A man, a plan, and a website

So, you found my inaugural blog post. Congratulations! This means you either mined your way down to the two-hundred-and-sixty-third Google results page for ‘handsome author,’ or I somehow managed to make myself worth reading. Either way, welcome. I’m Taurenelle. 

When I began this literary journey, I thought I’d be introducing myself as a comic fantasy author, but as time went on–and my writing took on a life of its own–that classification proved to be a bit narrow and somewhat misleading. Naturally, one can’t say that he writes humorous fantasy and not be immediately compared to the genius that is Sir Terry Pratchett. And once people make that connection, they have certain expectations of your novels: satire, parody, social commentary, contemporary references, a snarky narrator, and that quintessential British wit. My debut series, The Nymphwood Elegies, contains none of those things. 

My humor is woven into the worldbuilding, the culture, and the inappropriate priorities of the characters. But more so, the elegance of the prose is at odds with the absurdity of the content, which, I hope, gives my work a unique feel. And beyond my fantasy series, I write poetry and flash fiction, which tend to be void of humor completely. So, marketing be damned, I don’t have a sleek logline for myself other than: “Please give me a try?”

I suppose I should outline my writing plan. Which, I admit, is more for myself as the author than you as the reader. But, thanks to that damned Brandon Sanderson writing so prolifically and that damned George R. R. Martin barely writing at all, a progress report of sorts has become mandatory for us fantasy authors. Here is how I see it going:

I want to take the rest of 2024 to introduce myself to the literary community. I will be entering prompt-based, short-form writing competitions as well as submitting excerpts from my manuscript to more traditional contests. My goal is to meet other authors, develop critique partnerships with them, strengthen my ability to write in multiple voices, and, if I’m lucky, garner some accolades in the process.

As for publication, I would like to publish Deep Lore, the first book in The Nymphwood Elegies series, in November or December of 2025. However, I would like to publish an anthology of my shorter pieces (poetry, flash fiction, and short stories) in the fall of 2025, as well as release an episodic series of short stories called Hair of the Dog on this website and via my newsletter.

And lastly, how do I intend to use this website? Is this worth bookmarking? And what the hell is this theme do I have going on? 

Well, I want this website to hold me accountable. I tend to be a perfectionist, and as a result, I can get caught up on details that ultimately don’t matter. Having a website in which I need to update my writing progress, share my latest work, discuss my success and failures in competitions, and even highlight the success of my fellow authors, will keep me motivated and help me pen as many quality stories as possible. So, if you’re interested in seeing where I go, I’d love to have you visit as often as you’d like, both here and on Instagram, X, and Bluesky.

As for my website, yes, I have embraced AI art. This is nothing against artists, I’m sure they hate AI artwork as much as I hate AI generated prose, but I can’t draw and I yet to have the funds to commission a professional illustrator (though, I do intend to do so for my book covers). But I wanted the visuals of my website to reflect the vibe of my writing: a little dated, a little sad, a little surreal, and chock full of fantasy. And hopefully my amateur attempt at web design conveyed that. Or perhaps I’m just overthinking things. An author overthinking things… how novel of a concept.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I hope to be posting on here at least twice a month and sharing my work with you all.

…and oh yeah, my name is pronounced ‘Taur’ as in Taurus, plus the letter ‘N’, and the letter ‘L.’ Taur-N-L. Tour-en-elle. Taurenelle.

Si vales, valeo!