update 12. (Patreon)

RAMBLE.

this has been a weird week. i went full steam during the first part of the week and then by the second, i was bogged down by a lot of homework and found myself (unfortunately) prioritizing school over writing. i wish i could say otherwise, but alas, here we are.

for twine, i'm still chipping away at chapter five. i got a bit done yesterday when i needed a mindless task, but again, things like these take time. it's extremely time-consuming. i almost wish i had started with twine first instead of choicescript but i know my non-tech-savvy brain would not have been able to handle that lmao. for a better understanding of where i'm at, i plan on powering through K's scene next week and possibly Rylan's if i find the time, but that's optimistic.

for chapter seven... i've hit a block. well, sort of. i wrote the beginning parts of the first branch scene this week and set up the outline for it, but as i got further in, i realized i didn't really like it. it honestly just felt like filler, which i hate. every scene and every line that's ever said should contribute to the story in some way. it doesn't have to be plot, but it should at the very least give you a glimpse of a character's personality, show off their development or at least connect to something that will happen in the future. i only wrote about 600 words for it, so thankfully it wasn't a lot of work lost, but i'm back to the drawing board. i did get an idea immediately after that feels a lot better, however, so it's not like i'm completely in the dark.

the problem (so to say) with this new scene i've thought of is that it requires a different conversation for each of the ros. this, of course, means more writing, and if someone doesn't end up going through multiple routes, a 'shorter' chapter despite the seemingly long word count.  i never mind all these tiny branches since it helps customize the story so much, but it does get tedious sometimes. i'd rather you wait for a product that i'm proud of, however, so let's all hope it turns out well.

finally, while on the topic of writing, i also made a little progress on the close proximity scenes i've been hinting at for ages. it's not even now that the scene happens, but i got ahead of myself and decided to write a bit anyway. so far, so good. there's already what i think is a cute flirtation towards the beginning of the chapter so this really seals the deal with the romance for now. it's difficult finding a balance of giving too much and giving too little, but i think i'm doing okay for now. occasionally i want to give you much more than i should, but i rein it in; that's what drabbles are for.

STATS.

241,361 words (+3.45k)

* includes word count from chapter seven only.

SNEAK PEEK.

“I’ve always wanted to [redacted],” Rylan jokes.

I’m surprised. “You mean you haven’t done it before?”

They grin. “Each time is a different experience, darling. Keep up.”

— taken from chapter 07.