#which I've been re-editing over and over since like October

[myceliomancer]

Some recent Menagerie City writing:

Oh, and how Jun loved its cities, springing right up around the Painted Mahogany like an ant-nest. Well, they were forest people after all, and what is a city if not a forest? And Jun’s cities were true jungles, great filthy towering things where buildings grew on buildings like galls, roads twisted and knotted and self-cannibalised, churches and temples of all shapes and sizes desecrated each other and themselves; they were hot and noisy with a cacophony of different tongues, spilling their chaos outwards and upwards and downwards uncontrollably, drunkenly.

And it was here, in the noise and the rank, amidst the monkey-lords and the beggars and fortune-tellers and the restless dead and bankers and the vermin and the gods, that the Mahogany stood, unchanging and unmoving, and she grew quiet and she grew thoughtful.

[xxnashiraxx]

for the fic writer questions: 2, 14, 29, 39, 43, 54, 72! ❤️❤️

Thank you for asking, my love 🖤🖤🖤 You can find the original post here!

2. Do You Plan Each Chapter Ahead or Write as You Go?

Look, I'm not really a "details" person, lol. I have always been shit at planning, which usually turns out to be my Achilles heel. I've gotten really lucky with this story- I've outlined the very basics and noted down key events and plots I'd like to unfold and write during the duration, but mostly I've just started and not stopped writing- thank god this game has quests or I'd be dead in the water. I work around the natural progression of the game, toss in some tropes and silly little things and dialogue, and hope it all works out, and so far it's done just that! I will say this is the most organized I've ever been in writing, and I'm really pleased with what I've done so far- this is the best work I've ever done, and I'm really proud of it. 🖤

14. How Do You Write Emotional Scenes? Do You Ever Feel What the Characters Feel? Do You Draw From Personal Experiences?

I love writing emotional scenes, they can be gut wrenching or joyful and I like to try and emulate what I'd feel when the characters I'm writing about are experiencing those things. I have a lot of angst history, unfortunately, but that's been great in helping me realize what happens to me when I go through those feelings. I like to touch on the senses- smell, sight, sound, touch, all of that. I try to immerse myself in it all like how a panic attack can leave you scattered and how your chest feels tight and that there's not enough breath in your lungs, or how a kiss can make you feel like there are butterflies in your stomach (cliche, but hey it happens) alongside the less glamorous descriptions of sweating profusely and feeling like everything is on fire. Emotional scenes weren't always my strong suit, but I've never looked at them through the lens of how I would feel in that moment, and doing so has really helped me improve.

29. What's Your Revision or Editing Process Like?

This is also pretty scattered! I was smart enough this time around to plan out my fic before I started writing, and in doing so, I spent April to the end of July of this year writing out nearly all of Act 1 for my fic without posting or uploading anything. Now that we're in October, I'm nearing the end of everything I've written, and up until this point, I've taken the week between chapter postings to polish and tweak the third drafts of all the chapters (that had already gone under extensive editing during those 4 months) and sometimes re-write things entirely. It's taken a lot of my free time, hence my shift to an every-other-week release, and as I finish posting all my pre-done material, I will now be writing a chapter the first week and going through edits the second week before posting. I don't plan on burning out, but there's always the chance the release schedule could shift again to accommodate more for my time and best work. 😊

39. Share a Snipper from a WIP.

Aww, I simply cannot resist 🖤 Have some angsty Chapter 12 from With Stars to Fill My Dream stuff since all the snippets I've been posting this month have been horny, lol.

He holds her until she yawns and he guides her back to her tent, a soft trembling laugh tickling his ear when she stumbles over her bedroll. He sits next to her as she gets tucked in, long hair fanned out around her flushed face, while some savage creature tears and gnashes at his chest from within. “Astarion?” “Hmm?” “Sorry about earlier.” He peers into her eyes, watching them grow foggy. “When, darling?” “In the windmill. I… it was really silly of me. I didn’t know how you felt, and I let that… uhh… word? Get in the way? I guess…” She laughs and there’s amusement in her eyes, the alcohol slurring her words. “Anyway, I usually don’t fall for people this fast, I just didn’t want to mess up what was going on between us with my feelings. You just want sex, though, so I don’t have to worry about those anymore.” Oh. He should leave before she reveals any more secrets she intends to keep. Yet… he can’t help wanting to hear them. Part of him wants them like he wants power, like he wants leverage. The other… lingers on the fall-for-people line, the words stuck behind his eyes as she looks at him and continues on. “But we can't do that. I'm sorry that I can't tell you yes,” She smiles, too far gone to realize she should probably shut her mouth. “I misunderstood big time, but I promise I don’t feel that way anymore. You don't want me that way, so we're just friends. We'll never be anything else...” She closes her eyes, exhale shaking out of her lungs with a weary rattle. He sits until her breathing evens and stares at her, odd warring emotions unfolding beneath his ribs. He's confused- confused at what she said, at what she meant, at why she sounded like she was hiding the truth away from him as she spoke, and perhaps even from herself... The creature savages it all, making him finally tear his eyes away. Before he can stop himself he leans down, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, before leaving and disappearing into the night.

43. Do You Take A Sadistic Joy in Whumping Your Characters, or Are You More the "If you hurt them I would kill everyone and then myself" Kind of Person?

Kind of both, lol. I love making them all stupid and broken and then healing them and taking that all away- it's really very cruel, but I'll be damned if they get too comfortable. I would love to take mercy on them, but I'm not a merciful god. :(

54. What's Your Favorite Part About the Fanfiction Writing Process?

I just love thinking of how I could give more depth to situations that I felt could have used it, or grow bonds between characters where I saw a lack of before. I love the imaging part- I usually do this with a bit of music (which, fun fact, is the only reason I'm writing my long fic, thank you Crazy on You by Heart) and I sit and immerse myself in the sounds and lyrics as I think about how they could apply to the situation I'm thinking about and it all comes together. I've planned many scenes in my writing this way and gotten inspiration from them. 🖤

72. What Order Do You Write In? Front of Book to Back? Chronological Favorite Scenes First? Something Else?

I sit at my desk and just go at it, man. I have that loose plan, those key scenes in mind, and I try to fill the gaps in between! I always try to stick to chronological order and go from there, but there have been a few times I've written out a future scene and I love coming up on them when I hit that point only to take a wrecking ball to them sometimes, but at least I had the bones to start and that really helps. 💗💗💗

Thank you for asking, again! I really love doing things like this 🖤🖤

[manonamora-if]

November Check-In

As mentioned in my previous weekly update, monthly check-ins will be posted on the 1st of every month, recap'ing what's been done and what's the plan for next month.

Recap of last month's progress

IF Events in the Next Month

Plan for the next month

Still long post ahead. If you want a mini version, head over to itch.io!

October progress

The plan for last October was to:

Play and review more IF games ✅

Finish the La Petite Mort remaster: ✅

Either continue a WIP or fix another semi-completed game ❌

maybe try to add another block to the SugarCube Guide? ❌

The first was easily completed, since I reviewed about 40 games (out of the 75 entries) from this edition of the IFComp. This was more than last year in terms of quantity and time spent (more long entries this year), so while I did not play/review all entries, I'm happy with having done all that so far. Maybe I'll revisit the rest at a later point.

The second was a bit difficult. Working on the re-writes started pretty easy, but I ended up being completely short for words half-way through (even if I could visualise the scenes). Switching to translating the completed passaged helped pick up the pace, but I did this a bit too late, looking back. This meant I rushed through the last week, just before the EctoComp deadline, to complete a working state. This also means that while the game is complete, there are kinks that still need to be ironed out. This include the missing full passages (half-written or drafted, but not translated), missing translation (especially for the last passage), and taking care of the last UI friction. Another update is coming.

Having spent so much time on the first two, and IRL just swinging its bat at me, the last two points were not touched at all. Still, it's not bad, and other things came about:

The Bare-Bones Jam managed to get two dozen entries, which is pretty decent considering it happened at the same time as the EctoComp and the voting of the IFComp.

Lots of interesting discussion happened in the @neointeractives Discord server, especially covering the IFComp (moderation can't sleep).

I somehow managed to wing an entry for the inkJam, with In the Blink of an Eye. Don't know how I managed, I certainly wasn't in the right state of mind. Also turns out it was a 4-bird-1-stone, since I translated it in French.

Had an actual AMA on the blog, that was properly scheduled!

So still quite a bit considering life... (it's really been a lot, haven't processed most of it yet)

-_-

What's happening in November?

Nanowrimo for the writers, which can be a good incentive to progress the writing of a game.

The IFComp, EctoComp, and inkJam are always looking for players/voters. If you want to play a few short-ish games, take advantage of that!

The @seedcomp-if is always looking for inspiration (text, images, code, etc...) in this current first round. If you have half-baked ideas or anything, really, come submit something!

Over @neointeractives, we just wrapped up the Bare-Bones Jam and we have a new jam in the work... the ShuffleComp! Stay tuned ;)

-_-

The PLANtm for November

Still play more IF and maybe review. With the Bare-Bones Jam and the EctoComp over, that's a good 50 games to try out. (I've started with the inkJam already)

Finish the edits of Harcourt Ch5 (and get MelS to send me his Ch6 writing)

Fix one of the semi-completed games: either the Egg parser or TRNT (and make it a proper parser)

Finish that darn SugarCube Guide: there aren't much left in the guide to cover, but there are a few things to fix.

I would also like to compile the short drabbles from @crimsonroseandwhitelily into something more substantial. Either as a side page or within the game itself.

Taking the list of TO-DO from August…

To-Do not require much of new stuff:

translate Escape Goncharov! into French. ✅

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (mayyyybe translate into French?)

fix the formatting of DOL-OS + translate into English ✅

update LPM with the missing content + translate into English ✅

It's really been going down, which I am super happy about! I've made quite a bit of progress on that part since I made that To-DO (considering waves at life)

The rest of the To-Do pile was:

Finish The Rye in the Dark City (and maybe translate?)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (and try to translate)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (translation unlikely, current gameplay too complex to port for French)

Add a chapter to CRWL + fix/reopen the blog

Re-working TTTT to its originally planned state (lol, not likety)

Re-working SPS Iron Hammer (samesies)

Coding TTATEH (MelS dependent - shooting for end of year)

Emptying my inboxes (they are not all answered tho)

Honestly, this pile probably won't get done this year....

[ladylooch]

Lil Admin Update

Thank you all for your feedback last week on what we want to see on the blog this summer as well as with the AU fics. I didn't mean to be this MIA for the week. I have been sick since Wednesday with some virus thats been a roller coaster. Fun times!

A few updates below...

Summer Content Poll:

The majority winner for the poll was to do 50% AU fics and 50% open requests. I have to noodle on how many requests I can take and what the request rules will be before I open them up again. But I am looking forward to this! More to come soon!

This also means starting this week (June 3rd) we are not doing a schedule. I need time to focus on the longer AU fics right now. I'm making great progress and I want those done before I open requests. I can see the schedule coming back during the NHL season, but we unfortunately have a ways to go until October 😭

For AUs:

It was almost unanimously option 1, which was to post them all at the same time and rotate through all the story lines. I thought this one would win hehe! And this feels like the right choice! We have lot of good stuff coming, so it will be fun to dive into everything at once.

Here is where the AU fics are standing right now:

Lio & Sav (infertility): ALMOST DONE!!!!!!!! 4 of 5 parts written. One part left to write, then we are in editing stage.

Liv & Luca (Angst): 2 of 4 parts are done. I still need to do the rewrite I've been discussing, which is taking a lot of brain power. I gotta get it right... You know how precious Livy is to me. 🥹

Lucie & Connor ( Pre-dating/ Mexico): 1 of 3 parts is done. This is gonna be... 🤤 Also, it is a bit of a re-write for the series from what we talked about last summer. I don't think you're gonna mind tho.

Mack & David (series): Still planning the series out. Gonna be a while. But I will got the 'first I love you' out within this rotation.

My vision is to post Lio/Sav, Liv/Luca, and Connor/ Lucie, then put Mack/David in where it makes sense.

ALSO, final thought, I am working on how to get a timeline up for you all for the AUs so you can have an understand of what is happening at what times because... Lio and Sav's angst is happening like right with Liv and Luca's AND as Mack and David are starting to mess around 😂 2050 is a big year for our babies.

Actually I have one more thought, don't make a series of cousins and then break them into separate stories/tags and then have their entire story scattered all over the blog in different tags and places 💀 The disorganization of Lio & Lucie literally keeps me up at night 😂

Okay, Happy Sunday!! I'm around 🥰

[kaiowut99]

GX Finalized-Subs!96 (WIP): 😛

Since it's been a bit since I finalized 93-94 and I haven't made an update on 95 and 96 yet (I spent the past few days on some animation/card error touch-ups for 95 and I'm starting now on those for 96 along with this before working on their scripts), thought I'd quickly show off this current work-in-progress: the little bio file Ojin brings out to Saiou about one Zweinsteen Zweinstein early in the episode, which I wanted to take a crack at translating. I did want to more closely mirror how I translated Ryusei Gin (Lorenzo)'s file back in episode 71, but unfortunately my SSD drive giving out back in October meant I lost the project file for it--luckily, I did post the images from it here (and could refer back to my hardsub, worst-case) so that helps.

So, first, I decided I'd crop out the file itself to work on, with the end idea being using CC Power Pin in AfterEffects to pin it back into place here and in the shot a bit before as Ojin initially carries it over to Saiou--the "1930.3.1" cutoff is because that's all that's visible on that line originally, so when straightening/perspective-fixing it for editing, I just filled in the rest of the sheet of paper.

Then, I just fixed the "Allbert" typo there in the Japanese version by moving "Al" over some, and moving the "arubaato" furigana under it to re-center it (might need to lightly fine-tune its new position).

And then this is what I've done so far with the translation. Since Zweinstein's a parody of Einstein, I figured it most likely that the cut-off birth date would be March 14th to match, so I included that here. Other than that, trying to match it to the original text position. The next section is his Award History, with his winning the "Nobelly" Prize in Dueling Physics from 1996-2005--oh right, they're also parodying the Nobel Prize, which I didn't catch in my initial run-through with this ep, haha.

Hope it looks good so far; the final product should look a bit smoother once I lightly blur all the new text to blend in, and it should just take a couple of days to finish and mix it into the footage. After that, I just have some more minor footage fixes I want to work on, but do want to see what I can do with yet another strapping issue that happens for Burstlady... (Back to back appearances, they forget her shoulder strap...) Stay tuned!

(Also, shoutout to a Redditor a few years back asking for this to be translated a bit and getting someone to do just that while transcribing some of the text, which helped me in trying to read through the blur)

[pebblysand]

Hello hope you're doing good! I just wanted to ask when you're going to upload the next chapter of Castles? I love your works

Thank you ❤️.

So, yeah, that's a very fair question. I know I said this summer that the chapters were written and just needed editing (which is true) and that I would be able to post quickly after my holidays were over. Yet, here we are :/.

Unfortunately, I've experienced quite a bit of delay in the past couple weeks since I've been back. I've been quite sick with allergies, and IRL work has sadly been quite busy, so I'm not where I would like to be, in terms of getting them done. I tried editing, but I really struggled to get back into the "mood" of Castles, so I've decided to take a bit of step back and re-read the whole fic (doing a bit of editing of what's been published on the side as well), to get back into that mood. I'm really enjoying that so far. It's reminded me how much I love this story, and how proud I am of the world I've created. Sometimes, I'm baffled by the fact that I like it, almost.

I appreciate this doesn't exactly answer your question, but I suppose my answer is this: ideally - end of october/beginning of november. At the very latest? Before Christmas. I am slow moving but I just really wrote myself into the ground over the summer and ended up absolutely drained, and I've decided to prioritise my mental and physical health, this time around. Castles is hundreds of hours for each chapter, and I can't be working 80-hour weeks, on top of my IRL work, the podcast, and fic, on a regular basis. I do really want to post those chapters before the end of the year, though, so if November rolls around and I'm not done, I might do another sprint like last summer, especially because it'll be Nanowrimo.

Thanks for sticking with me, and for everyone's patience though. It's very, very much appreciated. ❤️

[creamypudding]

I should cut myself some slack. The pace at which I'm working on my current story obsession (Clack omega/werewolf fic) has ground to a halt as I've been struggling through making sense of the middle part of the plot.

It feels like each day drags and nothing gets done. Like I'm stuck in the quagmire of writers block because the text doesn't come as freely and easily as when I started the story.

I shouldn't beat myself up about being in a tough spot. Afterall, it's harder to write the middle of the story because as I've been writing, the story has grown more complex as I've gotten to learn about the world the characters inhabit and I have also learned how the world's shaped them.

It's this added complexity that makes me second guess a lot of things around what path the story should take to get to the desired ending. I end up leaving myself so many notes about changes I have to make on subsequent passovers and those become more tempting to write than trying to push through the discomfort of whatever scene I'm stuck on.

But I have been -mostly- good at writing forward and not backward. I did have to go back to the start and completely rewrite the opening scene, but after that hurdle was partially started, I left myself notes on how to finish off the intro scene and went back to trudging through the most current part of the story.

I'm not sure yet if this style of working - writing forward instead of editing as I go - is a style that works for me. I'm enjoying getting to chip away at the story so it's all done and I can go back and edit it later (which is the part I love most about writing), but I'm also dreading how much rewriting I will have to do to incorporate all the changes I'm making on the fly. I worry I might miss something if I don't make the edits while I think of them on the spot. But I guess I should trust my note leaving process, and trust that the way the story should be will solidify in my head by the time I'm done with it so if on my re-read come across something incongruent I'll be able to patch it easily enough. 🤞

I guess I won't know if this process is going to work out for me until I've gone through the whole process and finished the story.

Some days the finish line feels forever away.

It feels like I've been stuck here forever with nothing in the story really moving forward, because I haven't obtained clarity or any real writing flow to indicate that I am confident about how to pull off what I want to have happen.

But then I take an objective look at this story and discover that I started it 19th October. It has just been a month since I started it, and I'm already halfway finished writing the first draft, in relation to plot points. Like, that's pretty fucking good.

And I know that once I get unstuck and onto the parts of the story I have been itching to write and explore, the flow will come back.

Yet, in the meanwhile, the struggle I'm facing right now feels like it's been going forever and will be another forever before I'm through it. But I gotta remind myself that I started the first tough chapter on 11th November, and the chapter I just finished today I started 2 days ago on the 17th.

2 days ago. It feels like a lot longer. Maybe because I've been trying to make sense of that aspect of the story for a lot longer? I've been living and breathing it, rejecting ideas, tweaking ideas, reworking them into something that hopefully might make sense over and over for a while now.

So, it would seem like it's probably a very normal thing to experiencing, when I've sunk so many mental hours into this story. I need to chill and cut myself some slack. And I certainly can't trust my feelings. Hard date stamp evidence shows I flew through the latest chapter, so some confidence in direction must be returning to me.

And th general take home is that it's ok to struggle. I always pull through and at surprising speed.

There are a few more difficult transitions I have to write and wrangle before I think I'm through the worst of it. I'm agitated that other than finishing the latest chapter today I haven't gone on to start the next one, beyond getting down the preliminary chapter outline.

I'm being kind to myself and rationalising that with the weekend coming I have no time to dive deep into the next part. I'm telling myself I'd rather start fresh with all my thoughts ready to go in one swoop rather than stop and start as I juggle the weekend. But it's still tough to be idling when I know I could be writing.

Not that I know what I should be writing.

I think I need some rest after that week of plodding through some heavy structural stuff. I have earned a guilt-free weekend. Maybe not guilt. I don't think I feel guilty. Just... Unproductive. But it's ok to not be productive. It's necessary to rest so I can have reserves in the tank so I can start my next week of writing with much energy.

Yes. This is a post to tell myself to rest. And writing on my blog here is a nice way to be writing and 'productive' without the need to be perfect and find the right words or turn of phrase.

It's been a good use of my time.

Thanks for listening, to anyone who read this.

I look forward to bringing you this story in the new year and I'm having an amazing blast writing it. Even when I'm stuck I find some gold nuggets I enjoy.

Cheers.

[confetti-cupcake]

Do you have any updates on your reality show AUs? I love your descriptions and the shows you chose. Patient waiting for when you drop updates or even the whole fics.

Hi there! 😊 First of all, it makes me so happy that you're interested and asking about my fics. It means more than you know to know that someone is actually interested in the reality TV premises and are excited to read something that I wrote.

To get a little personal, I haven't written much lately, or been very active on here for a while. We had a death in my family about a month ago, and then a friend of mine suddenly passed away at the beginning of October. So essentially I've spent this month in various states of grief, which as you can imagine, is not the best for fic writing, or engaging in 9-1-1 content in general. I have been slowly getting back into it though, trying to write a little at a time until I get my motivation back.

For more specific updates about each of the fics I'm working on:

🔪 Whodunnit — I'm taking a break from this one until death becomes a little less... topical in my life lol. I'm definitely going to come back to it at some point (I've actually been thinking up ways to change it so I don't have to make it include deaths of characters we all love), but I'm turning my focus toward other fics for now.

✈ Amazing Race — I don't want to promise anything since I don't know what my workload is going to be for the next few months, but I'm fairly certain that I will have this done by the end of the year, or end of January at the latest. This fic is either going to be a one-shot or a two-chapter fic, so much shorter than the others. I already have a lot of the meat drafted out, so most of what's left is writing up the last few legs and building out the connections between the "big" scenes. (I'm really, really excited about this one)

💖 Are You The One? — This one is a little tricky. I'm almost halfway done with this one (7 chapters written out of a projected 15). Problem is, I'm not super happy with chapter 7 and I've kind of been putting off editing it for that reason. I think I'll feel better once I just sit down and confront the issues I've been having with it head-on, but just finding the motivation to do it has been tough. I've been writing it in strict sequential order up until this point, but I have a really detailed outline for the rest, so I might just jump around to the scenes I've been wanting to write to get the creativity flowing and worry about the rest later.

🌴 Survivor — Ah, my beloved that also simultaneously makes me want to bang my head against the wall. I wrote about this in another ask, but there are a few reasons why this one has been taking a while and they pretty much just stem from the fact that I just want it to be really, really good. The first being that I've slowly kind of fallen out of love with Lone Star over time — I still plan on watching it and I don't think it's bad or anything, but it was getting really hard to find the motivation to write from the POV of those characters. So I changed the cast to all OG characters, which has been really exciting for me. It just feels better and it helps the story a LOT that not everyone in the cast is a character we're supposed to like. However, the downside to this change is I had 100k words worth of the fic with the old cast drafted out, so now I have to completely re-write a lot of the scenes and change storylines to get them to fit with the new cast.

Also, unlike my other fics, the Survivor one isn't completely focused on Buddie. It has scenes from everyone's POV, and each person in the cast has their own story arc throughout the game. Buddie will definitely be a big part of it, but there's also a fair amount that has nothing to do with them. I just love all the OG 9-1-1 characters and wanted to write something that gave everyone their time to shine — I also thought the actual Survivor game would be more fun and interesting if we hear what everyone's thinking along the way, rather than from just two people.

Full disclosure, I am in the middle of editing chapter 2 of this fic, so still a ways to go on that, but as the number of characters voted out increases, the chapters will become faster to write and edit. Also as I start finishing up stuff on my other fics, it'll open up more time for me to work on this 😄 I'm very committed to getting it done, regardless of how long it takes!

And now, off to work on some of these! 😉

[goforth-ladymidnight]

Thanks @theladyofbloodshed ! Tumblr is glitchy sometimes, so I appreciate you reaching out as best you could, nonny.

That explanation makes sense to me. As much as I would like to think SJM thought ahead when she was writing this series, she has publicly stated that she is more of a pantser than a planner. That isn't the problem, though. (Speaking as a fellow pantser, outlines do not work for me.) Consistency between books-- and sometimes in the same book--is the problem.

In the first edition of the first book, Amarantha was described in one appearance with red hair, then another with black hair. In the latest edition of ACOTAR (on Kindle, as of October of year), Feyre describes her time in the woods as eight years ago, making her eleven at the time, then later, she says she was fourteen when the money ran out. These are minor editing errors that should have been caught early on, but those are simple changes that don't really bother me.

What bothers me is that Book 1 is so different from the rest of the series. I've heard it referred to by other fans as a really long prologue, and that Book 2 is where it gets good. I (obviously) disagree. To be honest, I actually think the concept of "kidnapping the Bride of Spring" is a clever twist on the old Hades and Persephone myth, but I hate hate hate how it was executed. Especially since Feylin was set up so beautifully.

Thinking of ACOMAF as a "reset" to the series makes sense, and it wouldn't surprise me if that was SJM's intent. I wasn't in the fandom when her newsletters were available, but from what I hear, she re-wrote all of ACOMAF and started over with WAR. I doubt she changed much with ACOTAR, which would explain why it feels so different from the rest of the series. But you probably know all this. Your ask implies a lot of know-how when it comes to the fandom.

I also have my own "fix-it" fic in the works, so your "restart the series" example makes sense.

Thanks for the ask! If you have any more questions, I hope you don't encounter any more glitches. My inbox is always open. :)

@goforth-ladymidnight Personally, I don’t think ACOWAR-present are retellings of anything. I think ACOMAF is only a Hades-Persephone retelling because SJM wanted to change the original Feylin endgame, but to do that she had to change the story, and therefore the focus of the retelling. So MAF became a new retelling as restart to the series since the first book was already published.

Like when someone writes a fanfic, publishes it, but then decides they could make it better so they take it down and rewrite. Except she couldn’t take TAR down to rewrite it because it was either too far into the publishing process for them to stop it without losing money or it was published already, so that leaves using her second book to become the new first.

An ask for you @goforth-ladymidnight 🥰

[manonamora-if]

October Check-In

September passed wayyyy too fast again, and almost all my efforts went into completing the DOL-OS remaster. And finishing strong by catching the FLU :D /s

You know the drill... long post ahead:

Recap of last month's progress

Recap of last week's stuff

Other IF stuff done or in the works

Other IF events

Plan for October

- _ -

September progress

The plan for last month was to:

continue to play and review games ✅ (just a few tho...)

finish the DOL-OS remaster ✅✅✅ just in time! also needed one more week from the planned date to finish it properly

continue a WIP or fix another semi-completed game: 😐 (see this week's progress)

add another block to the SugarCube Guide: ❌ (was planning to, but the illness)

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Last Week's progress

I pulled myself to the finish line by the hair at the end buuuut...

DOL-OS - THE REMASTERED VERSION IS NOW OUT!

It's now beautiful, bug free (i hope), with new content, and translated into English! First completed in a month, remastered almost within a month too!

If you liked it, consider leaving a little rating? or a comment?

Even if you don't care to play it, at least open the game once to check out the loading page :P

Also I have:

redone the intro post (if you could share it around, that'd be lovely)

wrote the extensive dev log

updated the Projects Status page

added the OG Comp Version of the source code on my GitHub

uploaded the OG Comp Version on the IFArchive (processing)

Unless there are raised bugs, this game is also going into the SHELF!

As mentioned in last Sunday's check in, I've gotten the new draft from MelS. It's over 20k words...

So I'm back to editing the file, going through the text and leaving comments. I was about 1/4 through before the illness arrived.

And MelS is continuing making progress on the final chapter in the meantime.

We've also been discussing the future release(s) and potential need for rewrite of the first chapters. MelS style had changed a bit, and he is worried the first chapters are too drastically different from the later ones. We might even get a few beta readers before the final release...

In my plan for September, I mentioned La Petite Mort to be probably the next remaster project I tackle on, with a potential translation release for the EctoComp.

I checked with the rules: translations are considered new works. 🥳 So we are looking at an EctoComp deadline, which is in a month.

So this week, I've gone through the code and:

mapped out the new map of the game (which will include more rooms)

listed the characters/NPC (a few new ones)

listed the different mechanics to (re-)code (esp the inventory)

listed the endings available (currently about 7, 2 are early endings)

listed the beats and actions for each room (more animal petting!)

The plan is to, in order:

Correct the current French writing

Add the new content (in French - about double what there is rn)

Re-code the game (+ accessibility settings)

Upload the French Remaster

Translate the Game into English

Add the translation inside the code

Submit to the EctoComp (depending on how long this takes, maybe I can achieve the La Petite Mort category again :P)

I'll also need to:

update the itch page of the game (right now it's too bland)

update the intro post of the game

Unsure yet:

add sound effect and background music...

Most importantly, the game is rated PG and will stay PG. It has some horror-y element, but more of the Hocus Pocus/Terry Pratchett kind than say... Saw or any Halloween slasher.

I will be taking down the itch page of the game closer to the reupload to check everything is in order.

With the IFComp starting soon, expect review over at @manonamora-if-reviews. Last year I managed about 30 before I tapped out (and I had submitted something). Let's see how I do this year!

I would like to try to knock a InkJam + Bare-Boned Jam + EctoComp (mini) entry at the end of October, since the theme of the Ink Jam is revealed at the start of the jam (23rd). One stone, two three birds and all that. And maybe revisit a short story I wrote when I was younger as a base... 🤔

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IF Events!!

October is filled with IF events, so this will be quite a list:

the voting period of the IFComp starts on October 1st until mid November. I think there are expecting over 50 games? I recommend waiting one-two days before voting, as there are often 1st day bug fixes (speaking from experience).

the Bare-Bones Jam organised by @neointeractives starts on October 1st and runs until the end of the month! It is unranked.

the EctoComp, the spooky IF ranked jam, starts on October 1st and ends on the 28th. There are two categories, and you can also submit in French or Spanish!

the InkJam is a 3-day ranked jam at the end of October, with a theme!

You'll be able to vote for the Spooktober entries in a few hours.

SeedComp! has started again, see @seedcomp-if (we've updated/cleared up some rules)

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The PLAN tm for October

Play and review more IF games: this one is kinda done before it started because of the IFComp. Also, someone submitted a few games. And there are a bunch on my To Play list both on the IFDB, itch, and the MOIKI Social Club.

finish the La Petite Mort remaster: I think I should be ok? The original LPM was done in 4h (in chunks over a week or so). I plan to essentially double the content, and fix coding issue. I don't really have to worry about the UI at all with this one.

either continue a WIP or fix another semi-completed game: that will be a check mark if MelS and I can make some good progress on the editing.

maybe try to add another block to the SugarCube Guide? I still have a list I could check down... Same with a template. It will heavily depend on the time I have.

(and maybe do an extra French entry for the EctoComp)

Taking the list of August...

To-Do not require much of new stuff:

translate Escape Goncharov! into French. ✅

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (mayyyybe translate into French?)

fix the formatting of DOL-OS + translate into English ✅

update LPM with the missing content + translate into English ✅ (ongoing)

The rest of the To-Do pile:

Finish The Rye in the Dark City (and maybe translate?)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (and try to translate)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (translation unlikely, current gameplay too complex to port for French)

Add a chapter to CRWL + fix/reopen the blog

Re-working TTTT to its originally planned state (lol, not likety)

Re-working SPS Iron Hammer (samesies)

Coding TTATEH (MelS dependent - shooting for end of year)

Emptying my inboxes

(I am pretty sure the focus for the rest of the year will be to finish the first list. With the addition of a few more small jam entries.)

And that about covers it!