Weekly Update - 47 (Patreon)

Here we have some deep groves in an apparently wooden pole.  This was tough to draw, I had... just... NO IDEA what it might look like, and though I've been trying to make use of more references lately, the internet was not much help. (Unless I wanted to fix some scratches on hardwood floors).  So let's see... for this update... Should I talk about drawing a dialogue-free page?  Or where wood comes from in Kuserra?  How about the breakthrough I finally had for Chapter 7 last night?  Let's do that latter one since it's still so fresh in mind.  I promise no spoilers. :P

I've been ripping my hair out lately because I wasn't sure what direction to take the story in for Chapter 7.  I have my plot in mind, written down in about 500 different places 500 different ways, but it focuses mostly on large milestones that need to be reached for the plot to advance.  Like points on a scatterplot, I know where Kiva is supposed to end up, but it's hard sometimes to figure out how he gets there.  I don't want to dictate exactly HOW my characters meander from one point to another, they have to find their own path, one that makes sense to THEM, but they DO have to find that path for the story to exist.  And each chapter has to draw a line (straight or squiggly) between all those points in a way so they all make sense to my readers as well.

For a long time, there's been this gap between the events in Chapter 6 and the events in Chapter 8, 9 and 10 and the end of part I.  The important payoff scenes for Part 1 have been written for a long time, but I've only had a vague idea of what is needed to occur in-between them.  So I've found myself lately with the pre-written content rapidly running out and the vague, ill-defined events of Chapter 7 rapidly approaching.  And it's been hard.  Much internal panic has been had over it.  A fair few important things have to be covered, and questions and topics have to be seeded so they can be answered.

Fortunately, albeit slowly, over the last couple of weeks, things have started to... coalesce.  Almost as if by magic, my brain did as my brain often do, and just passively defragment my story for me while I pace around the house in a daze.  Bad ideas were thrown out, scenes were shifted around, and something I liked started to take form.  Then, as is often the case, right as I was trying to go to bed last night, suddenly, it hit me.  A missing piece fell into place, and everything made sense.  To me, anyway.  It was a little past 1am, but I had to get up, go downstairs, and furiously type an outline into my phone, solidifying Chapter 7 in no longer vague terms.  Today, I feel mentally exhausted, so... whatever it is my brain is doing when it's working this stuff out is apparently a lot of work.

Now, the script still needs to be written, but I think much of it already is, in my head, so it's merely a matter of getting it down in text to free up my brain RAM for planning Part 2 and beyond.

Drawing: Finishing touches on Page 91 and starting the sketch for Page 92.

Playing: Lil bit of WoW, lil bit of Dwarf Fortress, and maybe squeezing in some Cyberpunk if I get my new script done.