This Week's Big News (Patreon)

The teal deer is that I am still struggling with Hoard but still working on it, and a new story that's a departure for me in several ways launches tomorrow!

In detail:

Sorry about the week of no Hoard. I have been working on the problem I laid out last time, and I've discovered it wasn't a problem with that chapter specifically as much as one with this arc. The truth is I wasn't ready to re-launch; I didn't have all the planning done. I reached a point where I was no longer comfortable being on hiatus and had to produce something, and all I had was the initial setup chapters for this arc, so I started publishing, thinking I would figure it out as I went. Well, we've come to the end of the initial setup chapters and I still didn't have enough planning done.

The month I spent off was supposed to be spent working on Hoard planning. Then I lost Grace in the middle of it and spent most of that time just being a wreck.

I am working on the planning. I have figured out the arc and plot of the main antagonist, and am still ironing out the plot of the secondary antagonist, the B-plot centered on Percy, and Kaln's emotional arc for this part of the story. And yes, none of that was settled when I started writing, that's how bad it was.

I'm really sorry about this, guys. Working on it as fast as I can without cutting any more corners; I hope to be back to publication within a few more days.

Now, the second thing!

So late last month I got word of this writing contest, which after some deliberation I have decided to enter:

https://mhwc.myanimelist.net/202607/

For those who don't want to click the link, it's a contest sponsored by Kadokawa, MyAnimeList, and the platform the contest entries are to be published on which I'd never heard of before. The winner gets at $5,000 cash payout (which would be tremendous, I'm kind of up a creek financially at the moment) and more importantly, the winning story will be translated and released in Japan as a series of light novels by Kadokawa, pending the approval of their editorial department. Cracking that market would be life-changing for me; I have a huge backlog of work to which I haven't sold the Japanese language rights.

I initially gave this only a passing thought, but then something strange happened: in the middle of my trying to work on the Hoard storyline, a half-formed story idea I'd been kicking around for years coalesced fully based on the criteria for the type of story the contest specifies. Usually, my story-creating process is mostly unconscious, piecemeal, and takes months if not years for random ideas to cling together enough that I start actively working on them. This one snapped together in its entirety, from vague notion to complete plot, characters, setting, and magic system, in the space of one day. I've never had a story idea coalesce for me that fast before. That was what convinced me to at least work on it.

What made me decide to commit to this is that, as I began writing initial chapters for this, I had an absolute revelation about my craft. They want short, plot-heavy chapters in the light novel style, between 1,000 and 1,500 words; that's much shorter than my usual chapters, but working this way I found I could churn these out one after the other with practically no creative friction and none of the after-chapter fatigue I usually experience. There are a number of ways in which working under these constraints is helping me tighten my technique; I've been concerned for a while that my style has gotten too verbose and unfocused. In the end, I don't think I like the finished result as much as I could, it's a little too terse for my tastes - but just having to work this way is teaching me a lot and improving my skills. Even if I don't win the contest (and as nice as that would be, the odds are not in my favor), doing this is worth it for this reason alone.

It's made such a difference that I think shorter, more frequent chapters may be the move for Hoard going forward.

For now, this new story is flowing so well I'm confident I can keep getting it done without sacrificing Hoard, so I've decided to commit to it.

Here's the downside.

One of the terms of the contest is that the story must be posted exclusively on Honeyfeed, the site run by its organizers. It appears to be a sort of RoyalRoad-alike focused on otakudom with ties to the actual Japanese publishing industry, and has become an arm of Kadokawa's search for international talent. That's a very specific focus; it's not surprising I haven't encountered them before. But the exclusivity clause means I can't post advance chapters for my Patrons, and that is the one thing about this that bothers me the most. That's why I'm absolutely committed to get Hoard back on track and not put it on hiatus while I also do this other thing - and why I would not be taking on the contest if I weren't confident I could handle both. My Patrons deserve the perks they signed up for and I want to make sure they're still being provided. I will be working on Hoard and getting it back in publication as quickly as I'm capable.

I've already got ten chapters of the new story done, which means I can go for daily updates and still have a very comfortable buffer, even if I have to revise that later. I am seriously in awe of how fast and smoothly I've been able to produce them.

So: Hoard will be back as soon as possible, and check back here tomorrow for the link to Revenge of the Black Princess, my upcoming entry in the "Epic Heroine" category of this fantasy contest. I described it on Discord recently as "The Apothecary Diaries meets The Addams Family except Wednesday is the Count of Monte Cristo." It is quite unlike anything I've published before, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. I'm still me; I'd like to think that by now I know my way around a fantasy story.

And I would especially like to figure out a way to provide my Patrons some exclusive perks relating to this that won't run afoul of the exclusivity clause. I haven't come up with anything, but I'll keep thinking and I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks, everybody. I appreciate you; heavens willing I'll soon have stories that you can appreciate as well.

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Editing to add the link to the story now that it's launched:

https://www.honeyfeed.fm/novels/31668