Troubles.

Okay, so I've encountered a few setbacks. I think I'd have to be concerned if I -didn't- run into a few in this journey. Sure would be nice not to run into brick walls sometimes, though. Anyway, as to the problems themselves, the laptop I was using to write my book on crashed; died, burned out, lost all my files. That's three months worth of rping with nelmorr13 and a good ten pages of the book I had just finished that same day. That leaves me with the initial five or six pages of the book itself and the first couple of pages of filler I was working on, plus what I've written in a notebook since then. Frankly, it had me incredibly pissed. It didn't help that the computer guy assured me he could save the files, then came back a few days later and said that the c:drive was totally fried and wouldn't let go of any of the files, and basically told me over and over I was in idiot for not putting it on disc. But, on a high note, I figured out that I probably would have ended up rewriting much of what I've done already anyway, because the original stuff and the filler I put into the middle of it didn't mesh together properly. That doesn't mean it isn't a pain in the ass that I don't have the original to work from, but, it was only about eight hours of work. I'll pull myself out of it. Also on a high note, all of my computers are a few hours away from being fixed and having internet and Word, and properly fire-walled and spy-ware protected. So, with any luck, nothing like this will happen again. Not to mention I'm saving -everything- of consequence to disc now.
I have been making a bit of progress with the story, despite the setbacks. It doesn't seem all that significant to me just yet, as there isn't a whole lot written down, and it all has to be typed up and written better, since I don't write as well when I'm physically writing (I don't write fast enough to keep up with my brain, so long sentences end up being short little stubby things that could be lengthened to make more sense). But it's all unfolding itself. And with what I've been reading by Mercedes Lackey and RASalvatore, I don't think I'll have much trouble with getting out a good-lengthed book. I swear that Lackey writes books in which absolutely nothing happens, yet it's still insanely enjoyable and takes up three hundred pages. It boggles my mind. Then again, I read Salvatore, and a whole bunch of stuff happens in three hundred pages, that I have to sit back, blink, and wonder how he managed to be so damn detailed and still fit it all in. The careful balance of filler and stuff of consequence, I suppose. Just the right amount of each to get the typical length. I won't even mention the Potter books...
Speaking of Salvatore, yes, I've finally officially been acquainted with Drizzt, and he's even better than I had been expecting. I've also had a pretty good insight to Drow life in the Underground, and what Lloth is truly like. I still haven't figured out if I'm allowed to use the name Lloth or not, as she's an entity of D&D, I believe, but is seemingly universally known as the Drow Goddess. I know I can't use Elbereth as the Wood entity, because she's a strict creation of Tolkien, so I've begun to just refer to her as Goddess. Perhaps I'll come up with a name from history that will work. I'm pretty sure I don't want to make up my own goddess. I really want very little of what I'm doing to be new creations. I want you readers to be intimately familiar with much of what I talk about, hence all the well-known historic events.
There is one event that I'm creating on my own to explain a few things. And that's the Great Dragon Elf War. I'm mostly using it to majorly wipe out the elf and dragon races, among the other minor fantastical races. I'm seeing it as the big turning point in the books, where I break away from fantasy and turn over to 'historical fiction' of a sort. I've been having trouble deciding exactly when to place it, though. Rhia is still young, but skilled enough that the elves ask her to join their ranks. It has to be during a time in which most of the Northern Asian continent (that is, Russia) is still unpopulated by humans, at least no more than nomads. It may just end up being some time around 4200bce, shortly after her second child is born. Maybe during the third book. Of course, that insinuates I'll be doing this by chronological order... Maybe I will end up doing that afterall, starting from where I'm picking up with Toryk in this first book. Just have one or two books that go back in time. That's still a ways off, though, I guess.
Oh, I'm finally going to start giving personality to each of her kids. I'm still not quite sure how many she's going to have had, not counting adopted kids or tagalongs, as I'm continuing to get ideas for kids themselves, or actual events or situations that would make another child worth working out. I guess we'll see how that goes, too.
Let's see..what else... I guess there isn't too much else worth mentioning that's coming to mind. If I think of anything, I'll be back.