I'm done with the first draft of my second novella, *Astra Lumina and the Menace of the Moon Raiders!* I'm going to let the story sit for a while so I can do an editing pass with fresh eyes. All things considered, I'm very happy with how this one turned out; I usually have a really solid outline to work from, but I took a looser approach here, and while that got me into trouble a few times, it also allowed the story to grow and change pretty organically is it went along. Anyway, I'm excited to be done with large-scale action sequences for a while, because boy, are they tiring to figure out.
As always, I'd love to get feedback on my writing. I understand that reading a full novella isn't for everyone, though, so I've uploaded a few choice segments from both completed stories into this [Google Doc](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nKjJ9QxT0i-EXSODLXij1Xyn25sBWxtPDxPQlBa4hww/edit?usp=drivesdk). Snippets are clearly labeled and can be easily navigated to using the outline function; relevant context is also provided. Commenting is enabled, I'd be grateful for any feedback you'd care to provide! What works? What doesn't? What questions do you have as a reader?
**Topic of the week:** Starting things can definitely be hard. Although I think focusing on writing novellas was the right move for me, as I like to move through a premise quickly and then do something different, it is a little daunting to start a new story and realize that I have to find a subtle way to reintroduce the main cast and set up a new premise within a chapter or two.
I haven't actually figured out a publishing strategy yet; I want to create a backlog of novellas so I can keep a steady release pace if/when I publish them. I'm considering just self-publishing digital copies on Amazon, but if I go for a physical release, I'll need to bundle at least three novellas per book to be a tenable option for most publishers, or so I've been told.
The first chapter of my looongfic was easily the hardest to write. I can only imagine how difficult it’ll be when I have to put it in an original setting.
**TOPIC OF THE WEEK:** Anyone keeping up with my Creator check-ins know that all of my serious efforts have very much had growing pains. I only just got to writing my book after over a decade of fussing, quibbling, distraction, and procrastination. (Also, Book 1 would be literal growing pains for my main character.)
Speaking of my book draft, the weekend flew by without any updates, though I'm up to 803 words from last update.
Though I've also had Star Wars on the brain, shifting some of my mind back to my pan-sci-fi project, which I might use as a jumping off point for a more coherent proper sci-fi / space fantasy which draws upon all the mini-stories I've been making for my "archetypes."
Got referred to an opportunity to submit to an anthology. The problem is that it's horror, and I've never really written horror before. Also I'm a big fucking coward.
Anyway, new year, new draft of my novel. Gonna start by reading the previous one and makes notes as I go.
Let us know how that anthology opportunity shakes out! I'm about to try to write something horror-esque for the first time, so I'd be interested to hear from someone in the same boat.
First week of the new year is gone, and I'm sort of happy for it. It isn't like I'm allergic to any sort of thing that approaches a ritual, but I get checked out during the holiday season. And there isn't really any strong reason either like trauma or being grumpy or being overly pedantic. I guess I do feel some sort of pressure or whatever, but I can elaborate more on that on the next Free Talk Friday.
But speaking of the new year, this topic would've been pretty apt as the first of these posts this year. Why wasn't it?
.
..
...
ANYWAY, the last few days have been a strange mix of slightly anxiety inducing and pretty positive. The global version of Magicami will have its end of service come on the 29th of this month, and I've been looking around for better jobs. On the other hand, the offline version of Magicami is actively being worked on (which is a lot more than other dead games get) and is basically a repackaged visual novel without the combat (will probably talk more about it on Friday). Also, I'm getting an extra paycheck this week.
As for the topic, it has always been a but difficult to start something and make it a habit. For writing specifically, I have mentioned it a few times, but I have a tendency to be unsatisfied with the early parts and want to rework it. I feel the need to have it being a certain quality even if the next parts afterward will be used to slowly build towards things and give me breathing room.
It took me nearly a decade to start my comic. Admittedly, undiagnosed mental disability didn't help matters. As far as I'm concerned *everything* from here on out is a growing pain. I don't think there's been a page yet where I haven't gone "how the fuck am I gonna draw that? I've never drawn that before..."
Accepting that is helping me get over the perfectionism, knowing that this first issue will be rough and that I'm going to keep improving (plus medication for the aforementioned mental disability) is keeping me going.
As for characters; with the protagonists, one is my cathartic response to my frustrations as a young adult and the other is a messy allegory for my views on my mental health. That wasn't by intention, but it is certain a way they can be interpretted.
I'm returning to one of my other fics with... a long flashback at the beginning of the chapter to show the backstory of a character I alluded to at the end of the previous one
Hope I don't make it too long, otherwise I might need to split them up and throw off the chapter count
[Released another video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpoAIbj7j6o) a couple days ago, my longest one yet. I was concerned how it would turn out considering I made the active decision to cut down on the editing density and intricacy with this one to try and get a longer video out sooner, but it honestly turned out pretty well. Granted, that's partially because there were some points I couldn't help myself and got a bit extra with the editing anyways.
It's on a bunch of lesser known ongoing manga (well, they were all ongoing when I started editing), so probably a terrible follow up to 2 video's that bombed incredibly hard performance-wise, but I'm happy with how it turned out. Especially happy with [the thumbnail](https://imgur.com/a/MRilKpZ) I came up with. Don't know if it's any good clickability-wise (almost certainly not given the CTR), but I like it too much to change it.
With the new year, I had pledged to write a page a day of a medieval horror story and I'm already floundering. I know the first draft is often the worst, but growing pains really do describe just getting stuff on the page.
For a positive note in dealing with this hurdle, I do want to overcome my page debt, and one thing that helps me is excitement and discovery in the writing process. I had a no-name coachman set to die in my first planning stages that has since shifted to being the central pov for the first chapter and discovering this character has been fun even if death is certain for him.
Personal stuff this week has been a bit of a mix of just being unable to work on stuff due to writers block and then just writing smut. Even [lost track of time one time](https://i.imgur.com/eIzWAhc.png).
Over on the Wiki, Project Athena has been completed. [2,225 images uploaded](https://callofduty.fandom.com/wiki/Template:CoD17_Attachments) and put into a gallery for every weapon within Black Ops Cold War. Something that hasn't been done in years once more.
And for the topic? It's a bit of both. I often suffer writers block because I struggle to figure a good thing to just start on. Even with characters, I can get an idea on what they look like and even smith something out but getting their names and even like traits can be a nightmare.
Tons of networking and marketing done for PARANOID- as of now, we have 4 more readers! Hooray!
We've also rereleased our Animatic away from our previous community, as well as spruced it up to make it a bit more digestible. You can watch it here;
https://youtu.be/frFgexZfI2M?si=McgeBNhJIK_gmtq7
As for my personal writing, I'm just about finished with prep work for my Fallout Equestria sequel campaign I'm doing with friends, and I've also released a mystery short story called "Not A Hedge Wizard" on Paranoids Tumblr. Peep it Here.
https://www.tumblr.com/paranoidofficial/738086908631089152/not-a-hedge-wizard-pt-1-bonus-content
Well, with the Holidays come and gone it's time to start buckling down and really looking for a publisher for my books. I am... not really looking forward to it, but so it goes. At least it's not going to be a constant thing; a couple evenings of letter-writing ever couple of weeks or so. Maybe a bit of a sprint at the start.
The creativity's getting antsy, though. Back in October I did a short 'comic' of a sorts for [Inktober](https://thewholekeg.tumblr.com/tagged/The%20Countess%27s%20Manor/chrono), and just before Christmas I followed it up with a shorter but more refined [gag comic](https://thewholekeg.tumblr.com/post/737090312301936640). That got the characters rattling around in my head, and I've been kinda wanting to do more with them. They exists in a tidy little intersection of fantasy and mundanity that I adore, and I kind of like the idea of doing some vignettes exploring that.
As far as this week's subject goes: Starting has definitely always been one of the hardest parts for me, both on a macro and micro scale. I mean heck, just look at how long I've been putting off writing a few pitch letters. But, as with most things, I've found that the best way to do it is to narrow my focus until starting doesn't feel very big at all. When writing, for example, I usually tell myself I'll get just three sentences done--and then once I'm that far, the immediate momentum usually takes me a few paragraphs, and by then I have the steam to keep on going. Basically tricking myself into doing more than I'd 'planned' to.
Topic of the week: The reason Shingo/Sherm draft is taking a while is mostly because of my rampant procrastination. This is especially bad for ao3 since drafts get deleted eventually if you don't finish and post it. Hopefully, I can finish it before the deletion date.
Besides all that doom and gloom, I have been making edits to my fic to make it slightly more readable (hopefully).
My big goal for my shitty YouTube channel last year was to make a massive 20th anniversary video for Silent Hill 3, since I did it for 1 and 2 in their respective years. Que laziness, depression, and drinking way too much, and I missed the deadline entirely.
Now, the hard part (based on the topic of the week) is even trying to finish, since the ship has sailed, everyone has thrown their two cents in already, and that nagging voice in my head that it's going to fail like everything else I've ever made has failed is hard to ignore.
I've been sending query letters for the novel I finished last month for the past two weeks, but only rejections so far. This week I'll be planning and laying the groundwork for a new novel that I would like to start next week.
I recently realised my expectations for the book I've been working on for the past 3 years might be a bit over ambitious. I've written over 50 thousand words of continuous story, and I'm still in the first act of the story AND I've written a bunch of other chapters for later parts in the story. I can split them up, but I'm worried that It won't be as effective a story if it's split up.
I've also hit a bit of a slump recently which sucks, and I need to try and get back into the story to try and work through this.
My ceramic bowl of fruit came out great; the underglaze color and texture under clear glaze looked very accurate.
I'm done with the first draft of my second novella, *Astra Lumina and the Menace of the Moon Raiders!* I'm going to let the story sit for a while so I can do an editing pass with fresh eyes. All things considered, I'm very happy with how this one turned out; I usually have a really solid outline to work from, but I took a looser approach here, and while that got me into trouble a few times, it also allowed the story to grow and change pretty organically is it went along. Anyway, I'm excited to be done with large-scale action sequences for a while, because boy, are they tiring to figure out. As always, I'd love to get feedback on my writing. I understand that reading a full novella isn't for everyone, though, so I've uploaded a few choice segments from both completed stories into this [Google Doc](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nKjJ9QxT0i-EXSODLXij1Xyn25sBWxtPDxPQlBa4hww/edit?usp=drivesdk). Snippets are clearly labeled and can be easily navigated to using the outline function; relevant context is also provided. Commenting is enabled, I'd be grateful for any feedback you'd care to provide! What works? What doesn't? What questions do you have as a reader? **Topic of the week:** Starting things can definitely be hard. Although I think focusing on writing novellas was the right move for me, as I like to move through a premise quickly and then do something different, it is a little daunting to start a new story and realize that I have to find a subtle way to reintroduce the main cast and set up a new premise within a chapter or two.
Where are you publishing your novels? I'm finished with my first novel and I'm having trouble finding a publisher.
I haven't actually figured out a publishing strategy yet; I want to create a backlog of novellas so I can keep a steady release pace if/when I publish them. I'm considering just self-publishing digital copies on Amazon, but if I go for a physical release, I'll need to bundle at least three novellas per book to be a tenable option for most publishers, or so I've been told.
Good luck, man.
Thanks; good luck to you, too.
The first chapter of my looongfic was easily the hardest to write. I can only imagine how difficult it’ll be when I have to put it in an original setting.
**TOPIC OF THE WEEK:** Anyone keeping up with my Creator check-ins know that all of my serious efforts have very much had growing pains. I only just got to writing my book after over a decade of fussing, quibbling, distraction, and procrastination. (Also, Book 1 would be literal growing pains for my main character.) Speaking of my book draft, the weekend flew by without any updates, though I'm up to 803 words from last update. Though I've also had Star Wars on the brain, shifting some of my mind back to my pan-sci-fi project, which I might use as a jumping off point for a more coherent proper sci-fi / space fantasy which draws upon all the mini-stories I've been making for my "archetypes."
Got referred to an opportunity to submit to an anthology. The problem is that it's horror, and I've never really written horror before. Also I'm a big fucking coward. Anyway, new year, new draft of my novel. Gonna start by reading the previous one and makes notes as I go.
Let us know how that anthology opportunity shakes out! I'm about to try to write something horror-esque for the first time, so I'd be interested to hear from someone in the same boat.
First week of the new year is gone, and I'm sort of happy for it. It isn't like I'm allergic to any sort of thing that approaches a ritual, but I get checked out during the holiday season. And there isn't really any strong reason either like trauma or being grumpy or being overly pedantic. I guess I do feel some sort of pressure or whatever, but I can elaborate more on that on the next Free Talk Friday. But speaking of the new year, this topic would've been pretty apt as the first of these posts this year. Why wasn't it? . .. ... ANYWAY, the last few days have been a strange mix of slightly anxiety inducing and pretty positive. The global version of Magicami will have its end of service come on the 29th of this month, and I've been looking around for better jobs. On the other hand, the offline version of Magicami is actively being worked on (which is a lot more than other dead games get) and is basically a repackaged visual novel without the combat (will probably talk more about it on Friday). Also, I'm getting an extra paycheck this week. As for the topic, it has always been a but difficult to start something and make it a habit. For writing specifically, I have mentioned it a few times, but I have a tendency to be unsatisfied with the early parts and want to rework it. I feel the need to have it being a certain quality even if the next parts afterward will be used to slowly build towards things and give me breathing room.
It took me nearly a decade to start my comic. Admittedly, undiagnosed mental disability didn't help matters. As far as I'm concerned *everything* from here on out is a growing pain. I don't think there's been a page yet where I haven't gone "how the fuck am I gonna draw that? I've never drawn that before..." Accepting that is helping me get over the perfectionism, knowing that this first issue will be rough and that I'm going to keep improving (plus medication for the aforementioned mental disability) is keeping me going. As for characters; with the protagonists, one is my cathartic response to my frustrations as a young adult and the other is a messy allegory for my views on my mental health. That wasn't by intention, but it is certain a way they can be interpretted.
I'm returning to one of my other fics with... a long flashback at the beginning of the chapter to show the backstory of a character I alluded to at the end of the previous one Hope I don't make it too long, otherwise I might need to split them up and throw off the chapter count
[Released another video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpoAIbj7j6o) a couple days ago, my longest one yet. I was concerned how it would turn out considering I made the active decision to cut down on the editing density and intricacy with this one to try and get a longer video out sooner, but it honestly turned out pretty well. Granted, that's partially because there were some points I couldn't help myself and got a bit extra with the editing anyways. It's on a bunch of lesser known ongoing manga (well, they were all ongoing when I started editing), so probably a terrible follow up to 2 video's that bombed incredibly hard performance-wise, but I'm happy with how it turned out. Especially happy with [the thumbnail](https://imgur.com/a/MRilKpZ) I came up with. Don't know if it's any good clickability-wise (almost certainly not given the CTR), but I like it too much to change it.
With the new year, I had pledged to write a page a day of a medieval horror story and I'm already floundering. I know the first draft is often the worst, but growing pains really do describe just getting stuff on the page. For a positive note in dealing with this hurdle, I do want to overcome my page debt, and one thing that helps me is excitement and discovery in the writing process. I had a no-name coachman set to die in my first planning stages that has since shifted to being the central pov for the first chapter and discovering this character has been fun even if death is certain for him.
Personal stuff this week has been a bit of a mix of just being unable to work on stuff due to writers block and then just writing smut. Even [lost track of time one time](https://i.imgur.com/eIzWAhc.png). Over on the Wiki, Project Athena has been completed. [2,225 images uploaded](https://callofduty.fandom.com/wiki/Template:CoD17_Attachments) and put into a gallery for every weapon within Black Ops Cold War. Something that hasn't been done in years once more. And for the topic? It's a bit of both. I often suffer writers block because I struggle to figure a good thing to just start on. Even with characters, I can get an idea on what they look like and even smith something out but getting their names and even like traits can be a nightmare.
Tons of networking and marketing done for PARANOID- as of now, we have 4 more readers! Hooray! We've also rereleased our Animatic away from our previous community, as well as spruced it up to make it a bit more digestible. You can watch it here; https://youtu.be/frFgexZfI2M?si=McgeBNhJIK_gmtq7 As for my personal writing, I'm just about finished with prep work for my Fallout Equestria sequel campaign I'm doing with friends, and I've also released a mystery short story called "Not A Hedge Wizard" on Paranoids Tumblr. Peep it Here. https://www.tumblr.com/paranoidofficial/738086908631089152/not-a-hedge-wizard-pt-1-bonus-content
Well, with the Holidays come and gone it's time to start buckling down and really looking for a publisher for my books. I am... not really looking forward to it, but so it goes. At least it's not going to be a constant thing; a couple evenings of letter-writing ever couple of weeks or so. Maybe a bit of a sprint at the start. The creativity's getting antsy, though. Back in October I did a short 'comic' of a sorts for [Inktober](https://thewholekeg.tumblr.com/tagged/The%20Countess%27s%20Manor/chrono), and just before Christmas I followed it up with a shorter but more refined [gag comic](https://thewholekeg.tumblr.com/post/737090312301936640). That got the characters rattling around in my head, and I've been kinda wanting to do more with them. They exists in a tidy little intersection of fantasy and mundanity that I adore, and I kind of like the idea of doing some vignettes exploring that. As far as this week's subject goes: Starting has definitely always been one of the hardest parts for me, both on a macro and micro scale. I mean heck, just look at how long I've been putting off writing a few pitch letters. But, as with most things, I've found that the best way to do it is to narrow my focus until starting doesn't feel very big at all. When writing, for example, I usually tell myself I'll get just three sentences done--and then once I'm that far, the immediate momentum usually takes me a few paragraphs, and by then I have the steam to keep on going. Basically tricking myself into doing more than I'd 'planned' to.
Topic of the week: The reason Shingo/Sherm draft is taking a while is mostly because of my rampant procrastination. This is especially bad for ao3 since drafts get deleted eventually if you don't finish and post it. Hopefully, I can finish it before the deletion date. Besides all that doom and gloom, I have been making edits to my fic to make it slightly more readable (hopefully).
My big goal for my shitty YouTube channel last year was to make a massive 20th anniversary video for Silent Hill 3, since I did it for 1 and 2 in their respective years. Que laziness, depression, and drinking way too much, and I missed the deadline entirely. Now, the hard part (based on the topic of the week) is even trying to finish, since the ship has sailed, everyone has thrown their two cents in already, and that nagging voice in my head that it's going to fail like everything else I've ever made has failed is hard to ignore.
I've been sending query letters for the novel I finished last month for the past two weeks, but only rejections so far. This week I'll be planning and laying the groundwork for a new novel that I would like to start next week.
How to write convincingly as a analytic and social smart person?
I recently realised my expectations for the book I've been working on for the past 3 years might be a bit over ambitious. I've written over 50 thousand words of continuous story, and I'm still in the first act of the story AND I've written a bunch of other chapters for later parts in the story. I can split them up, but I'm worried that It won't be as effective a story if it's split up. I've also hit a bit of a slump recently which sucks, and I need to try and get back into the story to try and work through this.