Flashfic and Painting

[Subscribers received this post as a newsletter on April 8, 2022.]

Spring has arrived! Hope you’ve been able to get out and enjoy it.

As with the last newsletter on board games and claymation, my distractions have continued with flash fiction and painting...

Flash Fiction

Something new I’ve been working on is flash fiction, or what some may even call micro fiction. I get much of my inspiration from reading history and old PS1 games I used to play (like the Final Fantasy series). But I also get a lot of inspiration from others’ artwork posted at DeviantArt, particularly for places and characters. I post my flash fic in the comments of the art (and on Reddit and Twitter).

None of this flash fiction is part of the Earthpillar world, and some of it veers into other genres like science fiction, steampunk, and grimdark. But it’s been a fun way for me to keep writing a bit while taking a break before editing my novels. If these tiny stories interest you, they are listed on the Earthpillar website here [deprecated].

Painting

Since January I’ve also been working on drawing and painting. Like a lot of people, I did a ton of drawing as a kid but never developed it with good training. I already do my own cartography for Earthpillar, but at some point I’d like to get good enough to illustrate some epic landscapes and objects for my books. So I’ve been practicing using YouTube tutorials.