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Brian D. Saul

About time for a new bio. At least, a little new, I've always been terrible at these things. So bare with me, and if you just stumble upon my little page here, please don't use this bio against me in judging my writing talent.

For starters, I lack any semblance of art skill, but I've been told I can write well, so here I am.. Lesse here...I'm 30, and a fairly avid roleplayer, which in the end tends to influence my writing quite a bit. ...That and the friends I RP with bugging me to write, it's because of one of them I'm here. Been writing off and on for quite some years now, more off than on actually until I started the Elryn story you see below.  My Smallest of Gifts is one I started a few years afterwards, as a curiosity.

My works here are still ongoing stories that have been, and will likely continue to be, updated regularly and past versions of them changed on occasion as I iron out the storyline and my writing style.  The folks here in the woods have been a great help to me!

I look forward to comments, and just honest feedback in general... Don't be afraid to nitpick about my work, be it grammar, story bits in general, or what have you. I can't fix something if I don't know it's broken after all. :)

On the same note, it's hard to keep doing something right when I'm not positive I'm doing it right in the first place. Just be honest in what you say, be it as little or as much as you want to say, and I'll be content.

So, the stories, and some minor details are in order I suppose.

Elryn is the prinary story I'm working on.  It has seen some heavy editing over the years, a lot of it with the help of folks here, all of which I am extremely thankful for.   The story wouldn't be nearly as structured and readable if it wasn't for their patience with me.

I can't actually tell you any details about it, mind you, as that would spoil so many of the fun surprises.  In short, it's fantasy, my own little world, incredibly magical.  Main character is, well, Elryn, a little one armed mage.

Smallest of Gifts is one I started a few years after, to keep from burning out on Elryn.  I really like the world/universe/etc I have there....it's just terribly hard to explain it all.  If you want a brief history of the universe, go read the prologue...but keep in mind, the prologue is really only history, it doesn't have any immediate baring upon the story itself.

Erzivia....I think I keep her story around for nostalgia.  It's oooold...pretty much the first major thing I ever really wrote, so I think its age is going on...oh, gotta be 16-17 years now.

One of these days, I think I'd like to do something else with it...but I honestly don't know what.  I rewrite perhaps, but the details behind it are so fuzzy to me anymore.  So...I recommend maybe giving it a look after everything else, see how I've improved, and really, I do like the idea for it.

Updates.
Submitted 6/11/11

Yes, you see right, an update!  Though...no new chapters, yet.  I'm working with a friend on getting one for Eryk out, since most of what I've been doing is Elryn.  I HAVE made progress, have a chapter or two sitting on my HD...but I want one of him inbetween, so we don't have like 3 chapters of Elryn, 1 of Eryk, and so on down the line.

So what did I update?  Well, everything Elryn related.

The first thing, and most noticable, is that while Eryk's parts are still there, I'm removed all his first peson bits.   Over time, they just got increasingly harder and harder for me to write...so instead, they're all simply 3rd person now.  Elryn's half is still, of course, in 1st person.

I've also played with the order of things a lot, got rid a lot of the overlapping.  The parts jump between Eryk and Elryn a bit more in some chapters (think 4 is the most noticeable, and a bit more in 1), but for starters, I try to make the transitions immediately tell whose view point you're looking at, so as not to confuse the reader.

Other than that, I've edited, tweaked, and played with just about everything else.  I've done a TON of rephrasing of parts I wasn't sure of, clarified a lot of things through dialogue and such, and tried a little to make the over arching storyline a wheeee bit less vague.  Since it's occured to me there are a lot of things I can throw in that while will make no sense to the characters, should make a lot more sense to the reader.

I'm still terribly behind on my comments unfortunately...and even further behind on my reading, so hope all you folks who I've promised a read sooner or later can forgive me. ^^

But, yay, still alive...and an actual update!

Guestbook for Briansaul

Date Name Comment   9 Dec 2006 Frances Monro Loading... Woof Woof! Moo! 7 Feb 2007 Frances Monro Loading... Hey Brian, good to hear from you again. 22 Jul 2007 Marloes Loading... hi Tay, it's time you add some more to your stories. You just can't leave the stories like this and keep us wondering if there will be a happy ending. If you don't post a new chapter soon, I'll just have to try to contact you more often and keep poking you to make sure you hurry with your writing. Brian D. Saul replies: "Hmm...it has been a while, hasn't it? Writers blocks kinda gotten me down bad as of late... I don't have much of Elryn done after all this time unfortunately, I have about half a chapter of both her half and Eryk's half...it's just not enough to warrant posting. I do however have about two chapter of my Smallest of Gifts I need to get around to posting... ...And yes, you need to poke more often, I don't see you around nearly enough. " 2 Oct 2007 Frances Monro Loading... Brian, why don't you start an email list or something and send out your draft material for comment and proofreading, pre-moderation? Maybe your friends can help you overcome your block. Brian D. Saul replies: "Do I smell a volunteer? Actually I do have a friend or so look over my stuff before I post, it's just been a while since I've actually gotten anything worthwhile down. =\ ...which reminds me I've still got a glossary and at least one chapter of my Smallest of Gifts to post. Elryns story is, sadly, still giving me an annoying amount of trouble. Not nearly as much so lately now that things have calmed down a bit life wise and I've actually been able to work on it more, but still... Anyways...Tis good to hear from ya! " 2 Jun 2008 Hexedian Loading... You! Lazy! Slacker! Write something! People are waiting! NOW! 30 Sep 2008 Gorgie Loading... i think it needs to be posted o.o 14 Oct 2008 Courtney M. Pulnik Loading... *nose* Tay!!! miss you!! 7 Jun 2009 Hexedian Loading... I wonder, is the Tay still alive? Am I supposed to give up on hearing the end of the stories? Because that’s not likely to happen =P Brian D. Saul replies: "Why yes, the Tay is still alive and kicking, whoo! And don’t give up hope yet...I ’am’ still, albeit slowly, working on things... ^^" 3 Feb 2010 Frances Monro Loading... Hey Brian, how are you? I’ve been writing new stuff, and doing some art too. Oh and I’m still nitpicking, mostly with a email writer’s group. Brian D. Saul replies: "Doing pretty darn good lately, actually. Good hearing from you! Writings been, sadly, slow...still...but, if nothing else, I’ve got two new chapters of my Smallest of Gifts in the queue. Also some looong planned edits to the earlier chapters ofElryn, which I’m rather pleased with. Mostly conversion of Eryk to 3rd person, and getting rid of even more overlapping. Though, those aren’t in queue just yet. I’ll have to head over to your page one of these days and catch up, I’m severely behind on...well, everything." 12 Nov 2010 Anon. Loading... Read your stories years ago and loved it, especially Elryn. Really. Recently decided to check if you’ve made anything new, and though you hadn’t, it’s nice to see you responding to messages. Might there be a continuation yet? Brian D. Saul replies: "Hmm, I did put new stuff up a while ago. Most notably chapters 2 and 3 of my Smallest of Gifts. That being said though, Elryn is woefully outdated...I’ve done a LOT of editing to the chapters, which I really need to upload one of these days. Probably have enough written for another chapter or two, really...I’ve just been suffering from a terminal case of writers block for FAR too long now, and am continually working to dig my way through it. Glad to hear from someone though after so long. " Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

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Brian D. Saul