Weekly Update - 1/12/22 - This Serious Moonlight (Patreon)

It's Wednesday. Let's dance. *Cue David Bowie* So hopefully everyone enjoyed the latest Brewster's Brood chapter yesterday, and with it comes a little bit of news, and a poll that will go up just after this news post does. I saw that StargatePioneer had been working on a Cast of Characters for BB, which they had been passing around on the Discord, and I'm very grateful for that. So, I have been working on one myself, based on my own notes, but I need to offer folks a choice, and whichever choice gets the most votes will be the one I'll stick to.

The internal Cast of Characters for BB that I've been keeping as I write is done with a slight bit of foreshadowing. Not so much that it tells you anything severe about where the story is going, but there is a little bit of it. Characters are all given archetypes, much like the contestants on a reality tv show are on the whiteboards inside the producer's room, to help remind the producer what the narrative of any given person currently is. Things like “the planner,” “the joker,” “the socialite,” “the banker,” etc. I've sort of been building it as Mrs. Churchill's whiteboard, but it's what I'd like to release as the CoC. Now, that said, I can instead do one without those short hands, and without a little bit of extra insight into each character, but I feel like that's less useful, as it sort of requires readers to take their own notes about who's acting how. Some people might want zero foreshadowing that isn't done in the story itself, however, so I'm going to do a poll, and based on that, I'll have a CoC for BB everyone to coincide with the release of the next BB chapter on 1/28.

I also want to take a minute to thank KC, who's decided to kick in at the highest tier level, and instead of having a commission, they just want me to make sure I'm getting my two BB updates out every month, which means the world to me. When I started BB, I wasn't entirely sure people would be along for the ride, and the feedback channels for that story are significantly smaller, since QT obviously gets posted in multiple places eventually. That means it's a little harder to know how the story is landing with people. But KC's been so kind with their emails that I wanted to take brief moment to offer my special thanks publicly, as their correspondence lately has been a good bit of fuel in the tank to keep that engine revved. For those of you subscribed at only the tier 1 level, I can't tell you how to spend your money, but I think the BB storyline is worth the additional few bucks every month, and it is only going to get wilder.

Speaking of where we are in terms of how the Patreon's doing, new subscribers have slowed down significantly, but we still get a few trickling in here and there. If it continues to grow, at some point within the foreseeable future, Patreon will cover my monthly rent, so not enough to take it truly full time, but enough to make up for the lesser freelance contracts I've been passing on while working on all of this stuff. If you want to help out, consider upgrading a tier or two, but again, don't feel like you're obligated to do so. I know money is tight for people all over right now, and I absolutely feel you. I'm pinching pennies myself, as contract work continues to come in sporadic fits, but that's the freelancer lifestyle for you. 

Keep in mind, though, people who back at the commissioner level don't have to have commissioned works done for them – you're welcome just to kick in at a higher level and not take advantage of those benefits if you don't want to. Over half of my commissioner tier patrons are just doing it to keep me going and producing content and thank you folks so much for that. (And if you want, you can set your monthly contribution higher than the tier itself, if you live in New Eden or something, and have cash to splash for flash.)

I started work in on If I'm Honest 8 today and feel absolutely confident that I'll get that out on Friday 1/14. I have had that sort of mapped out in my head for a while, and it's humming along nicely. Whatever you think is going to happen to Deke, I guarantee you, you're going to be at least a little surprised.

Morgana's Gift 7 is on the schedule for 1/21 (as per the last T3/4 poll), and that deadline shouldn't be a problem either. It might even be a couple part post, although we'll see how that turns out once I start digging in on the actual writing beyond the rough speccing process. Both IIH and MG have clearly mapped out endpoints in my head, so I appreciate everyone being patient, as both of those stories will eventually come to conclusions (IIH faster than MG, if I had to guess, but IIH sets itself up nicely for a sequel/prequel).

Speaking of endings, I wanted to broach this here so everyone knows that it's coming, but I will be wrapping up Quaranteam this year. Sort of. Not really. Heh. Just breathe, people. What I mean to say is that at some point this year, Quaranteam Book One will be coming to a close, and I will then be starting in on Quaranteam Book Two. Quaranteam, as it stands, is approaching the quarter of a million-word mark, making it about as long as the first Wheel of Time book, if you can believe it, and I suspect it'll be closer to 300k words when I finally wrap up Book One. The end of Book One doesn't wrap up all the plot threads, it doesn't answer all the questions, it doesn't even really end the story in any major way. What it does do is serve as a marker, a milestone if you will, where I can say one section is wrapped, and we're moving into another. Looking at the page over at EMCSA, it's gotten ridiculous how long it is, so I want to start a second volume, which moves my listing over there onto another page, and so that newer readers will have a place to jump on if they want.

When does Book One end and Book Two start? That's all still getting worked out, but I'm guessing probably autumn or so, although we'll see. I realize I'm announcing it way in advance, but I want everyone to know what the roadmap looks like so none of this takes anyone by surprise, and nobody panics when I talk about heading towards the close of Book One. There is going to be a Book Two, it will start basically immediately after Book One is finished, and the story has a whole ton of narrative road left in it, so nobody panic. I will probably have a slightly decreased output for a month or so just after Book One is finished, as I'm going to do a long editing pass and cleanup on it, then eventually put Quaranteam Book One out as an ebook and possibly print-on-demand through Amazon. A number of you have suggested I do this eventually, so that'll be happening as well on the horizon, but not soon. By the end of the year, I hope. All the editing and correction notes people have been passing me on the Discord or via email have helped with that immensely, so thank you again for all of that.

I'm not sure about which Tuesday Quaranteam: Phil's Tale 3 will fall on, 1/18 or 1/25, and I suspect it will depend on how writing goes over the weekend. If it's not next Tuesday, it absolutely will be the following one. Call it a 50/50 shot which one to look for it on.

Two polls will go up today, one to vote on how the BB CoC should be presented (for tier 2s and up) and the other on what I'm writing for 2/4 (for tier 3s and up). Anyway, that's all the news to print, and where we start for the rest of the month. David Bowie would've been 75 last week, and I've had a bunch of his music on rotation lately, so I'll leave you with the clip we opened this post with.

David Bowie - Let's Dance (Official Video) - YouTube