Patrick L. Rivers Blog & News Updates

The next instalment of The Severis Tales is up. The sixth story, Terrence Gets Painted, concerns Terrence Howard in an adventure with his own painting, one that causes a lot of unexpected attention and stress when his painting, done by final year art student Leah Evans, attracts a wide amount of attention from the media. They must take ...

When I began creating a fantasy world, called Elineer, that would serve as the basis of a large range of media, I wanted to create a trilogy or series of books of a very important point in time of the history of that world, but shape it so that there can be content before and after ...

In another Sunday human RAM dump, I thought I’d take a break from opinions on creating your own worlds and instead focus on a topic that makes the difference in how you write: your environment and your kit. The writing environment, in my mind, would be a workstation of sorts. I say workstation because it is ...

In this week’s un-planned and mainly unedited Sunday post, I wanted to share some thoughts about what is considered “truly unique” when we create something. There is no need to overstate the fact there are millions of books and stories floating around the Earth at any given moment, be it sitting idly on a long-forgotten bookshelf ...

Many people collect books. Sometimes, they collect a lot of books. Maybe, they collect too many books, and they have no place to place them. They sit in boxes, or they sit on top of shelves and on top of other books. Either way, a library of books shows what type of collector you are. It ...

Today, while on a break during real life work (a real thing), I got it into my mind I could write poetry. So, I wrote one, called OCD. This prompted me to create a new section on the website under the Works & Reams menu to put anything poetic in general in this section. Click here to access the main ...

On Remembrance Day 2019, the transit of Mercury will occur, when the tiny planet passes between the Sun and the Earth. In context to astronomical time, this occurs semi-frequently. This is, in contrast, to the transit of Venus: the last transit took place in 2012, and the next one is due in the year 2117, roughly ...

In a bit of a series of observations related to building a world, spread across a year or so, I thought I would follow up with another topic, this time on the common fantasy stereotype of medieval food, why it’s such a common trope of fantasy works, and why a full-out new menu of food ...

And now, another memory dump of rambling thoughts, this time about personal correspondence. I’m fond of proper mail. Not the spam type of stuff—flyers, applications for a credit card, notification of enrolment for jury duty. No, none of that. I’m talking about opening up your mailbox, and seeing a blue and red air mail envelope addressed ...

The following is something I found particularly useful in world-building, so as an opinion and piece of discussion, it may either interest you, or bore you on your coffee break at work enough to think about that pay rise. It is also a lot of rambling, so forgive me if it sounds redundant or nonsensical. ...

As a bit of a second part to the previous article, My Experience With Anxiety and Writing Groups, I wanted to briefly say something about the pros and cons of joining a writing group, and as a refresher as to why the are beneficial. Obviously, from the previous article, my experience with the Sudbury Writers’ Guild (SWG) ...

Over past month, I’ve tinkered with the website theme a little bit, and made some visual changes to the way things are presented. First off is the main content and side bar texts. They now are boxed and a easier to see, and I made them universal between theme changes when you go between the main ...

I had this on my chest for a little while now, but its something I would like to share concerning my experience with a writing group and dealing with social anxiety issues. Early last year I was invited to the Sudbury Writers’ Guild (SWG), a membership-based writing group in Greater Sudbury that provides workshops, guest speakers, ...

With some help in proofing and glossing over, I have uploaded a new instalment of The Severis Tales. This is story #5, entitled “Eggs.” It is about one of Mila’s old friends selling foodstuffs. It also contains a few surprises and other unexpected reunions along the way. I’ve tried writing this story in a different tone or ...

This is more of a tip and a suggestion, rather than an open-ended rant this time, and it has to do with literary prizes and why they are good. It seems literary prize season kicks off for everyone at the same time. Everyone matching each one’s criteria is allowed to demonstrate their literary voice for a ...

The following is another ramble about autumn. Again, off-the-cuff, depositing built up words and thoughts wracked up in my brain over the course of the week. It is some thoughts about beauty and the sentimentality of what autumn is to me. I hope you enjoy. The last quarter of the year 2019 has arrived with the ...

As it is September, school season starts at the very beginning for many. I thought I would share a small commentary on the first day of school, contrasting with what it was like for me, and for those going to school today. In Canada (or, at least, common in Ontario), the third of September marked the ...

Summer is coming up here in the northern hemisphere.  Supposedly, if the weather holds up, it will become warm and the weather will be beautiful.  As I focus more on my writing and source ideas, I also don’t just want to sit at home or at a coffee shop, either. Recently, I started a writing exercise ...

Good day, all. After missing the target date by two weeks, owing to Real Life™, the fourth instalment of The Severis Tales has been uploaded for your reading pleasure. In this story, the Severises prepare to celebrate Erandor, the holiday at the end of the year.  However, things are not so well between Janessa Vendyor and her miserly shopkeeper ...

Note: This post contains mild swearing.  If you are offended by swearing, maybe it would be best to not see the entire post. You’re damn f***ing right! When I was first starting to think about writing, one of the thoughts that crept up on me was the usage of swearing.  Now, in real life, I’m a bit ...