helgorith
I have been working on Helgorith now for a little under two years. It has been slow progress, that being said things have started to pick up, the story has started to become more apparent. The twists and turmoil’s that the characters are facing have changed somewhat, but the endgame is still the same, so far at least.
So why Helgorith? What made me write this story? The answer is simple and I will try and not give you a complicated answer. The answer is that I love writing that takes me away from reality, I can lose myself in my work or in this case, my world. Helgorith started out when I was on holiday in the Lake District with my family. As we was driving through little villages, I asked my partner who was a passenger to write down names of streets and towns that sounded really cool. I didn’t know at the time that these names would help me to create a world of towns, cities, harbours, characters and more within Helgorith. It just happened that way.
Over the last five years I have been journaling due to my own mental health illnesses, later these notes would help me to create poems. With over forty poems I then created my first book, “Crack On” which is now published and available. This has set me on the path of becoming an established writer and the idea of writing my own fantasy novel, Helgorith was born.
Helgorith - Battle for Helgor is the first book in a series, how many books is yet to be determined, because I don’t have a structure. I write by the seat of my pants, literally. This is great as it gives me the freedom of the mind to go wild, and being creative as possible. I had the idea of a female wizard, then followed a shapeshifter Brule and a magic spell book, Grimoire. Just a few of the wonderful characters in the story. Then I reached out to a digital artist and had the book cover designed based on my specifications.
Now the writing, from a blank page we jump straight into a dramatic event. No joke, from the very first word on chapter one we have action and the story sets the pace. I go with the flow and when I feel the need to introduce another character, I ask myself do we really need one? What is there purpose? Could we continue without them? I ask myself these questions because that is how I develop my characters, they each have a mind of their own.. Well, except for grimoire but don’t tell her I said that!
For me the writing process is when I am feeling the need to write. It may sound like a simple process but honestly, I have to feel the story, the direction and the mood of the characters. It’s not just write some text about a character, it has to make sense. If it doesn’t to me then how is the reader meant to understand everything that is going on within the story. I write using Scrivener, I have cork boards for my characters, scene locations within my chapters etc. When I come across a new action point for my story then I will update these cards accordingly. This really helps me to understand where I am up to and what needs to be finalised before the story ends. Example if in chapter one I discuss about how Avaleen was abandoned when she was a child and then I don’t explain later on in the story. The reader is going to be left confused or left not knowing the answer to Avaleen’s position. These boards are great to track events.
A fantasy novel is approximately 80 to 100,000 words. At the minute I am currently 10-15,000 words. Three chapters, just started the fourth. Now I’m not worried at this point as the story has a lot of ground to cover yet and has only now started to unfold as the characters progress within the fields of play. I am excited, honestly. I am so looking forward to completing this novel but I want it right, I want it so when the reader has finished the story it leaves a lasting memory, a good one I hope.
Anyways, I hope this gives you a little background in to Helgorith. I hope you hang around for me, feel free to subscribe and if you have any questions then please send me a message via my website.
Best Wishes
A.M. Standish
Copyright © 2024 - A.M. Standish
