Journal entries in the "Arpia" category
An opening scene
The boy looked uncomfortable, and his forehead was starting to shine. His shirt collar was hanging down inelegantly. Who wore a green shirt anyway? He was cute, obviously a romantic fool, but he wouldn’t last two more minutes.
“This is a nice place,” he said with a hesitant smile.
Look me in the eye, the girl wanted to reply as his eyes returned from examining the surroundings to staring at her lips. Instead, she nodded. Why had she accepted his invitation?
“And it’s nice that they allow you to take your pet with you.”
The girl’s thoughts went straight to Artemis, the animal nested on her lap. She felt Artemis stiffen, and she stroked her on the neck to soothe her. It was inevitable that people would mistake a firnex for an unintelligent pet, probably thinking it was a simple fennec fox, but speaking with so little tact and by repeating a bland adjective demonstrated stupidity.
Re: Enquiry A8992bc8-1114EE
Persecuted, shunned, hunted down like prey. No longer human, no longer living, just a curse to be wiped off the face of this planet, Stradio.
A monstrosity, that’s what they are. Freaks of nature.
This is their story, this is their tale. This is their suffering, this is their pain.
Arpia – version 1, at 171,060 words
The day has finally come where I can say the following: I have finished writing Arpia.
I never imagined it would happen, but I have indeed written the last words of the full version 1 of the Arpia novel (version 1 as in “the parts that haven’t been revised three times already will be revised, and I’ll then revise the entire thing”).
As such, the Arpia novel page has been updated, and I’m in dire need of reviewers for the whole thing (I already have some reviews for part I [the first half], but you can never get enough reviews).
If you are therefore interested in reviewing the novel, letting me know what doesn’t flow, what is amazing, what is awful, do drop me a line by using the contact form.
To get some of you intrigued (hopefully), here are the very last lines of the novel:
One mind pondered a question.
“Is she ready now?”
The answer came from the second mind.
“We shall consult with the Shroud.”
If you know who the Shroud are, you’ll get easier access to the novel for review.
Unbidden, doubt creeps in
With 10-20.000 words to go, the Arpia novels have reached a stage I might consider “critical”: 160.000 words are set in ink, and therefore about 90% of the writing is fully done, not counting the “revision 1″ phase half of the writing still has to undergo.
It’s strange to think that I’ve been working on the Arpia novels since the summer of 2005, over 3 and a half years.
What is even stranger, however, is the fact that I never seemed to ask myself one specific question until now: is it book-material, i.e. is it any good?
Hope returns to Culuria
Returned to writing some of Arpia. Long day, so I deserved it.
Five days went by, and life returned to Culuria, despite growing doubts about the fate of Argoal and Fezzan’s team. Parmil took the girls out to each open exhibition or cinema she could find. Though no one was sure what to expect of the future, the present seemed bright enough not to be afraid.
Just before three in the afternoon in Yubenia, a message was spoken out in the speakers. Parmil and the girls stopped walking in front of the Bardrien Memorial Park entrance and listened carefully.
The Hogun are dead
It is done. It is over. The Hogun are dead.
It was probably Arpia’s greatest battle, and many perished, on land and in space. Yet, in the end, against all odds (approximately), Arpia prevailed.
You don’t know the Hogun?
The writing never stops
Weird thing, writing a novel. Novels, really. The more you’ve written, the further away the end seems. At least, I’m currently at that point in Arpia volume 2 (I’m starting to wonder whether the two volumes shouldn’t be offered to publishers as one, with the option to divide it in two within the book).
Volume 1, currently entitled “Arpia, Flight of Dawn” (FoD, vol. 1), is 90.000 words long (some 190 A4 pages). And while I believe “Arpia, Fight of Eve” (FoE, vol. 2) will be as long, I’m now at 110 pages completed, or 53.000 words.
Killing a novel character
I had to post this: I have just killed an important character in the Arpia novels, and his/her death is told as he/she experiences it.
And I have to admit it’s a strange experience. I’ve often experienced emotions with my characters, and have many times written of things I have never felt or gone through myself, but writing one’s experience of death is beyond all that. I even had tears in my eyes at one point.
A telepath battle
Here’s a little passage for Arpia vol. 2 (Fight of Eve) I just reworked (when not studying).
Tell me what you think, …
Background information:
Mbirnsi is a So-laon, and they are a race of telepaths imprisoned by the Constitutor Intelligence Service.
Birgo works for Arpia, and has become pretty much the greatest warrior in the galaxy through training with Masters of many kinds of martial and telepathic arts.
To fully understand though, you need to read vol. 1 and the rest of vol. 2.
And when you see
Aim of the passage:
I was hoping to describe a battle between telepaths that seems alive and isn’t just “two people standing there doing nothing visually” or “this was awesome, believe me!”.
Hopefully, I have achieved this.
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