Greetings and salutations. It is I, Graham.

Time to open Pandora’s Box with this particular blog post. I loved the new Sandman series on Netflix. Absolutely loved it. No complaints at all. I even loved the two little side-episodes at the end of the series. The second one, Calliope, did bring up an issue that I have never had an issue with, and therefore have a hard time understanding. I mean, I get it. I just never experience it. That is the issue of not knowing what to write. Sure, I often have issues with motivation, just summoning the energy to put pen to page. But I always know what it is I am supposed to be writing.

I’m currently writing a side project short story. When it finishes, I have two very good ideas of what to write next, and thought of another incredible idea while talking to a friend last night. So now I can’t wait to finish this current story so that I can struggle with which great idea to write next. I have the same “problem” with our novels. Clevenger and I are doing a bit of side writing, maybe even switching it to our primary writing. This would give us a standalone book that we might try to publish first, before finishing the enormity of our four book series. But even with this new, second idea, I have a minimum of five other solo book ideas to write without Clevenger, sitting in the wings, just waiting for me to have time to develop them.

I have an older character named Cristobal that I played in a fantasy roleplaying game. His backstory was several pages, and he was a fun, deep character. His story would make for an amazing book. His concept is basically that he is a young guild assassin who grew up on the streets in a dog-eat-dog world, and knows nothing else. His guild kidnaps the wrong noble’s son, who’s family writes him off rather than ransoming him back. While babysitting him, our plucky assassin starts falling for him. Will he do what’s right? Or will he be too locked into his underworld life to betray his guild and the only friends he has known?

Just out of high school I made my first attempt at writing a novel. It was a fantasy novel heavily influenced by Terry Brook’s Shannara series. However, while influenced, it was definitely its own thing. While it was a bit more simplistic at the time, due to my writing skills back then, I think it still has potential, and I would love to see what I could do with it now. It is a warfare and invasion story, but with the invasion army coming from another world, rather than just another country.

If I ever have the time to do it, I have a pretty solid idea for a series of middle grade fantasy novels. A running series of shorter interconnected books definitely targeting that 9-13 year old audience. It would follow two boys, one from a country village, another from a big city, and would detail them getting to know one another and having a series of adventures together, as they learn what skills the other has, and teach the other what they know. It would be set in Sianan, the same world as our mainstream fantasy series, so there would be lots of weird humanoid races and monsters to entertain the readers, without talking down to them.

Another idea I have both fascinates and frightens me. As in, I love the idea to death (pun intended, you’ll get it in a minute), but it is in a writing area I recently mentioned is a big creative weakness of mine. I really want to try writing a Gothic horror vampire story in a modern setting. I love the idea of creating my own vampire story, and I have ideas. Oh boy, do I have ideas. But as I have mentioned, I am terrible about writing or gaming in any modern world genres. That being said, I really want to try.

Finally, we come to my passion project. I’ve mentioned before, but I listen to a lot of Kpop. One of my top bands is one called EXO-K. Technically the band is EXO, and there are two half? sibling? partner? bands. EXO-K performs in Korean, with Korean members, and EXO-M sings in Mandarin, with Chinese members. Occasionally they will perform together for big projects, but often they go with kind of a friendly rivalry -kind of vibe. EXO-K has a particular song called Mama. In the music video, the band members are all shown as having various elemental powers. However, throughout the video, the members keep seeing other people in various reflections: mirrors, pools of water, mirages, etc. The people they are seeing are members of EXO-M, but they are presented as if they are something like doppelgangers from an alternate dimension. I desperately want to play with this concept, about two mirror worlds that each have alternate versions of one another’s citizens. I would love to build a love story between two individuals from the different worlds, who meet because the world A versions of the characters have the skills and resources to solve the issue in world B, and vice versa.

Anyway, there you have my back burner of story ideas. Somebody clone five more versions of me, so that I can write all five stories at once, while also living a life. Haha. But until that happens…

Don’t forget to love one another.

Graham