The Marshmallow Ranch Gazette (Patreon)

Howdy, patrons!

Settling in to the new day job continues, and it's a process because of course it is. There is so much to take in -- not just because I'm working for a new company, but because that company is in a fairly heavily-regulated space. My position is pretty neat for making sure I get to learn about all the far-flung spaces the company inhabits, but that also means that there's a LOT to know about before I feel comfortable handling everything that could possibly come my way.

I've also signed up for an exercise competition in the office, which means that I'll be spending a bit of extra time there. Thankfully the commute is a lot closer than my old job, and the schedule is a lot more flexible, so it's easier to find an extra 30 minutes to sit down on a stationary bike and go hard. That also means that by the time I get home I'm a bit of a vegetable, though. 

My Husband (the Dragon) and I are still "recovering" from the whirlwind European trip, besides. I did a few loads of laundry when I came back but I still haven't put the clean clothes away or ironed work shirts to wear or straightened up the Burrow. I'm not going to lie, there are a lot of rooms that look like bonafide Superfund sites. Not the best environment for focused creativity…

This is all to say that writing the next two "first episodes" for the Serial Audition is slower than I had anticipated, but I'm working hard to catch up. "Aftershocks" should pop up here tomorrow, and "Crushing The Competition" will hopefully be ready on Friday. After both of those serials are posted, the selection poll will be up and running soon after.

Now feels like a good time to talk briefly about each of the serials and what excites me about them.

"Dungeon Monsters" is a good chance to get practice with a small ensemble cast, and I've always wanted to write a fantasy-comedy that captures the loose, free-wheeling spirit of a group of D&D adventurers who are completely fine with being a hot mess. Right now I'm reading Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett and I've been really impressed with how well he handles scenes of dialogue with groups of four to six people -- if you folks choose this serial, I'll focus on handling these kinds of group scenes so that character, motivation and relationships are revealed through dialogue. Also, cursed items make for wonderful growth vectors. 

"Big Sky" feels like more of a superhero origin story to me, but all of the superpowered individuals are basically on their way to becoming kaiju. One of my favorite tropes, I suppose, is the small-town narrative where a close-knit cast of characters with history, idiosyncrasies and secrets are disrupted out of their sleepy existence by a catalyst blowing everything up. With this story it's pretty much literal, though! Since the main character is essentially a hero in training, the focus will be on marrying the character's internal arc to the external events driving the plot; I want to find the right balance between the character being proactive and reactive. It's a tricky balance to strike.

With "Aftershocks", I wanted to see if I could do a more slice-of-life story, only with macro. I've been noodling around with the concept behind the serial for a while now -- there are a few short stories on SoFurry (like "The Lifeguard of Redondo Beach") in the same setting, but I keep coming back to it because it's so rich. Basically, a series of biological terror attacks sprung up in a bunch of different places, killing tens of thousands and irrevocably changing the 10% of folks who have survived. One of the things I've often thought about is how being a survivor of something terrible changes you forever and often the sheer visibility the event gives you makes it impossible to go back to your normal life. I wanted to dig into that idea and follow people who are trying to reintegrate back into their lives on both a personal and social level.

Finally, "Crushing The Competition" is a story that's part-satire, part straight-ahead mystery-thriller. This isn't exactly a new concept, but I really dig the idea of social status or power being directly tied to physical power -- so in this world, people who climb the corporate ladder become physically larger to mark their dominance. With mysteries and thrillers of this nature, there are often a lot of moving parts -- a huge cast of characters belonging to a number of different factions, each existing on separate layers that can create tension between allegiances. I love the idea of forcing to choose between two different aspects of your self-concept; which way do you go, and what does your decision say about the values you truly hold?

Of course, all of these are high concepts that mostly exist in the background -- right out of the box, I just want to tell a fun story on a regular basis. That's where you come in! Once all four stories are up, vote for the one you like best; the winning concept will be spun into a serial told on a regular (hopefully weekly) basis. 

Well, that's it for now, friends. Take care out there, and I'll see you all a little later this week!

-Jakebe