This is a blog that concentrates on the influences and writing of two aspiring author friends called Thadeus Morticaine and Dan Coghlan. They have been friends for many years and found that they have a common interest in what they write, even though they write different things.

Thadeus Morticaine is working on a series of Folk horror stories, fantasy stories, some ghost stories and some sci-fi. He likes HP Lovecraft, Gareth L Powell, Robert Rankin and Kim Newman. He is also very much into his folktales and Celtic and Norse myths and legends.

Dan Coghlan is currently working on a Sword and Sorcery series about a Wood Elf Barbarian, and also a pulp fiction style series of Post-Apocalyptic stories. He likes Robert E Howard and Steve Dilks, as well as Lin Carter and Clarke Ashton Smith.

The Dark Garret twitter account can be found here at @GarretDark.

Monday, November 21, 2022

 Hello everyone!

A few things first, some social media housekeeping stuff in essence, but I've been talking note of some of the things that have been happening on Twitter - some of those obvious things - and all the folks that seem to be jumping ship.

Because of that, I now have a Mastadon profile. So now, you can find me there on @dancoghlan@mstdn.party and you can press it. It should be a link to my account. I'm still using Twitter, which you should be able to do here if you search for Dan Coghlan. I'm not planning on leaving Twitter any time soon. I'm planning on riding it out and seeing what happens, depending on what the behind the scenes changes bring.

I also, now have a facebook page and plan to be quite active on there too. I realise I should really have had a Facebook page for quite a while now, but hay ho, I have one now. And that should be found here - if you search for Dan Coghlan - author.

Yes, I like Twitter, I like it a lot, but with all the folks leaving and with all the changes, it have become worrisome. So, regardless, please take a look and see what suits. You're all welcome to come and react with me on a platform that your comfortable with. Just look for the tartan elf with a broadsword.

celt, celtic, elf, barbarian, footsore, footsore miniatures, miniatures, mini, minis, miniature, mastadon, social media, facebook, twitter, elf, barbarian, celtic, celt, celtic elf, story, stories, short story, short stories, Dan Coghlan, fantasy, sword and sorcery, swords and sorceries, swords and sorcery, The Woods, Oakbound, Oakbound Studio, Barons' War, Baron War, Barons War, baron, war, game, wargame, war game, skirmish game, model, modelling, models, warhammer, warhammer 40k, 40k, 40000, 40,000, eldar, aeldari, knights, knight, anglo saxon, anglo-saxon, anglo, angles, saxon, saxons, history, medieval, dark age, norman conquest, norman, conquest, harrying of the north, the north, harry, harrying, north, short story, aston on trent, aston, derby, derbyshire, weston, gwaeloch irisgarth, irisgarth, gwaeloch, writing, written, write, author, writer, oldhammer, middlehammer, 10th century, 11th century, century,
Gwaeloch Irisgarth,
Celtic Elf barbarian

And writing this, I now realise that I will probably have to update the introductory title page and a couple of bits on some of the pages of this very blog. But I'll get to that in time.

But onto a few other things.

I've really got into a game called The Woods made by Oakbound Studio. I think I've talked about it before. I know I've shared some stuff by Oakbound Studio before, but I just wanted to mention it once again. I've been very impressed by it. Please take a look with the link above.

celt, celtic, elf, barbarian, footsore, footsore miniatures, miniatures, mini, minis, miniature, mastadon, social media, facebook, twitter, elf, barbarian, celtic, celt, celtic elf, story, stories, short story, short stories, Dan Coghlan, fantasy, sword and sorcery, swords and sorceries, swords and sorcery, The Woods, Oakbound, Oakbound Studio, Barons' War, Baron War, Barons War, baron, war, game, wargame, war game, skirmish game, model, modelling, models, warhammer, warhammer 40k, 40k, 40000, 40,000, eldar, aeldari, knights, knight, anglo saxon, anglo-saxon, anglo, angles, saxon, saxons, history, medieval, dark age, norman conquest, norman, conquest, harrying of the north, the north, harry, harrying, north, short story, aston on trent, aston, derby, derbyshire, weston, gwaeloch irisgarth, irisgarth, gwaeloch, writing, written, write, author, writer, oldhammer, middlehammer, 10th century, 11th century, century,
The Woods by Oakbound Studio,
Skirmish Game

I have also been sorely tempted by collecting an Aeldari/Eldar army for Warhammer 40k. I've a bit of a mixed opinion about the company, but the game generally is entertaining. I'm sort of trying to subdue that temptation until after Christmas when I can actually start planning that responsibly, instead of racing into it and getting too excited about it.

This is unfortunate, I'm still eyeing up The Barons' War game too. There are some really nice models there done by Footsore Miniatures, who also do Saga.

celt, celtic, elf, barbarian, footsore, footsore miniatures, miniatures, mini, minis, miniature, mastadon, social media, facebook, twitter, elf, barbarian, celtic, celt, celtic elf, story, stories, short story, short stories, Dan Coghlan, fantasy, sword and sorcery, swords and sorceries, swords and sorcery, The Woods, Oakbound, Oakbound Studio, Barons' War, Baron War, Barons War, baron, war, game, wargame, war game, skirmish game, model, modelling, models, warhammer, warhammer 40k, 40k, 40000, 40,000, eldar, aeldari, knights, knight, anglo saxon, anglo-saxon, anglo, angles, saxon, saxons, history, medieval, dark age, norman conquest, norman, conquest, harrying of the north, the north, harry, harrying, north, short story, aston on trent, aston, derby, derbyshire, weston, gwaeloch irisgarth, irisgarth, gwaeloch, writing, written, write, author, writer, oldhammer, middlehammer, 10th century, 11th century, century,
Baron's War
by Footsore Miniatures
A Medieval Skirmish Game

Now onto my writing, which is probably what you're all here for mainly.

Finally, and I mean, finally! I've finished research to a place where I feel comfortable AND I've managed to get all the character profiles and notes sorted and now I feel comfortably prepared enough to actually start writing.

There is a story I want to write that involves the aftermath of the Norman Conquest and the opening days of the Harrying of the North.

As you can imagine, there is a lot going on with all that. I'd already had a familiarity with the period and knew of several locations that were suitable for the story and thought - quite a while ago - that I was familiar enough with the history and the location enough to be able to start writing.

But that wasn't the case. It turns out that Anglo-Saxon history is a lot like Game of Thrones but with a lot more stabbing going on. I realised that I was only familiar with the little more than the tip of that iceberg and one of the problems is that the village I'd thought most suitable as a setting didn't have one lord... not even two lords. The village had three lords. And each of them had changed and been replaced intermittently. Trying to keep track of who was who, where their manor actually was and their motivations and opinions of each other was quite stressful. There was also the problem of fitting all that into a wider picture as well, which caused problems. But everything is ironed out now. I have a decent story plan to follow now and know what I'm doing with it all.

There are even the options for this to be the start of a series of partly interlinked stories too. I'm even thinking that there could be a supernatural/spooky prequel story as the area has barrows, a cursor and the remains of a stone circle. It feels a shame to utterly ignore those so it'd be rude not to involve them somehow.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. Tonight, I'll be concentrating on starting the short story and seeing how far I get. I'm really relieved that I've finally finished all the research to a good level and can now actually start.

Finally, I bid you all a farewell and invite you to look at the above links. I hope to see you all soon.

at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)