V.A. Manning's Blog

Alright, so I wanted to update anyone and everyone as to where my main character and the current supporting character are right now. I have been stuck on the Catacombs scene for many months, and believe that I may have found an out! What is this out, you might be asking? Simple:

D&D Dungeon Generator!

I was able to create a map of the Thavius Catacombs, and it even generated what can happen in the rooms and corridors for me! This makes it really easy to flesh out this part of the story. Originally, Pax and Finn defeated the skeletons and went straight to their target – now, they can (and will) face different enemies in different parts of the catacombs. Previously, it was so simple; it just wasn’t realistic enough.

So, where are they? They are in the City of Thavius, a city of thieves and vagrants (that is slightly steampunk inspired)!

(Map made with Random City Map Generator)

But wait… I thought there were catacombs? Yes, there are! Now, for the map of the catacombs!

(Made with the D&D Dungeon Generator)

This is a very basic map, but I am working on plotting their course out right now – it is happening as I write it, because some things need to be a surprise!

I just wanted to update everyone, and show you all where we are right now (currently writing Chapter 7). I can tell you that there is trouble ahead for our Hero and her companion!

V.A. Manning

I have created a website that has blogging capabilities, so I have moved my official writing blog over there. I think it is time I put on a more professional internet face. If you are interested in keeping up to date on my writing, please head on over to the new website!

http://vamanning.wix.com/main

V.A.Manning

Below you will find the Book Trailer, made with Animoto, for Paint it Black! I hope you all enjoy it!

The title says it all – I have permanently reduced the Kindle version price of The Perfect Nightmare to $4.99. You can purchase the Kindle version here: http://amzn.com/B00A09WN9C. If you do not have a Kindle, you can download the free Kindle app for your smartphone or computer, click here for more information. Head on over to Amazon and get the app, and while you are there download the book!

In other news, Paint it Black is coming out soon! I am so excited. I want to make a book trailer for it, but I need to do some research into what that entails, you know? Being my own everything in the writing world is a bit time consuming, but fun. If I am able to do that, I will post it here along with on the other profiles I have!

Alright, I finished the second draft today! I feel like I should be celebrating I have lined up two beta-readers so far, I wanna test the theory out before committing to any more, as well as committing to anyone I do not know. I found a few checklists that seem useful to provide my beta-readers, so I sent the first email with a checklist and some information about what a beta-reader is, just in case they don’t know what they have gotten themselves into

The second draft has a whopping 144 pages and 38664 words. I started working on this project in January, I think, and once I was finished with the first draft, I put it aside for a bit to get started on a new project, and to just let my mind rest from Paint it Black for a bit.

I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to finish this, or get it ready for publication, but here we are nearing the final stretch of the process, and I am both proud and surprised by this.

Well, I am just waiting for a response from the second beta-reader, and then to wait for them to read and review it for me

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!

V.A. Manning

I have been a part of the Figment community for over two years now, but only recently started uploading content and have immersed myself into the community fully. I am in groups, and I am doing reviews for fellow writers. My work is also up for review there (if you want to review my work before I publish it). For the upcoming projects I am working on, I have decided to post one chapter of each for review. I do not want to provide the full projects because I don’t want them to be out on the internet for free – call me stubborn and selfish, lol.

Recently, I posted the first chapter of Paint it Black for review, and wanted to share it here with you all. I am viewing it as a bit of a teaser, building up the anticipation for the release of the book coming up – a release date is still not determined, not sure when the second draft will be finished. I am working on it every day, one step at a time, but I am finding it harder and harder to stick with it.

But I digress! Below is a link to the first chapter of Paint it Black!

http://figment.com/books/801800-Paint-it-Black

Alright, so, I wanted to do a bit of a project update. I have been working on three writing projects over the past year, and each project has stalled at different points. They are completely different stories, different worlds, and different plots. Obviously, the titles provided below are working titles, just things to keep their files and documents organized.

The first project is the Fantasy Story, which was started almost 2 years ago. It was smooth sailing at first, and the fact that I plotted the story for the first few chapters made it much easier to stay on track; but unfortunately, the excitement and joy of finally writing a fantasy story poofed out of existence and I put it aside. I am redoing the original map so that I can have a better one at my disposal.

The second project is Darry and Tiersa, a story about forgotten identity, murder, revenge, and love. I wrote the first draft of this story in about 1.5 months, and I am currently working on the second draft now. The second draft should be ready to go in about a month or two, and then it will be shipped off to my beta-readers for critique. I am hoping to have it finished – i.e. published -  by the end of this year.

The final project is The Witches, and I started this about 2 months ago, perhaps a bit more. This one is slowly being planned, even though I already started writing it. I even have Pinterest boards for this project! It is a concept I have been toying with, in its most basic form, for a few years now. I hope to have the first draft finished by the end of NaNoWriMo this year (and since I am not a traditionalist when it comes to NaNo, I will be using The Witches as my NaNo project.)

As a final note on this post, I just wanted to say that I am happy to be writing again. I have missed it, in all of its misery and joy. It is a frustrating and exhilerating task, writing out a story – whether it is short, novel length, or a novella, writing a fictional story, creating a world and pretty much pulling shit out of our asses, is one of the best things ever!

Victoria

So, I pretty much know the location of the story – a fictional town, Winter Rock, on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State. All of the images on this board were either found on Pinterest or elsewhere online (I tried to provide the link for each image so that credit is due). These are the images that have inspired, and continue to inspire, the location descriptions for Winter Rock.

First draft finished, 89 pages and 31,683 words. The editing process will commence within the next few days! I will keep you all posted!

Alright, I know I rarely update my blog – bad author, go to the corner – but sometimes life gets in the way and we lose sight of our long term goals and dreams because seriously, being an adult is a freaking bummer! So, with a full time job and mommy duties, I have come back and boy, am I ready to step up my game! I am currently working on a novella, the first draft is nearly finished! Exciting shit right there. Stay tuned for more updates!