Tag: Dungeons and Dragons

The First Draft for “Dragons in the Dungeon” is Complete

by Diane, posted in Dragons in the Dungeon

Around 1:00 am Friday morning, I turned off the computer and went to bed. I had stayed up late to finish the first draft of Dragons in the Dungeon. Although I had written the final scene twice, it still didn’t feel right. I had to sleep on it.

I woke six hours later and had a clearer image. I rewrote the last scene, didn’t like it and wrote it again. This version satisfied me. It’s the basic form I was searching for, and it officially completed the first draft of this stand-alone traditional fantasy novel.

The word count stands at 154,122. It’s roughly 431 pages (4 inches by 6 inches). It’s broken down into 33 chapters with almost all of them having a second scene. Each chapter has a title.

Continue reading “The First Draft for “Dragons in the Dungeon” is Complete” →
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Fantasy Friday Write-a-thon

by Diane, posted in Dragons in the Dungeon

Join me tonight on Twitter where I’m going to add 3,000 words to the novel I’m writing, Dragons in the Dungeon. I’m online shortly after nine o’clock, after the goats are tucked in, with tea in hand, ready to write and share my thoughts.

Currently, I have 85,639 words written about the adventure taking place in Lachspeur of Yore. My goal is 88,639 by the end of the day. I first thought the novel would be only 100,000 words, but I think I’ll need 120,000 to tell the story.

Follow me on Twitter, where I share progress of my novel writing, images of castles, dragons and such, and all things fantasy. No politics. No current day events. Nothing but fantasy. It’s my fantasy realm to escape to. The modern day doesn’t exist there.

“Dragons in the Dungeon” Character: Cormac

by Diane, posted in Dragons in the Dungeon

Cormac is the first character you’ll meet in Dragons in the Dungeon. After writing more than 76,000 words, I’ve gotten to know the young man fairly well. In the spirit of Dungeons and Dragons, here’s what he rolled.

  • Strength: 18
  • Dexterity: 15
  • Constitution: 12
  • Intelligence: 14
  • Wisdom: 13
  • Charisma: 10

His chosen race is human. His profession is fighter, except he’s lost his confidence. Due to lack of confidence, his charisma is poor. He makes bad decisions and doesn’t learn from them. However, he is strong and has a sharp eye.

General Characteristics

His proper name is Ryan McCormac, but he calls himself Cormac in the fantasy realm. He’s 25 years old, has brown hair that reaches his shoulders and a mixture of pale green and grey eyes.

He’s a tad selfish, looks out only for himself and avoids danger like it’s the plague undertaker.

Back Story

From what I have gathered so far, Cormac started playing Dungeons and Dragons when he was 12 years old. He fell in love with the game and gravitated to the friends who also loved it. He had a tree fort out back of his house his dad had built and every chance they got, they’d play the game there.

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Fantasy Friday Night Write-a-thon

by Diane, posted in Dragons in the Dungeon

A lifetime ago, I gathered with friends on Friday nights at the Boys and Girls Club in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, and sat before an excellent Dungeon Master. He was a wiry fellow, tall and lanky. Throw a cloak on him and he’d have made the perfect wizard. From 1979 to about 1987, he took us on adventures with the roll-playing game Dungeons and Dragons.

We often went on certain adventures in real life inspired by the game, and we all returned safe and sound if not a little muddy and bruised. After all, I lived surrounded by forest and when we went to our camp, which we did often enough, I went deeper into the woods, where bats filled the night sky, fairies hid in bushes and the marshmallow man lurked.

In honour of those nights of D&D, each Friday I’m hold a write-a-thon and staying up until at least midnight, tea in hand, to write. Last Friday, I shut things down just before one o’clock because we had a wicked thunder and lightning storm.

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“Dragons in the Dungeon” takes place in what era?

by Diane, posted in Dragons in the Dungeon

To listen to this blog post recorded by Anchor, click here. If you want to hear it on Spotify, click here. No, this is not my voice, but he reads very well. I hope to be set up to record my own voice next week.

Prefer to read? Here it is…

The original Dungeons and Dragons game was released in 1974 as a box set of three booklets. The creators were a circle of midwestern mages named Gary Gygax, Jeff Perren and Dave Arneson. The basic set arrived on the scene in 1977. This was probably around the time my Dungeon Master discovered the game. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons – Dungeon Masters Guide by Gygax was published in 1979.

I’ve had this book for more than 40 years.

I didn’t start playing until 1979, which means most of my experiences took place in the 1980s.

I’ve decided that’s where this fantasy novel takes place. At least when this world is referenced. The fantasy land where the adventure happens is squarely set in some archaic time similar to mediaeval times. That means horses, outhouses, dirt roads, castles, swords, daggers and wagons, and no jeans or cowboy hats.

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The title of my fantasy novel is…

by Diane, posted in Dragons in the Dungeon

Prefer to listen to this podcast?

No problem. I’m giving Anchor and Spotify a whirl.

To listen to this blog post recorded by Anchor, click here. If you want to hear it on Spotify, click here. Let me know what you think about it. No, this is not my voice, but he reads very well. I hope to be set up to record my own voice next week.

Prefer to read? Here it is…

Confession Time: I didn’t think hard about the title of my upcoming fantasy novel. One might say it landed in my brain and sat there while a story took shape. It started with a character whose name I had yet to hear. He was thrown into a dungeon rather roughly by the guards. Of course, he cursed at them. What else was a fellow to do?

A voice spoke behind him, and he turned to see a woman sitting on the stone floor wearing only a thin dress. Her matted hair hung in front of her face. I didn’t know who she was or why she was there. I knew only that he’d rescue her when he escaped.

For about three weeks, mumblings came and went in my head. Then one night, I saw the woman in my dreams. She was reaching for the steel handle of a door at a modern-day shop. The door wouldn’t open, and then I knew from where she came.

I feared the story would soon leave me and find someone else to write it, so I began. With the title. It was perfect. It spoke of the game I played in the 1980s, the game this story is based on: Dungeons and Dragons.

The title of the stand-alone fantasy novel I’m writing is…

Dragons in the Dungeon.

Currently, I have 37,559 words written.

LAUNCH DATE: Thursday March 23, 2023.

What inspired my latest story?

by Diane, posted in News Flash

Prefer to listen to this post?

No problem. I’m giving Anchor and Spotify a whirl.

To listen to this blog post recorded by Anchor, click here. If you want to hear it on Spotify, click here. Let me know what you think about it. No, that is not my voice, but he does read very well.

Prefer to read? Here it is…

Inspiration for stories comes from every direction for me. The inspiration for the current fantasy novel I’m writing came from having discussions with others, who, like me, played the original Dungeons and Dragons roll-playing game in the early 1980s. Instead of roaming the streets of our community and possibly getting into trouble on a Friday night when I was a teenager, I gathered with friends at our Boys and Girls Club. There, the director Peter Mortimer played Dungeon Master and sent us on quests and adventures.

From the age of 13 until about 18 or 19, we played every Friday night. Friendships were formed, skills were mastered and we walked away better for the experience.

While my first fantasy novel Shadows in the Stone was inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, it’s firmly set in a fantasy world of its own. The story I’m currently writing straddles both: this world and the fantasy world. It’s something I’ve always thought about doing but never did.

I want to have a blast writing it, and I’m going to share this journey with you. If you’ve ever played Dungeons and Dragons, I hope these posts and the eventual novel rekindles fond memories.

Currently, I have 33,079 words written for my current fantasy novel that will receive a title shortly.

Dungeons and Dragons Inspired “Shadows in the Stone”

by Diane, posted in Castle Keepers

My love for fantasy started when I was a child. I had always loved magical things, fairies and worlds of wonder. While I may not have understood this when I was really young, by the time I was 13 years old, I knew I wanted to learn more and if I could, experience some of the magic.

My path to better understanding magical worlds began at that age because I started playing a role-playing game called Dungeons and Dragons. A leader in our neighbourhood had played and became our dungeon master. He was perfect for the role.

Stumbling my way through my first campaigns, I learned about different races (human, dwarf, elf, hauflin [halfling in this game] ) and their attributes and shortcomings. I learned about casting spells, magical items and magic in general. At first, I read the dungeon master’s copy of Dungeon Masters Guide, then I bought my own to keep as a reference and so I could read it at home. I studied this book and what went into this game as much if not more than the subjects at school. In fact, I recall one day when our dungeon master walked into the Lounge of the Boys and Girls club, found me and few other members studying his books, and said, “If you guys put this much effort into studying for school, you’d all get 100s.”

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