Unsweetened Darjeeling

I have suddenly decided to jump off the deep end. I’m relaunching this blog. I’m going to charge full-force into the blogging world and become a real blogger. A consistent poster. A creator of rich decadent content full of things you want to know. Informative, entertaining, unique. You heard me say all that.

Welcome to UnsweetenedDarjeeling.com!

I didn’t just decide to do this today. I’ve been working on this relaunch for months—brainstorming, setting goals, trying to organize my chaos into something new and exciting. I bought a new laptop, I cleaned and redecorated my desk and told myself it was time to focus.

This blog has been creeping along, wanting to become something for years. I don’t know why it’s taken me this long to commit to a real plan, but here we are. UnsweetenedDarjeeling.com is Stardriftnights.blogspot.com reborn to be something it’s always wanted to be.

A Quick Note on the Name:

Stardriftnights was a reference to my debut into the noveling world, The Stardrift Trilogy. Since it’s been a while since Stardrift was published, it’s no longer my flagship, I wouldn’t say. No hate to the magnum opus of my teenage years, but I wanted to rename the blog to be more relevant to my current work. Unsweetened Darjeeling is the title of a poem I published in my little collection Songs from the Small Hours. I liked the idea of using a poetry reference for the title. I thought it suited the mood. Also, tea. By the way, don’t drink Darjeeling unsweetened. It’s not too good.

So, what can you expect from Unsweeteneddarjeeling.com? The former Stardriftnights.blogspot.com was mainly a writer/author blog. Anyway, on Stardriftnights.blogspot.com I posted about half-and-half writing how-to and author updates.

• Writing (fiction, mainly)
• Visual art (my first love)
• Creativity in general (and being multipassionate)
• The relationship between creatives and their audience (and how to improve it)
• And the relationship between creatives and God (the source of all creativity)

So, yes, you’re still going to get a lot of great content to help you sharpen your fiction-writing skills. Studying, practicing and helping other writers achieve better fiction-writing is definitely a major passion of mine. I’ve been doing it for about fourteen years now, and I’m showing no signs of slowing down. So, definitely expect writing-centered content on the regular.

My main foci, starting now, will probably be as follows:

Writing

(And the majority of my old content is still available on this blog, so check out some of the links at the end of this post for further reading.)

Visual Art

I mentioned that visual art was my first love, and I’m not kidding. Long before I started writing I was doing other things with pencils. Sometimes on walls. Actually, I didn’t even like writing until I learned to type. Pencils were for art.

Maybe partially because my parents didn’t mind my drawing on the walls, I never gave up art. My favorite medium now is a combination of graphite and fine-liners. I also play with oil and acrylic paints sometimes and am hoping to expand my skills to include digital and as many other media as possible. I’ll let you guys watch my progress and share anything I learn along the way.

Creativity

There’s a lot to being a creative person. Artists have different struggled than normal people do. We see the world differently, make decisions differently, value different things, have different needs and wants. It’s easy to feel alone and misunderstood as an artist.

I want to help other creatives navigate and understand what they go through. There are times when the mainstream is going to fail you when you need somebody who understands. With as much introspection and observation of other artists as I naturally engage in, I might as well share what I discover and find ways to help you.

Creators and Their Audience

Most people who dedicate a lot of their time to creative work sooner or later try to show it to people. This is important to the function of human society. Art is a very deep form of communication and there are a lot of nuances to that communication.

From the more philosophical side of that discussion to the very practical issues modern creators face with trying to gain traction and grow a community on the internet, I want to explore that, as well.

Creators and God

Disclaimer: this is a Christian blog. I am a Christian creator. I believe that God is the ultimate artist, writer, musician, etc. and art that comes from a heart that is deeply in touch with God is the most powerful and beautiful art of all.

The most important thing we can do with our creativity is open windows to let God’s light pour into the suffering world we live in. To do that, we have to nurture and try to understand the relationship between our art, ourselves and God. I’ll be looking at practical ways to do that as well as providing some food for thought now and then.

And now, a quick Q&A to give you a few more answers on what to expect from this blog.

Q: How often can I expect posts?

A: My aim is twice a week—Mondays and Thursdays. For now. I’ll test some things and see what works best.

Q: Who is this blog for?

A: Christian creatives of all kinds, but especially Millennial and Gen Z authors and artists feeling alone and trying to get their footing in this weird new reality we’re dealing with.

Q: Will you still be posting author updates?

A: Yes. I definitely won’t be keeping you in the dark about my author activities and will definitely be taking about my WIPs and new releases—but it will probably be a lot less than half the time. I don’t want to bore you.

Q: Where else can I find you?

Please give this blog a follow on Pinterest. I’m also on Instagram as an author @albuehrerauthor and as an artist @thewhisperingsketchbook. And this is my Goodreads profile.

One more thing!

Finally, here are the links to some of my older content you might have missed. I recommend reading Writing for Christ, a series I wrote for Christian fiction writers. It covers some rare topics like how to write good pastor characters, and some classics like avoiding preachiness. Also, check out 5 Myths About Christian Fiction.

For general writing advice there’s fun stuff like 15 Ways to Add Color and Depth to Character Relationships and 5 Reasons Your Writing Needs Humor.

And lastly, if you want to learn more about my current WIP the Dronefall Series, check out what inspired it in this three-part blog series.

Thanks for reading this. If you’re seeing this within the first week, or even month of it being published, you’re among the first to celebrate the relaunch. Thanks for the pageview! It means a lot at this point.

If you’re feeling at all compelled to support me in my efforts with this blog, any of these things would be great.

• Follow me on Pinterest and pin a couple of posts
• Follow either of my IG accounts
• Share about this blog anywhere and recommend it
• Join my email list! (Okay, you’ll have to wait a second while I get this one set up. Coming soon, though.)

Thank you!!

  A massive amount of time and energy goes into any creative endeavor. For novels, it’s typically eight or nine months to a year, for me. Art is hard, and it doesn’t help that most artists are perfectionists who have very little patience with their own growing process.

  But now and then, you produce something that surprises you. You blink a few times, step back a few feet, pinch yourself, and think, “Wow…I just did that.”

  Then comes an odd moment of elation—a sense that you might actually have a chance, that you might finally be moving forward. You look around you, and in a burst of courage, you decide. “Okay! I think it’s ready. I’m gonna share this with the world.”

  And then, out of nowhere, the self-proclaimed Constructive Critics show up.

  They’ve got some well-meaning advice for you. They’ve got a few pointers you might need to work on next time. They’ve got a quick evaluation of how your doing, and how you could do better. What?

You’re not open to constructive criticism? You shouldn’t be so sensitive. Don’t take it personally. This is just to help you grow. You’ve got to be able to listen to feedback if you’re ever going to level up and be the best you can be, you know.

  There are two things to be learned here. The first is a little-known fact that probably no teacher ever taught you in school. There are points in your creative journey where it’s completely fine to reject criticism. Yeah. No, I’ll say it again for you. There are points in your creative journey when it’s completely fine to reject criticism. When you’re in the middle of riding a wave—you’re inspired, you’re motivated, you feel like you’re picking up some momentum—this is not the right time to backtrack. You should let that positive energy rocket you into the next phase of your growth.

   Sometimes, “constructive criticism” comes from our friends or family. It’s just habit. You probably asked them for feedback on numerous things in the past. When you show them something you’ve created, they’ll automatically start looking for how to improve it to help you, because you’ve wanted it in the past. But this time, you’ve got a finished project—something you’re proud of and happy with. It’s different. Here’s where communication is important. It’s our job, as artists, to be very clear with our friends and fellow creatives what kind of feedback we need—or if we want any at all. You’re not looking for critique at this point, you’re hoping to find someone to celebrate with.

  Another great place to get unsolicited critique is, you guessed it, online. This is actually pretty annoying. This kind of feedback sometimes comes from total strangers. People are just scrolling along through Instagram and stumble across your latest drawing, or something. They notice something about it they don’t like. Since they know so much about it, it would only be right to share their expertise and let you know how you could do better, right?

  In either case, understand that we’ve kind of built a whole culture around the concept of constructive criticism. People just assume all criticism—no matter when it’s given, or by whom—is constructive. As long as it isn’t openly mean, it should always be appreciated. I’m here to tell you, it’s okay to ignore it sometimes. If you didn’t directly ask for it, you’re not obligated to receive it.

The second lesson, I’ll give you as a send-off. Don’t give unsolicited critique.Always be absolutely sure the other party wants it before offering any constructive criticism. Ask what they feel they need to improve. What are they shooting for with their art? If you don’t know those things, you don’t know how to help them succeed.

  And remember, sometimes…every great once in a while…an artist is happy with what they’ve done. No amount of criticism has ever made anyone perfect. Sometimes, the best we can do for each other’s growth is hype each other up.

 

 

 Okay, so I’ve been pretty quiet since I announced the release date for This Time. For those who didn’t actually mark their calendars when I told them to, episode one was supposedly going o release June 17^th. Obviously, that didn’t happen. Why?

It turns out, I need to learn a few very basic things about digital art before proceeding. I don’t want to spend the whole time wrestling with things that have simple answers just because I was too impatient to get a tiny bit of training. I’m going to have to get some things figured out, if want to actually enjoy the process of this first webcomic. Enjoying the process is really important when you’re doing any kind of creative project. Looking over the thumbnails and script for This Time, it’s actually quite beautiful as is. I want the comic itself to live up to the thumbnails. But in order to be as expressive as they are, I have to have a certain level of confidence. Please be patient. It’s going to be worth it.

So, what else? Avoiding the fact that This Time is postponed has made me postpone a lot of other progress that I want to move forward on. This is dumb. Don’t try it at home. Don’t let a setback on one project make you put all your other projects on hold. I’m not going to keep doing that. I’ve got some work to do.

I’ll give you a quick update on where all my projects stand as of now.

Today, you’ll finally be getting full details on my top secret project. As I announced in the last post, I’ve been working on a webcomic. This is my first-ever venture into that medium and I’m excited to share the product of my learning experience with my readers here on Stardriftnights.

So, here are all the details:

Title: The project’s official title is This Time.

Genre: Is time-travel a genre? It’s set in recent (but pre-covid) years and centers around college students. There’s no romance, but maybe it could be categorized as drama. That’s probably what I would tag it as if I were posting on Webtoon, which I’m not, at least not now.

Premise: One bright spring morning an exhausted college student discovers her friend and final project partner has jumped off the clock tower in the middle of campus. After spending the day in shock she drops into restless sleep and wakes up a week prior to the suicide. Can she discover what went wrong with her soft-spoken classmate? Is it possible to change fate, or are they both locked into a merciless clockwork of cause and effect?

Inspiration: This story came directly from a vivid dream I had one night. In the dream I was watching a film starring the South Korean actor/singer Do Kyungsoo. I don’t have celebrity dreams very often, but for some reason I’ve had four or five dreams featuring this guy. Anyway, in this film (I only remember the final scene) he was climbing a spiral staircase on the inside of a clock-tower on a dark rainy night. There was a girl in a long tan raincoat chasing him, constantly pleading with him to stop, but he wouldn’t. I never did see the girl’s face. The scene was really long and dragged out for an amount of time that was almost too much to keep the suspense.

In the end, Kyungsoo jumped off the tower. The film basically ended right there. In the dream, I remember strongly objecting to this. Why would anybody end a film like that? I kept thinking about the dream for a long time afterward. I didn’t even know why the Kyungsoo character jumped off the tower. I didn’t know who the girl was, or why she was there trying to stop him. I wondered why she couldn’t stop him.

It was a great writing prompt.

Turns out, I really like drawing Do Kyungsoo. The story developed quickly, and a lot more thought and feeling went into it than I was expecting—maybe that’s why it got so long. The aesthetic is very pretty, and despite the heavy subject-matter, I think it has kind of a dreamy, wistful tone. It’s set in early spring, just as the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom.

So, when does it come out, and where can you read it when it does?

UPDATE: I suppose you’ve noticed This Time hasn’t released yet. I didn’t forget about it. I also didn’t give up on it. It turns out, I need to get the basic technicalities of digital art figured out before I start releasing this comic. I know, surprise, surprise. I want to do this right and not be frustrated the whole time I’m working on it, so I’m going to see if I can get a couple of basic digital art lessons before proceeding.

But, it’s still coming! I promise. I will announce the new release date when I decide I’m actually ready. Please keep watching!

Today, I’ll be answering the big question. I’ve mentioned several times on this blog and elsewhere that I’m working on a top secret project. Today is the reveal.

I’m about to try something new. It’s a project that merges two out of three of my major creative passions, and combines their powers into something I find incredibly satisfying. It’s a reckless jump out of a low-flying plane into a world I’ve only observed from the outside. I’m going in, now. Watch this.

All dramatics aside, I’m really excited for it. I’m really holding off on telling you exactly what it is because I’m trying to make sure the reveal itself ends up “below the fold,” if you know what that means. Just open it up and read the whole post already, because here it is.

Guys, I’m breaking into webcomics.

Yeah. I’ve been researching for a long time. Turns out I find the whole process very creatively invigorating. I love combining art and writing in such a harmonious way. I really like visual storytelling. I have an extremely visual imagination. I see lighting and camera angles while I’m writing. And I’ve always wanted to tell stories with my art—as much as I like my art to be beautiful, I also want to create a narrative with it. I want to take the viewer somewhere.

Hence, comics. When I was a kid, I used to make stick-figure stories. They were expressive little figures, simple as they were. I think I learned a lot about portraying action and emotion through body-language back then. When I started thumbnailing the secret project, I was excited to see how much I could say with a lot of minimalist scribbling. The process of getting the story down in that form was exhilarating.

So, specifics. Just what can you expect from this webcomic? Probably not too much. This is my first-ever attempt in this medium, and, crazier still, the first few pages are honestly my first few completed pieces of digital art. I’m brand-new to digital. I just recently bought my drawing tablet—and it isn’t a flashy one. No screen display, or anything. You watch the laptop screen while you draw. It actually feels a little like blind-drawing, at first.

You’re going to see my learning-curve over the course of the comic, which will be interesting. I’m working on page three and am already way more confident than I was on page one.

I wanted to start with a short-run comic. Maybe four episodes, I thought. Nothing over-ambitious. So, I developed this fairly simple story with a three-person cast, and wrote the script. Well, as it turned out, it’s a whole 60 pages long. Oops. So, what have we learned about A. L. Buehrer and short stories?

I’m using this story to learn the medium. I have bigger plans for the future, later this year. But in the mean time, you’ve got about twelve episodes ahead of you here. I can’t wait to start releasing them.

When? Soon. I’ll actually announce the date in my next post. I’ll also announce the project’s title, premise, and inspiration in that post, so watch for it. I’ve got the next post scheduled for Monday, the 7^th.

Now, I’ve got to get back to work. See you all Monday!

So, Nightstare launched last week and you already want to know what I’m doing next? That’s kind of like when you graduate from high-school and all people can talk about is what college you’re going to. It’s kind of a terrible phenomenon, if you stop and think about it, but that’s how humans are, always pushing for the next big thing.

As it turns out, I’ve been pretty preoccupied with my next big thing for the past couple of months. Remember when I mentioned that “Secret Project” a while back? Yeah, I know, I said it was going to launch in May, but I wasn’t expecting Nighstare to launch so late in May.

I’ll be revealing just what the secret project is on June 1^st, here on Stardriftnights. In the meantime, I’ve got to put in some major work on the thing itself. For this reason I’ll be dropping off the face of the internet until June 1^st. I honestly don’t even know how many hours of work I’ve got ahead of me, here. This is all new territory. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, please show Dronefall some love, and maybe incorporate it into your summer reading list. Summer is almost here, which is shocking. I’ve learned to love summer, even though I’m really not a fan of the extreme heat and oppressive humidity it brings in the Great Lakes area. There’s still a lot I really do like about it: the warm nights outdoors, the lightning bugs, the thunderstorms, swimming, camping, gardening, getting excited about fall around the end of July….

Anyway, yeah. I’ve got work to do. I should really start on it right now. Go ahead and theorize to yourself about the secret project, if you want—and I’ll see you in June!

Well, this has been quite a week. I feel oddly productive right now.

We’re four whole books in now. We are two-thirds of the way through the Dronefall series. The plot is thickening, and so are the books. Each one has been a little longer than the last, as the sub-plots explode and expand. We’re building up to a big climactic showdown of a finale. A lot of the biggest burning questions will be answered in book five. It’s gonna be so worth it, guys.

I hope more people discover Dronefall while I’m writing the last two books. There’s really nothing like being in a fandom and getting to wait for real-time comebacks. My first experience following an active series was with The Illyon Chronicles by Jaye L. Knight. I’m still waiting on the final book. Has anyone heard anything?

Please help spread the word about the Dronefall series, if you get the chance. I know there are people out there who would appreciate it. I hope they find it.

Thanks to everyone who has been supportive in any way. The likes, the shares, the comments, the interactions and mentions are all very encouraging and I notice every one. And, of course, many thanks to Victoria of Victoria Lynn Designs who has done the interior formatting for the whole series so far, as well as the formatting for my poetry book. And thanks to my family, who always help with alpha and beta reading. My family is the best team I could ask for.

And thank you for reading to the end this post. Before I go, here are the links you might want to click sometime soon.

Book Four, Nightstare on Amazon

Book One, Dronefall

Book Two, Lightwaste

Book Three, Rainchill

(first three ebooks all on sale on Kindle for 99c until June 1^st)

My Goodreads Page

 

 

We’re halfway through the launch celebration for Dronefall Four, Nightstare! This had been a great week. I hope you all are feeling as energized as I am right now.

Well, you guys sent me some good questions, so let’s jump right in, shall we?

 

What was your first glimmer of inspiration for the Dronefall series?

There are several inspirations I can remember, but to be honest, I don’t know which came first. I became interested in drones and fascinated by the idea of mass drone surveillance in college. I was using it as a topic for a debate in speech class. The debate wasn’t that great. I don’t do well with tight time-limits. I guess that’s why the Dronefall series is so long.

 

What excites you the most about sharing Nightstare with the world?

This book’s been long in coming, and it contains events that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. It pretty much hits the midpoint plot-twist for the whole series, and things get increasingly crazier from here. I also feel like Nightstare packs more emotional and thematic punch than the previous books, so I can’t wait to see how readers react.

 

Who’s your favorite character in Nightstare?

I love my main cast, of course. Halcyon is becoming an increasingly interesting lead, Reveille is my favorite sidekick ever, Zoltan is great, Dorian is…Dorian, and Shep is way cooler and more important than I ever expected him to be.

But, in Nightstare particularly, a character that takes a surprising place in my heart is Reverend St. Cloud. I think few people are going to suspect how huge his role is going to be from the first book, where he really just seems like another of many confusing obstacles. But moves the plot in amazing ways as we get along in the story, and he’s also a very complex person with a lot going on. Just wait and see.

 

Who’s you’re least favorite character in Nightstare?

Elder Boaz. He’s a jerk.

 

Which Dronefall book was hardest to write?

Each book has it’s own challenges, but I think the hardest was book two, Lightwaste. Not only did it have the built-in anxieties that always come with the second book in a series, it also has a very different plot than the others. There’s a lot of confusion and back-and-forth that Halcyon has to face more or less alone, and a lot of information to introduce. I also pulled no punches with the cultural criticism in the second book, so there was a lot of time spent dealing with some very real-world ugliness, so it was difficult in that way, too.

Have any of your reasons why you’re writing Dronefall changed since starting the series?

When I started writing Dronefall, I think I was more motivated by frustration and a need to have my say than I am now. I was in college, which really opened my eyes to the state of things and the direction society is taking, and that really lit a fire under me to counter the lies that are being told out there. Of course, there’s still some of that, that’s called being a dystopian writer, but I think I’ve really connected to some deeper themes in the story, now. These days, I really just want to inspire other Christians and help them see a future where Christ is both relevant and winning.

What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned?

I’ve learned loads of technical things writing this series, but I think the biggest lesson I’ve gotten out of this so far is to never stop pouring yourself into what we feel inspired to do. It literally doesn’t matter if anyone ever reads it. If it feeds your soul and gives you a sense of purpose, that in itself is worth it.

What’s the theme scripture verse?

There are a lot of themes I think about when I think about this series. It’s hard to boil a six-book series down to one. But I think when you watch Halcyon Slavic going through this big weird labyrinth of a story, you see her asking something over and over: “Why me?” and not in a self-pitying way. She doesn’t know why she is where she is, or way the things that are happening to her are happening to her.

I’ve never picked a specific scripture for this. But I know it occurs a lot with people throughout the Bible, as well as with us today. Things can seem very random, and it’s hard to see how our story fits into the big story. And yet, it does, and our part is no mistake.

How do you hope your readers feel at the end of the Dronefall series?

This isn’t going to be one of those dystopian stories that just kind of collapses into rubble at the end. That doesn’t mean everything is going to be all wrapped up and tied with a bow, but I have no intention of being a downer after getting people invested for six whole books. Actually, I want my readers to be excited at the end of Dronefall. I want them to be looking up and believing in a future—their future—where there is still meaning, joy, and healing. I want people to have open eyes and look for the deeper purpose under what happens in this world, knowing they don’t have to panic or feel forgotten in the tides of time and chaos, because God is writing the story, and we all have a place in it.

Thanks again for the questions, guys! See you tomorrow with a special surprise.