Tale Foundry

Daily Update: Encrusted...

Today was a game of evasion, in that the only thing I really needed to do was evade the mesmeric pull of procrastination. I... did alright. 

In the end I put down some quality words (I think), but it was slow, and not nearly as much as I would have liked volume-wise, considering our current deadline. Nevertheless, I've gotten the first scene to a place I'm comfortable with, and it's really important for establishing a lot about the rest of the story. Now that's out of the way, I think the...

Daily Update: All hail!

Enough preamble! We begin.

I'm in the actual process of writing the short story now, and due to our collaboration deadlines with World Anvil, I'll need to pump this one out in a cool 3-5 days. Rough, considering the amount of research that goes into writing something which resembles the Rurik dynasty with any modicum of accuracy.

I'm off to a blazing start though, having deleted, re-written, deleted, and re-written the first page of the first draft a healthy seven-or-so-times! This is pr...

Daily Update: Out of Lines

That's deceptive, because the truth of the expression is that we have an outline! This story is officially and fully plotted! Tomorrow I begin writing in earnest. Which should be a fun experience. This one is loaded.

Apart from that, not much to report today. Right now I've got a big salad in front of me and people are giving me margaritas. I don't... quite know how I got here, but it's a pretty good time to clock out for the evening, I think. I blame Nova.

Depending on how far ...

Daily Update: Pre-text

And the writing process.... 

haaaaaas yet to begin. Still. Because we want this to be a good story, so we're pushing this outline super hard. 

We've got everything (more or less) down at this point, I just need to articulate it in an actual document before I can move forward. I think I'll just pull a late-nighter to get this done so I can focus on beginning the writing process tomorrow.

I can tell you for now that there are many lovely things in this story. Knights the wo...

Daily Update: Is This Real Life?

We've done it! At long last!

...kinda.

Today I spent maybe 7 hours outlining, just to come home and discuss every individual detail with the other member of my team (Chloe, I'm talking about you). We finally came to something that really feels solid, but that won't be ready until later tomorrow.

Also, as an aside, I'm totally spent right now. I keep dozing while typing and just writing a bunch of gibberish. A couple minutes ago (that's right, it's taking me forever to write this th...

Daily Update: Go Fish

What time is it? 2:00am? That... we can call that "today" right? Not "tomorrow"?  

Good.

Sorry you guys. I've been falling behind on these things. I blame unexpected circumstances, such as five babies showing up out of nowhere behind unannounced visiting relatives, and many more voice/video conference calls on the daily than we're used to. I'm attempting to re-calibrate and get back into something like a groove, though, beginning tomorrow.

Expect me to have finished o...

Rewards: June 2018

Hey Everybody!

It is that time of month again! I am about to begin sending out lifetime rewards. And that of course means some reminders, so here they are:

Pre-January 2018 Patrons

Please update your pledge to include your address if you haven't done so already. We can't ship physical rewards to you without that information.

International Patrons

Unfortunately at this time we are only able to ship the sticker rewar...

Daily Update: Flowering

So we ran our first audio think tank last night. I wrote a postmortem for everybody who missed it, but I can't get it out of my head. Something about interacting with you guys in that way felt... liberating?

That level of intimacy feels so long overdue. We've been skulking about behind the scenes for such a long time now, I suppose I've been expecting myself to organically find a comfort zone with being a creator with fans before I start showing myself to the world, ...

Update: Tonight's Think Tank

Hey guys!

There has been a slight change in the schedule for the Think Tank this evening. It will now be taking place from 8:30 pm-10:00 pm CST (UTC -5).

A primer for the session tonight is still in the works. So look forward to that!

Thanks,

☮❤️😀

—Chloe, Happy Human Helper 

Daily Update: Think Tank and Tiredness

So, I just went down stairs to fill our water bottle and came back to find Benjy asleep in front of his computer with an open post draft. I too will be going to sleep very soon.

I thought it important to mention that we will be holding a think tank tomorrow about the story. It will be an interesting one. The think tank will be in session from 7:00 pm-8:30 pm -5 UTC (or CST).

We'll have more for you tomorrow!

☮❤️😀

—Chloe, Happy Human Helper&nbs...

Daily Update: Cascade

I love this.

Sorry to be a weird downer, even when everything is going to well, but list videos get to being a real grind after the first week or two of production. All that image-searching and fact-checking and what-have-you. It's pretty mechanical for the most part. So today, looking back at all that material as a source of creative fuel for a work of fiction was just... pure catharsis. Like lining up a mile-long domino track and then, finally, reflecting on all of the tedium and ju...

Vote: When are You Free?

Heyo!

Just trying to collect some information about you guys really quick. It should help us with event planning and coordination in the future!

Tick all of the following that present "free time" to you. You can select multiple options if you choose, and comments explaining your schedule are welcome. 

(also, click here for a UTC map to see what your time is like compared to us—we're UT...

Daily Update: Exultation

I'm coming off a high.

Once the video went up, today rapidly fell into the sort of indolence that can't even be justified as "saw-sharpening". I was just relieved, and happy, and reveling in the flood of enthusiasm over the new video. After such long production cycles, these days feed my soul. I've come to expect it, and although spending time away from work plays a cruel trick upon my stress, these release days seem to be an emotional safe zone. So I take them.

In terms of productivity,...

6 Creatures of Slavic Myth

It's here, and it's 22 minutes long! Because you guys asked for it, and we love you.

Honestly, as far as list videos go, I'm pretty happy with this. Thanks for being so patient with us while we worked to put out something we could be proud of. Hopefully it is everything you'd dreamed of~

Now, on to planning a thinktank session for the new short story...

—Benji

Daily Update: Kindle

It is 2:52 in the morning, and after a twelve-hour work day, I have but one worthy update for you:

The new video comes out in less than 48 hours.

Rejoice. Set the world to kindle, brave ones. A new dawn is coming.

—Benji

Daily Update: Colorful Plastic & Painted Bars

Sometimes I forget my own age. Very frequently, actually. I have a poor self-concept. I think, internally, I expect myself to be like... 45. When people ask me how old I am, I often have to stop and do math.

Stress'll age you. If not on the outside, on the inside. Having chronic anxiety disorder also doesn't help much, but that's neither here nor there.

If you're lucky, however, and if you're willing, you'll get to experience these rare, precious moment that help you find center. You'll ...

Daily Update: Rapidly

Quick! I have 16 minutes to write this before my computer bites the dust! Plugging it in is a ridiculous notion and you should be ashamed for thinking to suggest it!

IN SUMMARY, TODAY I:
• Ordered a fancy wax seal with the new TF logo on it for our lifetime reward letters
• Prepared the Patreon/Audible promos for the end of the new video
• Prepared the new logo for use in the new video
• Prepped the new logo's intro animation
• Wrote a daily update

Expect a sneak...

Daily Update: Does Me Good

If yesterday was contentedness, today was loveliness.

That’s a roundabout way of saying I had a nice, relaxing Sunday with Chloe. We spent some time working, of course. I took the necessary steps to get Talebot’s next mysterious correspondence ready for the forthcoming video, and Chloe finished spacing and de-breathing a chunk of script.

Apart from that, though? We visited my brother’s new home for the first time since he got it well over a year ago, spent some t...

Daily Update: PEeASe

Today felt productive to me, but in a strange way. It was productive like those days you spend going to the bank and the laundromat and the adult-products-you-need-in-order-to-live-store. Not necessarily the fulfilling kind of productive, but enough to feel good about yourself by the time you're turning in for the evening.

I'm content. Things are going well. We're on our way to releasing a new video later this week, I've got some potential fan art on the way from one of our lovely pat...

Rewards Update: $10 Reward Changes

Well, this is unwelcome. At least there's a silver lining?

What's Happening

As fate would have it, there's a character limit on Youtube's description boxes, which we failed to account for when we first came up with all our tier rewards for Patreon. With only 5,000 characters at our disposal, there's no way we'll be able to continue adding patron names to our video descriptions. 

We considered replacing this with a...

Daily Update: Etc., etc.

Right now Chloe and I are sat here at the kitchen table, her questioning me whether I am, in fact, a "bop", and me telling her that I haven't had a blood test done yet to determine the truth of it.

In English: tonight is a fine night.

Not much to report on the front that matters, though. We're mostly waiting on Chloe to finish up the audio, which is actually well on its way—Chloe finished all the slicing and dicing today, now she just has to de-breath and space everything! Then I can c...

Vote: Thumbnail Art

Usually this is the last part of the process before we upload the video, but Chloe still has some audio to finish slicing and dicing and after that I'll have lots of syncing to do. For now, though, I'm doing everything I can, including the art for this video's thumbnail.

There are a lot of options this time around, but I'm curious:

Which of these do you think would appeal to you the most in a video thumbnail?

This isn't going to be the final verdict about...

Daily Update: Zzz...Zzz...

Hello you wonderful people!

You haven't heard from me in quite a while. I would catch up with you all but that's not really what these posts are about, is it? Benjy was going to write this but then he passed out in the car after our date so I thought I would takeover for tonight.

Today we woke up at 5:00am because I had a shift at my second job that started very early. While I was at work Benjy found all the music to use in the video, and when I heard it after my shift I agreed that he c...

Daily Update: Although My Knees Hurt

Before I detail the expected, inching progress toward the new list video and the repeated motions of my everyday life, I’d like to compose for you an interlude:

Today I ran.

At 12:00pm, I wrapped my feet in the expensive white tennis shoes that had once been meant for lab classes and tiled hospital floors, and I jogged one lap around the block. I let my hair flop around on top of my head and fall down into my eyes, I let the sweat drip down my face, I fell into a hea...