A New Country

The last journal I wrote was me lamenting not having a first draft novel to start writing. Or in poetic terms, I was a “man without a country”. That’s not the case as of today. Not only do I have a new country to call home, but I’m waving that country’s flag like a zealous patriot. I’ve found a new novel to work on in addition to the workload I already have. Of all of those novel ideas I laid out in the last journal, the one I see the most potential in is….(drum roll)….Dungeons & Dragons: Hair vs. Hair.

Except there will be a few changes. First of all, unless I want the suits at Hasbro to ream me with a million dollar lawsuit, I can’t include the words “Dungeons & Dragons” in the title. The fan boy in me wants to use those words, but copyright laws dictate otherwise. So that just leaves me with the title of “Hair vs. Hair”. Upon further examination, that’s not a very convincing title for a medieval fantasy story unless it was part of some Barbie doll canon. Kyro Blackhand, the main character of this novel, is far from a Barbie doll. He’s an orc warrior with a bastard sword and a bastard attitude.

Speaking of Mr. Blackhand, I’ve considered another name for this orcish fighter and it’s one that doesn’t have red squiggly lines underneath when I type it on a word document. The name I’m considering is Ivan Blackstone. I like the name Ivan since it’s the first name of the lead singer of Five Finger Death Punch. That, and Blackstone sounds medieval in nature. So now the self-debate has begun: will my orcish protagonist be called Kyro Blackhand or Ivan Blackstone? Hmm….

As far as the chapter planning is concerned, everyone who reads this knows I’m a plotter all the way. However, I only have eight chapters planned from beginning to end. If it wasn’t for the lovely Marie Krepps and her advice to do just a little bit of improvising, I might have passed up this project. I value Marie’s advice, so I’m going through with this one. Wish me luck, baby cakes! What I know already is that this novel will take place in five different locations and each location will have four chapters dedicated to it. If my math is correct, that means like Watch You Burn and Occupy Wrestling before it, this new novel will have 20 chapters of badass action.

Now that I read back at what I’ve written of this journal so far, I’ve neglected to tell you guys of new ideas for the title now that Dungeons & Dragons is copyright sensitive and Hair vs. Hair sounds fruity. What if I was to look through my list of buzzwords and cherry pick the best one? And by the way, these buzzwords are taken from various media whether they’re song titles, band names, wrestler names, or otherwise. My most recent entry for the WSS is called Hell Yeah, which is the name of a heavy metal super group from Texas that consists of Vinnie Paul Abbot from Pantera, Chad Grey from Mudvayne, and Tom Maxwell from Nothingface to name a few. Buzzwords are too much fun to pass up.

And since this novel originated from a D&D campaign idea, the Good Reads group that was going to sponsor that game has been terminated. Then again, since I was the only official member of the group and nobody has joined since it’s inception in May, it was better off as a novel anyways. Sorry to anybody who wanted to play with me.

I’m setting aside some time tomorrow so that I can write the first chapter of this story. Until then, you know what I always say. We’ve got ears, say cheers!

***WRESTLING DIALOGUE OF THE DAY***

BROCK LESNAR: I’ll kill you!
THE UNDERTAKER: You’re going to have to!