A Trilogy of Storms Could Not Kill the Yellow Book

...an update because shit's been crazy and so has the prep for the next big story

I feel like an update is necessary because while the writing hasn’t advanced, I have still put in a lot of work with this next book’s main story. Plus, writing cosmic horror while also dealing with three awful storms in two weeks has left a mark on the process.

While I have wanted to be much further ahead than I am now, Mother Nature has been a real bitch. In my part of Florida, I have dealt with the effects of Hurricane Helene, an insane 4-5 day rainmaker storm, and a more direct hit from Hurricane Milton, which brought an army of tornadoes like I have never seen. All of this happened within a two week span. Being that I currently live in an RV surrounded by pine trees, I had to GTFO and stay with friends. Granted, that was in a slightly more dangerous spot, but I didn’t have to worry about being crushed or having my camper flung into the sky or washed away. Well, I still worried about that, but at least I wasn’t inside of it.

Strangely, the absolute power brought on by Mother Nature had me in the right mindset to work on the prep for the next book’s biggest story, which deals with cosmic horror, chaos, and power that cannot be tamed. The primary setting of this story takes place on a world with its own extreme weather conditions, total madness, and intense despair for those who still hold onto their sanity.

Crafting this unique and yet unseen planet in the Barbarians of the Storm mythos has been a lot of work, which I did not think would take me this deeply into mapping out the finer details. But honestly, I have been enjoying the hell out of it, and it has been a nice distraction from dealing with my real storms just outside my window.

There’s just so much to iron out in the background lore between the deity dynamics, worshipper politics, secret agendas of all parties, and everything else in-between. Just connecting the dots and forging the structure of this bizarre world is unlike anything I have done before. How does one bring in eldritch entities, biblical devils, and then explore their relationship in the grander scheme of the universe? And just exactly how do the mortal characters fit in? How are they used by these more powerful forces? Beyond all that, how do I tie it back to the main plot thread of the Barbarians of the Storm saga in a more meaningful way? While I already knew most of these answers, crafting this environment brings forth new questions and ideas.

My writing journal is filling up fast, as my prep notes for this one story are eclipsing the size of the notes sections for whole books. I’m also starting to run out of room in my trusty Moleskine that has been with me since the start of Dan the Destructor almost three years ago. This notebook has become my personal version of Professor Henry Jones, Sr.’s Grail Diary.

Well, that’s it for now. I am back at work today. Although, another storm is now looming out there. I’m fucking sick of these things. Anyway, let me try to slip back into normalcy and hopefully I can get the writing moving forward again this week. That first chapter is going to be a beast, but once I get through it, the rest should be fairly easy.