Trying new things, polishing old ones · 6:25am Jun 19th, 2021
During the time I was working from home (shortly after the start of quarantine), I discovered the sword-and-sorcery genre. After happening upon audio readings of stories by Robert E. Howard on YouTube, I began immersing myself in the adventures of Solomon Kane and Conan of Cimmeria. Having played Dungeons & Dragons in high school (and still keeping up with every edition of the game since), I very much enjoyed these tales, which, for the uninitiated, can be described as the grim and gritty cousins to epic fantasies like Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time.
Back in November, I learned that a sword-and-sorcery anthology was accepting submissions for its 2021 publication. I decided to take a shot at it, so I spent January through March working on a 6k-word short story to submit. Unfortunately, I ended up developing several story concepts. Whenever I ran into a wall with one idea, I shifted my attention to another in hopes of making some progress, however little. Ultimately, I was unable to meet the deadline. I am nevertheless glad to have taken a shot at it. At the very least I've got a story - four stories really - I can finish and submit elsewhere or self-publish.
As my DeviantArt followers already know, I am currently focusing my time and effort on honing my visual art. But even as I pursue this, I still make a tiny bit of time to chip away at another Equestria Girls tale - a little slice of life wherein Lemon Zest deals with her feelings of uncertainty one year after graduating from Crystal Prep Academy.
Graduating from a prestigious prep school all too often places a great deal of pressure on its alumni to excel. Those who are still figuring out what they want to do with their life could easily feel outclassed by their former classmates already chasing their dreams. I thought this might be an interesting concept to explore with our favorite green-haired rocker girl.
On that note, I can't help but wonder how many arms dealers, serial killers and corporate lawyers CPA produced under Cinch (kudos if you get that reference).
Hope everyone out there is keeping safe and healthy as things go back to "normal." More as the Wheel turns.
Hey, awesome! As someone who is a big fan of the Howardian school of fantasy (Conan of Cimmeria and Solomon Kane are two of the major reasons I got interested in writing XD), I'm really glad to hear that you enjoyed their stories!
Also, your pitch for an idea about Lemon Zest post-graduation sounds fascinating. I'd be intrigued to see what might come of it!
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Howard was quite the storyteller! I also checked out his "weird west" tales like The Valley of the Lost - excellent stuff! He really had a thing for scary serpent beings.
I am pleasantly surprised how much Lemon has grown on me, even if Sugarcoat remains my favorite Shadowbolt.
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(I sometimes wonder, given the plethora of monstrous serpents and snake-like beings in his stories, if he actually had a real-life fear of snakes and just rendered that into his writing.)
He really had a knack for spinning a good yarn, I agree!
Sugarcoat probably remains my personal favorite of the five Shadowbolts, but I will admit to becoming more and more attached to Lemon.