Comic Book Publishing

On my last post I made note that I don’t actually know anything about the world of Comic Book publication. So I went ahead and looked into how it works. For self-publishing, I think it’s pretty standard, you write the thing and then publish. You need to market it and do all the things, find an audience and market the comic to that audience. But for traditional publishing you write a pitch or synopsis and send that in along with some sample art. Which I was wrong about not doing your own art. Apparently that is more just in Kid lit.

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This article has some really great tips about how to publish comic books/graphic novels: https://www.woodmanmaynard.com/blog/2025/9/29/5-tips-for-breaking-into-graphic-novel-publishing.

A couple of the important tips from the article are:

  • Look at comics that are similar to your own. Target those publishers.
  • Only submit to agents and publishers that already like and publish the type of work that you do.
    • That tip above applies across the board to any kind of written work.
  • Publishing timelines run long, so start working on your next project before you get published.
    • This last tip also applies to any kind of publishing with written work, unless you are self-publishing because you know your own timelines and can start working on your next project whenever you want.

So to sum it up, for publishing, you don’t need to have written the whole comic. You need a synopsis and some of the art. You need to target agents and publishers who are looking for work that you are writing and then you can start the process before you’ve finished your story.

Next in the write what you love series, we will talk about game narrative.

Comic Books: The Second in the Write What You Love Series

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Unlike screenplays, comic books have no specific format for manuscripts. There are no guidelines on how much writing makes up a ‘panel.’ When thinking about writing a comic book, you are a part of a team. If you are the writer, then there will also be an artist, possibly someone who does the lettering, etc. So, your job in comics is to write out not only the story, but what the panel is going to look like and what the characters are doing in each panel.

Comics took their formatting from screenplays. However, individual artists and writers made the format their own, using common sense rules and making the rest up as they went along. Some comic authors prefer to give their artists a lot of direction for each panel, and some do less.

Comic Book Formatting:

I found this article on comic book script formatting:

https://blambot.com/pages/comic-script-basics. It discusses how there is no standard format but also discusses what best practices look like. When writing a comic book it is best to keep in mind that there are other people that need to be able to understand what you are trying to do before you get to that final draft, so formatting is key, and readability is also important.

A couple of interesting bits from the article:

  • The artists need to know how the letters should look, each panel has a part dedicated to these instructions.
  • Every panel number is as important as every page number.
  • Indicate what kind of speech bubble you want in the script for each moment of dialogue.

Comic Books v. Graphic Novels

Graphic novels are similar to comics in many ways. They also have no specific format requirements for their manuscripts and follow the same idea of scripts with common sense additions because of their uniqueness.

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Children’s literature and comics are similar in their ability to provide entertainment to people, no matter their ability to read. They can astound small children with the pictures, and then, as people grow, they can enjoy the richness of the narrative. Because of that shared ability I’m reminded of when I dove into children’s books and learned how publication works in that space. When submitting for publication in the children’s space, authors are only able to submit the words of their work, no illustrations. Even if you have amazing talent at illustration, the publishers have illustrators that they work with and they will choose the one that best fits the book.

I’m not going to say that it’s 100% the same with comics, but I would not be surprised. I’m sure that Marvel has a lot of artists that they work with, and even more that are just waiting for their chance, so I assume that when you submit a comic, it has to be only the script.

Something to look into next, I suppose. How to get a comic published traditionally.

Anyway, hopefully this is helpful for someone looking to get into comics.

Write What You Love: Screenplay Edition

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I often see writers on writer-dedicated websites confess that they don’t actually enjoy reading. The inevitable question becomes, “do I have to read to write well?” The answer is a resounding “yes!” However, I am here to provide a caveat, an exception. But first, let’s start with a question: what do you love? Or maybe, why do you want to write? Because there is a reason here, and normally it boils down to the love of the story. There are a lot of ways to tell a story, a full-length novel is just one of them. If a person wants to write, hates to read, but loves movies or TV shows or plays, then my suggestion, is to write what you love: screenplays…let’s talk about screenplays.

The difference between reading and watching

When I think about the many differences between screenplays and novels. The first big thing that comes to mind is: a person is going to act out the screenplay. The actions have to be realistic. Generally speaking, you are not ‘in’ anyone’s head. The point of view is not as tight; it can follow a person, but it will not be ‘inside the mind’ of a character the same way that a novel is/can be. Formatting is majorly different than novels.

Formatting

On this website: https://dramatify.com/american-screenwriting-standard, they go into detail about what a screenplay should look like. There is a very specific standard, just like there is for novel manuscripts on what they should look like.

Some highlights are that the screenplay should be written in 12 pt. Courier on US letter paper, the headings should be in ALL CAPS and should include only six elements these are: scene heading, action, character, parenthetical, dialogue and transition.

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Formatting details

More formatting details can be found here: https://www.emwelsh.com/blog/screenwriting-format-rules. According to this blog post a page of a script is a minute of action in the screenplay. Another interesting thing is that when a character is introduced for the first time, their name should be in all caps. After that, their name does not have to appear in capital letters.

Thoughts on Story

While writing a novel “show don’t tell” is something that people will say a lot. This idea takes on a whole new meaning when writing a screenplay because all of the action is literally shown. There is a difference in the way that you write when the expectation is that the audience will see the subtle motion of the character’s face as they react to another character that they dislike, or the audience will see a character tucking something into their bra. These differences mean that the story becomes felt instead of read, it’s seen and heard and maybe not written as much.

I’m not saying that the writing in a screenplay doesn’t matter; I’m saying that the point becomes subtler.

Life is Busy: But Writing is Important

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When I was working on my bachelor’s degree, I was a creative writing emphasis in the English program. There were several types of writing that each writer had to study. It didn’t matter what you loved. You still had to study poetry, and creative non-fiction, and good old prose. Everyone in the program was going to write or had already written a novel. Everyone in the program loved to read and had strong opinions about old works. Life is busy, but writing is important.

Types of Writing

Creative Non-Fiction

Then, a lot of writers were seduced by other types of writing. This is why everyone has to take classes about different kinds of writing. Several people decided that they loved creative non-fiction. Think of a memoir, a memoir is written about a time in your own life while you are still living it. A person can jump around in time. One of the most popular memoirs, and the first, is IN COLD BLOOD by Truman Capote. This book is classified as creative non-fiction because sections of the book are written from the point of view of the killers. The story is true. It’s not fiction, Capote went to the jail and interviewed them to get the facts, and then he wrote the book as if he were them. Another example is Joan Didion, who was a famous creative non-fiction writer. All of her work is very moving. The point that a lot of students made is that pulling their inspiration from their life directly, instead of thinking about how to fictionalize it or hide it, made the idea of writing less stressful. When it comes to non-fiction, as long as you put “creative” in front of it, it can be okay. However, when you are using real facts, you need to make sure that you are accurate.

Poetry

Poetry got some students, but not as many as creative non-fiction. My poetry teacher loved my work. Poetry can be really satisfying because you can revise a poem 12 times and have a finished work in a day. You can write one word over and over again, and that can be a poem. Most of us learn about basic rhyme schemes in elementary school, but there are so many more. You can write a poem using first letter rhyming, or one where every word has the same middle letter. You can write a prose poem or an epic poem. It can mean nothing. It can mean everything. Poetry is very flexible that way. My teacher for this class used her own writing as an example.

Prose

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Let’s talk about the kind of writing that most people go to college for. Prose. That “great American (or whatever country you’re in) Novel.” The first thing that they make you do, the first major class in the program, is literary analysis. I think that some people may get discouraged at this point. Some people get very excited here; they are learning to read closely and dive deep into a book. There are students who love to look for that second layer of meaning hidden beneath the words. Obviously, starting here is important because in order to understand the difference between a good book that has a formulaic plot and a one-dimensional character and a great book that shines in every way, one must study them. Personally, I learned so much about plotting by reading. I learned so much about what great writing looks like by studying it. Some of the first books we studied in that literary analysis class were THE GREAT GATSBY, THE TEMPEST, and several works of Edgar Allen Poe.

Anyway, any writing requires a degree of understanding what good writing looks like. But the biggest thing to understand is that editing/revision is what makes writing work. The first thing you put down, I always talk about it as the story I’m telling to myself. It may or may not make it into the final draft. But you don’t have anything to edit if you don’t write it first.

Life is busy, but writing is important.

What Makes a Good Mystery Story?

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I have discussed the basic elements of plot several times. Most plots have the ‘event’ that happens that causes the story to begin. Then, we have rising action, where the protagonist tries and fails to do the thing, and then we have the climax where the big confrontation happens, and then we have falling action, resolution or conclusion and then the end. If you can keep those things in mind, then you can write a good story. There are other things that make a story, right? Like, the ‘event’ at the beginning needs to be compelling enough to keep the reader engaged. The protagonist needs to have real stakes in the story, they can’t have just stubbed their toe. That’s not a reason for an adventure. Mysteries, however, are a whole other beast. Not only do they require to be a compelling plot with rising action, a climax and falling action, but they also need to have the mystery at the core that the reader should not be able to easily figure out. A mystery author needs to have the ability to keep their readers guessing the entire time. So that brings me to my question, what makes a good mystery story?

1-The Crime Must Be Interesting

Said another way, the crime that the protagonist is investigating should be something that the reader wants to understand. If it’s “who took my stapler,” maybe that will work, if all of the characters in the office are compelling and interesting and have reasons why they took the stapler. However, most readers of mysteries are used to murder being at the core of the story. If you don’t want to write about murder, then make the crime an interesting one. Make the characters (like I’ve already said) compelling, give them reasons why they could be guilty.

2-No One Should be too Innocent

Nothing is more upsetting to mystery readers than being able to pick the guilty person from the first chapters of the book. Or pages of the story, if it’s short. There should be some skeletons in everyone’s closet. There should be multiple possible killers or guilty parties.

If you are not a reader of mystery and you are looking to write in the genre, I would suggest that that is a bad idea, I don’t know if there is a finickier bunch of readers besides maybe sci-fi enthusiasts. If you don’t understand the tropes of the genre, or the things that have been overdone, then you aren’t going to be able to write a story that people are interested in reading.

3-There Should be Red Herrings, but not too Many

You should be able to write a story that leads readers in the wrong direction, but that also rewards careful readers. The point here is that you should use foreshadowing in such a way that when a reader gets to the end and finds out the who in the whodunit, they maybe are surprised, but they aren’t angry because they were tricked.

4-The Crime Should be at or Near the Beginning

Whatever mystery is occurring in your story, it should be right at, or near the beginning. This can happen as early as the prologue or in the first chapter. You can call the crime the ‘inciting incident’ if you want. For example in the Italian Job, the movie starts with a heist that goes wrong and one of the members of the group dies, while another one runs off with all the money.

Since that happens right at the beginning, the audience is hooked into the story and wants to get revenge along with the protagonist throughout the rest of the story. I don’t normally use movies as reference, but this one is a very easy to see example of what is meant when you’re putting the crime at the beginning. A book example would be in Cuckoo’s Calling, the very beginning of the book goes through a model dying by maybe jumping maybe falling off a balcony, and then it skips time to introduce the main character, a PI who the readers follow as he investigates the crime. In the book, the beginning leaves it ambiguous enough that the reader is unsure if the model jumps or is pushed.

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5-There Should be Several Possible Suspects

We can’t have two, or three. I think at least four people that may or may not have done the crime is a good number. Just think, if you need to pick between two people, it’s a fifty-fifty chance, right? Put another person in there and it gets more interesting, but one more, and then it’s like okay…any one of these people has a reason to have done it.

I’m not saying they all need a lot of time, but well thought out reasons are good. Like, the person who was killed owed them money, or maybe there was an old grudge. Stuff like that.

6-The Victim Should be Interesting

The victim shouldn’t just be a victim. They should be a whole person. They should have an interesting life: friends, relatives, enemies. If they are an adult, they should have a job or a career. Maybe they are an addict, or they gambled. Interesting quirks or habits make them come to life (even though they aren’t alive in the book) and give you more to work with, as far as why someone didn’t want them to be alive anymore.

7-The Investigator Needs to be a Main Character

This happens in a lot of different ways. Maybe the person who is investigating is an amateur. Or maybe they are with an agency, or police, or a PI. But someone who is performing investigative work needs to be a main character. You could also have other main characters in the story. You could have the victim’s significant other, you could even do some POV from the person who committed the crime as long as you don’t give away who they are and spoil the ending for the readers. But mystery readers enjoy investigating along with the investigator, so knowing how the investigator thinks, or what they see that is unique and different from what other people see will help the story feel more “real” to the readers.

So that’s what I have so far. Let me know if you feel like there is something in the what makes good mystery story article that I missed.

Here is the list:

1- The mystery must be interesting

2-No one should be too innocent

3-There should be red herrings, but not too many

4-The crime should be at or near the beginning

5-There should be several possible suspects

6-The victim should be interesting

7-The investigator should be a main character

Writing Creatively Regularly

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I was texting with my brother the other day. We were discussing our creative endeavors. He was talking about how he hasn’t felt inspired to compose a new song (I’m not sure if compose is the right word when it’s not classical). I asked him if musical prompts are a thing and told him how writing prompts have helped me. That writing creatively regularly is so important, but sometimes reading is the only thing I can get done at the end of the day.

It got me thinking, what things help to write creatively regularly? What are the best tips? Here are a few of mine that I keep coming back to when i find myself in a rut, or so tired that I can only think about reading for a few minutes before bed.

1- Fast Fiction

Just write a paragraph (250 words). It’s like when you begin exercising, you don’t want to try and do a 10k if you’ve been sitting on the couch for a year; you need to start small. Or, if you just don’t have time. You can probably write a paragraph at the end of the day.

2- Writing prompts can be your friend

Not inspired? Grab a vague enough prompt that you can go anywhere with it. There is a subreddit for writing prompts. This website has some interesting generators about plots. I haven’t tried it, but it could be fun.

3- Journaling is writing too

Don’t have any ideas? You’re still living. Think your life is boring? Well, describe what is so boring about it in detail. What did you have for breakfast and lunch? Did you go to work and talk to boring co-workers? What did you talk about? What did you do when you got home? Did you walk your dog, play with your cat, feed your fish, or take a nap? Those are all things that you did and that you can write about. These writings are all practice. If you’re new to writing, it’s good to write about anything and everything.

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4-It’s okay to write ‘bad’

If you have an idea, but you’re afraid it’s too “stupid” or “bad” or “overdone” or something, write it anyway. It’s okay to write the thing. It’s okay for it to be littered with errors, and it’s okay for it to be something that you don’t want to show anyone. You still wrote it; you did it. It’s also okay to be proud that you finished it when you finish.

5- I’m afraid that AI will eat my words

Me too, friend, me too. But the monster isn’t going anywhere. So the choices are either stop writing or just deal. I’ve decided to deal.

6- Write at the same time every day

I like to write after everything is wrapped up for the day. So, the kids have done their homework, gotten bathed, dinner has been made and eaten, etc. Some people have a morning preference. I find, for myself, that having writing to look forward to is good. But if you dread the task you can front-load it.

7- It doesn’t need to be special

One of the best tips that I’ve been given is that writing doesn’t need to be special. You don’t need a huge desk in the perfect light or the perfect pen, laptop, or program. You can write with a pen that’s almost out of ink onto a coffee filter, and the words will still have impact. If you are struggling to write because you need everything “just so,” let go of the idea that writing has to happen in a perfect world because all of us are imperfect with lives that are even more so.

8- What is your best tip?

Finally, do what works for you. What is your best “writing regularly” tip? I keep on getting into and then falling out of writing. And even though I preach about how important consistency is, I struggle to maintain it myself.

Book Review: This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar, translated by Max Gladstone

Some people’ve reviewed This is How You Lose the Time War. I haven’t read any of the other reviews yet. The reason I picked this book up is because of a random Subreddit I found one day. Pictures are provided and then books suggested based on feelings. In this Subreddit, I found. “Pick me a book that feels like…”

No talking about relationships

First, I don’t want to talk about the main thing that I think people review. I don’t really want to discuss the relationship between the main characters. I think it’s poignant, and I think the point is that they never really get to “be” together, and I don’t have any other thoughts. Meant to be, it’s tragic. In this book review of This is How You Lose the Time War.

Well Described is Time Travel

Second, the main premise in the book: time travel. The time travel element was both fascinated and well-done. Also, I was able to picture the characters moving through time in a way that made sense to me. I appreciate the author for having the skill to write such a complicated topic in such a way that made it so easy to visualize.

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Writing letters

Third, and the thing I really want to talk about, is the epistolary element. I love this. I found myself rushing through pages, just waiting to get to the next letter to see what Red wrote to Blue or vice versa. By writing in this way, the author was able to lay out parts of the world that the characters would not have known on their own. Because they didn’t know much about each other’s societies, the letter writing gave them a look. This is a great way to world-build without stopping the story. In this way, the author was able to build tension while world-building.

Writers should read

This book is a good example of how to use epistolary elements in a story and why a writer would use this tactic. If you are an aspiring writer who’s interested in writing a story with back-and-forth correspondence between two or more characters. Then, I suggest reading this book. I could write all day about the many forms this type of writing can take on, but at the end of the day, what it comes down to. This fantastic book is a great example of epistolary writing.

Thanks! have a wonderful day! I hope you enjoyed my review of This is How You Lose the Time War

First Draft or The Blank Page

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I’ve talked about going to a webinar where the idea of doing a zero-draft was discussed. And I definitely still find the idea intriguing. However, first drafts are on my mind a lot lately. I feel like that’s where my life is at. I’m in a first draft stage.

What does that even mean? Well, as most writers are painfully aware, you have to write through that awful first draft before you can start editing and polishing. Recently, I made it through a master’s program, and I’m feeling very proud of myself on one hand; I’ve accomplished something. But, I’m now looking for a job in my field and facing a lot of unexpected free time.

I’ve written three drafts of my resume. Let’s just say that. I don’t even know if I’m past the first draft of my resume. So, on one side I’ve had this big accomplishment, but one the other I’m feeling very intimidated. I’m trying to get into a field I’ve never worked in before, and I don’t want to go back to my previous job because I felt very burnt out.

I keep on thinking about it like I’m on my first draft of this new life. I can’t say exactly what the final draft is going to look like, and all I have right now is potential. Which means that anything could happen, and on one hand, that is great. But on the other hand, I’m not the kind of person that is a fan of lasting uncertainty.

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Back to first drafts, the blank page. If you sit with the blank page and never write anything on it, nothing happens. Right? If I decide to never put in for a job in the field that I just got a degree in, no one is going to hire me. I’ll still have to pay back all the loans I took out, but I’ll never get anything out of that education.

Now, if we write the story; get that first draft down. We can go in and edit it and change it to be what we want it to look like. The glorious thing about writing is that it can always be redone. With my resumes, I can write several versions that emphasize different accomplishments. And that is the beauty of language. You can talk about customer service, communication, or cleaning at the same fast food job, depending on what kind of job you are looking for. You could even discuss fiscal responsibility, if you wanted. It’s all about how you present the information.

In a first draft, maybe you can only think about one character, maybe you can only see their perspective. But when you are going back through, you realize that another person needs to have their view in the mix as well. It’s completely something that you can do. You can add or subtract or completely re-vision the entire thing in subsequent drafts. The important part is getting past the blank page.

You have to start. I have to put myself out there in order for someone to hire me. Anyone that is writing, that has a story to tell, it’s okay if it’s crap. It’s okay if it’s cliché, just write and finish the story you need to tell and then look at it later. Also, don’t try to use AI for anything but some grammar help. It will take away your unique voice, that’s just my thought, but it’s another article for another day, I suppose.

If you’ve read this far, thank-you! If anyone else is looking for a job right now, I hope you find everything you are looking for in a role.

Also, if anyone is planning to do NaNoWriMo, let me know if you’d like me to post my progress every day. I know that the official site is not up, but I’d still like to write every day next month.

Found Footage Horror Books

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As an avid reader, watcher, and player of Horror over the past decade or so. The phenomenon of found footage horror books is not lost on me. I have enjoyed many of the genre and I find the idea of using found footage in a novel format to be interesting and, well, novel.

Let’s talk about the advantages of using this format.

Advantages of Found Footage Horror Books

In a novel, you don’t have to show everything visually. So you aren’t stuck with using the hokey “this footage was retrieved from…” There might be a journal entry, or an email. This can tell some parts of the story. These things really lend themselves well to storytelling.

Before tearing things apart, I do want to quickly remind everyone what the definition of horror is. These are books written to terrify readers. They are the kind of books that without a happy ending. They leave the reader with an uneasy feeling.

My favorite books in the Found Footage Horror Genre are:

House of Leaves

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski: I’m pretty sure that this is the “classic” of the genre. I don’t know if there is another book out there that exemplifies that Found Footage Horror Book genre just quite the same way that House of Leaves does. It is a book that isn’t for everyone. It comes complete with pages that need to be turned upside down to read and footnotes.

A quick description of this book: There is a tattoo apprentice named Johnny. He is given a trunk by his friend. The trunk is from the friend’s neighbor’s house. It contains the writings of the neighbor. The writings are about this documentary about this man who moved his family into a house that was bigger on the inside than the outside. The story that unfolds is quite the ride.

Episode 13

Episode 13 by Craig DiLouie. This one is about the cast of one of those paranormal TV shows. The ones where the cast members go to haunted houses and “talk” to the ghosts at the location. This book is written as if it’s a screenplay. I listened to this one, so I can’t say what the book looks like. But, needless to say, the ending was very intense.

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I’m Thinking of Ending Things

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reed. I don’t know if this one counts in the Found Footage genre, but I’m going to count it. This book is fantastic. I haven’t seen the show. Throughout the first 3/4s of the book, the reader feels like they are in the head of the protagonist. It is only at the end when the reader is shown the truth.

Horrorstor

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix: This one may not count as found footage, but I’m putting it here. There are these little epigraphs that show the reader parts of the catalog from the store. They give the book a feeling of found footage. Allowing the readers are able to almost interact with the store and see, via catalog entries, how it devolves as the story takes them deeper into the store.

Conclusion

The Found Footage Horror Book genre as a whole is hard to get right. There are many ways to fumble it. Sometimes things get too complicated, or too unbelievable, and then readers get lost. But when it’s done right, the book can be beautiful to read.

I believe that some techniques are applicable to any genre. “Found Footage” doesn’t have to refer to only horror, it can be any kind of book. I can see romance working well with little found items, or alternative history, or even sci-fi.

Is there a found footage horror novel book that you really like, or maybe one that I mentioned that you don’t like at all? Let me know! Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

Stormveil Castle

Right now, I am around a level 40. I wanted to discuss a couple of things that happened between the Castle Morne experience and Stormveil Castle, but I feel like Stormveil ends up coloring everything else. I’ll try to go through everything.

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Before discussing Stormveil Castle

Irina’s Quest

First of all, I still get annoyed every time I think about going all the way through the Castle Morne quest, talking to Irina, delivering the letter to her father, and then she dies anyway? What kind of game is this, what kind of world is this, what is going on?

What is the Story of Elden Ring

Actually, to bring up another point. What is the Lands-Between? Is it Limbo? Are all the player characters dead, but have yet to be judged? Is that why religion plays such a large role in the game? The “lands between” is just such an interesting name. The fact that we are playing as a “tarnished.” What does tarnished mean, how did we get to be tarnished, what tarnished us? I know that all the big bosses are demi-gods. But why were they dead, and why do they now need to be killed?

What is the Lands-Between

Also, what are we doing for the world of the lands between? I’m hoping that these questions will be answered in gameplay. That the story will lay itself out for me to understand. Because right now, I feel like I could make up my own backstory for my character, how they came to be in this limbo, how they died why the lands between is in the state it’s in, and my own story would be just as valid as anyone else’s. However, I’ve heard that the story for the game is in the item descriptions?

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So I may check out all the items I have and see what they have to say, what can I piece together. It is kind of intriguing to me to be placed in a game where the only bit of story that’s actually told is the very beginning. And I find it even more fascinating that a world-famous writer collaborated on this game, and there doesn’t really seem to be a scrap of actual story that I can find, so far. I wonder how may GRRM fans picked up the game, expecting political intrigue and to be told a story of a family or anything similar to his work, and then were disappointed when the game made them work for the story.

Stormveil Castle

Okay, I’m going to stop discussing my strange ruminations now. Onto Stormveil Castle.

I surprised myself by being able to beat Margit in one go. I didn’t expect to beat him on the first try and was shocked when it happened.

So when I went into Stormveil Castle, I thought that I was good. I figured I was going to be able to meet every challenge in the Castle, and it would be no problem.

Issues in Stormveil Castle

My first major issue was knight that is inside a door that gets shut behind you when you go in. It took me several tries to beat him. Then, after him, I missed a site of grace, so when I inevitably died, I was back at the outside of the castle again.

Then, the birds. The birds with the exploding barrels. I died to them so many times that my son started making fun of the sound of my character when she’s dying. But I kept on pushing. When I finally made it to the courtyard, I was able to sneak up the stairs and I didn’t have a huge problem with an area that was I really worried about going to.

The next thing that I didn’t realize I needed to be concerned about is the pots. I didn’t know how tough the big pots are when they start spinning. I didn’t die to any of them, but they were harder than I thought they would be to kill.

aerial view of medieval fortress on green seashore
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Another section I went to was the under-part of the castle. I was able to kill the rats just fine, but there was this weird like serpent dragon thing that I died to like three times before I just ran past, and I was able to touch the bloodstain to move Rogier’s questline forward and just leave the area.

I did also kill a giant like a bunch. He was a lot easier to kill than I expected so I did it a bunch.

Beating Godrick the Grafted in Stormveil Castle

When I got to Godrick the Grafted, I did use the warrior princess lady for help, along with my own summon. I was able to beat him after three tries. The first try I got pretty close, the second one he killed me right away, and then the third one I beat him.

At this point, I haven’t played in a couple of days. But the thing is, I looked up where I’m supposed to take Godrick’s great rune, and I have to go back through Stormviel Castle, and I’m just dreading some of those areas. I’ll probably try it out this weekend.

Final Thoughts

I feel like I’m getting better at some things, but I do want to learn more faith magics. One other thing is that I need to find an outfit that will allow me to stand out in battle, because I will get confused as to who I am when I’m fighting.