the rear.” Uncle Drake moves to take his position; his keen eyes and fox-ears search the area ahead, which measures several hundred spans to the rainforest, and a short distance beyond that to the sanctuary of the Life Root. “Don’t go too fast, Arro. We need to stay together. Run at your sister’s pace.”

Arro nods while Elda scoffs. “I’m just as fast as Arro,” she insists. “Watch me!” and she breaks out into a run before her brother and uncle are ready.

“El!” Arro calls, breaking the stillness of the early morning. He races to catch up to her, and Uncle Drake follows closely behind.

“Be safe on your journey!” the Duellator calls out as the travelers leave the safety of the bark barricades and disappear into the fog.

Running in the thick fog is like playing a chasing game while wearing a blindfold. Elda’s brother quickly pulls up alongside her, and she fights to move at her top speed despite the low visibility. “Now’s not the time for games. Get behind me, El!” Arro’s fire spear illuminates his pinched face.

Elda obliges as her legs falter briefly on a slippery patch of moss. She grips her staff even tighter and with a slow intake of breath, she strengthens her link to the water infused into the weapon.

Then suddenly, the trio plunges into the forest. Arro slows considerably as he is forced to weave in and out of the spindly vines and thick flat fronds of the walking palm trees. Elda glimpses a trail below her feet, but even with the constant ware from travelers to and from Foxden, the untamed plants of the forest constantly shroud the trail in new growth.

The worst part is the noise they make as they scramble through the underbrush. Any Melders close by have undoubtedly heard them already, but they are more than half way to the Root. Any Melders who come after them will also make quite a ruckus and alert them that they are not alone as they race to the Life Root. Elda squints through the thick fog that seems to billow off the lush vegetation. Even with Arro’s fire and Drake’s glowing shield, she can only see a few hand’s-breadths to either side of her, where the towering undergrowth mingles with the fog.

Over the tops of the kapok and palm trees Elda spots an immense shadow, which must be the silhouette of the Life Root. With renewed vigor, she presses onward, gaining confidence as the patterns of the narrow trail and slight incline become more and more familiar to her. That incline means the Root grows ever nearer. They are almost there!

In her eagerness to reach safety, she forgets to pay attention to the runner right in front of her. Her knee suddenly connects with the heel of Arro’s boot. They both stumble, and with the next step, Arro’s heel hits her shin, and she lets out a cry as the pain and the force of the sudden contact send her reeling into the shrubbery with the solid crack of breaking undergrowth. “Sap!” she curses as she skids to a painful stop in the darkness.

“El!” Arro calls. “You alright?”

“Just twiggy!” Elda calls back. She winces from the sharp pricks of the many thorns that tear at her arms and legs. The leaves in her eyes make it impossible to see a thing. She struggles to climb out of the bush with a cacophony of rustling leaves. “Ow! Stupid bush! Let me go!” She reaches up behind her and realizes her pack is caught in the shrubbery. “Perfect,” she mutters as she slides her arms free of the rucksack’s thick straps. She manages to crawl out of the bush while she drags her staff in the dirt and blackens her knuckles and knees with the rich soil. “My pack’s—stuck!” she says as she tries to pull it free, but without any luck.

“Stand back,” Uncle Drake says, and Elda stands up and gives him some room. Drake closes his eyes and reaches out to the bush with his free hand. Slowly, the branches start to shiver, though it’s not the wind that touches them. Then the leaves begin to recede, almost as if the bush is backing away from the trail. Drake takes a step to maintain contact with the bush as it continues to shrink away, and then Elda’s bag emerges from the undergrowth. She snatches it up and turns to continue after Arro, who quickly takes up the lead again.

“Come on, we’re almost there,” Arro says.

Elda takes a few more running bounds, and then she blinks as the sunlight shines through a gap in the canopy, pierces the fog, and shines into her left eye. “We made it!” she says with a laugh, her pace naturally slowing as the tension in her muscles melts away.

“Almost,” Arro interjects as he slows way down and climbs up a few step-like ridges in the path; swimming in the fog beyond that, Elda glimpses a towering hill of mossy bark that must be the Root. “Keep moving.”

Elda slows down even more to replace her pack on her back. First one arm, then switching hands on her staff, she slides the other arm through the thick straps of her rucksack. Behind her, Uncle Drake slows to a walk.

At that precise moment, something yanks Elda off her feet and wrenches her through the underbrush. In a moment of panic, Elda screams as a dark shape pulls her along the forest floor, dragging her through bushes and over rocks. She scrambles for a foot hold, without any luck. Finally, she attempts to swing at the Melder with her staff, but it’s all she can do to hold it in her grip as the underbrush threatens to pull it from her hands. Her pack pulls at her shoulders, and the forest floor jolts her whole body.

That’s when she realizes the Shadow Melder grabbed her pack, not her body, and she makes a split second decision.

Elda twists out of her pack, scrambles to catch her staff as it rolls out of her grasp. She bounds away from the dark flitting form in the fog. As she sprints for her life, she hopes that the Shadow Melder only wanted her bag, but she doesn’t wait around to find out.

She quickly slows to a clumsy lope through the thicket of vines and bushes while the plants slap her face. “Sapping weeds! I hate you!” she declares as she breaks through the solid mass of growth and finds herself back on the trail. But she’s completely turned herself around, and with the tall kapok trees and acai palms blocking her view, she stands still for far too long as she determines the direction of the sun and finally bolts south toward the Root.

That’s when she recognizes the terrified voices of her brother and uncle, who followed her into the foliage and are now behind her. “I’m back on the trail!” she shouts, her voice cracking. She turns back the way she just came, but she hesitates to re-enter the wall of hedges. Her brother’s shouts and uncle’s calls are too much for her, though, and she dives back in, her hand up to guard her eyes from the cuff of leaves and branches. “Here, follow my voice!” she calls out.

She breaks out of the bush and finds herself in an open area not unlike a clearing, though it’s still so densely overgrown with plant life that it would be a joke to call it a clearing. But finally, with the ability to move about more freely, she is able to jog in the direction of her brother’s voice.

Arro breaks out of a wall of green directly in front of her, and he sighs audibly when he sees his sister. “Saint Sylvana, you scared me to death,” he says.

“Don’t take the Saint’s name in vane over me,” Elda chides playfully. “I’m okay.”

“You lost your pack.” Arro grabs her shoulder and pulls her into a half hug as he turns and heads back to the path, toward the Life Root that looms over them, about twenty paces away.

“I think that’s all the Melder wanted,” Elda explains as she returns the hug. Arro’s arm is warm to the touch, making her shiver. She returns her brother’s embrace with her off-hand. “At least I still have my staff,” she says, waving the weapon in her other hand. The water infusion has all but dried up, and now she doesn’t have time to recharge it.

“Lucky you,” he says with a wry smile as he glances over at her. “You don’t have to carry any supplies to Foxden now.”

“I’ll take turns carrying—” Elda spots a blurred image just beyond her brother. She gasps as a jaguar prowls toward them. “—Shadow beast!” she manages to get out as she pulls her brother the other way, but it’s too late. The giant feline closes in on them before they take more than a few strides.

The Shadow Melder’s beastly companion growls at them, a low rumble that makes Elda back away. Arro pushes Elda behind him, drops his pack to the ground, and takes a fighting stance to block the feline’s path to his sister. But the Melder’s jaguar doesn’t hesitate when faced with a fighting Sylvan. Instead, it pounces, so quickly Arro only barely manages to swipe at it with his spear. Arro backs away, and Elda scrambles to give her brother more room to maneuver, as the jaguar pounces again.

Arro thwacks the feline over the head with a downward swing of his spear. But the jaguar reaches him with its powerful claws and thrashes his spear arm. Arro cries out in pain as his spear drops out of his grasp.

“Arro!” Elda calls.

The jaguar attacks the now-defenseless Sylvan; it closes its powerful jaws around his forearm and tears him to the ground. Arro punches the beast’s head, but it refuses to let him go.

Elda readies her staff and whacks the beast in the head. Unfazed, it drags Arro away through the underbrush. “Arro!” Elda cries out. She follows closely behind and unleashes a frenzy of attacks, but the beast seemingly ignores her as it continues to lug Arro deeper into the forest.

Finally, when it looks like the jaguar will disappear into the undergrowth with her brother, Elda does the only thing she can think of to save him. She jumps onto the feline’s back and proceeds to bash its head in with her bo staff in a very unconventional wide hold with both hands palm down. “Stop, stop, stop!” she yells with each attack, until her bo staff snaps. “Sap!” she swears as she tosses the bent staff aside and puts her hands on the feline’s jaws, intending the pry its mouth open.

But the moment she makes contact with the jaguar, it collapses on the ground in a heavy sleep. Elda jerks down after it and mashes her face into the black earth. “Ow,” she grunts.

Arro scrambles to his feet. They both look down at the jaguar sprawled on its belly purring like a kitten. “What did you do?” he asks. He grabs his bleeding arm with his good hand and kicks at the beast, which continues to snooze away.

“I don’t know,” Elda answers. “But let’s get out of here.”

The two turn and make a run for the Life Root, shouting the whole way, so that Uncle Drake will know where they are. They stop only briefly so Elda can gather up Arro’s spear and pack, and then they push onward through the foliage until they make it back to the path. In a short span of time, they both plant their feet firmly on the bark of the Life Root and begin the climb up the hill-like landform. After a few moments of climbing, Elda looks back down and spots their uncle hurrying to catch up to them. He reaches the Life Root without incident and scrambles up after them. “Thank the Saints you’re both alive. Are you two unhurt?” he calls once he is safely on the Life Root. Auma follows right behind him, her orange tail flicking in the bright morning sunlight.

“A Melder’s Beast mangled by arm, but Elda rescued me,” Arro says as he gives his younger sister a one-armed hug with his good arm. “She was brilliant.”

Elda’s cheeks burn. “I broke my staff and lost my bag, but other than a few scratches and scrapes, I’m unharmed.” She hugs Arro back, letting out a deep sigh. That whole encounter could have ended much worse. Now that it’s behind her, she can’t help but sag against her brother. The sun peeks over the horizon and the mist recedes back into the shadowy forest below them. Holy sap it’s good to still be alive, she thinks, and a toothy smile spreads over her face.