If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humor—I write that. One urban fantasy series, one epic fantasy series, both set in the Fractured Arcana universe, with more coming. My newsletter takes you deeper into the worlds, the characters, and what's next.
Sheep, trolls, and a title vote
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I want to invite you to try a new game I've been building, an idle farming game in the world of Thaumatropic Roots. More on that in a minute. First I want to prove that progress continues in my next book, despite my game-making side-efforts. I finished one of two intertwining storylines. The unwritten storyline has little more written than its foundation, and it is the much more complex storyline. So, either a bunch of this book is going to get cut, or I'm writing a longer book than usual. Quick question for you: which book title do you like best for the first book of Thaumatropic Fractures? I'm thinking of ending the series with Father of Stones, the way Thaumatropic Roots begins with Mother of Trees. You haven't read the story yet (though past newsletters have held snippets), so it's an unfair question, but go with your gut.
Back to the game, Bell & Stone. It's rougher around the edges than the Arena game I released a few weeks ago, but you're welcome to try it and send feedback. Start with a few sheep in the mountains. End up holding the valley against raiding trolls. 🐑⚔️ Open buried springs, build your flock, trade with the wood elves for their wine, and post Roamers and rams to stand against the raids. The valleys get stranger the further you go. Here's a little clip of the part of the game I'm working to balance now: For my writer friends, I made a video on the most helpful use of AI I've stumbled on outside of marketing prose/images: optimizing Amazon Ads through application of ad negatives (search terms you don't want Amazon using to lead people to your book because it wastes your advertising money). The video below is part of my answer to an interview on the topic of using AI as a writer. That's it for this update. I'm back from the UK and have a pretty full schedule for a week+, so the progress plot is likely going to flatten out (plus the chapter I'm working on is going achingly slowly... it's a crossroad of character information sharing, and those always prove tough to navigate). All books by Steven J. Morris Previous Newsletters
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Steven J Morris
If you read fantasy for the magic, the world-building, and the occasional moment of dark humor—I write that. One urban fantasy series, one epic fantasy series, both set in the Fractured Arcana universe, with more coming. My newsletter takes you deeper into the worlds, the characters, and what's next.
I promise I’ve made progress on Father of Stones (FoS). Here's a screenshot to prove it: click the photo to get to the live data showing progress But... I have put a little time elsewhere. I want to invite you to try this web-game I’ve been building out. It was meant to be a role-playing game around Thaumatropic Fractures, but ended up being focused on Thaumatropic Roots. https://tfrpg.sjmorriswrites.com https://tfrpg.sjmorriswrites.com The game will ask you to use your email to associate...
I built a tracking page for Father of Stones (FoS) this week. I did not, notably, write very much of said book this week. There's a joke in there about creative avoidance and I'm not going to pretend I don't see it. Anyway — here's what I made instead. Word Count Over Time A live chart of Father of Stones' progress since late June. I'm not smoothing over the slow weeks. There's a very flat stretch from June 'til August where I worked on the Eigenthrope story, then another flat stretch through...
Yesterday I needed to remember exactly how a character destroyed a dragon artifact three books ago. I didn't dig through my own novels to find it—I asked an AI I built to search them for me. It's called the Grimoire: a mini-AI system I put together with Pinecone that I can ask questions about my own books—hair color in a different epoch, a side character I want to bring back, a detail I'd otherwise lose momentum digging for. It keeps me writing instead of hunting. That's the quiet way AI has...