Update V

    Yes I know, "Enough with the goddamn updates!" I imagine you saying because my ego tells me to think that. But as I have said I want to keep you updated on my progress. Now, while it's true I haven't started re-writing yet I have completed pretty much everything for the main characters and back story. I am now starting to plot out the storyline, so I'm hoping to get far enough in that in the next little while that I can start writing the first couple chapters. During that time I was also thinking of starting a new prologue because logically, that should be done very first anyway.

    Now, I started this not only as a way to share my writing but to also get feedback, critiques, opinions, and suggestions from readers. So I want to say that once I start posting parts of the story please feel free to post any thoughts and opinions. And I won't delete negative criticism, unless it's obviously trolling.

    One last thing, I'm bad with names and titles, let's just get that out of the way, with that being said, I have no idea what the title of this story should be. That's it, my cards are on the table, so with that I ask you "What should I name this story?". Yes, it is a bit early for people who have no idea what is going on in the story to throw out names, but what I ask of you is to throw your suggestions at me, be it now or wait until portions of the story get posted so you have a better idea. Full disclosure as well, if I happen to choose a name submitted by someone we can work out some sort of compensation.

    In closing, I think my next update (hopefully the last before I start writing/posting the story) will include some details about the story ie: background, character details, basic plot. I'll work something out. Alright, I better get to it, take care.

Update IV

    Over the last...week and a half? Yeah, I think it's been a week and a half. On second thought, maybe two weeks. Give me a second, I'm going to double check. Yeah, two weeks. So over the last two weeks I've completely written the back-story to the main story and got a good idea of where the story is going. Not only that, but I also have the character developments done for the two main characters: Simon "Sam" Hawley & Gabriel "Gage" Russak. I can't really divulge too much at this time but I'm getting close. In addition to those two I will be keeping JACINTO and refining his character.

    My main focus for the next few days, possibly weeks, is to completely develop the remainder of the main characters I intend to use and to also flesh out some of the main plot points. I am close, I even rewrote part of the prologue already (somewhat similar to the previous one). Before I continue writing the new prologue and get too ahead of myself I plan on getting everything completed that I need. So it should be soon (trust me, I'm getting kind of annoyed myself that I have to put it off so much).

    I know this won't mean much to any of you out there, but since I started writing the back-story it slowly morphed from one idea I never had before to one that included, and heavily relied upon and built on, a story idea I had about 10 years ago. I tried writing the story back then but because I was so young I wasn't able to properly build the story slowly and it became a mess of me rushing the characters to events I thought were great ideas. This lead me to completely ruining the story and scrapping it. Like I said though, I resurrected the idea to fit in with this one, and fit in with this one it did! I can't tell you how excited I am about getting this out to you guys. Until then I will keep you updated and I hope you enjoy the story as much as I'm enjoying developing it right now.

Update III

Over the last couple days I've gone completely back and started working out the backstory and character details to make writing easier so once I start again it will be a lot faster and easier to work. Unfortunately, this means I am going to have to completely rewrite the parts I've already posted. This will be for the better though. A few of the characters we have already met in the beginning will no longer be there, maybe later on in the story but they won't be as big of a part in the story. The other characters have been renamed (I was always bad with names and never really liked the ones I had originally decided on) and have had some other minor changes to them.

I'm not yet at the stage to start my rewrites yet but I am getting close and am looking forward to how this story will turn out. I don't plan on completely abandoning what I have already written and posted. Although it may no longer be a part of the story I have been trying to tell, I think I can turn it into it's own story.

Update II

    It has been too long since I have done an update or even posted a part of my writing. I am truly sorry to all of those that are interested in this story and my writings. I'm not here to tell you I have abandoned the project, that is not the case at all. Perhaps a little context. Right around my last update my fiance and I began the process of buying a house, now without getting into too many details I'll just say, the process of picking, buying, packing, moving, unpacking, sorting, and settling in has been extremely time consuming. For any of you who follow my poetry blog you will see that it has caused me to not be able to keep up to date with posting my poems on there.

    Today I went back over all my notes and plans for this book and realized I didn't have a clear enough vision for exactly where it was going or the backstory. Since it's my day off I took the time to go over and try to zero in on exactly what I want this book and story to be about. Thankfully I was quite successful today and have a vision that is immensely clearer and will be easier to follow and execute. Sadly, I will have to go over the parts I have already written and will have to do some edits and rewrites.

    Now I'm not promising any actual date of when this will all actually get posted up and I'll be back on track with this but I am promising that I am starting to work on this as full time as I can now. I really want to thank you for your patience and I hope you will all forgive me and will continue to read. I am very excited about where I see this story going and hope you will all enjoy the journey as much as I know I will.

Jason

Update

Alright, real quick as I'm at work right now, as I was about to put up part 6 today I took a read of it and noticed that I had to re write parts of it. Since I noticed before I left for work I haven't had time as of yet, my aim is to complete that by Saturday night and have it up in time for Sunday morning.

Again I am really sorry. If you want, you can take this time re read previous parts and comment, critique, and suggest.

Prologue - Part 5

            “Hey, at least I have a car and a license,” that shut him up, “we have to go over what happened to you guys.” I looked over to the one guy who wasn’t smoking. He was sitting on an upside down garbage can staring at the ground wide-eyed, not paying attention to anything going on around him or saying anything, “Hey, Brandon, you alright?” I called to him.

            Brandon showed no sign of even being aware that I had shown up, let alone talked to him. He was dressed in all black, his ears covered with piercings. Brandon was the oldest out of all of us, but by far the shortest, standing a few inches shorter than me. We used that as an excuse to make fun of him but he would threaten us with what he called his ‘native magic’. Before all this happened we played along when he said that but now, there’s no way to know what’s real.

            “He’s been like that ever since we got back.” it was Daron who answered again.  How come he was the only one saying anything and why did he seem like nothing had happened? “Steve’s not much better,” he continued, referring to the third guy there. He was the tall, skinny ginger to my right. Steve was the only one who kept his hair short like me, “he was freaking out before you got here, but as soon as he took a drag of that smoke he started acting like he is now.”

            Suspiciously I looked at Daron, “If they’re so out of it and scared shitless, how come you seem fine?”

            “The only thing that’s keeping me sane right now is the knowledge that we have to sit down and figure this all out, piece it together and figure out our next step. Once all of this is over it’ll probably all hit me. We’ll see what happens to me then, until that time I’m ready to do whatever’s needed.”

            Right then my phone started to ring. Grabbing it out of my jacket pocket I looked down at the screen and saw the word ‘Home’ across it.

            That’s going to be the wife wondering why I’m not home yet. I can’t put up with explaining all of this to her right now. I’ll let her know tomorrow after work.

            Before I put my phone back in my pocket I made sure it was turned off. Stupid idea when my wife is trying to get a hold of me because I know I’m going get in shit for it but my friends needed my attention more at that time.

            “Let’s go inside and hear what you guys found out.” I said. Daron stamped out his cigarette, I watched his foot as he did, “I’m sorry I couldn’t have been there with you guys, it’s just that,” I paused, not wanting to sound crazy for what I had to say.

            “...just that he told you not to.” Daron finished for me.

Prologue - Part 4

In a flash I turned on Jacinto, “After everything we’ve all been through I thought it would be nice for them to be able to have some time to work out what they’ve experienced and been through. As for me coming to the bar I was just giving them space.” I paused, took a deep breath and looked forward, “Sorry man, I didn’t mean to flip on you, it’s just that I’m fried. I’ve been sleeping very little and my heads been killing me.”

I looked over to the passenger seat.

Empty, he’s gone again, of-fucking-course. Nice talking to you Jacinto.

Reached over to the passenger seat and grabbed my phone to check the time.

8:57 pm. SHIT! I have to work at 5:00 am tomorrow morning and I still have to go talk to those guys.

I turned the key to start the engine. Slowly it started to turn over but died.

Not again, come on start.

Turned the key again and pumped the gas pedal rhythmically. Finally the engine roared to life the way only a real muscle car can, especially a muscle car with a hole in the exhaust. Just like that I was off and on my way to hopefully find out more about this world. It started to rain pretty hard so I threw my cigarette out the car window and rolled it up as fast as I could; few things annoyed me as much as getting rain inside my car. Typical weather on the southwest coast of Canada no matter the time of year, even though it’s just about a week before Christmas right now.

            Luckily these guys lived pretty much right around the corner from the bar so I still had a chance to get home and get a decent amount of sleep before work. I pulled up to the house from the gravel alley that passed behind it.  The house and yard looked like shit, the house was dirty and had moss and mould on it, the driveway was cracked with tree roots poking out of it, fence falling apart. The yard was even worse for wear with the grass not having been cut in years, weeds everywhere, and cars and other random crap that didn’t belong on a yard.

           

             I saw two guys standing at the door of the house smoking and a third sitting a little off to the side of them. They watched me pull into the driveway as if they heard me start the car down at the bar. I turned the car off, grabbed my cell phone, and got out.

            “We heard you start your car at the bar all the way from here.” Daron said while forcing out a nervous laugh. These three were my closest friends in the world, maybe even my only friends.

            I have to get that muffler fixed.

Prologue - Part 3

From the corner of my vision I could see myself in the rear view mirror.

What the hell? That’s been in my back seat since I got this car.

Looking back at me from the mirror were my own extremely tired looking eyes. I tilted my head back to get a look at the inch of beard I had on my chin with a little bit of stubble going up the rest of my face. A cold breeze from the open window beside me chilled my earrings briefly. This was one of those times where nothing memorable happens but you find yourself getting nostalgic about it a few years down the road. Take another drag to fill my lungs. My right hand rubbed my thin face with my bony fingers and then went up and started scratching the scalp of my thick brown hair. I always kept my hair nice and shaved so it was only a couple of centimetres long otherwise it was sticking out all over the place no matter what I did.

As I went to put my lighter and smokes back into my pocket a piece of folded up scrap paper fell from between my hand and the lighter. After I put the lighter back in my pocket I picked up the paper and unfolded it. Scrawled frantically inside it were the words, “QUIT SMOKING!!!” Right away I put my smoke up to the paper; slowly it began to turn to embers until a flame finally started licking the edges engulfing it.

“Quit this.” I said to no one since I was alone. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I started getting a headache behind my right eye that radiated to my teeth. Slowly I grabbed the object in my pants pocket, tilted me head back while closing my eyes.

“You should really follow your own advice Chase,” said a voice that sounded like it was coming from inside my head, I knew better than that, I knew I wasn’t imagining it and that there now sat someone in my passenger seat, “and take your hand out of your pocket, it’s disturbing and the way you’re sitting there right now looks like you’re masturbating.” The voice belonged to a ‘being’ that went by the name of Jacinto. I say ‘being’ because...well, you’ll see in time.

Not moving from how I was sitting I took another drag, “I was wondering when you were going to show up.” Jacinto had a tendency of appearing at random times, usually when I needed him least. What made it worse is that I was the only person who could see him which meant he liked to talk to me in public for the express purpose of making me look schizophrenic.

“So you were able to get them back?”

“Yeah, I was just about to go over and see what they found out.”

            “You chose to come to the bar by yourself instead of questioning them at the most opportune time?”

Prologue - Part 2

            He laughed, “You’re sure right about that, you know...”

            Fuck! Just shut up! Just because I answer your questions doesn’t mean I like you or want to converse with you.

            “...that’s why I can’t stand them little people.”

            What? Never mind, it’s not worth it.

            “Thanks again for the drinks,” I put the object back into my pocket and pulled out enough cash to pay the bill plus an insult of a tip, “I hope I don’t see you next time.” Picked up my leather jacket from the seat of the bar stool I was sitting on, put it on and reached into my pants pocket and grabbed my car keys and turned to walk out.

            “And I hope you fucking crash.” He laughed; I turned my head to the side and gave him a sneer. He didn’t see or care that I had.

            Anyone who didn’t know us or didn’t visit the bar that often would have thought we hated each other. Truth is we see each other almost every day so we kind of had to put up with each other. He put up with me because of obligatory customer service and I put up with him because he was the only bartender in the only decent bar in town. Love-hate relationship, they’re everywhere and we all have them.

            It was getting dark and the alcohol wasn’t helping me concentrate, I was losing my grasp on my mind which isn’t good when the night is starting and you still have to drive.

            Come on, you can do this. Alcohol is in my body, my body is controlled by my brain and I control my brain!

                Just like that my vision focused and I was standing firm. I was once again sober and ready to drive. How did I do that? You aren’t ready to know, not yet anyway. You have to learn the same way I did.

               I gave a look around for my car and spotted it right away, after all how could you miss a yellow 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass? I got in and turned the key far enough to just turn on the radio. I sat motionless staring out the window for what felt like forever but must have only been a couple of minutes. There was no way for me to know since my car had no clock and I didn’t care enough to grab my cell phone from the passenger seat. Instead I cracked the driver side window an inch then reached into the right pocket of my jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes with about seven left in the pack and a lighter. Slowly I took one out, put it up to my lips, lit it and inhaled. As I exhaled, watching the fresh air from outside mix and manipulate with the cigarette smoke.

Prologue - Part 1

            “You want another beer?” the bartender asked me, his name is actually Damon but I like to refer to people by their profession. He’s a tall Aryan looking bastard that’s built like a brick shithouse.

            I let out a silent chuckle, “My glass is empty, isn’t it?” I was annoyed; the music that was blasting near to the point of not being able to hear the person right next to you was an annoying rap or techno song that just repeated the same noises for seven and a half minutes with very slight changes. Not only that but it was dark in there. Let me correct that, dark I have no problem with, I have a problem when they set the lights somewhere between ‘ambient’ and ‘we-want-this-to-be-a-club-for-douche-bags’. In my opinion, it counteracted the whole point of making the place look like an old school Irish pub.

            ‘Bartender’ didn’t seem to fully appreciate my smart-ass comment as he took my glass and filled it up with a mix of water, coke, and beer. I hate it when he does that but then again I am used to it by now. It tastes like a watered down ashtray and it’s his passive-aggressive way of saying, ‘Get the fuck out’. It’s really my fault he does that, the first night I met him he said he could drink any shit mix without throwing up. Long story short, I proved him wrong with the very same mix. I could stomach that drink even though I didn’t enjoy it but every time he got annoyed or pissed off at me he would try to get even with me by giving me that drink.

            As I lifted the glass up to my lips to chug it down I could see him stifle a shudder at the memory of the time I made him drink the same mix. It’s always funny for me when I see this hulk of a guy cringe at something I find so easy.

            I put the empty glass down with my right hand and at the same time grabbed something out of my pants pocket with my left hand. Carefully I brought it up over the bar and kept it hidden in my hands. Thumbing it and feeling the now smooth texture against my rough skin, slowly training my eyes on it.

            “What’s that in your hands?” the bartender asked.

            “Same thing I always have when I come in here.”

            “Yeah, but you’ve never told me what it is or let me have a look at it.”

            I let a smirk spread across my face, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you and if I showed you you’d just think I’m crazy,” I paused, letting my mind get a grasp over the alcohol for a second, “Crazier then you already think I am that is.”

Welcome 2.0

This may seem redundant, but welcome! again! The point of this update is that as I was writing more of the prologue I noticed how long it is. Not in terms of that it drags on, in terms of that to post the entire thing completed would just be way too big of a post on a blog especially considering I can't use stand alone pages on this blog for each page of the actually prologue (that was a horrid sentence). SO, in the interest of not posting huge blocks of text and also to enable more frequent updates on this blog I'll post a page every couple of days, most likely 2 posts a week. I'm thinking Wednesdays and maybe Sundays? I'll figure it out.

Sorry I haven't actually posted any of the actual story though. I will post the first page this coming Wednesday (March 23, 2011) so check back then for the first page! I am very excited about this. Take care.

Welcome

This is my blog dedicated to my work in progress story. I have started writing a story and have worked out most of the details, I still have to iron some things out and get a good story arc started. Right now I have begun writing the prologue, I will post it in the next couple days, just remember, it may not be complete but I strongly encourage feedback, opinions, and critiques.

Once my prologue is up and done I will upload the rest of the story at a faster pace (ie. not waiting till I complete a chapter). So please be patient with me as this is not my only project at this time, but it is one I am very invested in and am very excited to see completed.