2021/01/12 by Natalie Rivener

Expanding Yrthull

It is time to move forward! I am expanding Yrthull to include new characters, places and plots. Why? Because I am working on the first novel (or perhaps novella) set in Yrthull!

Until Stormbringer is ready, I hope to reward my ardent fans with tasters and teasers (small snippets of scenes I’m working on). Check out the new content under Yrthull>>Scion of the Myrrh or follow this link. So far, there are character portraits and some basic character information (I’m trying to avoid spoilers).

You might wonder what’s taking me so long…well, I can think of three answers:

Planning and research

This is the part of writing that non-writers tend to forget about. Though, in my experience, there are also writers who forget about it. Hahaha. I’ve got hoards of planning and I’ve spent a vast number of hours doing research.

This is a small portion of the planning I’ve done over the last two decades…

Expanding Yrthull — Maps and location planning.

A single character’s appearance changing because of advances in backstory.

Being a mom

It might sound stupid to those who don’t have kids, but those little critters keep you crazy busy and distracted…especially when they’re still in primary school. There’s homework, requests for snacks, requests for drinks (you’d think they would just get water from a tap but noooo), nagging for more screen time, nagging because dinner’s not ready yet, nagging for toys, pouting about things not going their way, fights that I have referee because neither of them will admit to starting it… Sigh.

Aaaand then the ‘Rona happened. Hahahahahahaha. I didn’t even try to write during 2020. I have 2000 words to show for the whole year.

The good news on this front is that my kids have learned leave me alone a little more.

Procrastination

This is actually a horrifying cycle involving much anxiety, self-doubt, insecurity and frustration. All creative types suffer from this.

Let’s do this!

‘Rona won’t be gone any time soon but we can change with the times, n’est pas? Here’s to a new year where surfing the pandemic is the new normal.

2019/09/12 by Natalie Rivener

Snake for Argannon

It is high time for some action! Go get yourself immersed in my latest short story – Snake for Argannon: A Scroll of Yrthull’s End (which also featured in CEA Past Your Reality Volume 2). It is set in Ruoff which is on the other side of Yrthull to Nirhee, where More Than a Fish takes place, and it is set a year or so earlier.

When Prince Zehnnar’s elder brother, Remnarez, returns badly hurt from a sortie against their greedy northern neighbours, Zehnnar has to step up as the next in line for the Arganian throne. Problem is, he’s never held a sword or attended a council meeting in his life, but his brother will never let him live it down if he doesn’t at least try.

Please leave reviews on Goodreads and have a look at my other stories. They provide some background to my first full-length series, Scion of the Myrrh, which is set about five years after Beyond. Keep an eye out for news on Stormbringer, the first instalment of this series.

Click on the images below to purchase the stories on Amazon.

Yrthull:

Chronicles of Yithnisia:

Stand-alone story:

2018/11/13 by Natalie Rivener

2nd JOE Indie Pop-up Book Fair

Has time really flown by this fast? It’s time for the second JOE Indie Pop-up Book Fair! This time, Ryhen E. Knight will be standing in to sell The Flight of the Phoenix and Phoenix Fire.

Get yourself to Alkantrant Public Library (cnr Daventry and Lyburn Streets, Lynwood, Pretoria) on 17 November 2018 between 10:00 and 13:00 to show some support to local authors.

If in doubt about the details, you can check out the event on Facebook.

2018/11/12 by Natalie Rivener

CEA Beyond your Reality is out!

CEA Beyond your Reality 2 is out today! Go and get your copy to make sure you don’t miss out on this great new fantasy anthology.

Authors featured in this anthology are:

Cynthia and Roy C. Booth– No Good Deed Goes Unbetrayed
Donna Marie West – Dorothy and the Orbs
Grannd Kane – Stranger’s Shadow
Angelique Pacheco – Psychedelic Mystery Solvers
Natalie Rivener – A Snake for Argannon: A Scroll of Yrthull’s End
Ryhen E Knight – Odin is Coming
Shane Porteous – A Hard Kill to Swallow
Vittorio Leonardi – Wand

My contribution is a Scroll of Yrthull’s End called A Snake for Argannon.

Buy your copy now!

2018/11/08 by Natalie Rivener

CEA Past your Reality 2 – pre-orders open!

It is time for new stories and expanding our horizons! Celenic Earth Publications have put together a fantasy anthology by writers from across the globe. CEA Past your Reality is available for pre-orders on Amazon! Why do you want it? I have contributed one of the Scrolls of Yrthull’s End to this international anthology – A Snake for Argannon.

This short story is set about about a year before More Than a Fish and it takes place on the opposite end of Yrthull in the Silver City of Argannon.

Revamp!

It has been long overdue and I feel a bit sheepish that it took me this long but I have finally gotten around to publishing all my short stories (so far) on Amazon. If all goes according to plan, I’ll even be adding a sixth to my repertoire – Slave for Argannon.

Thanks to my dedicated designer, Ida van Os, I have newly revamped covers for all my short stories! If you still need to get your hands on one or more of my stories (or you just like the new covers), just click on the images below. They will take you directly to their corresponding pages on Amazon so you can buy them.

The Mystic – Kindle edition

01_Beyond_A Scroll of the Scion of the Myhrr

Beyond – Kindle edition

More Than a Fish – Kindle edition

05_Captive_A Scroll from The Days of the Diaspora

Captive – Kindle edition

The Gravic Exacerbation – Kindle edition

Whether you liked it or hated it, please leave reviews!

2018/07/12 by Natalie Rivener

JOE Indie Pop-up Book Fair

The good people from Just One Earth are hosting an indie book fair at Alkantrant Library in Pretoria this Saturday – 14 July 2018! If you are in Gauteng, come have a look at what the local authors have on offer. 10% of all proceeds will be donated to Alkantrant Library.

If you’ve missed out on your copy of The Flight of the Phoenix or Phoenix Fire, this will be your opportunity to get your hands on them AND have them signed by me and Ryhen E Knight. I have it on good authority that Linzé Brandon will also be there, which means you may also be able to get one of the last few copies of STORM!

Because of my awesome cover designer who is full of handy suggestions, I will also have QR codes at the fair that will link you directly my separate short stories on Amazon! So, if you prefer eBooks, come along anyway and get your hands on electronic copies of all my books too!

Date: Saturday, 14 July 2018
Time: 10:00-14:00
Place: Alkantrant Library – Cnr Daventry and Lynburn Streets, Pretoria, South Africa

2018/06/14 by Natalie Rivener

Writer’s block

It’s kind of funny. I never thought of published writers as being capable of suffering from something as mundane as writer’s block. Obviously, they’ve pumped out gazillions of words and keep doing so. They can’t possibly have those moments where they sit in front of their computer and nothing happens!

The truth is: It’s something all authors deal with. Those who publish many books during their career are just better at it than those who don’t. If you look online for solutions to writer’s block, you’ll find all kinds of advice, some useless, some interesting and, at times, some of it thoroughly distressing.

The tough love versions usually claim that you can’t afford writer’s block if you plan to make money with writing. Though I do subscribe to something along that line, I think it is a bit unforgiving…especially considering that writers form part of the artist community – a bunch of emotional weirdos who need to feel all the feelings.

The other end of the scale offers all kinds of soothing solutions. I often find them wishy washy and that they really just lead to distractions, that lead to more distractions, that lead to more distractions… You get the idea.

What I have to offer falls somewhere in the middle. To my mind, they are more practical and offer real solutions. In fact, I no longer feel like writer’s block is too much of an obstacle.

Solutions to writer’s block

Planning/developing your plot
Planning/developing plot is a writing activity that is constructive and it often leads to the very solution you needed to get through the writing that caused the block in the first case. Look at where the story is going; what the characters and antagonists are doing; what the characters and antagonists want out of life/this adventure/this moment; what has happened and what it implies for the resolution of the story. You may discover that your main character actually wouldn’t be doing what they are doing or that the timeline is out of sync.
Writing on a different part/scene/chapter of your story
I sometimes find that I don’t know how to move a scene forward or just don’t know how to get to a satisfying resolution. That is when I look around in my story for another scene or chapter that I already have ideas for. Maybe I use what I’m writing now, maybe I don’t. What I do often end up with is a piece of dialogue I really enjoy or I realise that there is foreshadowing that I’d like to edit into the beginning.
Write on a different story
Some people call this chasing plot bunnies. I sometimes write on a different story just to get my brain juices flowing again. Having to deal with a different set of characters refreshes my creativity and I often find that it helps me get over the block.
Write through it
Type whatever comes to mind. It’s going to feel terrible. What you are writing may be terrible. Writing through the writer’s block is not about pretty prose or creating a charming turn of phrase, it’s about discipline and maintaining momentum. It can be equated to breastfeeding through mastitis. You won’t want to do it. It will be unpleasant and downright painful. You may want to give up all the way through. But, if you stick with it, you will get to the other side and you will be stronger. In fact, I think this is the solution the tough love writers are actually suggesting.

Things that may feel like solutions but aren’t

Go make coffee.
Unless you are thirsty or need caffeine, this will just send you to the bathroom more often.
Tidy your house/office/room/desk.
It has been proven that tidying up makes it easier to think because of the symbolic cleansing of your mind. But this is time consuming and won’t get writing done.
Take a walk or exercise.
Stick to a standard exercise schedule. Shoving it in because of writer’s block will just provide you with more distractions.
Take a bath.
Hopefully you are a water-wise individual and you know that bathing more than once a day (especially if you lead a sedentary lifestyle) is wasteful.
Watch a movie.

These false solutions are like drugs. When you start out, they feel good and you want a hit only now and then but, soon, you end up doing it all the time. You start coming up with lists of excuses for not writing. You stop writing for weeks on end.

This post is based on my experience. I have tried all of these solutions, good and bad, and I hope that you benefit from what you read here.

Good luck!

Feel free to leave a comment!

2018/05/31 by Natalie Rivener

Developing a story concept

Story concept development, Natalie? Isn’t that the first thing you have done before you start writing? Everybody has a story concept! The trouble is just that, really. Whether they have developed their story concept sufficiently is an entirely different story. *cough cough, ahem*

I recently had to develop a story concept and it reminded me again how much work goes into it. Whether you develop it before you start writing (planning) or during (pantsing), development will have to happen.

So, what do I mean by developing a story concept?

Let’s say, you want to write a story about a guy, let’s call the guy Hanus, who discovers the truth behind why his older brother always been so hard on him.

Well, that’s really boring why would you want to write about that?

Story concept development one: He’s the heir to the throne of Snahuek.

Wait! I thought you said he’s a younger brother. General succession rules say the throne goes to the firstborn.

Story concept development two: He’s not a younger brother at all, the “older brother” is really his tutor who was preparing him to rule.

Okay…that does explain the succession issue. But how on earth did everybody hide his identity from him?

Story concept development three: The king and queen of Snahuek had Hanus spirited away when he was born.

What? No parent would willingly send their child away with someone else…and they need a successor.

Story concept development four: Because the kingdom of Snahuek was vulnerable from protracted border wars with neighbouring countries that wanted their silver mines, the king and queen were desperate.

Nope. Still not convinced.

Story concept development five: The queen bore twins – a boy and a girl. They did not tell their people of the second child. They kept the princess with them, already starting talks with their most powerful neighbour to arrange an alliance through marriage. Their son, and true heir, they had spirited away, so the alliance would not be hindered and, one day, he could return and continue the royal line and save Snahuek from being absorbed by the neighbouring country because of the alliance.

Huh. That actually makes sense.

Now, you see how the backstory has been developed. It’s not fully developed but it’s a long shot from the initial idea. Depending on what kind of story you mean to tell, this backstory could be the piece of information that gives the main character the edge he needs to overcome the antagonist in the final face off.

Each aspect of the story will have to be developed like this. The story concept or theme, characters, setting, story line and conflict. Leave one of these un(der)developed and you have a story that most readers won’t finish.

Why is it so important to know where the story is going? It’s so you can foreshadow the resolution throughout the exposition. What on earth is foreshadowing? You know how, the first time you watch a movie, you just enjoy the ride…but, the second time, it’s like you’re seeing a whole new movie? You see the knife that was used in the murder lying on the kitchen counter. You see the murderer talking to someone in the background and then scowl at the victim as they walk away. You notice small things that foretell the ending. That is foreshadowing.

Feel free to leave comments and questions!

2018/05/24 by Natalie Rivener

A Geek of All Trades – podcast

As a writer just starting the journey to worldwide fame and celebrity (oh, see how my eyes glitter at the thought of receiving my first Nebula award…which, of course, will only happen once I actually write enough to get nominated for such things), it often feels like being doomed to the depths of endless obscurity. But, if an unsolicited request for a podcast comes along, it feels like the light just got switched on at the end of the obscurity tunnel.

While I was busy preparing for the Phoenix Fire launch at The Nexus, I was approached, much to my surprise, by Douw and Greg from Geek of All Trades for a podcast. It was a clear sign that word was spreading about the local writers and that we were, in fact, actually doing the thing – you know, writing and actually publishing the results.

So it happened that Ann-Elize de Ridder (author of Layers of Darkness) and I were sat down with our gracious and, oh, so punny hosts a few weeks before our launch at The Nexus. I’m afraid I was a bit less than eloquent on the day but, luckily, Ann-Elize was on fire and helped my floundering self through the challenges.

Have a listen to our wild race through space <<here>>.