As Colonization‘s story comes to a close, I’m taking a step back and examining this story’s journey. Long before I wrote the first entry in this narrative, Landing on Morven, I crafted a history for another project. In the notebook dedicated to that world, I had a pair of throwaway lines about a colonization attempt. From those simple lines, I built a rough storyline that laid the foundation of this series. From that initial draft, the story grew, taking on a life of its own, and with several careful nudges, I explored the characters of this expedition...

After disrupting Nathaniel’s meeting with Kethra, Marcus returns to his family and resumes his work on his farm. But the interruption caused headaches for Nathaniel, spurring the leader of the new government to visit his old friend. Though Marcus believes that Nathaniel wouldn’t have traveled all the way to his home just to complain about a rough day...

With the inertial world already folded into the fledgling federation, Isaac and Jasmine are piloting the newly redesigned world ship to the next colony. Though Isaac is dissatisfied with the level of automation, the engineers stuffed into the newest vessel. The updated systems have relegated the pilot to a glorified chaperon...

Ever since I started writing, I have been building worlds and their characters. And while I love each of the ones I’ve created, it’s been the happy accidents that excite me the most. The first time I ran into this was when I crafted exclusive flash fiction stories for my patrons on Patreon. Early on, I pulled a prompt for a fantasy taking place in a shoe store and featuring pancakes. Initially, I didn’t know what kind of narrative I could string together and fulfill those requirements. Thankfully, the tale I developed resulted with a protagonist who quickly became one of my favorites...

While writing Fortunes, I came to enjoy learning about Rylan during his trials and journey to Laria. The character grew and stuck with me, and I knew that Rylan’s story was incomplete. Thankfully, with my various notes presented me with another opportunity to further delve into Rylan’s life. Towards the end of Fortunes, the crew of the ship had a fundamental split in ideology, and that split would take seed back on their homeworld and continue to grow. While I’m eager to delve into Rylan’s life, this new narrative picks up fifteen years after the events of Final Plans...

Fresh after giving Samantha her permanent home, Lucas heads out to collect more of the ingredient required to craft homes for his apparitions. While I’ve only introduced a pair of Lucas’s ghosts in Tattooed Home, with this installment I’m going to hint at the collection of shades and how they’re able to assist Lucas...

Thankfully, work has settled down to a regular workload, and I have enjoyed getting back into a normal groove with my blog. So far, I’ve published Enticing Vision and Cost of Living when I planned, and I could focus on my last piece of flash fiction for the month, a Thriller. Just like I did for my fairy tale, I searched DeviantArt for pictures that inspired a story the moment I found it. And on Saturday, I came across 348/365 The Ritual By snatti89 and my mind launched into motion, fleshing out the narrative...

The moment I published Enticing Vision, I started looking through the headlines to come up with the basis for the Political Satire for June. This time I pushed past the big topics, diving deeper into the news, searching for a headline that spoke to me. During the search, I stumbled upon one that mentioned states were suing twenty-six drug makers for generic prescription price fixing, and I latched onto it.

With the political side of the tale locked in, I started thinking about the storyline that would frame the topic...

Wayne’s first lesson with Volodar arrives, and Maxwell and Roland are present. Darren initially hopes that Volodar tapped him to progress to the more advanced martial arts lessons. But Maxwell reminds him that Volodar is unlikely to promote Darren to those classes. The two advanced students quickly comment that they are present only to assist in Wayne’s assessment...

My first take on Micro fiction was a comedy entitled Apartment’s Tree, and when I finished, I read through the story and was proud of the two hundred and fifty word story. Fresh off that spin-off tale, I raced to create a couple more of these mini narratives. The first centered on a new character and his unique magical abilities. But for the second one, I wanted to explore the past of the Academy, the school where Darren Gilbert is learning to wield magic. And since I fled to this institution’s past, I had a blank canvass to work with...

Lucas is an interesting character. I’ve dropped him into the same world as Darren Gilbert, and roughly the same timeframe. Fortunately, that world is massive, and there are plenty of places where he can fit and not interact with Darren unless I want him to. I developed the character as a response to a Micro Fiction prompt for a Ghost Story. As the mini story developed, I was excited to delve into the history and unique skill set for my main character...

Shortly after a pair of shifters raided the Colony’s ordinance, a solitary figure stands on the field staring at the wall. It stands motionless beyond the range of the defenders’ weapons. At midday, the leadership climbs to the tallest rampart to discuss their options with the lone figure...

When I closed the polls, I smiled at the initial genre of a Fairy Tale. Origionally I decided to go and read some classic Fairy Tales for inspiration but I ended up heading over to DeviantArt and searched for fairy tale images and it didn’t take long before I stumbled onto Fairy tale nearby… by Nikolaj-Arndt. The moment I came across the image, my story snapped into my mind, and I knew exactly what I wanted to write. That clarity doesn’t always happen when I stumble upon interesting images, but I’m happy for this happy coincedence...

DeviantArt is loaded with fantastic artwork. Every so often while I’m thumbing through them, I discover pieces that plant a seed in my mind. Sometimes those saplings never take root, and the thoughts quickly fade from my memory, while other times, they take root and bloom. When I stumbled onto Ent by Ooki, I had a moment of clarity and jotted something down when I shared the image on Facebook...

After watching a warehouse burn in the main harbor of the Southern Region, Marcus returns to the train and hops onto the first train for the Central Region. He drops into his seat, gets some sleep as the train rumbles toward the central hub of the fledgling nation. When the conductor wakes Marcus up and, he hustles off the train and hurries to the tallest building. He gets off on Nathaniel’s floor and his secretary, Amelia, puts herself between him and his friend...