Hello all, I thought I’d share a few thoughts with you, concerning my major book project and a new short story realm.
The Severis Tales
Taking a break from working on my main novel project of Elineer, I have turned direction a little, and begun working on a series of short stories. I thought smaller, shorter stories would be an excellent chance to develop and hone skills pertaining to dialogue and scenery. In addition, it would allow me to experiment and expand my horizon. The end result, hopefully, will attempt to show what I am capable of, and my style of writing and storytelling. For this, I have started on a series of short stories in a fantasy realm. After working on many titles, nearly up to the posting of this news update, I finally came up with The Severis Tales. This is the first short story I will publish here on the Patrick Rivers Web Site, and more will definitely follow.
Set on another world called Earth, with elves, dragons, half-dragons and the likes, The Severis Tales follows the unusual or more interesting events of the otherwise ordinary Severis family, living in the town of Barlett. Of the Severis line, there is Xiveer (pronouned Zai-Veer), a half-dragon who is just slightly eccentric; Leena Severis, an elf, and Xiveer’s wife; Michale “Mike” Severis, a tempermental eight-year-old that likes to get into trouble; and Larry Severis, the socially anxious, socially awkward, and sensitive eighteen-year-old teenager. Of their little home in Barlett Town, they also have neighbours: Jok Ferguson, a farmer who owns a large plot of land next door, who harvests corn. Opposite them are Ben and Lisa Willows, who look down on those around them, and consider themselves of higher class and poshness than the Severises. Of course, there are a variety of other characters, too.
While many of the stories I had thought of do include at least one of the Severis family, a special focus is put on Larry, the oddest of them all. The first story, Post-Teen Growing Pains, is all about Larry, and why he is so different from other half-dragons, including his father, Xiveer. Some stories do not involve the Severis family at all—rather, they will focus on a secondary character. The aim is to provide a wide scope of stories to represent some of the characters and the personalities that represent this fictional village, set in a world where technology is at a level rising above the use of magic that has gripped the Earth for thousands upon thousands of years.
The whole point of The Severis Tales is to not show epic fantasy stories. I thought it would be nice to tell a story about the day-to-day lives of ordinary people, set in another world, with their own traits and characteristics. Maybe it is a little too opinionated and sawkward in some sense, but I imagine there are worlds out there where maybe nothing truly epic happens, and instead, the lives of individuals are more interesting or important than the major heroes in the histories of said place. They may not grow up to be the ones to save the planet, and be those who are regarded as heroes, but those characters are just as important. That is what I wish to show with The Severis Tales—stories of the everyday, but with an attempt to “fantasy it up” a bit, all the while exploring a fictional history of a world, where potentially things have happened, and where heroes have been called forth, but who aren’t the focus of attention.
Click here to go to the realm’s front page (alternatively, go to the Works menu, select Short Stories, and select The Severis Tales.) As noted there, these are edited and looked over, but they may not be of high standards. I do try to make an attempt at standards and creativity, and I try not to put them up in a half-assed attempt. That would be foolish. As always, comments are welcome—after all, construtive criticism and support only helps me further. I expect things to get a step better with every release, and that applies to other shorts released here, not just with The Severis Tales. You can e-mail or write to me.
Elineer
If you subscribe to the mailing list, in the last newsletter, I mentioned I would put up a short story, and hopefully give some more information on my main project, Elineer. Unfortunately, I have yet to give any real dirt; and while it does make me a bit of a foolsy to keep saying I would, I can say that I have finished the manuscript, and I will soon be hunkering down, and doing the edits