Keith Edward English, Wordsmith

Saryn slobbered drunkenly as he pounded the table, sending one of his several empty mugs clattering to the floor. His head swiveled and bobbed, his glassy eyes hard-pressed to keep up with the motion. Even Gax looked up from his game of cards, the puny parchment things that would certainly win him a few copper rounds clutched in his callused, green fingers.

“You’re placing all wagers on the bet safe!” Saryn roared, slurring his words heavily. Even he seemed confused by the ordering of his words, his face scrunching up. “I say, we talk to Gax!”

Gax, knowing the reputation of this tavern-crawling cretin paid him no mind. Soon, Gax was sure, Saryn would flop to the soggy, wooden floor face-first and find himself tossed roughly out into an alley comprised more of piss and shit than stone. Saryn listed lazily to the side and Gax cursed himself for not shouting a wager that the drunkard was slipping into unconsciousness even now.

“Gax! You big pig of a son! Tomorrow, you win the fairest maid contest, I give you a gold hundred!” Saryn raised a full tankard as he belted his final few words. Half of the ale inside sloshed out and landed either on his own head or on the table. Then, he promptly dropped his head to the table and passed out. Continue reading “Hold my Battleaxe 7 – Gax Almost Wins a Beauty Contest” →

“We’re between jobs, low on gold, ain’t got shit to eat or drink, and you’re going out to dinner?” Darsil’eit growled at Gax. She stood with one hand on her hip and one eyebrow arched. Her olive skin glistened from the humidity of the air in their tight quarters.

Gax ignored her for a moment, smoothing the wrinkles from his roughspun cotton shirt, which clung tightly to his muscular frame. It was his nicest shirt. Well, one of his only shirts, actually. He left his torso naked more often than not, save for when the seasons shifted and would have frozen the orc blood in his veins if not for layers of clothing and pelts. “We aren’t that low on coin…”

“We’re sharing a damn room in the shittiest inn this side of the mountains!” Dar shouted, her eyes wide and alive with fire and fury, her arms splayed wide to encompass the cramped box that barely managed a single cot.  Continue reading “Hold my Battleaxe 6 – Gax goes on a Date” →

“Hold my battleaxe, Dar,” Gax requested, handing the massive weapon to the elf before she had a chance to respond. Darsil’eit snatched the axe from Gax’s outstretched hand with both of her arms, her bow now leaning against a nearby tree.

“What are you about?” she asked suspiciously as he strode forward.

Gax slowly shifted his feet through the watery mud beneath him, brushing past low hanging willow branches. The swamp he trudged through sat bathed in the soft glow of dusk, motes of dust and small insects flitting fancifully past the rare shaft of intense orange light that pierced the thick veil from the many trees and tall ferns.

“The traps you set are sound, yeah?” he asked, not breaking stride. “They’ll capture an ergun well?”

“Three if they’re spread out,” she said with an air of superiority.

“Good. I figure it’s my neck we should stick out here, not yours. Axe will slow me down getting back behind the traps.”

“Well, seeing as how, thanks to your stupidity, we’ve been tasked with capturing creatures dangerous enough to rip either of our faces off, I’d be inclined to agree. Carry on. Long as Obrel gets his ergun, I’ll be happy.” Continue reading “Hold my Battleaxe 5 – Gax tries to capture an ergun, and doesn’t do so well” →

Gax parried a weak sword strike with his massive axe, burst forward, then slammed his fist into the human’s face. Bones crunched. The merchant flopped to the rocky ground, a limp heap. He brought his axe up over his head and set his feet apart.

“Gax!” shouted a familiar voice. “No killing!”

He rolled his eyes and spun around to face Darsil’eit, his elf companion, his arms going slack.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he argued, kicking backward and striking the unconscious human with his heel. Continue reading “Hold my Battleaxe 4 – Gax makes an eagle angry trying to score hallucinogens” →

A mighty laugh spilled from Gax, issuing between his large orc teeth, some of which were sharpened, drowning out the laments of several humans. He reached across the bar table, his rickety stool wobbling threateningly beneath him, and raked a small pile of copper ovals toward his person. The other players begrudgingly shoved their dice back into their cups and began shaking them.

Gax snatched his ale and drained it in a mighty gulp, a bit spilling from the corner of his grinning mouth. He slammed it back down and looked triumphantly at the others. Continue reading “Hold my Battleaxe 3 – Gax wins a grappling match by knocking himself out” →

Gax and Darsil’eit traveled the snow-clad streets of Durthlem warily. The particular avenue they traversed sloped downward ever so slightly, making the going even more treacherous. Once already, Gax’s feet had slid out from under him and he’d crashed down onto his back to slide a dozen feet down the icy thoroughfare.

“Ya know, you didn’t need to bite a chunk out of Beshyn’s ear,” Dar said, picking at her long fingernails with a knife. “He would’ve talked with a few mugs of ale in him.”

Gax looked sidelong at his elf companion. “And a run with you in his bedroll! He said as much!”

“He hinted as much, you dumb idiot. Now we’ll have to keep our eyes out for him and his friends trying to get even.” Continue reading “Hold my Battleaxe 2 – Gax runs into a horse, and earns some ale” →

As I come to the end of Revival of Fire (Ruination 3) I’m getting super amped to sit down and finish the damn thing. Life, however, keeps telling me to hold on. Can’t I just not work for like a week to devote ALL of my free time to writing!?

Still, this past week made for some good writing, some of which is below.

Things that might go well together but probably won’t:

The Punisher working as a high school conflict mediation counselor Continue reading “The Punisher and High School, Characters of The Source, One-Liners, Keebler, Vesik’s Daughter, Hold my Battle Axe” →

So, I started a brand new chapter of life this week. My work schedule (and the rest of life) changed quite a bit. I got out of the martial arts business to spend more time with my family, and good thing too seeing as how I’m going to a daddy next July! With all the changes, I built in time to focus on spreading the word about my words. So, here’s this week’s recap from various social media things.

Continue reading “MTG in Real Life; Arm and Hammer; The Boys Drink; The Evil Within; The Source” →

“No, we certainly cannot! If we do, what the hell will our readers read?”

     Conflict drives so many elements of your story, and this is why it’s important to be exceptional at developing it in your characters and plot. Conflict takes your characters, those beloved people you’ve taken so much time to get to know, then molds them into something new. You, meanwhile, are along for the ride as they are shaped. So make sure you have a good handle on how to create dynamic and interesting conflict in your novels. Continue reading “An Article on Developing Conflict in Fiction, for Writers” →