Tag Archives: Wind and Words

November 15, 2025 · 8:43 pm

Strings of Life and Death

In the world of The Wishing Blade universe, everyone has two strings of magic. One strand is life. The other strand is death.

Actually, their entire world is made of strings, which is why string mages are particularly powerful, but those two strings are extra important for magic.

Why?

Life magic is the key to a person’s free will and awareness. Without it, they go into “zombie mode” and act solely on instinct. They’re quieter, and don’t tend to resist magical commands well.

This is also the string used to created “inhabited” or cursed objects (and if that object is glass-stone, it changes from clear to a smoky, glossy black, reminiscent of obsidian. This is a huge point in my upcoming Legends of Cirena novel, The Dark Forest of Aneth. People, and especially priests and priestesses, typically try to avoid inhabited objects.)

But why tie life magic into an object?

Well, it allows the wielder, or a specific user, to power enchantments without expending their own willpower. (The catch here is that if you tie someone’s life magic to an item and that person has a strong will, you might be fighting their will instead of simply powering an enchantment).

Life magic is the string provided to mortals by Listhant-Nsasrar (Lishivant), Cirena’s high god.

On the other hand, death magic is the key to a person being able to die, to sleep, and to dream.

Without their string of death magic, they will eventually go mad unless they have a way to magically induce sleep or go into a meditative trance. (And getting mortally wounded without death magic unpleasant, to say the least. But very effective at keeping them technically alive).

This is the string provided by Madiya (Madia), the goddess of the dead.

If you’ve read “Stone and String,” you know that Edyli lost her death magic after infuriating Madia.

But she’s not the only one who has made Madiya furious.

Ralendacin (Shevanlagiy in The Wishing Blade series) lost access to her death magic, but due to a magic-meets-magebane accident that she might have overpowered with some artifacts she shouldn’t have used, when she “dies” she instead wakes up in another world. (Is this at all tied to something to do with her life magic? Read the Wishing Blade series to make some theories of your own on that…)

Unfortunately for those worlds, Shevanlagiy has a tendency to destroy any world that fails to give her what she’s after, and thus she gained the nickname, “The Destroyer of Worlds.”

Her method of destroying worlds tends to unravel the strings that hold them together, or outright obliterate the strings, giving the gods in the Wishing Blade series a very strong incentive to keep her from destroying this one, too.

* * *

A spell to infuriate the goddess of the dead (Stone and String)… or an opponent who has already made that goddess furious (Magic’s Stealing)…

Quick reminder… you can read Stone and String for free by signing up to my newsletter!

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as creating a magic system, fantasy, fantasy books, fate and magic, Infinitas Publishing, intricate world building, Magic's Stealing, novellas, novels, SBibb, self-publishing, short stories, Stephanie Flint, Stone and String, The Wishing Blade Universe, Wind and Words, Wishing Blade books, world-building, writing, writing fantasy

September 20, 2025 · 8:31 am

Lonely Child Song – Conlang Poetry

I enjoy creating the language of word magic and the Cantingen Islands in my Wishing Blade Universe. So much so that I have a handy Excel sheet with a handful of pages and a semi-clear structure that I’ve realized I really need to get organized (because it’s rather… fun… trying to remember sentence structure when I’m in the middle of revising my current project, The Dark Forest of Aneth, and need to construct a sentence in Cantingen and don’t remember if I’ve decided how that particular grammar is supposed to look.)

One exercise I’ve especially enjoyed, however, is the creation of poetry and songs using the conlang (constructed language). Whether or not I’m actually good at poetry is an entirely different matter, but it’s still fun.

Wind and Words, the second book in the Stone and String series, features two different poems/songs (well, one is intended to be a chant), and one of those songs is called “Dornoram” (“Lonely Child”) and features Madia when she was still a young goddess, before she created mortal-kind.

Though I don’t include the entire song in the story itself (I did include both the Cantingen version and the rough English translation in the back of the book), here’s a look at part of the song:

Dornoram, dornoram
Lonely child, lonely child

illselvimorin sut wuget so vinllada’ralencos.
wandering in the fog of her father’s new world.

Dornoram, dornoram
Lonely child, lonely child

fallamin kidame nevésil vego cochome si kecirme.
She has no toys to play with but feathers and strings.

*

Viskar vrethin si walin
So she sits and she weaves

drogos osain vieram jévidasil.
while she yearns for a playmate that she understands.

Vego éda ralencos dratethia shadi si fashuvasia.
But this new world is magic and does not comprehend.

*

Dor so shadi si niitéra
Child of magic and creation,

morladiin vieram.
she dreams of a playmate,

Morladiin vieram néollased.
dreams of a playmate to keep company.

Viskar novanin vincede loch lalli esil, esildo.
So she weaves her hair into the form of a doll, little doll.

Morladiin kryl vinvieram llullamia.
Dreams of the story her playmate might have.

Vego esil dratethia goréso,
But the doll is a puppet,

fallamia kareme,
has no thoughts of its own,

si luuh vinmorladsme ketondruv nékryl.
and only her dreams give it life.

Essentially, the Cantingen Islanders believe they are Madia’s esilme, her dolls, who return to her from the mortal realm after they die. The rest of the song continues that story, and the idea plays an important role in the Stone and String series.

Do you enjoy seeing fictional languages in stories?

If so, what’s your favorite one? (I’m personally a fan of Tolkien’s Sindarin Elvish, though I never learned more than a few words).

* * *

A spell to infuriate the goddess of the dead…

Quick reminder… you can read Stone and String for free by signing up to my newsletter!

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as conlangs, constructed languages, fantasy, fantasy books, fictional languages, Infinitas Publishing, intricate world building, novellas, SBibb, self-publishing, short stories, Stephanie Flint, Stone and String, The Wishing Blade Universe, Wind and Words, Wishing Blade books, world-building, writing, writing fantasy

September 6, 2025 · 8:55 am

Story Length in the Wishing Blade Universe

When I set out to write The Wishing Blade series, I originally planned on it being a set of novellas. (Especially because the very first draft I wrote for the entire story arc of the series was 64,000 words).

Magic’ Stealing, the first book I published in the Wishing Blade series, was around 34,000 words, and I figured that future books would be similar.

What I didn’t count on was adding so many more words once I started exploring additional points of view.

Daernan got a chance to shine in The Shadow War, and the main plot really centers around him. Siklana has a major role and character arc in Magebane… and we still get the original views of Toranih and Shevanlagiy.

Not only were viewpoints added, I ended up further developing, and adding, magic systems (who knew word magic and charlago/magebane would play such a critical role in future stories?), and I added words as I reworked scenes to make more sense. Because Isaac–my writing partner and developmental editor–has a point: why try scaling a guarded wall when you could just… I dunno… take the sewers and discover even more fun stuff that affects the plot?

The result was that The Shadow War ended up clocking in around 55,000 words – a short novel, and Magebane clocked in at a whopping 109,000 words – a full-length novel.

(Fun fact… the first version of this post, sent to my newsletter years ago, had Magebane still in progress at 89,000 words.)

The Stone and String stories have also found themselves with longer stories than I originally planned. “Stone and String” was a short story of 8,000 words (surprisingly, it stayed within its expected count). It was meant to be a standalone story. But, of course, I wondered what happened next…

And so Wind and Words came along. While it took a couple starts to actually get it going the direction I wanted, I realized quickly it wasn’t going to be a short story. It ended up being a novella at 23,000 words.

Now the real question is, how long are the next books going to be? (Especially considering that Stone and String 3 should have direct ties to Wishing Blade 4).

While I cringe to look at the release dates of those books and realize I haven’t yet released the next in the series, I’ve found a similar pattern occurring within The Legends of Cirena series as it progresses.

The Wind Mage of Maijev – 15,000 words
The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear – 12,000 words
The Restless Sands of Neel – 25,000 words
The Cursed Halls of Kalecen – 18,000 words
The Scars of Her Past – 21,000 words
The Dragons of the Mist – 21,000 words
The Wind Mage and the Wolf (Cross-over) – 47,000 words
The Trial of Bells and Blood (Cross-over) – 32,000 words
The Dark Forest of Aneth (Cross-over) – WORK-IN-PROGRESS Currently 68,000 words.
- In its defense, it not only has the cross-over points of view, it got a third viewpoint and is delving into preplanned lore that wraps up the arc from the first 9 books while setting up the next arc. 🫣

I think a lot of this has to do with adding characters, getting deeper into the lore… stuff like that.

There’s a couple drafts already written for stories that will eventually come after The Dark Forest of Aneth, which you might have seen if you’re signed up for the Wishing Blade Universe newsletter. And then there’s the ongoing story which definitely is building into pre-planned lore and I don’t know if it’s going to be a novella or novel, but the next chapter is eight of sixteen, and it’s already 17,000 words long.

Anyhow, do you have a preferred book length you prefer to read or write?

Full-length novels, novellas, short stories? 🙂

* * *

Three series starters…

Quick reminder… you can read Stone and String for free by signing up to my newsletter!

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as fantasy, fantasy books, fantasy story length, Infinitas Publishing, intricate world building, Magic's Stealing, novellas, novels, SBibb, self-publishing, short stories, Stephanie Flint, Stone and String, story length, The Wind Mage of Maijev, The Wishing Blade Universe, Wind and Words, Wishing Blade books, Wishing Blade series, word count, wordcount, world-building, writing, writing a series, writing fantasy

August 23, 2025 · 9:00 am

About Ruetravahn – a god of wind, language, and Truth

I have a lot of fun creating the world and culture of the Wishing Blade Universe (Isaac has fun with this, too, as seen by the existence of the Legends of Cirena stories, which started because he went and created a role-playing guide for each of the regions).

One aspect of world-building I especially enjoy is creating the pantheon of gods, goddesses, and deities.

Many of the gods interact directly with mortals, as well as immortals, meaning we see their personalities and how people deal with them (or try to avoid them). Some worship them, some scorn them (especially the dragons of the Immortal Realm) and others are indifferent.

Today, I wanted to take a closer look at Ruetravahn.

As one of the older gods, Ruetravahn has a place in both the Cirenan and Cantingen pantheons, though he features more prominently in the latter. (But even Cirenan characters get stuck dealing with him, as Livena finds when she accidentally gets saddled with a truth spell/curse in The Wind Mage of Maijev).

Per Cirenan tales (as of The Wishing Blade series), when the high god, Listhant-Nsasrar, chose to retire, Ruetravahn convinced him to leave the gift of word magic with mortals so they would not always be at the mercy of the gods, and those without ribbon magic would have a defense against born mages.

As such, Ruetravahn became known as the god of language. Though the Cantingen language had been around for as long as mortals could remember, the ability to use it in spells only came after Ruetravahn’s deal. (Which gets fun when I’m writing anything in the Legends era, because I have to remember they don’t have access to word magic yet).

Even with this gift, Ruetravahn is rarely worshiped in Cirena, possibly because they continued to rely more on ribbon magic than word magic.

As for the Cantingen Islands, the people looked to him as not only the god of language, but also the god of Truth, the world as it really is, and the god of wind, capable of hearing everything that is spoken. Those who worship him consider lying an affront to the gods, and they are careful to choose their words and speak as accurately as possible.

He is the primary god that Edyli, the protagonist of Wind and Words (book two of the Stone and String series), chooses to worship. Her respect for him affects her actions. However, there are those who still see him as a lower god, and who therefore ignore his teachings in favor of completing tasks assigned by the high goddess, Madia.

This scene touches on the conflict between them. 🙂

From Wind and Words

The priestess spun on her heel and surveyed the room. “Do not tell anyone of your intentions, and do not tell them who sent you.”

“Nasillah?” Edyli asked, confused. What temple work could be so secretive? “I cannot lie. That is against Ruetravahn’s will.”

The priestess turned sharply and narrowed her eyes, but even the acolyte pressed his lips into a thin line behind her, his concern evident. “Do you question the will of Madia?” she demanded. “Would you put a lower god above Her Graciousness? You must do as she commands, and that is to bring the monster who stole the child’s string to justice. If you must lie to achieve that task, then it is necessary.”

Anger rushed through Edyli. Ruetravahn might not have been a high god, but his intentions were sacred. Their language rode in his wind, and he was the one who established the treaty with Lishivant, Madia’s father, to bring word magic to mortals.

Whatever happened, Edyli would not lie. She would not betray him.

“I will do what I must,” she said firmly. Even saying that much made her cringe, because the priestess would likely assume that she was agreeing to do as she had been asked. But, as familiar fables said, it was not the truth-sayer’s fault if they spoke Truth, but the listener turned a deaf ear.

While Edyli is determined to serve Ruetravahn faithfully, not everyone is so faithful, as seen above. Of course, those who don’t like magic or gods are even less inclined to like him, as we find with Livena after her magic goes haywire near a blessed scroll in The Wind Mage of Maijev.

(But hey… things like that happen when you accidentally mix a blessed scroll, wind magic, and magebane).

* * *

A spell to infuriate the goddess of the dead…

See more of Edyli’s faith in Ruetravahn in the Stone and String series:

Quick reminder… you can read Stone and String for free by signing up to my newsletter!

* * *

Happy reading and writing!

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Tagged as characters, creating a fictional pantheon, creating deities, creating fantasy characters, creating gods and goddesses, fantasy, fantasy books, gods and goddesses, Infinitas Publishing, intricate world building, SBibb, self-publishing, sibling rivalry, Stephanie Flint, Stone and String, The Wishing Blade Universe, Wind and Words, world-building, writing, writing a series, writing fantasy

February 27, 2019 · 8:40 pm

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

It’s time for another Infinitas Publishing Status Report! 😀

* * *

Fractured Skies: (Book 2 of the Distant Horizon series). Print formatting almost complete. Got sidetracked trying to complete other projects, but the majority of the formatting is now done, so I plan to order a copy to proof in March (probably once I have Huntress also formatted). At that time I’ll also start the process of checking the other print books to make sure they’re still printing correctly due to the switch from Createspace to KDP Print.

Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). Rough outline/synopsis written, and it comes in at 13,500 words. Isaac and I have gone through almost a third of the outline thus far in the process of finalizing it. We’re trying to tighten up the outline before I start the writing/revision stage in order to spend less time rewriting it later.

Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off/prequel novel) On hold.

Lady Black’s Story: Isaac and I are tossing around ideas for a young Lady Black prequel to Distant Horizon. Haven’t yet outlined this yet, though.

Sky Runner: (Multiverse novel). On hold while working on major projects. But we do have a rough outline.

The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).

Little One: I’ve started inputting Isaac’s notes into the manuscript for editing, but had to put that on the back burner while focusing on Magebane edits.

Magebane: (Book Three of The Wishing Blade series) Revisions complete! (Finally… this took a lot longer than I expected and set a few other projects back, including having Fractured Skies formatted).

Isaac and I are currently in the process of the read-aloud, but it’s a bit slower going than usual since he also has schoolwork. Due to some of the major changes that happened during the most recent stage of revisions, there’s a pretty high chance that I’m going to send this back out for one more round of beta-reading to make sure there’s not something we’re missing.

But I’m a lot happier with the pacing and how everything ties together now. (Seems like it’s following in The Shadow War’s footsteps in terms of those big edits).

Next step will be outlining TWB book four in hopes of avoiding the need for those bigger revisions.

Stone and String 3: On hold until the outline for book four of The Wishing Blade series can be written.

The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade) On hold. I’m kind of thinking about rewriting chunks of this now that Magebane has been tightened up, since I saw some changes there that I think may be useful to apply to this story.

The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: Just finished the third story, and we’ve now started an all new story this week! (Now’s a great time to join in if you want to influence the direction of the character and plot).

The Wind Mage of Maijev: (A Legends of Cirena Short Story) Polished, read-aloud, proofread, and published! Now available! Seems to be getting good reception, and it’s looking like I need to write the sequel soon. I’m tossing around a few ideas regarding how to approach that, since I want to give the Legends of Cirena group a chance to have a say in it’s progress, while also continuing to write the stories for new characters. Not quite sure how readers are going to react to having the Legends of Cirena be a short story series that I plan to have jumping from character to character between each individual story, rather than following the same plot throughout the course of the series.

Nihestan/Shalant’s Story: (A prequel short story to The Wishing Blade series). As a thank you to TWB newsletter subscribers for filling out the survey for their newsletter preferences, and influenced by feedback on a gryphon-gone-wrong design I showed to the Legends of Cirena group, I’ve got plans to write a short story following Shalant as a young man when he first left his family for the Immortal Realm. The ideas are there, as are bits and pieces of a rough draft. Hoping to have that drafted soon.

“MOG”: On hold. Needs further revision.

Huntress: For now, I’m leaving this in KU (Kindle Unlimited). It’s doing well there, and with a sequel in the works, I want to finish the series before pulling it out and going wide across multiple retailers.

Once I’ve finished formatting the print edition of Fractured Skies, I’ll move on to formatting the print edition of Huntress.

Now I’ve just got to decide if I want to release Huntress in a 5.25 x 8 format (like The Wishing Blade series) or 6 x 9 format (like the Distant Horizon series).

Huntress 2: Still not titled, but the rough draft has been polished and I’m currently waiting to hear back from beta-readers.

Plus, I have ideas in mind for the third book, as well as a spin-off, stand-alone novel if readers like a certain character who shows up in book two. 🙂

Game Design: On hold.

Marketing: Sent out surveys in The Wishing Blade and Distant Horizon newsletters for feedback, and based on that feedback I’ve decided to make The Wishing Blade newsletter monthly (like the Huntress newsletter… which I’m going to start sending out monthly as of tomorrow, since I forgot to make note of it on my schedule and thus didn’t remember to send it out last month), while the Distant Horizon newsletter will stay mostly the same. However, both of the main newsletters now have a “Writer’s Life” section added to them where I go on about what Isaac and I have been doing lately or favorite video games… things like that.

From the Distant Horizon newsletter survey, I also found that several of our reader’s prefer using Google Play to buy their books, so I’ve managed to get an account set up. It’ll be a little while before I get the books formatted and included through that retailer, but the process has been started. (However, it’s worth noting that Draft2Digital just announced today that they are now beta-testing distributing through Google Play, for those who don’t want the hassle of dealing with Google Play directly).

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Almost finished finalizing the polished formatting and cover design for a client.

LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold.

* * *

There’s a lot in the works, but that’s all for now! 😀

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Tagged as an author's process, author, book series, cyberpunk, Distant Horizon, fantasy, fractured fairy tale, Fractured Skies, Huntress, Infinitas Publishing, Isaac Flint, Magebane, new releases, publishing, science fiction, self-publishing, series, Snow White, status report, Stephanie Flint, Stone and String, The Wishing Blade, Wind and Words, writing, writing tips

January 10, 2019 · 2:09 pm

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

December has come and gone, along with the busy holidays. We did a lot of traveling and got to spend time with family. Overall, it was a good trip. Not quite as much done with the company due to the holidays, but that was expected. Now it’s time for the Infinitas Publishing Status Report! 😀

* * *

Fractured Skies: (Book 2 of the Distant Horizon series). Part of the print edition has been formatted (mostly as a test to get the rough page count), but I’m hoping to finish the formatting process and order a proof copy in February.

Also, since CreateSpace (the printer of our books) has merged with KDP Print, we’ll need to have a second look at our currently published print books to see if any adjustments need to be made.

Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). I’ve read through the rough draft I wrote several years ago, making notes on each section for an overarching outline. Some of it is salvageable (with edits), and some isn’t, and about 20,000-30,000 words need to be reallocated to book 4. (The current draft clocked in at around 160,000, but needs to be divided as we realized there was not only enough planned for two different books, but also two major climaxes).

I finished reading the rough draft before the break, but the next step will be to look through those notes and divide the story, then create an outline from the remaining notes to figure out what still needs to be written, rewritten, and revised.

Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off novel) On hold.

Sky Runner: During the break, Isaac and I constructed a rough outline for this project. Still has some parts that need fleshed out, but overall the concept is now there (including a rough pitch). However, I don’t anticipate starting on this project until other major projects are complete.

However, there will be airship pirates. And dragon eggs. And a frazzled, slightly naive beastmaster trying to clear his name after being framed for theft.

The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).

Little One: On hold. (Needs revisions per Isaac’s notes). I’m hoping to start revisions sometime in the next couple of months, but we’ll see.

Magebane: (Book Three of The Wishing Blade series) I’ve started the process of writing in the new scenes and editing for consistency. Hoping to do a read-aloud with Isaac sometime in the next month. If all goes well, I’ll move on to proofreading. If he finds major issues, then this may need to go back out to beta-readers before release.

Stone and String 3: On hold until Magebane is complete and the outline for book four of The Wishing Blade series can be written.

The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade series) Feedback received from beta-readers and a round of revisions complete. Handed to Isaac during the trip, however, he found several consistency issues. Plus, after reading the first half of The Art of Language Invention by David J. Peterson, I’m seeing the potential to do a lot more with the whole prophecy “lost in translation” issue that I original wanted to play with in this story.

As such, I’m putting this one on hold until I can do more development and better work out the plot. I’m suspecting this one might not actually release until after The Wishing Blade series is complete, since it heralds some of the events for the series we have planned afterwards.

The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: Second story complete, and third story in progress. See “The Wind Mage of Maijev” below for news on the first short story.

The Wind Mage of Maijev: (A Legends of Cirena Short Story) Basic revisions are complete and feedback gathered from my beta-reader. I’m now in the process of polishing the story, and then doing a read-aloud with Isaac and preparing it for publication.

I currently have a rough blurb created and a semi-polished cover. If all goes well, I’ll be releasing this at the end of January. 😀

“MOG”: On hold. Needs further revision.

Huntress: Huntress is now available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited (KU)!

I’m testing it in KU first to see how it goes. At this point, I have a sequel in the works, and I’ll probably launch that one in KU as well, waiting until the series is complete before releasing it wide across other retailers.

Next step will be to make the print edition for Huntress.

Huntress 2: Not yet titled, though I have a rough draft already written (from the November NaNoWriMo. Plans are for it to be a Cinderella retelling. Hoping to work on revisions next month so I can send it out to beta-readers soon.

Also, I already have ideas for book 3. 😉

Game Design: On hold… though we did take notes after playing one of our work-in-progress games with family during the trip!

Marketing: Occasionally dabbling in Facebook ads… but I need to do more research before putting a strong emphasis on those. Thus far I haven’t had much luck with them.

In the meantime I’m continuing to research and learn Amazon Ads. I also attempted a test of adding meta-data to certain pages on the Infinitas Publishing website. Waiting to see if that brings any additional traffic.

I also still need to update this blog with information on Huntress, as well as adjust the side bar.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Print book formatting started for a client; need to do polishing touches and wrap-around cover.

LitRPG / GameLit Story: On hold due to wanting to develop story a bit more before release.

* * *

That’s all for now! 😀

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December 1, 2018 · 4:14 pm

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

It’s been a busy month between a trip to San Diego (school conference for Isaac where I got to tag along and see the sights), and a condensed NaNoWriMo (my goal was 50,000 words in 10 days, which I managed to succeed at. More about that in the “Cyberpunk Snow White” section).

In the meantime, here are the updates! 😀

* * *

Fractured Skies: (Book 2 of the Distant Horizon series). Still needs a print edition. I’m hoping to work on that early next year.

Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). On hold until Magebane edits are complete, and then this will be the next major project. The first step will be to assess what’s already been written and figure out what still needs to be written or rewritten.

Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off novel) On hold. (Needs rest of rough draft written).

Sky Runner: *Cough.* Isaac and I might have seen a really cool premade cover that was on sale, bought it, and gotten an idea for a story about an airship pirate captain. *Cough.* Same universe as The Multiverse Chronicles, but takes place about fifty years later. On hold, but with plans to construct an outline. Not sure if this will be a short story or novella.

The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold. (Needs edits).

Little One: On hold. (Needs revisions per Isaac’s notes).

Magebane: (Book Three of The Wishing Blade series) Needs a couple scenes added, and then smoothed out. After that, a read-aloud with Isaac. Then we’ll determine if it needs another round of beta-reading. Still hoping to release this early next year.

Stone and String 3: Since a few events of this story coincide with events of The Wishing Blade book 4, I need to wait until that rough draft is written (or at least outlined) to work on this one. That will happen sometime after Magebane is complete.

The Secret in the Shadows: (Prequel novella for The Wishing Blade series) Out to beta-readers. I’m hoping to finish revisions this month, depending on how extensive revisions are.

The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure Facebook Group: Already completed one short story (tentatively called Livena: The Wind Mage of Maijev) and I’ve created a cover mock-up for it. We’re midway/toward the end of the second story now.

My current project is to revise Livena’s story and see what still needs to be done with it, so I can release it early next year.

“MOG”: On hold. Needs further revision.

Cyberpunk / Dystopian Snow White Story: *Cough.* Meet Huntress, a YA SciFi retelling of Snow White with a female huntress as the main character. You might remember me talking about the outline last year.

This was my surprise project of last month that I hadn’t planned to work on… but ended up going into overdrive to complete. I finished revisions, sent it out to beta-readers, made a few minor changes, did a read-aloud with Isaac, proofread it…

And Huntress should be launching sometimes next week. 😀

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

Eeeps! I’m behind on getting this Infinitas Publishing status report out. But we’ve got a lot to talk about. 😀

* * *

Fractured Skies: (Book 2 of the Distant Horizon series). Fractured Skies is now available to the world! Check out the release post by clicking here.

A print version should be in the works sometime in the next few months. 🙂

Starless Night: (Book 3 of the Distant Horizon series). Parts of the rough draft have been completed but need to be reorganized and rewritten. Once Magebane is complete, this will be my next major project.

Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off novel) Temporarily on hold while completing other projects.

The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold.

Little One: On hold.

Magebane: (Book Three of The Wishing Blade series) Figured out how to reorder the scenes for better pacing and what needs to be added in order to make the ending more satisfying. I still need to write those scenes, but I’ve started the editing process of making sure earlier scenes are transitioning smoothly.

In the meantime, the cover for Magebane is now complete. Hopefully we’ll be releasing this book at the beginning of next year. 🙂

Stone and String 3 (and assorted Wishing Blade short stories/novellas): The novella whose protagonist I can’t reveal yet does have a name (at least a working title): The Secret in the Shadows.

I’m currently working on revising this story for Isaac to read. Most likely, it will release after Magebane, in order to avoid spoilers for those reading The Wishing Blade series.

Then I’ll be working on the third Stone and String story.

The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure: I started a new Facebook group where I post a new story section each week, and group members can vote on what happens next. Learn more here, or join the group here! It’s been lots of fun thus far. 😀

“MOG”: On hold.

Cyberpunk / Dystopian Snow White Story: This story now has a rough cover and a name: Huntress. I’ve begun a round of edits based on beta-reader feedback. No idea how soon this one is coming, but I’ve been switching between editing this and The Secret in the Shadows now that Fractured Skies is complete.

Game Design: On hold.

Marketing: Starting to learn Amazon Ads… we’ll see how this goes.

Also, Isaac and I did an Author Meet & Greet at Black Ice Comics in Houghton, Michigan. We had a lot of fun, and Shana (the store owner) provided yummy snacks. 🙂

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Continuing along with projects. Need to create a book cover and format an ebook. Finished the typing side of a project.

LitRPG / GameLit Story: Temporarily on hold, though I’ve been itching to work on revisions.

* * *

I think that’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed this post. 🙂

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Tagged as an author's process, author, book series, cyberpunk, Distant Horizon, fantasy, fractured fairy tale, Fractured Skies, Infinitas Publishing, Isaac Flint, Magebane, new releases, publishing, science fiction, self-publishing, series, status report, Stephanie Flint, Stone and String, The Wishing Blade, Wind and Words, writing, writing tips

September 28, 2018 · 10:51 am

Join “The Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure” Facebook group!

Exciting news! 😀

Do you want more stories from the world of The Wishing Blade?

(The books below are all part of The Wishing Blade universe):

Want to get a look into the “legends” of Cirena?

That is, the time period before “The Wishing Blade” series and “Stone and String” series, back when the gods still had a large presence in Cirena, the Divide hadn’t yet risen, and Ruetravahn had not yet made a deal with Listhant-Nsasrar to give word magic power to the Cantingen language?

Then come join my new “Legends of Cirena – Collaborative Adventure” Facebook group!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/289873391615430/

Originally, I planned to do this just for my newsletter subscribers. Then I realized that it would probably make the newsletter super long, and if I did a Facebook group, I’d be able to do it weekly instead of every other week, and I’d also be able to use the polling feature.

Plus, if you aren’t really into newsletters but use Facebook, this is the perfect way to get involved and get your input into a story!

This is a new, experimental process in which I’ll post a new story segment every Tuesday to the group. (This week, I’m starting with four polls that will decide the character for the first story).

At the end of the story segment will be 2-4 choices as to what the protagonist is going to do next.

Want to influence what happens?

Cast your vote before Friday at midnight! (This weekend it’s going to be Saturday at midnight, since the group is just getting started).

Then, based on the most popular response, I’ll write the next section of the story, post it on Tuesday, and the process repeats.

Once the story is complete (which may or may not be canon to The Wishing Blade universe), I’ll polish and publish it.

(Those of you in the group, of course, will get access to grab the polished version for free). 😀

Sound like fun?

Then click the link below, join the group, and make your choices!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/289873391615430/

I hope to see you there. 😀

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Tagged as Choose Your Own Adventure, Facebook Group, fantasy, fantasy stories, Infinitas Publishing, influence the story, Interactive storytelling, Magic's Stealing, reader involvement, role-play games, serials, short stories, Stephanie Flint, Stone and String, story creation, The Shadow War, The Wishing Blade series, Wind and Words, YA books, YA fantasy, young adult fantasy

September 10, 2018 · 11:59 am

Infinitas Publishing – Status Report

It’s time for another Infinitas Publishing status report! 🙂

* * *

Fractured Skies: (Book 2 of the Distant Horizon series). Feedback is in for Fractured Skies, and Isaac and I have proceeded through the read-aloud proofing stage. With that complete, I’m now ready to make a couple tiny adjustments, print out the manuscript and proceed to proofreading.

The blurb for Fractured Skies is also complete, so we’ll be announcing more details soon.

While we’re not 100% sure of the release date, we’re aiming for an October release!

In the meantime, we’ve just about finished the cover for book three of the Distant Horizon series, so stayed tuned for a reveal!

(Sign up for the Distant Horizon Universe Newsletter to get an early look at the next book cover!)

Lily’s Story: (Distant Horizon series spin-off novel) On hold while completing the main series’ projects.

The Multiverse Chronicles: On hold.

Little One: On hold.

Magebane: (Book Three of The Wishing Blade series) I’m still in the process of working on revisions, but I think Isaac and I have diagnosed a few possible issues with the current story (pacing and climax). This is going to take a bit longer to complete, as I need to shuffle a few scenes and add a couple plot points.

I’m not sure yet whether this is going to go through another round of beta-readers, but the current plan is to go through a read-aloud phase once the aforementioned issues have been resolved.

We’ve got a plan… but it’s going to take a little work to get this where we want it.

We also did a photoshoot for the main image of the book cover, and have a near-final draft of the cover.

The Wishing Blade – Book 4: (Title to be determined) On hold while I revise Magebane.

Stone and String 3 (and assorted Wishing Blade short stories/novellas): On hold while completing Magebane and Fractured Skies.

However, I created a cover for the novella I mentioned last time, so that’s done, at least. Once I’ve made progress revising the novella, then I’ll reveal the cover. So that’s coming soonish.

(Want to be the first to see new covers in The Wishing Blade universe? Sign up for that newsletter here).

“MOG”: While I haven’t made any further progress on this particular universe, Isaac has read through the story I’ve managed to edit thus far, and he’s provided me with a loose plot outline for future books in this series.

Cyberpunk / Dystopian Snow White Story: On hold.

Game Design: On hold.

Marketing: Continuing to work on newsletter swaps with other authors. Also, I’ve picked up a couple ebooks on copywriting with the intent to improve my blurbs and newsletters.

Isaac and I also did a book signing at the Webb City Public Library in Missouri. At least one person checked out one of our books from the library that was in circulation. Thank you! 🙂

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Finished a book cover proof and am preparing to do a typing/formatting project.

LitRPG / GameLit Story: I’ve received feedback from beta-readers and I have some notes from Isaac on the beginning of the story. Once Magebane and Fractured Skies are complete, I’ll start revisions. For now, it’s on hold. The tagline still eludes me.

* * *

That’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed this post. 🙂

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Tagged as an author's process, author, book series, Distant Horizon, fantasy, Infinitas Publishing, Isaac Flint, Magebane, publishing, science fiction, self-publishing, series, status report, Stephanie Flint, Stone and String, The Wishing Blade, Wind and Words, writing, writing tips