James_D_Fawkes

Promise 7.9

This kinda ballooned out of control. It came fairly close to reaching 7k and getting split into two separate chapters, but in the end, it fell short by about 800 words.

So...There's really not much I can say here that won't spoil way too much of this chapter. Still all-Herk, all the time, this chapter, but it won't stay that way next chapter.

In terms of where we are in the fight... Next chapter should be the end. The chapter after that will be the falling action, the wind-down fr...

Lucky Numbers

I've been thinking recently about the problem of Lucky Numbers, that is $3 and $7 Patrons, because for a while, I was just taking the "???" and randomly giving you guys access to higher tier stuff, where "randomly" means, "Whenever it occurred to me and I thought it fair."

But that doesn't seem fair to those guys, so the idea came recently to standardize those ??? rewards a little more by giving them access to certain Chapters-in-Progress links. Not all, to be clear, but rather...

Promise 7.8

Took a little longer than I wanted, but once I got past a stumbling block or two, it actually flowed together quite nicely.

Since it seems like, by and large, you guys prefer the PDF files to any of the other methods, for now, we'll be sticking with PDF files. 

On the chapter itself... Basically, it's pure action, of the same vein as the first arc's Lung fight. I'm wondering exactly how many of you will notice how pronounced Herk's influence is on Taylor's narration and thoug...

How do you want story posts, from now on?

I've been thinking about it a little, and I could do it either way, so I thought I'd ask you guys what you'd prefer.

CiP: Promise 7.9

The moment I've been waiting for is here.

Well, not quite yet. That most important part is going to be left out until I've gotten 7.8 finished and move on to writing the rest of 7.9.

Anyway. This is why you have to keep your temper under control when you're using a hero famous for his berserker episodes.

Lucky 3s and lucky 7s! You guys get ...

CiP: Promise 7.8

The fight begins in earnest here.

Wow, Herk is a badass.

Promise 7.7

This one, well, I, um... Ahahaha...got a bit distracted? I had an idea for if and when we get to the inevitable SH9 conflict, and I wound up writing about 2500 words for a Bonesaw interlude...that won't be featured for at least another arc or two.

Ahem. Anyway. This chapter felt a little...lackluster, because every time I wanted to try and write something cool about Leviathan bashing that barrier, I had to remind myself that he's, like, a mile or two from shore, so no one should have a ...

CiP: Promise 7.7

Link. 

The fight begins.

Not sure, yet, where this one will end, exactly. Definitely before the climax.

We're getting really close to one of my favorite parts of the story, a scene I've been waiting a long time to get to do.

Lucky number 7! $7 Patrons get a chance to see what they normally miss. Hm, I've been wondering how to mak...

Promise 7.6

I expected this one to get done quickly, but there were  few parts I stumbled a little over, so it took longer than I wanted.

In any case, the lead up to Leviathan, this chapter. Some bonding with Vista. And Legend gives a speech.

Let me know how I did with Legend's speech? 

This is the raw form, again. Last chapter didn't get changed, because the editors gave it the okay as-is. I'll update this post if or when this chapter gets some revision, tonight.

CiP: Promise 7.6 & (sidestory) Path of Feats

The next chapter, Promise 7.6, and the sidestory of Taylor training with the Wards, Path of Feats. Gonna try and write these two simultaneously.

Promise 7.5

Later than I wanted by several days, but both Battery's voice and the date with Dennis gave me a bit of trouble. Thankfully, not as much trouble as arc 6 did, but they both delayed this chapter from the deadline I was trying to reach. I'm sorry about that.

This also hasn't gone through the final check with my editing team, since they're all in bed, so this is the raw version. It'll be updated with the refined version once that's been handled. 

As for the chapter itself, it's....

Interlude 7.a: Falling Star

Guess who!

Well, okay, I don't think it's that hard to figure out who this interlude features, even just going on the title.

There's still fallout from the Empire collapsing in on itself after Kaiser's death. This is part of that, because he died before he could do certain things that would have led the Empire in certain directions, had he had his canon demise.

Incidentally, yes, that's an OC. Mrs. Watson probably won't feature again, and it's likely we won't hear from our d...

Promise 7.4

A little later than I wanted, but I stumbled a little over Amy's section.

Then, I wrote 2300 words over the last three hours. Because that's how it happens, sometimes.

Anyway. We deal a little with the Khepri conflict some more, but not too deeply. We also have a few moments of Dennis sticking his foot in his mouth. You really like the taste of your shoe, huh, Dennis?

CiP: Promise 7.5

The beginning of this one won't make much sense until either the rest of the chapter or the rest of 7.4 is written.

This one is really kind of slice of life, but I wanted to give Taylor a little bit of relaxation time before the fight with Levi, so this is it.

Link. 

Promise 7.3

This one broke 6k, everyone, if only barely.

So this is more setup stuff, this time for the upcoming Leviathan battle. Because if Taylor was an independent, I could just show her preparing. Since she's a Ward, she actually has to, you know, tell people about how she's preparing and argue with why her plan is the one they should use.

Hence, this chapter. 

There's not too much for me to talk about without getting into the nitty-gritty details of...

Promise 7.2

Was originally going to be a chapter with two parts, then it got too big and the parts felt too disparate, so I split it in half. This is the first half that, the section with the Wards discussion and Gallant being a Good Guy. 

There isn't too much that happens here. Just the natural progression of events as they are. The impact of the different characters' perspectives...may not be felt for several more chapters.

CiP: Promise 7.3

So... Yeah. I'm quickly butting up against that 3k threshold I mentioned for the first half of 7.2, so I decided to split it. Those 400 words between here and there are going to disappear with lightning speed at this rate, so there was no point in putting it off, anymore.

Link. 

There's already 2700 words to this one, and it's somewhere betw...

Update

Things got a little...hectic, around the wedding. The ceremony was nice and everything, and I'm happy I went. I almost teared up a couple of times, too.

(I also got a kick out of the violinist playing "Sound of the Shire" from Lord of the Rings as my cousin walked down the aisle.)

There were also a few family dinners I went to, because it seems like everyone in the family wants to have my sister (and therefore me and my parents, too) over while she's still in town.

...

CiP: Interlude 7.a & Promise 7.4

A double-header, to make up for my absence.

You guys who have stuck around for a while might recognize this one. I finally found a place to put it, and this is where it really made the most sense.

That's right, it's the old Purity interlude, only it's getting repurposed and her character arc is going to be changing up a little from what was origi...

CiP: An Alternate Essence: Cornerstone

Or "What might have happened if Essence Taylor had never had her hangups about Khepri."

I sort of had an idea for where this would go, but never got around to taking it anywhere. I might come back and do it some justice at some point, but have it for now.

Link. 

Promise 7.1

So, I sat down to get to finishing ITQM I, and instead, I wound up writing about 2300 words (and finishing) Promise 7.1. 

I have no idea how that happened.

Anyway. Since it's done, I saw no reason not to give it to you. ITQM is more of a sidestory than a proper chapter, to begin with. I'll finish it over the next couple of days and give it to you then.

On the chapter itself, I confess, I was actually a bit iffy about the ending, here. It felt a little too neat,...

Heroic Spirit Khepri - Max Ascend

Now with background!

So, I took about an hour yesterday after finishing Pendulum and added a background to this pic. It's not quite how I imagined it coming out, and there's a couple of things I wanted to add in that didn't make it in because I didn't want to experiment all night until I got it right, but I'm mostly happy with how the background turned out.

Pendulum 0.0

Trigger warnings for this chapter. Like, all of them.

No, really, there's even brief moments of what you could call suicidal ideation. It's that dark.

It's Taylor's Trigger Event, so that only makes sense, though.

So, particularly if there's a fear of bugs or problems with depression... This is the warning for that.

Also, for those who forgot and never figured out what the clock at the top of the Pendulum chapters was counting from/towards? This shoul...

Update 5/19/19

I think Pendulum 0.0 is about done. It needs to go through the editing team, first, and there's a segment I want to run by them to try and fit into it, but it's "complete," even if it's not "finished." If that makes sense.

So you guys should be getting it later today, tomorrow at the latest. Then, I'll move on to ITQM1 and Promise 7.1.

Wedding Bells

No, not mine.

The weekend of June 9th, and the week leading up to it, are going to be a bit busy for me, so nothing is scheduled for that week. The reason why, as the post title suggests, is because my cousin is getting married. All of the focus is going to be there.

For once, I get to be ahead of this announcement, rather than having to explain everything after the fact, so I'm letting you guys know about it now, so you don't think I've disappeared off the map or somethi...

Current AEoSaS CiP Links

A refresher for those who don't want to go digging through the posts, since some of these have been sitting around, waiting, for quite a while as I slogged through arc 6.

Pendulum 0.0
In the Quiet Moments I
2019-05-17 12:22:12 +0000 UTC View Post

Interlude 6.c: Fire For Effect

This...was a pain in the ass. Like the rest of arc 6, it tried very hard not to get written and I had a difficult time getting the characters to work with me. Fortunately, it didn't take half a year or something equally ridiculous.

My editing team and I debated hard about the direction this chapter was going to go and what made sense. I hope the result doesn't disappoint you guys.

In the end, Miss Militia didn't get to say nearly as much this chapter as it being her interlude migh...

Update

Fitting, that the final chapter of the toughest, longest-running arc (and just generally the longest, too, I think) would also take much longer than I'd like to finish.

And then I got another commission about a week ago and I was doing some work on that...

The good news is... I'm going to try my damnedest to finish three chapters for you guys, this week. Well, two chapters and a sidestory for Essence. I'll release each as and when I finish them. In order, of course.

The bad ...

In Memoriam

Grandpa's memorial service - his "wake," I think is the term; dunno, never been to one before yesterday - was yesterday, and it was long and exhausting. Today, I'll probably just relax and decompress after everything, but I think tomorrow, I'll be getting back to work, as long as nothing else happens in the next 24 hours.

As a head's up, though, on June 9th, my cousin is getting married, so that week is going to be too busy for me to get much of anything done. That's still abou...

In Passing

So. No beating around the bush about this.

My grandfather just passed away. 

It's... I talked about it on the Discord server, but the long and short of it is, this was expected.  I got told on Saturday that he'd declined pretty rapidly over the course of the week, to the point where he couldn't even keep water down. It was...inevitable.

When I saw him on Sunday for the last time, he was...basically skin and bones. He couldn't string a coherent sentence tog...