Wasteland Wednesday #7

*Language and Content Warning*

Unlike QE’s normal informational blog, Wasteland Wednesday is potentially full of foul language and post-apocalyptic nonsense.

 

It’s time for another edition of Wasteland Wednesday. Come and cuddle up next to the bonfire. Ah, don’t mind those inbreeder heads. I collected those to pay off some heavy writing debts I owe to the muse.

Anyways, I wanted to talk a little about the novella, The Wastelander Survival Guide, today. A very rough discovery draft has been hacked away and while I am working on the rewrites for the main book, the novella will marinate.

The novella features images similar to what a U.S. Army combat manual would have inside. It is also formatted much the same way. 

The concept for the novella stems from the world I have created. In the main book, Drake carries around a journal (you can see it in his back pocket in the final cover art for the book) and writes tips to survive the wasteland. This, he compiled at the behest of Lex. While he’ll never admit it, he enjoys keeping this journal and it has allowed him to elaborate on his wasteland “virtues.” To Drake, these virtues are what he believes will keep a person alive (it’s worked for him).

Each chapter of the main book is opened with a tiny excerpt from Drake’s journal highlighting a virtue. The book is written in a way that these “Drakisms” help drive the story. One of Lex’s secret hopes, is that there is life outside of Middle America. In her eyes, a book of how to survive the wasteland would be essential to anyone who delves into unsettled areas.

While she wouldn’t say this to Drake, her plan it to eventually inherit the book and find a way to reproduce it. Drake’s name has become legend in Middle America and she sees the potential to monetize/trade it in some shape or form. She also believes there is life outside of the wasteland. If this is true, such a guide would be valuable to an outsider.

She also wants Drake to compile this journal because she notices a drastic down-tic in his reckless tendencies when he takes time to organize and expel his thoughts. Lex knows that there is merit in Drake’s rantings. Despite the vulgarity and rough exterior, not many people make it to old age in the wasteland; Drake has almost made it to his sixties.

[Break in Timeline] 

Eventually, Drake’s journal does end up in the hands of someone in a “civilized” part of the world. They rewrite his journal and cast Drake as a romanticized folk hero. The rewritten version of the journal is reproduced as a survival guide for the expansionist movement into the isolated areas of the post-fall United States.

His “Drakisms” are recast as real-world virtues a potential settler should embody to combat the unknown dangers awaiting them. The chapters are very short, illustrated, and offer a very romantic look at how to survive the wasteland. Some portions are rewritten completely and deviate from Drake’s original writings.

I guess plagiarism and intellectual property rights aren’t a big thing in the post-fall United States…

The first book, Legacy of Drake, hints about aircraft flying overhead and unknown technologies making it over The Red (the area of seemingly impassable radiation) into Middle America. Perhaps there are other isolated pockets of people and inbreeders struggling out there? The wasteland might just be a bigger place than we realize, or it might be much smaller.

That’s it for today’s wasteland news!  I hope you all enjoyed this sneak-peak into Wastelander: The Drake Legacy and the Wastelander Survival Guide.  I’d love to know what you think and answer your questions (as long as the answer won’t be a spoiler-sandwich). Until we cross quills again, keep hiding, keep hoarding, and as always—stay alive.

Wasteland Wednesday #6

*Language and Content Warning*

Unlike QE’s normal informational blog, Wasteland Wednesday is potentially full of foul language and post-apocalyptic nonsense.

 

It’s time for another update from the Wasteland.  As the author, I’m pounding away on rewrites. If I can hold my pace, I should have it out to my alphas by the end of the month. When it goes out to my alphas, I’ll do the rewrites of the novella.

I‘m planning on finishing one of my more time consuming client projects here in mid-December (not a bad thing, just a bit of work), and when that happens I’ll pound out the discovery draft of the next book in the series. This next book will have whoever survives book one, moving north to face a bigger threat—and maybe even escaping Middle America. The Lost Word, mentioned last week, will play a larger role in the next book as well.

Today, meet Jim.

Name:  Jim

Age: 14

Background: From birth, Jim lived in a bunker. His father told him the outside world was a barren radioactive wasteland, and if they would leave the bunker they would die. Despite his isolation, Jim’s father provided him a superb education (even by pre-fall standards). This education was heavy in classic works of literature, language, and some technical skills like medicine and electronics.

When Drake meets Jim, his familial background is ambiguous. They meet “accidentally” outside of Stanley Station, which is a coal plant that was converted into a settlement.  Jim admits little about his father and family.  Outside accounts indicate Jim is an orphan that wandered into the station.

Basic Physical Description: The wasteland doesn’t provide salad bars, or all you can eat pizza, so Jim is a skinny boy. Acne has began to spring up among his freckles.  His eyes are described as bright blue, and his hair is shaggy and brown.  He is very pale—apparently the bunker didn’t have a tanning bed.

Personality: Jim is very clever and optimistic. This is likely a result of his education and lack of exposure to the wastes. With no “real” experiences to rely on, Jim often attempts to apply classic works of literature to things he experiences.  The boy is particularly fond of Treasure Island and sees Drake as swashbuckling pirate of sorts.

As classic works of fiction are basically extinct, Jim references people, places, and things that most people have never heard of.  On the other hand, the most common of wasteland information is often a foreign concept to the boy.

Drake considers himself to be a master of manipulation and understanding what makes people tick, and Jim has managed to pull a few fast ones on him. In this way, Jim quickly endeared himself to Drake (thought Drake would never admit that).  Both Drake and Lex are very protective of children, and this cements him into the party—that, in addition to some wasteland happenstance.

When Drake looks at Jim, he imagines what his dead son Jonathon might have become.  When Lex looks at him, she sees the innocence she lost. When Preacher looks at Jim, he sees the future of the wasteland. Due to all of these points of view, Jim because a central character to the groups unity.

Abilities: Jim is clueless and vastly intelligence at the same time.  Especially in a time when most children, and even adults, are knuckle draggers in terms of brainpower.  This cuts both ways for the boy.  He is also a sponge, quickly picking up on information and training.  Drake notes that the boy learned the steps to effectively fire a pistol faster than some of the people he trained while he was in the military.

Jim is also a whiz when it comes to first aid.  Drake owes his life to Jim’s fast action with a needle and thread.  Drake has noted Jim knows aspects about medicine that could have only been taught formally, not just picked up at random.

Motivation:  Jim’s motivations shift throughout the book. At first, he hears a story about Drake Nelson, who had rolled into Stanley Station.  Jim puts a lot of stock in stories and maneuvered himself in a way to be close to him.  Being naive, one motivation is to share in Drake’s adventure. This perhaps, as the story unfolds, wasn’t the best course of action.

Jim is also motivated by something higher, something even Drake can’t put his finger on. To Drake, Jim seems to be running away from something and toward something else at the same time.  Preacher seems to believe Jim is the future of the wasteland…which to Drake is the kind of idiotic rantings he would expect from someone like Preacher.

Jim is driven to prove he isn’t just some dumb kid.  While he knows he is probably the most intelligence kid out there, he understands there is a lot of things he is ignorant of.  Any opportunity he gets, he attempts to prove himself and his worth.

 

Equipment:  Jim, much to his horror, is largely Drake’s pack mule.  The boy bears a heavy burden, literally. He is a novice with the pistol Drake acquired for him, a Sig Sauer Mosquito, but becomes more and more proficient with each passing firefight.

Author’s Note: I say this for all of my characters, but Jim is one of my favorites. He is comic relief, a source of bonding, and has a natural way of cutting through characters and revealing their motivations.  For Drake, Jim’s character reveals his humanity to the reader.  It also acts to tie Drake back to the person he was before the fall, when he had a little boy named Jonathon. I also like how dynamic Jim’s character is.  His arc is very rewarding and there are a lot of important plot points tied to his evolution and growth.

That’s it for today’s wasteland news!  I hope you all enjoyed this sneak-peak into Wastelander: The Drake Legacy.  I’d love to know what you think about Jim.  Until we cross quills again, keep hiding, keep hoarding, and as always—stay alive.

 

Wasteland Wednesday #5

*Language and Content Warning*

Unlike QE’s normal informational blog, Wasteland Wednesday is potentially full of foul language and post-apocalyptic nonsense.

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve had an update from the wasteland.  It’s still there, I promise.  As for progress, the first stage of rewrites begins next week.  I’m pretty excited to dive right back into it.  It’s been hard stopping myself from starting early, but I try to practice what I preach (irony…you’ll see).

Today I’ll introduce another character from the book, Daniel.  A member of the Lost Word, Daniel has traveled the wastes extensively. He’s not the only Daniel out there.  In fact, all members of the Lost Word are named Daniel.

Name:  Daniel

Nickname: Preacher

Age: Unknown (old)

Bio: Daniel, or Preacher, as Drake and his group like to call him, offered a helping hand when hundreds of hungry mouths were coming to gorge on their flesh. Not much is known about his background.  Of course, being a member of the Lost Word carries a lot of implications. Also, a body covered in scars often tells more about a man than any word could.

Much like all people in the wasteland, Preacher has some secrets.  One thing that isn’t a secret is his apparent allegiance to the Lost Word.  He carries his faith around his neck, and reveals it with his words.  The Lost Word are the keepers of what is left of the religions.  They offer it freely to those they encounter, and focus on spreading the “good word” at settlements and outposts.

You would think faith doesn’t play a large role in wasteland. Well the hundreds of Daniels that comprise the Lost Word would disagree.  Their sect has been known to purge communities who hurt or harm their members or interfere with their practices.  How they are able to do this with just a few men—nobody is really sure.  All that is known for certain is communities of crucified men and women stand testament to their abilities and few challenge them outright.  The children?  No one knows what happens to them.

This particular Daniel, Preacher, is a little different.  He wanders alone.  This is odd because most Daniels travel in a group of three.

Abilities: Members of the Lost Word have access to unheard of pharmaceuticals and are trained to protect themselves with whatever is available.  They rely heavily on stimulants and other meds and tend to wade into combat with a single pistol and knife.  While this may sound outlandish, stories tell of a groups of three wiping settlements off the map.  A forest of hastily erected crucifixes sprout up when this happens.  Daniels must be carpenters too.

Personality: Preacher is quick to smile and quote various religious texts.  Drake doesn’t tolerate this being directed at him, but Lex and Jim (you haven’t met Jim yet) are more open to it.  Preacher respects Drake’s wishes, which only makes him more suspicious to the one-eyed madman.  Preacher is easy-going and will talk with anyone willing to listen.  Drake knows the potential for violence hides behind the old mans gray eyes.

Drake, being older himself, understands that to grow old in the wasteland you have to be one tough bastard.  Preacher appears to be much older than Drake and this makes Drake wonder how the hell the old fool was able to stay alive at all.

Motivation:  Preachers’ motivations are complex (and to remain spoiler free, won’t be talked about much).  What I will share is that he is a member of the Lost Word, but has grown disenchanted with the group.  There is a time he can remember when the order spread hope.  Now, purges are all too common.  He feels purging a community, no matter how far they have fallen or what they have done, is barbaric and wrong.

He dreams of restoring the order, but knows this is likely impossible.  He seems to content himself by helping strangers he encounters. Self-medication also seems to help him, and he is often seen consuming pills.

Drake doesn’t believe Preacher is actually still a member. In his opinion, which he voices (typical Drake), any fool can dress up like one of those nut-jobs and play pretend. Regardless, after Preachers explosive entrance in the book, Drake doesn’t have a lot of options and requires his help.  While Drake will never say it, he respects someone hard enough to grow old despite the wasteland.

Bag is similar to this.  Concept art is in the works.  Updates are coming!

Equipment:  Preacher carries an engraved black revolver.  It’s much larger than seems necessary and Drake wonders how the old man can even wield it effectively.  Drake, even with his vast knowledge of firearms, couldn’t put his finger on the make and model.  All he could tell for sure is that it would be able to chamber a variety of ammunition.  He also noted the metal and engravings on the pistol were unlike anything he had ever seen.  This is uncharacteristic of standard wasteland weaponry, which is usually in a state of constant [dis]repair.

Preacher also carries a worn leather messenger bag. Beneath the brass buckled flap fastening the bag closed is a silver dagger.  Drake observed Preacher using this dagger to silence the cries of some inbreeders who were trapped under rubble (rubble Preacher created). The contents of the bag are a mystery to Drake.  All Drake knows for sure is that the bag contains meds of some kind—meds that can mask pain.

Author’s Note: Preachers character in the book was important because it serves a number of purposes.  It reveals the existence of the Lost Word, and it also examines faith in the wasteland, or lack thereof.  While Drake is governed by a set of “virtues,” Preacher is guided by something else entirely.  The two are an interesting contrast because both of them are lost souls who prescribe to a sort of debatable faith.

That’s it for today’s wasteland news!  I hope you all stop by next Wednesday for more information about Wastelander: The Drake Legacy.  I’d love to know what you think about Preacher.  This is only a brief glimpse, but hopefully it did him justice.  Until then, keep hiding, keep hoarding, and as always – stay alive.

Wasteland Wednesday #4

*Language and Content Warning*

Unlike QE’s normal informational blog, Wasteland Wednesday is potentially full of foul language and post-apocalyptic nonsense.  I’m talking f-bombs, thrice-bosomed mutant women, and buckets of gore.

Welcome to the fourth edition of Wasteland Wednesday!  I’m glad to see you have managed to survive yet another week.  Today you’re going to get a glimpse at one of the many threats that populate the wasteland.  Those stuck surviving in middle-America call them inbreeders.

Inbreeders go by many names: bone munchers, cannibals, flesh eaters, and some others.  It’s important to note, they are not zombies.  Here’s the concept.

When the United States fell to ruin, it did so to the tune of electromagnetic pulses followed by a chorus of nuclear warheads.  Some of these warheads detonated above the ground and some of them made landfall.

When a nuclear warhead made landfall it destroyed the area, but it also left behind areas that were lousy with radiation.  Areas where bombs detonated prior to making landfall became habitable over time.

These pockets of isolated and lingering radiation have broken the continent into pieces.  The impassable areas of radiation are referred to as the Red.  The Red has landlocked the area where this story takes place.

Those who survived the initial destruction, but suffered radiation exposure, passed mutated genes on to the next generation.  I also incorporated the idea that these people, and their children, would be ostracized by the small pockets (settlements) that sprung up in the aftermath.

A concept sketch of inbreeders from my book, Wastelander: The Drake Legacy. This image was created by me and is copyrighted.  If you would like to use this image, contact me.

 

Here’s an unedited excerpt from Drake’s journal regarding inbreeders.  (This is the journal that Lex encourages Drake to write in hopes of monetizing it someday.)

Bone munchers. Cannibals. Flesh eaters. Inbreeders.  If somehow you are unfamiliar with these freaks, it should be noted they are not the zombies the pre-fall world was so obsessed with.  They are still human, sort of.  Radiation exposure led to pockets of people being pushed away from the remaining settlements.  Those rejects who survived, bred, often times with those close to them.  Survival is a strong motivator and those poor souls had few options.  Inbreeding, in addition to mutated and damaged genes being passed down generationally, led to smorgasbord of bizarre physical and mental deformities.  I had heard drunken rumors of some of the knuckle draggers having almost “supernatural” capabilities.  I hadn’t seen it, thus, I didn’t believe it.  After all, I’d been around the wastes for a while and I’d seen some crazy shit, but not that crazy.

These groups of inbreeders typically only grow large enough for one physically or mentally dominant male (or female) to control them.  While some have mentally degraded to the point of being feral, there are varying degrees of intelligence.  However, to the normal humans who live in the wasteland, they are all considered scum.  (People seem to get butt hurt when they get knocked down a notch in the food chain.)

Due to this animosity, many settlements offer rewards for inbreeder heads.  It’s their way of managing the growing population.  Needless to say, people who collect those heads don’t really care if you’re feral or not.  If you have even the most minor physical deformity, or your eyes glow just the slightest shade of green (a common way of spotting an inbreeder), you’re fair game.  This particular story opens with Drake conducting a scouting mission of a small inbreeder camp, which leads to some Drake-style shenanigans.

I mentioned Drake’s journal above.  You can see it here sticking out of his back pocket.

That’s today’s glimpse into the wasteland.  I’m still about three weeks away before I begin my first rewrite.  Often, when I’m laying in bed trying to sleep, my mind comes back to the story and ideas for revision spring up.  I hastily write them down in a journal.  To be honest, it’s taken every ounce of willpower I have to stop myself from starting the rewrites early.  But I’m trying to practice what I preach.

As for the corresponding novella, The Wastelander Survival Guide, I have outlined it in it’s entirety and plan on starting the writing process within the next week or two.  On top of all of this, I am currently talking to an artist about drafting a graphic novel.  This story takes place thirty years after the fall and there is a lot of potential for a Drake backstory.  If that goes through, I’ll also have a Drake Origins graphic novel to bring to the table.

I hope you all stop by next Wednesday for more information about Wastelander: The Drake Legacy.  In the meantime, I’d love to know what you think about inbreeders.  Until then, keep hiding, keep hoarding, and as always – stay alive.

Wasteland Wednesday #3

*Language and Content Warning*

Unlike QE’s normal informational blog, Wasteland Wednesday is potentially full of foul language and post-apocalyptic nonsense.  I’m talking f-bombs, thrice-bosomed mutant women, and buckets of gore.

Welcome to the third edition of Wasteland Wednesday!  Today I’m going to introduce you to an important and deadly lady.  Instead of applying epic creativity, I’m going to share my unedited original character concept with you.  Plus a couple author notes about the character from me at the end.

Full Name:  Alexandria [Last name unknown]

Nickname: Lex

Age: 30

Bio: Lex has only known the world as a wasteland.  She was born on the day the bombs decimated the United States.  Drake and her paths converged five years after the destruction.  Drake’s original party found Lex scavenging on the outskirts of Columbus.  She was dirty, alone, and starving.  Lex was also bordering on feral.

At this point in time, Drake’s group was starting to transition from deadly survivors into a disorganized band of raiders and slavers.  When a raiding group discovered Lex she was captured and brought back to central Columbus.

The general census was this young girl would be used by the group for morale (raped) and then traded to one of bands of slavers taking hold of the area.  When Drake saw the girl she reminding him of his dead son Jonathon who was roughly the same age as her when he was turned into radioactive dust.  This, combined with his depression and overall disillusionment with the group, caused Drake to attempt to free the girl and allow her to escape.

All of these events culminated with Drake getting blasted in the head.  In the confusion he generated, Lex did manage to escape.  Drakes presumably dead body was stripped of everything and left to rot.  Once they finished stripping Drake’s body and left the area, Lex returned to Drake.  He was still alive, but practically a vegetable.

Lex stayed with Drake bringing back whatever food and water she could find.  She also cauterized the holes in his head.  It took a while, but eventually Drake’s body recovered.  His mind never would.

Despite this, Lex knows that under the madness and insanity is a decent man.  Lex has stayed with Drake, often in the shadows, no matter how many half-hearted attempts Drake has made to rid himself of her.  They have traveled together for twenty-five years now.

Abilities:  Lex is perhaps more deadly than Drake.  Put another way, she is deadlier in different ways.  She thrives in the shadows and plays in the chaos Drake seems to endlessly generate. Drake has noticed that as she has matured her gun sounds before his sometimes, and that means she is perhaps faster.

While Drake is a master of chaos driven insanity and confusion, Lex prefers subtlety.  This natural inclination to shadow was fostered through her formative years with Drake.  Drake often told her to go and hide when trouble came, which eventually morphed into killing people from those hiding spots.

Personality: Lex has an extreme aversion to being touched.  Especially being touched by men. For every settlement Drake has been chased out of for killing people, Lex has gotten them banished out of another for killing men who attempted to touch her.  Sexually, she will only pay for the companionship of females.  She only chooses to sleep with prostitutes because it ensures there will be no real emotional connection, just the promise of a needed release.

Many of Drake’s personality traits have been inherited by Lex.  With that being said, she is far more calculated with what she says and tends to think things through instead of speaking and acting on impulse.  Much like Drake, she has a soft spot for children.  Also like Drake, she has no problem killing someone if they say the wrong thing to her.  She’ll just wait until they are sleeping to deliver the blow.

Motivation:  Most people’s motivations in the wasteland are centered around survival.  This is true for Lex as well.  However, Lex also realizes the power of a story and a name.  Drake’s legend, while based on truth, has been largely fabricated and exaggerated due Lex’s influence.  Part of the reason she pays for female prostitutes is because she knows they like to talk and spread gossip.

Equipment:  Lex learned a lot from Drake during their travels.  She adopted his, “one mind, any weapon,” philosophy and is proficient with most killing implements.  Her tools of choice are stealth weapons.  Knives, bows, and other projectiles are her bread and butter.  She does carry a rifle and pistol, but she normally uses them as a last resort.

Author’s Note:  Lex was a late addition to my book and required some sweeping rewrites (which I always advise against doing in a first draft).  I felt my book was a bit of a sausage fest and lacked the value of a female perspective.  But beyond just injecting a female character into the story to have one, I wanted a strong character that would add a level complexity to the story.

My concept work for Lex.  I digitally painted this in Photoshop using a photograph I took as a blueprint.  It’s rough, but I’m getting better (slowly).  This image is owned and created my me.  If you would like to use it contact me.

Lex also allowed me to reveal more of Drake’s personality and backstory.  What is also solid about her character is it enabled me to do this through dialogue and action, instead of info-dumping or weird internal dialogue mechanics.

I have grown fond of Lex because she is like Drake in many ways, but better than him in others.  I also like Lex’s character because she isn’t a victim.  She is a capable predator.  She doesn’t play the damsel and she doesn’t pretend to be in distress, she simply kicks ass and collects heads (mutant inbreeder heads).

Additionally, she makes Drake’s survival and legend in the wasteland a little more believable.  Especially in regards to it being coherent in the story world.  When I first wrote the story, I made the assumption his legend would spread by word-of-mouth.  But there were issues with that assumption.

Did a slaver go to random settlement and tell a story about the man who came back from the dead and starting killing them?  Why is a slaver in a settlement chilling out and not trying to enslave people?  A raider certainly wouldn’t be telling this story in a settlement, he/she would be killing people.  Is Drake the kind of character I want to portray as someone who would blather on about his own legend?  These were the issues I was dealing with in making the legend of Drake believable.

Lex allowed me to propagate Drake’s legend and backstory in a realistic way.  She also has the ability to be a stand-alone character with a powerful backstory.  The book could be rewritten from her point of view and likely be just as interesting.  For me, that’s a good thing.

That’s it for today’s wasteland news!  I hope you all stop by next Wednesday for more information about Wastelander: The Drake Legacy.  I’d love to know what you think about Lex’s character. (I’m sure Drake will be jealous she got a full-page character breakdown before him.)  Until then, keep hiding, keep hoarding, and as always – stay alive.

Wasteland Wednesday #2

*Language and Content Warning*

Unlike QE’s normal informational blog, Wasteland Wednesday will include foul language and post-apocalyptic nonsense.  I’m talking f-bombs, men with tentacle appendages, and joy-puking.

Welcome back to Wasteland Wednesday!  Last week we tipped our hat to Michail Mamaschew and revealed his progress on the kick-ass cover artwork he is doing for Wastelander: The Drake Legacy.  Also, Drake knocked down the doors of my imagination and raised a tiny bit of hell.  I wanted to talk about the world today, but I know for a fact Drake is currently occupied, so let’s take a Wednesday and peel away one of Drake’s layers.

Before we do that, let me share some updates with you all.  I’m happy to report that the cover artwork is finished.  Michail couldn’t have done a better job.  Unfortunately, I’m not going to give it to you all at once.  I’ll give it to you all in snippets and explain the relevance.  Can’t an author get a little foreplay?

Secondly, I’ve managed to snag Michail for illustrations in the complementing novella: The Wastelander Survival Guide.  I’ve taken a couple weeks off from my writing projects to recuperate, but during my “free” time I have been sketching out storyboards and will be passing those along to Michail so he can get cracking on the line art.

All right, let’s talk about Drake.  Here’s the original concept cover featuring Drake if you missed last week where he explained what he was doing in this scene.

The concept cover art for Wastelander: The Drake Legacy. This image is owned by Corey Truax. Any manipulation or use of this image without written permission from Corey Truax is not permitted.  Do you have a first-born?  Maybe we can barter – contact me. 

Today I wanted to direct your peepers to Drake’s left hand.  You’ll see something there.  A malformed snowball? A thirty year old puff pastry?  Nah, it’s a baseball.  Not just any baseball though.  A baseball named Sammy.  Here’s a better look for you.

When Drake’s journal was converted into books, Sammy was introduced to the reader in Chapter 1 of both.  Here is an unedited excerpt from Drake’s journal.

“On a side note, some people might think it strange to include a baseball in your wasteland survival loadout.  Some people are idiots.  Why huck a rock when you can sling a baseball?  What if you can’t find a rock?  You gonna toss some other piece of gear?  Why not always have an item with you designed to be thrown?  Anyways, I digress.  So with Sammy in hand, yes my baseball is named after the late Sammy Sosa, I tossed a nice high ball straight up into the treetops to garner some attention from the clueless hunters.”

-Drake

So now we have a name, Sammy, and a little bit of backstory from Drake.  Now Sammy is an important item to Drake.  Beyond basic function (throwing), the baseball serves other purposes.  If it didn’t, why would this Sammy be the 17th of its kind?  The first Sammy had an original signature on it from Sammy Sosa.  All the following baseballs had Sammy’s signature on them, too.  The only difference is Drake forged all of those.

I‘ll let you sort out the value of a baseball in the wasteland if/when you read the book.  But today, let’s look at how the wasteland can bust your balls (or lady parts), both literally and metaphorically.

• Sammy #1 Stolen when shot in head.
• Sammy #2 Fell into a fire.
• Sammy #3 Boiled and eaten to survive winter.
• Sammy #4 Discarded while Sammy #1 was being reclaimed.
• Sammy #5 Blown up.
• Sammy #6 Lost him.
• Sammy #7 Stolen while asleep.
• Sammy #8 Stitching gave up and he fell apart.
• Sammy #9 Fell into river.
• Sammy #10 Got drunk and wagered him.  Lost the wager.
• Sammy #11 Destroyed while Sammy #10 was being reclaimed.
• Sammy #12 Modified into explosive and destroyed.  It was glorious.
• Sammy #13 Inbreeder ate him.
• Sammy #14 Traded him for food.
• Sammy #15 Destroyed while Sammy #14 was being reclaimed.
• Sammy #16 Was crushed into a million tiny pieces.
• Sammy #17 Current Sammy.

That’s your sneak peak into Wastelander today.  I’m enjoying sharing some of this trivial information with all of you.  It’s tricky revealing information that is intuitive, but not going to spoil the book.  I’m doing my best to keep it entertaining though.

I‘m not sure what we’ll talk about next Wasteland Wednesday.  Heck, the world may be a wasteland by then.  Who knows.  Drake has his baseball and some other bits and bobs.  If the world was going kablooey tomorrow, what items would you take with you into the wastes?  Until then, keep hiding, keep hoarding, and as always – stay alive.

Wasteland Wednesday #1

*Language and Content Warning*

Unlike QE’s normal informational blog, Wasteland Wednesday will be full of foul language and post-apocalyptic nonsense.  I’m talking f-bombs, thrice-bosomed mutant women, and potential buckets of gore.

Corey:  Welcome to Wasteland Wednesday!  I have a very special guest here today to talk about what Wasteland Wednesday is and what we will be doing from here on out.  He rose from the dead, destroyed entire settlements, battled slavers, and butchered an army of renegade flesh eaters!  I’m very pleased to introduce…Drake Nelson!

Drake Nelson:  Eh?  The fuck is this? 

I’m using you as a marketing tool to sell books.

You suck inbreeder balls Corey.  First you create the fucking wasteland to absolutely bone me and now this?  I refuse. 

Refuse?  You one-eyed ingrate!  I created you.

…fuck you.  

* slams door shut on Corey’s imagination *

Ugh!  Frigging useless moronic piece of—

* door re-opens * 

I want bullets.  At least fifty .45 rounds.  You give me that and I’ll help you out with this idiotic sales pitch.  

Fine!

* Corey opens manuscript and types,  “Drake springs a monumental boner as his foot kicks a box of fresh .45 rounds hidden beneath some leaves.” *

Nice!  Got it.  Okay, about this stupid book of yours, maybe you should talk about the cover art you just got updated?  People seem to either wet or stretch their undies at the sight of sexy cover art.  

That’s actually not a bad idea.  After all, you are featured on the cover.  Maybe you could explain what you were doing in the scene?

That’s such a great idea Corey.  I’m in a sharing mood right now too!  Just kidding.  Adios.

*door slams shut again*

Drake?  Are you friggin kidding me?

*sighs*

I don’t have time for this.  All right folks!  We are going to continue on without that geriatric madman here to slow us down.  The next iteration of the cover art did come in.

Many moons ago I wrote a post about how I am currently collaborating with the amazing Michail Mamaschew.  The post featured some of his stellar artwork.  You can check it out here if you missed it.

In that post I revealed how Michail (who is working from Berlin) and I have been collaborating to make the exchange of information easier.  I also shared my original concept art.  Here is my doodle.

*door opens*  

You suck at drawing and your “doodle” is much smaller than this.   

*door closes again*

Screw you Drake!

* Corey locks door *

Okay.  So that was my attempt at the drawing the scene.  Michail recently emailed me his rough concept art for approval.  He added a superficial strip down the center of the image to approximate spine location for the print version.  If you consider the space to the right of the strip, this is what the electronic cover will morph into.

The concept cover art for Wastelander: The Drake Legacy. This image is owned by Corey Truax. Any manipulation or use of this image without written permission from Corey Truax is not permitted.

*door rattles*

Yeah, we know Drake, you look badass and Michail rocks.  This is the rough creation without any details added.  I, for one, am pretty stoked about how it’s coming along.

If I fail at traditional publishing, the print and typesetting company (something I’ll talk about in future post) I have selected for the indie route will create font and set the cover text.  Once I get the final product from Michail, I will create a cover draft with temporary text so you can see what it looks like in all of it’s wasteland glory.  That’s pretty much—

* door explodes and Drake jumps through giving thumbs up * 

That is one magnificent bastard right there! 

Humble as always.  Can you share at least one thing about the scene here?  People are curious man.  Do me a solid.

Well the image shows me making my approach to Last Chance.¹  A few minutes later I obliterated the place using only wit, balls, and fucking grit.  Or did I?  Maybe I ninja’d my way in.  Hell, maybe I’m a shit bag slaver myself!  Guess you’ll have to read this ass hats book if you’re curious.  Drake out!

* Drake runs off through broken door waving a middle finger at me *

I’m really sorry about all of this you all.  Next time I’ll try to get Collins, Jim, or Preacher to help me out.  Drake’s kind of a wildcard.  I guess you learned a little though, hopefully.

We’ll see what my broken brain comes up with next week.  Until then, keep hiding, keep hoarding, and as always – stay alive.

¹ Fun Fact!  The Last Chance slaver fortress is modeled after the Moundsville Penitentiary.  In fact, the story occurs in this region of the United States.  

For giggles and evaluation purposes…here’s a poll if you are bored.   

 

Wastelander: First Draft Finito

The first draft of Wastelander is finally finished!  It took a lot longer to finish than I thought it would.  I’ve been told first books are like that.  To highlight this point, here is a post from June 13, 2016 where I thought I would be done with the book in just a few weeks.  Whoops!

Now it’s time to shelf the beast and forget it exists.  When I come back to it in six plus weeks, I will do a one sitting read through (83,723 words), blast it with red ink, and rewrite the whole book all over again!  In the meantime, here are the things that will be happening:

• I should be getting my cover art in the very near future.  Michail is doing great work.
• Drafting of The Wastelander Survival Guide has begun.  This is the complementing novella to the book.
• The Wastelander Survival Guide is illustrated so I need to make a story board for this and search out a good line/ink artist for rough illustrations (the drawings are created by teenage character from the main book so they shouldn’t be too spiffy).
• I have a stack of books on writing query letters and I’ve already got a “shortlist” of agents to contact.  It’s time to start writing and polishing query letters.  Look forward to posts about this.
• I have pre-generated a series of teasers for the book. I’ll talk about this below.
• I have two short stories outlined that I want to write and submit to literary magazines.  One is science fiction and the other is popular culture.  I’m looking forward to writing outside of the Wastelander universe for a spell.
• I am picking up a new client (maybe even two) in September on the business side.  So I’m looking forward to jumping into to some new worlds.  Two clients is pretty much my monthly limit as general editing consumes a bunch of time.  Especially when we are working on novel sized projects.
• Raising my son (the tiny Thor) and helping my radioactive wife fulfill her military obligations.
• (Oh yeah, I write a daily blog post too…)

I mentioned above I have already generated some teasers for the book.  Here is the strategy I have decided to implement with releasing information about the book.  I didn’t want to release straight excerpts from the book.  Some publishers/agents frown on this and I’m attempting to publish traditionally.

My solution was Wasteland Wednesday.  This will be a series of shorts (under 1000 words) covering different elements from the book.  I will also be offering some graphic creations as well.  Some of the shorts will be little vignettes about characters, and some will provide you background/historic information regarding the world they live in.  I will share some of my character sheets, world building tools, and “behind the scenes” information as well.  Spoiler information will be redacted.

You’ll learn a lot of things about the wasteland universe through these.  However, none of it will spoil the book for you; it should enhance it.  I’m creating a new category for these shorts titled “Wastelander.”  This will keep it organized for current and future readers.  I’m redirecting most of my Wastelander universe content to this category for housekeeping purposes.

Most of us know that only about ten percent of what we know about our universes, characters, and cultural histories make it into the book.  This will allow me to share those aspects, and give me a place to compile them into a wiki of sorts.

That’s pretty much all the gears that are in motion right now.  I’m sure some monkey wrenches will start raining down from the heavens soon.  No worries though!  I’m wearing a viking helmet/hardhat.  I hope some of you are excited to learn about the Wasteland!  I’m thrilled to share.  Until tomorrow, keep reading, keep writing, and as always – stay sharp!

Cover Art: First Cont[r]act

*Note* All images, with the exception of my poorly drawn pencil sketch, come from the artist I am currently working with – Michail Mamaschew.  The images are owned and copyrighted by him.  You can view his artwork, bio, and contact information here (DeviantArt), here (his webpage), and here (ArtStation).

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A couple of days ago, I posted about my research into book cover art and my fruitless hunt for an artist (here).  As fortune would have it, I just landed a cover artist.  We had been playing email tag for a bit, sorting the details, and getting a feel for each others legitimacy.   This is an important first step, and something I will talk about in a minute.  Once we felt we were a fit,  I prepared the contract (also important), sent it out, and now we are off to the races.

It should be noted that it took me about 10+ failed attempts to land an artist.  I thought today I would share why I had such trouble, how to avoid these problems, how I found a creative solution to relay my vision, and give some shout-outs to my new artist/co-conspirator.

First, take a look at the image below.  This is what would happen if I created the cover art myself.  No, my baby boy Thor didn’t draw this.  It is, in fact, a Corey original.  I thought it would be nice to post the before and see what happens when Michail takes a swing at it.

It’s pretty obvious looking at this crudely crafted drawing as to why I needed a cover artist.  No matter how crude, it was an important first step.  Deciding what the cover should feature.

I chose this scene because the location is central to my story, it features my books protagonist, Drake Nelson, and also contains some other important details.  These details are not readily visible in this amateur version, but I will make it clearer in a minute or so.

My first step was to research cover art in my genre and cover art in general.  Again, this post talks about that process.  I did a lot of, “post apocalyptic,” “wasteland,” “apocalypse,” “nuclear fallout,” internet image searches.  If I could trace art I liked back to the artist, I contacted them.  I then went to websites like, Deviantart, Freelancer, Artnet, and Artists&Clients to name a few.

The more I searched, the more I began noticing certain styles of artwork appealed to me.  Largely because these styles of art reflected my feelings about the book I was writing.  Darker painterly styles appealed to me.  Once I isolated a style, I began contacting artists.

This is the next thing to consider.  When looking at an artist portfolio, look for examples of cover art, or a resume saying they know how to format for cover art.  The first few artists I contacted, while they had undeniably beautiful artwork, weren’t sure how to do what I was asking for, didn’t know anything about formatting for cover art (digital cover vs. print cover), or the language barrier prevented effective communication.

This should be obvious, but the language barrier is a legitimate issue.  An artist is going to be taking your words and converting them into art.  If you can’t effectively communicate those words, you are destined for failure.

My initial mistake was falling in love with artwork and artists, then playing email tag with artists who wrote in very broken English.  This led to frustration on both ends.  I don’t say this to be cruel, but when email is your only means of communication, and basis for the art to be created, it needs to be clear on both ends in this context.

Contracts.  These killed the next few contestants in the cover art game.  If the artist isn’t willing to sign a contract, you shouldn’t be willing to pay them.  You need to protect your investment.  Worse, the artist could use copyrighted material, and if you don’t have a contract to protect yourself it will be on your head when the real content owner comes knocking.  Or absolutely worse case scenario, you publish, the book does well, then the artist claims he/she owns the rights to the cover and demands additional compensation.

Here is an article about this very real issue from the Independent Book Publishers Association.  And from CreativIndie, here is one place to find a basic template for a book cover contract.

With all this being said, I am now working with Michail Mamaschew.  Like I mentioned in the intro, he created all the art you see in this blog today.  When we first started emailing back and forth the scope of his questions, professionalism, portfolio, and obvious knowledge all gave me that warm fuzzy feeling.  Also, his dark painterly style absolutely captivated me.

Then the real challenge came.  Aligning our visions.  How do I take the horrible pencil sketch I made and allow that to make sense to an artist?  I could provide a chapter from my book that describes the scene (again, a contract will protect any emailed story material from being released to a third party, so don’t send a chapter until the contract is signed).  I could offer some photographs.  Or I could write a giant email.  I did all of these things, but I also created a Prezi.  A Prezi is simply a wiz-bang version of a PowerPoint if you are unfamiliar.  It’s a free program and they have free classes on the website (and you can check Youtube) on how to use it.

This is what I came up with.  That link will take you to the Prezi I made to sort out some of those creative details.  You can make it full screen and use the arrows at the bottom to navigate forward and backward, or use the arrows on your keyboard.

Hopefully you found some useful information regarding finding, selecting, and communicating with a cover artist here today.  Regardless, I was very excited to share progress on this front.  I will keep you all up-to-date with incoming concept art and progress on what is being generated for Wastelander.

Do you have cover artists you’ve worked with in the past that was stellar?  Have you had bad experiences?  Are you still sorting out the process?  I’d love to hear from you all about it.  Until tomorrow, keep reading, keep writing, and as always – stay sharp!

Book, Blog, and Thanks

I wanted to take a day to address a couple really amazing things happening in my life right now.  My progress on Wastelander: The Drake Legacy and the continued growth of my blog page (thanks to viewers like you).

First off, a massive thank you to all of you who swing by my blog, like, leave comments, or just simply give it a read.  I started this page in June, and in a little more than a month, I’m happy to report almost 300 followers, with more than 100 views a day.  I don’t know if in blogging terms that’s a big deal or not, but to me it’s huge.  Especially in the span of month and some change.  I couldn’t be more appreciative.

An extra big thanks to Akaluv (A.M. Bradley), kernerangelina (Where Dragons Reside), Sheila M. Good (Cow Pasture Chronicles), Grandtrines (Still Another Writer’s Blog), ascreasey (Mind the Dog Writing Blog), and M.L.S.Weech for your consistent reading, words of encouragement, and sharing.  You all rock.

I know this list of contributors is incomplete, but I just snagged the top six comment givers (as per my stat page) to keep the list from getting out of control.  While I am highlighting these six, every single one of your individual likes and comments help keep me motivated to push out these daily posts.  Regardless, if you are writing or reading, the bloggers listed above are some great people to follow.

Now I’m going to point you all toward my upcoming book, Wastelander: The Drake Legacy, which I’ve added to my blog layout with a teaser.  There are still a lot of things to do, but the first draft is very close to being finished.  If you’ve been following my blog for a while (you’re awesome) you might be thinking, “But Corey, you posted here you were almost done!”  I hear you.  It’s a classic example of when the story outgrows your outline.

The idea for this book came to me shortly after my son Thor was born.  He wasn’t gaining weight quickly enough so my wife and I split the day into two 12-hour shifts to ensure he got food whenever he needed it.  She took 6am-6pm and I took 6pm-6am.  It was during those quiet early morning hours of December 2015 when Drake came to me.  I grabbed a notebook and transcribed a rough outline.  Now about seven months later, Drake has taken me into parts of the wasteland I didn’t know existed and done things that flabbergast me as his creator.

I‘m currently talking to artists to create artwork for the cover.  Also there is the novella, The Wastelander Survival Guide, that will release with the book.  The novella is going to be heavily illustrated so I’m looking for an artist for this as well.  Fun times are being had.

That’s the update!  Tomorrow we will get back on track with writing tips and other tomfoolery.  Until then, keep reading, keep writing, and as always – stay sharp!