The Winner + Addressing Concerns (Patreon)

I am happy to announce Nine to Five Villainy has claimed victory with 62% of the votes. It will take its place alongside Ave Xia Rem Y as a new (monthly) story starting next month.

I also want to take the opportunity to address some concerns.

Why a new story? Why not more chapters of Ave Xia Rem Y instead? Won’t a new story cut into Ave Xia Rem Y’s time? I have gotten questions like that many times over the past year (Good Lord, has it been that long already?). I have explained my reasoning before, but I don’t think I have ever laid it all out in one big post, so I am going to do that now.

Won’t a new story cut into Ave Xia Rem Y’s time?

Short Answer: No.

I had typed out a longer answer describing my writing process to explain why that is, but around the time I got to the part where I started comparing writing to jenga towers, I realized I was making things too complicated.

Nine to Five Villainy is meant to be written during times when I need to decompress from writing Ave Xia Rem Y. There are plenty of times when I just got done proofreading a chapter, and I want to not look at it for another week. I want to forget about it, so I can come back to it with fresh eyes. Nine-To-Five will help me keep my skills sharp during those moments of downtime.

Why a new story?

It seemed like a nice goal to work towards. I like the idea of being able to offer a bit more variety than just one story.

Also, I already write other stuff. Fun fact: I have the first four chapters of The World Beyond Episode 5 all written out. I really got into the idea a couple of months ago and wrote out some of it. I also have outlines for all the other ideas and a big doc folder with even more ideas to write about.

Writing, for me, kind of works under a snowball effect. The more I write, the more ideas I have I want to try out.

Trying out something different is something I think is going to be a lot of fun.

Why not more chapters of Ave Xia Rem Y instead?

I want to try offering this as well, to be honest. For the past few months, I have been experimenting with double update weeks, learning how much I can and can’t do. It’s always a balancing act. I don’t want to end in a situation where to put out more chapters of Ave Xia Rem Y, I end up delivering a half-assed work. I want to keep (and hopefully improve) the quality while providing a steady flow of chapters.

At the very least, I want to make it so Interludes are always extra updates. I also want to see if I can fit in at least one extra update per month.

Also, Nine-To-Five is still a working title, so feel free to toss in names.