Jeff Draper's Blog

 The World of Tialma is a creation of a friend of mine and it exists in my favorite world building software, World Anvil.  I decided to write a story set in this world and it's here if you'd like to read it.  It's called There's Often a Dead Body At The End

The style is different than anything else I've written.  I call it Medieval Urban Fantasy Although They're All In a Forest.  (Still working on that...)

It's first person with violence and humor and a touching mother-daughter vignette.  Because violence and humor are the only two things I'm good at writing.  Touching vignettes are purely a happy accident caused by the intersection of those two.

My new D&D adventure is live at DriveThruRPG and free to download!  This is a super special link that only super special friends can click on.  Or so I'm told.

Silent Valley Super Special Link

 The last few years have been an interesting creative journey.  I've begun writing stories again, as I've detailed below, but I've also started writing D&D adventures.  Basically, I've combined my two hobbies into one creative endeavor.  

I currently have three adventures in the works.  One is called "HORIZON: Queen of Storms" and it's set in Evan Blair's fantasy RPG campaign setting: The Realms of Eldara.  It's got dreadgoblins, mad druids, and a raging demon queen.  Everything you need for a fun Saturday night.

I also have one called "Silent Valley".  It is 5E compatible and world agnostic with a whole village of people to interact with, a valley of farmland and timber that's in mortal peril, and a Sorceress of the All Seeing Eye (which is a new subclass I created.)  It's finished except for the artwork and assembling the final pdf.

The third one I just started and it's especially fun.  It's called "Everybody's Dead".  Guy stumbles through the doors of the inn and interrupts your breakfast.  He's just run through the night from a village in the hills where everyone is laying around dead.  The party has to go figure out what happened.  It's a combat light adventure that's more of a mystery than anything else.

When I get these ready, the distribution channel with be DriveThruRPG and Amazon for starters.  The sales price will be cheap or free until I see if these things can generate enough income to warrant starting a publication company to manage it all.  Right now, one step at a time.

The third story in the Larenfall Cycle is out to beta readers and I'm awaiting their input.  So now I'm turning my attention to two other projects.  First is taking four different stories I wrote several years ago and turning them into something I can put up on Amazon KDP.  They begin with "Thunder Canyon" which appeared in the anthology Rage of the Behemoth.  (Link should be over to the right.)  I kept writing stories with the main character, Rath, looking for his wife who was taken by slavers.  Since the fourth story was never really finished and the whole thing doesn't have an ending, this project will require a bit of work.  Second is creating a D&D adventure based in the Realms of Eldara.  That one has a skeleton framework already but will need quite a bit of fleshing out.  So that's what's going to keep me busy over the next month or so.

 I have a few favorite things.  Near the top of the list, right below Girls in White Dresses With Blue Satin Sashes, is typing THE END on the last page of a first draft.

 This morning I did that with the latest story in the Larenfall Cycle.  Finished the epilogue (which we seem to collectively call the 'post credits scene' nowadays) and sat back, triumphant.  It's sitting around 52K words right now and we'll see what survives the editing process.  Soon I'll be recruiting beta readers and getting feedback.  Hopefully I'll have it complete by the time Gen Con rolls around in August.

 "Lines in the Sand" is continuing.  I'm at 35K words and I'm starting part four of a planned three part story.  The word count is now projected at 40-45K and the story has become more complicated than I originally intended.  By that, I mean that I keep coming up with new ideas to throw into it and will let it all shake out in the editing process.  

 Like almost all my stories, things come into focus as I write.  Possible motivations and scenes and endings all present themselves after I've already laid down the foundations I thought I'd be using.  This is just my process.  I make a note somewhere to go change something in a previous scene in order to make the new continuity flow towards the ending that I build.  Then I keep writing until I have to do it again.

 I'm definitely thinking that I will publish this, probably through Amazon KDP, in an expanded format with character and creature statblocks, new sub-class descriptions, spells, weapons and all the other D&D stuff that forms the base for these stories.  That, of course, means negotiating a licensing agreement with the amazing Evan Blair.  Exciting times.

   Still pounding away at my latest story "Lines in the Sand".  It's up to 30K words and I think I'm still on track to hit about 50K.  The middle is proving to be tough to write my way through but that's not unexpected.  At this moment I'm vacillating between two potential endings and it's a 50/50 split on which one I'll use.  

  I really want to have the first draft done before the end of March so I have a hope of finishing before this summer and the potential for an "Eldaracon" meetup at GenCon in Indy.  After that, depending on the ending I choose I'll either have one more story in the Larenfall Cycle or none.  Time will tell.

 Next up in my foray into self publication is an e-book and future paperback that combines a couple of my sold stories and an unpublished prequel story.  I've called it The Saga of Othren Four-Scars and it is a compilation of The Battle of Raven Kill, The Feorhmaeghan, and The Witch of the Westmoors.  (Side note: I've taken away access to the Google docs for these Amazon stories because I'm pretty sure the agreement with Kindle Select is that they have to be exclusive to Amazon.)

 So, the experiment continues.  Link to the new e-book is right here:

Amazon.com: The Saga of Othren Four-Scars: As told in three stories: The Battle of Raven Kill, The Feorhmaegan, The Witch of the Westmoors eBook : Draper, Jeff: Kindle Store

 I've started making compilations of old stories and formatting them for Amazon's Kindle e-book system.  The first test is up and running.  "Protector" has its own page on Amazon.  More stories to be released in the coming months.

Amazon.com: Protector eBook : Draper, Jeff: Kindle Store

 OK, what started as a bit of a lark has become a more intensive writing project.  The third story in The Larenfall Cycle is firmly underway and it's tentatively titled "Lines in the Sand."  That was my first title and it has a very good shot at staying the title.  It just seems to fit the vibe of the story I'm going for.  There are some literal lines in the sand and there are some figurative lines as well, as characters find themselves with unaligned goals and ultimatums are given.

  This is turning out to be longer than any of the others and probably will approach novel size all by itself.  I'm at 20K words and I'm just starting Part Two of a projected 3 parts.  It's taking these characters into new places, both within the Shattered Sea and within their relationships.  I'm still keeping track of combat rounds and hit points and spells since it is a D&D based story, but the real narrative is less about the monsters and the traps and more about how these characters are growing and changing.  We'll see if I end up getting it right.