Hyba Is Writing

Tag Game Round-Up #5 Back with yet another tag game roundup! WIP Quotes Rules: Pick five quotes that your characters have said about your protagonist, then five quotes your protagonist has said, and then tag five people! All of my works are multi-POV, and I have more than one protagonist in each, so I hope it’s okay that I’m just going to pick one and go with it. For this time, I’m going to pick Vadra from my fantasy WIP, The Pirates of Sissa . Quotes characters have said about Vadra: #1 …the Emperor mused. “Yes, I remember him. Quite a dedicated fellow, wasn’t he?” #2 “You’re an idiot,” she said finally. “If you want to stay alive, don’t say that sort of stuff around them. They’ll take your life for hers. You’ll only dig a deeper grave for us all.” #4 She should’ve known. Vadra’s fate might have been tied to hers, but he was still a Sissan, and he’d made his hatred for her and her people clear since the first day they’d met. Quotes from Vadra: #1 There was only one answer he could giv

Worldbuilding: Map of Miraya - The Beast of Ildenwood My characters arrived at the City of Miraya, located in the Kingdom of Samat, a few chapters ago. I should have had a map ready to go then, but a map is... a lot of work. To be fair, it seemed like a pretty big task, and given that I had so many other things on my plate at the time, I didn't feel up to adding another big task to my pile. Eating elephants is harder than it sounds.  But now, as of Chapter 9 (which is what I'm currently working on), my characters are leaving Miraya on their way to their main destination: Burj Annur. I figure it's as good a time as any (and, honestly, the last possible moment) to introduce a map of the city. I worked on this map for about 3 (not whole) days, mostly because of how time-consuming it is to do the sketching and coloring part of the map-making process - which, to be fair, is pretty much 99% of the process).  This is the result: This is my second ever map. So that's cool! I

Tag Game Round-Up #4 Last Line #1 Rules: Post the last line that you wrote, then tag as many people as there are words in the line!    I’ve been working on The Fall of the Black Masks , so here we go: For a while, Mila felt nothing. She thought nothing. And then, as though possessed, she gasped - the loud, deep gasp of one awakening from a nightmare - her arms finding the ground below her and somehow, impossibly, pushing her aching body up. Heads Up, Seven Up Rules: Post the last seven sentences of the last WIP you’ve worked on and tag seven more people to keep the challenge going. This is for The Pirates of Sissa and it features a scene where Vadra and Sahra are once again… what would you call it? Arguing? Discussing? Bantering? Something along those lines, I suppose 😅 “Well, I’m locked up and being tortured slowly, so really it’s not that different from the last prison I was in,” she said dryly. “They want to make sure you won’t run, now that you’ve accepted the offer,” he said.

Podcast Update: Hyba Is Writing - The Podcast - Season 2 It's been a while since I posted an episode of my podcast, Hyba Is Writing . As you may already know, the second season deals with The Pirates of Sissa , my fantasy novel in the works. It's been an on-again-off-again season for a range of reasons - first, I realized that I needed to re-plot my novel (and therefore rewrite big chunks of it); second, I had an academic research project to complete that took around 2-3 months to both set up and complete; third, I started focusing on some other books I've been writing to change things up a bit and come back to the book with a fresh set of eyes.  So, all in all, I've been a busy bee. Just... not very busy writing The Pirates of Sissa! Which will change soon!  My first order of business is to finish the draft of Marie/Elise , which is the main other book I've been working on. I'm almost done with the most recent draft, and since it'll be the first complete dr

What are "Unique Attributes" in The Beast of Ildenwood ?  In my serialized GameLit/LitRPG, The Beast of Ildenwood , all characters have something called a Unique Attribute. Unique Attributes are completely exclusive; in other words, no two people alive at the same time in my fantasy world can have the same unique attribute. There may be a couple of interesting exceptions to the rule, but we'll get to that when we get there! For now, let's focus on the basics. Unique attributes are only raw material; it is up to their wielder to understand how best to develop and hone their attribute to turn it into a skill that can be used. Let's take a look at some examples presented in Chapter 6 (released August 15, 2021) to get a better understanding of how Unique Attributes work. Deletrear's Unique Attribute: Invisible Eye Deletrear is the Noble Guardian of Miraya and a spellcaster that we meet in Chapter 5. (I have another post coming up that delves into what it means to

Tag Game Round-Up #3 Last Line I’m working on the literary companion for Apartment and not my books at the moment, but here goes: This is done on purpose, because it is linked to the question of guilt and taking responsibility for one’s crimes, especially as they seem to be an overt representation of her wrongdoings. 12/12 Rules: Answer 12 Qs from the POV of one of your OCs, make 12 new Qs, and tag 12 people. OC of Choice: I’m going to be using Mila from The Fall of the Black Masks for this one! More specifically, I’m focusing on her character at the start of the book, rather than the person she becomes at the end of the book. 1) How do you like the climate that you live in? Do you prefer other types of weather? The climate here is quite moderate. In summer, it can be sweltering, but during the other seasons, the weather cools down considerably, and it’s quite bearable. Winter brings with it some rain, and sometimes it gets a bit too chilly for my liking, but nothing that really bother

5. Deletrear the Spellcaster He awakens slowly, shedding the already-forgotten dreams of the night before, to the sounds of people. People walking, speaking, calling, laughing – and other sounds, too. The sounds of wagons and carts being pulled, and of less-distinct sounds he cannot quite place. He awakens to a comfort he has not had in a while, and the smell of something that throws his stomach into motion, begging to be filled. When he opens his eyes, the Wanderer is surprised to find a selection of messages hovering over him. You have awakened from a deep and restful sleep . You have gained +32 Energy . You have left Ildenwood Forest . You have entered the Kingdom of Samat . You have entered Rowarr Inn . Welcome, Wanderer of Realms . Disoriented, he reads all of the messages and dismisses them o

Tag Game Round-Up #2 Another roundup of the tag games I've participated in! WIPful Beginnings Rules: Give a brief description of the beginning of 3 of your WIPs or recent works, and tag 6 people. The Falcon’s Claw: Neska’s first day as a member of the King’s Court is unforgettable for all the wrong reasons: her dress causes a scandal, she’s shunned by the Court, and she narrowly avoids an argument with someone when it’s announced the King’s Advisor has been poisoned. Apartment: Angela Gibbons visits her apartment building’s gym - something she has only done three times in the years she has lived there. When regular gym-goer (and the only other inhabitant of the building) James Foreman arrives for his usual workout afterwards, he notices that someone has been there. He spends the rest of the day thinking about Angela, and begins to write down the numbers… The Fall of the Black Masks: Qays is on his way home from work when he finds the unconscious body of Ragnar on the streets near

Worldbuilding: Dikralibre Potion  The Beast of Ildenwood While working on Chapter 5 of The Beast of Ildenwood - which comes out August 8, 2021 (back from my hiatus! yay!) - I decided to create an illustration.  Of course, the main attraction of this particular chapter for me is the strange potion that the spellcaster Deletrear concocts for the Wanderer of Realms. It's called the Dikralibre potion , and it's used to regain lost memories, often by way of a mental block.  Mental blocks are a kind of curse that can be placed upon sentient creatures that stop them from being able to access mental pathways. This kind of spell has many uses. It can keep someone from using a power they've known how to wield for years. It can keep a person from using knowledge that they already have. And, in the case of the Wanderer, it can stop a person from accessing their memories. The stronger the mental block, the more effective it is. It is not a spell to be taken lightly. Consequently, the s

Marie/Elise: Adrian White Character Introduction As part of this year's Writeblr Summerfest , I'll be trying my best to respond to each prompt given throughout the month of August 2021. I'll be talking about Marie/Elise , since it's the work I'm trying to finish at the moment, and hope to have it done by the end of the month. Today's prompt : Tell us about your main character! Adrian White, the main character of Marie/Elise , has just moved into the affluent and gated town of Blackwood to live with his father, who has moved there due to huge business success. Almost as soon as he arrives, however, Adrian feels out of place among the manicured lawns and idyllic neatness of Blackwood, and has a hard time adjusting. Still, it's much better than where he was before - and he's not going back there. When his father is invited to a party at the Bellerose mansion, he drags the antisocial Adrian along in an attempt to get him to make some friends. Unfortunately f