Fakeminsk TG Fiction: Constant in All Other Things

Sneak Peek: A Christmas Story

The little Christmas story I started back in December's coming along nicely, though turning out a little longer than expected. (I should have expected that, really.) Though part of Constant, it occurs to me I could easily extract it from that story and make it a stand-alone short story, one about a boss and his cross-dressing secretary. That could be fun, though it'd have a very different feel to it, I think.

In any case, here's a 500-word sneak peek at the story in progress. Warning: i...

Writing Update: 17/01/24

Change: +6,717

Year to date: 7,758

I've set myself a daily writing target of 1000/day, or 5k for the week. Honestly, I don't know if it's a realistic target but less than that just feels too slow, like I'm barely making any progress.

Working on something new-ish has helped with the momentum. It's disappointing that due to illness I wasn't able to get this out at a seasonally-appropriate time, but I'm enjoying writing this Christmas side-story. I say 'side-story' but in the ...

A Christmas Story (1/3)

Hello, everyone. Here's the first third of the not-very-timely seasonal side-story I was working on in the leadup to Christmas. I see the story as cannonical--it happens within the story--but probably won't make it into the novel itself. It's a fun little aside, though it's accumulated a little more depth than expected in the writing. It takes place around chapter 7 and I anticipate it'll end up being just under 10k in length. The next third should be available next week. Enjoy!

A Chr...

2025-01-15 10:33:10 +0000 UTC View Post

Writing Update: 10/01/25

Week to date: 1,041

Year to date: 1,041

Here we go again! There's something both distressing and liberating about resetting that number to zero. 214,002 was a big number, and I felt pretty good reaching it. But I wonder what the next quarter-million words will bring?

To be honest, I would've rathered start the year with a bang than a whimper, but despite work- and illness-related difficulties, I finally dragged myself back to the keyboard on Wednesday and managed my five-...

Writing Update: 06/01/25

Happy new year, everybody!

Apologies for the delay in sending this out. The holiday period was always going to be disruptive, but I hadn't anticipated just how disruptive it'd be. On the one hand, it was a wonderful week or two of catching up with family. There was a -lot- of family time. A fair bit of turkey and mince pies, too. All good.

Balancing it out, I'm pretty sure I caught Covid off of work colleagues just as the holiday started. There were quite a few Covid-related staff...

Constant 3, Chapter 6-4: Darius' Girl

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Here's Chapter 6-4, for Constant members and above. I don't consider this scene quite ready yet, there' s a few more tweaks I want to make to it, including fleshing out that shared backstory a bit, and reworking the idle philosophising. Nevertheless, enjoy!

And again, happy holidays.

Four: Darius’ Girl

“Hey, just so we’re clear. I won that fight, yeah?”

      &nb...

Sneak Peek: A Christmas Story

I had hopes of finishing this by Christmas. Not sure if I will or not, but here's a sneak peek at something rough and very much in progress....

***

Six: A Christmas Story

The portly ground-floor security guard greets me with a smile.

            “Hey, Cindy. Didn’t think I’d see you back here tonight.” His eyes linger somewhere well below eye-level before drifting up to my face.  

 &nbs...

Writing Update: 20/12/24

Change: +3,035

Year to Date: 212, 794

The lead-up to Christmas is always a bit of a tough one, and work dropped a metric crapload of stuff to do on my desk, and that's kind of interfered with the writing through December. This week, I had one great day of writing, and a bunch of middling ones, and overall it's a bit disappointing as I wanted to get loads more done before the end of the year. Reaching a quarter-million words written for the year would've been awesome, but I don't t...

Sneak Peek: 6-5 - Meeting Darius

A voice rang out:

“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea.”

The voice was both familiar and surpassingly odd: that of a man I once knew, yet somehow doubled and very slightly out of sync, with a harsh, digital undertone. As the man’s voice finished, “sunless sea” there echoed, beneath, the second voice: “see?”

   &n...

Writing Update: 13/12/20

Start of week: 18, 760

End of week: 19, 687 (+965 moved to chapter 7)

Change: +1,246

Year to date: +209, 759

One of those misleading weeks were a little cleanup creates an impression of not much progress. I wrote just under four thousand words for the week, but then did a little tidy of chapter 6 and that cut a nearly two thousand from the word count. As I write, fragments gather: notes to self cluster at the bottom of the word document, and snippets of prose or dial...

Short Story Poll #1

Hello, Patrons. As mentioned in a previous weekly update, my plan in December was to begin writing shorter works of fiction, specifically for the higher tier. Polishing off chapter 6 of Constant has taken a little longer than anticipated due to real-world interruptions, but I'm finally in a position to start writing other works. Hopefully, this'll add some extra value to the top tier, and the stories written for you will remain exclusive for several months before general release...

Constant 3, Chapter 6-3: Empyrean

Enjoy! Feedback and comments always appreciated.

Three: Empyrean           

Through the seething crowd, anonymously threading the frenzied press of bodies, frantic limbs and sprayed sweat, roar of guitars, flayed drums and howled lyrics. Past the crowded bars, spilled beer, and the trio of guys slamming jellied shots off the belly of a serving girl laying supine across a counter. Circling downwards into deeper...

Sneak Peek: Dressing for Darius

He's almost reached his contact, a man called Darius, but won't be allowed through until dressed 'properly'. An old friend, Dimitrios, might be able to help him, in this sneak peek from chapter 6-4. As always, sneak peeks are still at a draft stage and liable to changes and rewrites.

***

            “You should hurry,” Dimitrios said.

            “Yea...

Writing Update: 06/12/24

Start of week: 15,345

End of week: 18,760

Change: +3,415

Year to date: 207,867

A frustrating week, though entirely predictable. Work's always unpleasant through December in the leadup to Christmas. The surge in workload's gotten in the way of writing. In my head, the way forward through the chapter's very clear, but finding the time this week's been elusive.

Although a side benefit of that has been a little extra clarity as to what I want to do with the chapter. ...

Fanart by Fraylim: Pink and Pale Blue

I think the inspiration for this one may have been the lingerie Julia finds Cindy wearing on the night Tom comes back to hers. It is the culmination of her revenge, but part of her wants to send the men away and keep Cindy for herself. With artwork like this, I think we can see why:

From Constant 3, Chapter 5-4 and 5-5:

            The instruction she sent earlier that day to join them had been clear and specific. Where...

Constant 3, Chapter 6-2: Cindy 2.0

After the emotional wrangling and character-torture of chapter 5, it's been fun--and a little stressful!--returning to some faster-moving plotting. "Faster moving" is very relative; I still get distracted by occasional asides and moments of introspection, but hopefully it doesn't detract from the pacing too much.

As always, enjoy! And feel free to comment or leave feedback, it's always appreciated!

Two: Cindy 2.0

Okay, so this is how it all went down.

  &nb...

Writing Update: 29/11/24

Start of week: 10,245

End of week: 15,345

Change: +5,100

Year to date: 204,452

Solid progress on Chapter Six this week. It's a real change of pace from all the emotional wrangling and punishment of the previous chapter. I wrote my first fight scene in ages, and that was a hell of a lot of fun. Of course, the usual worries nip at my heels - could I have condensed the last ten thousand words to a simple ...

Ramble: On Ranma 1/2

I suspect the Venn diagram of those who like stories like Constant (and maybe TG fiction in general?) overlaps with those who enjoy anime and manga. It’s not a perfect match, obviously. But as anime has moved into the mainstream over the past few decades, I wonder whether it’s introduced many young, impressionable minds to a range of themes not as openly explored in western media.

My earliest memories of anime predated knowing these cartoons were foreign: things like <...

Chapter 6-1: Persephone in the Underworld

Okay, so this first scene in chapter 6 is a bit of an odd one, and whether it stays, gets moved around, or is ultimately cut remains unclear. I don't think I'll know until I've finished the whole chapter. Chapter 6 currently sits at 13k words and I reckon is about half done.

Enjoy! The usual caveats: this remains a work in progress . And of course, feel free to comment or leave feedback; it's always appreciated.

***

One: Persephone in the Underworld

She found me in a...

Sneak Peek: Empyrean

From Chapter 6. The next step for David taking matters into his own hands involves meeting an old friend, requiring a visit to The Pit, a heavy-metal club on the outskirts of town, then through a door into Empyrean, an exclusive members-only club beneath it offering kinky pleasures for the wealthy.

***

[...]

And—fine, I guess; not my thing but live and let live, and if some girl wants me to tie a collar around her neck and lead her by a leash, then hey, w...

Achievement Unlocked: 200k

Woop. Hit the next milestone today: 200k words, baby!

Found a little time to write today. It was a friend's birthday. Got to town a little early, settled in somewhere quiet for an hour beforehand, and edited a bit, and dashed out another 700 words and then suddenly -boom, achievement achieved.

If you'd asked me to set a target at the start of 2024, it would've fallen far short of today's milestone. Maybe I would've gone for 100k. After all, my final word count for 2023 was only ...

Writing Update: 22/11/24

Start of week: 8,215

End of week: 10,245

Change: +1,118

Year to Date: 199,352

This week was mostly about editing chapter five for posting to the the Patreon. Coming in at a final word count of 33,279 words, it took a little longer than expected. During editing, I added nearly a thousand words, most of it in 5-1 where I expanded an introspective moment adding a little ambiguity to the protagonist's previous identity. Is it possible that at least a little of Cindy is dra...

Fanart by Fraylim: Tradwife

Another fantastic image by Fraylim, this time referencing recently published chapter 5-4, the night out at Circe. I love the little cat-earrings and the detail of the cat tag on the purse. No wonder Tom was immediately smitten!

I'm curious, though: how closely does Fraylim's artwork cleave to your own mental image of these scenes?

Here's the relevent text from the story below:

Chapter 5-4: Circe 

[...]

     ...

Constant in All Other Things 3: Chapter 5

For the archives: Constant in All Things 3, Cha

Sneak Peek: The Pit

            Finally, the bus reached my destination. The bus stop itself was in complete darkness. Pools of light flickered from between boarded up building. There was an agricultural factory here, and a few nearby workshops to justify the stop, but at this time of night the way was dark and silent. When I went to disembark, the bus driver kept the door shut.

           &nb...

Writing Update: 15/11/24

Start of week: 33,824 / 5,700

End of week: 34,018 / 8,287

Change: +2,784

Year to date: 198,133

Word count shows the final count for chapter 5 (pre-final edit) and the start of chapter 6 (currently underway). And it looks like next week will be the one where we hit 200k. As glacial as my pace often feels, that still feels like a pretty solid milestone to me.

On another note--brace yourself--minor ramble incoming:

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an ...

Chapter 5-5: The Death of David Saunders

There's always some hesitation around posting n

Weekly Update: 08/11/24

Change: +11,474

Year to Date: 195,349

After the wonderful freedom of a weekend escape, it's somewhat frustrating to once again write against a backdrop of work and other responsibilities. Nevertheless, progress continues if not quite as quickly as I'd like.

I find myself a little conflicted as to how I should proceed with Constant. The story is plotted through to the end, for the most part, though surprises pop up now and then as I ...

Fanart by Fraylim: Teenage Cindy

This one brings us way back, all the way to those early chapters of Book 1 with David on the run in disguise with Agent Katherine Smith acting as her chaperone and "auntie". Obviously, some of those earliest chapters (written about sixteen years ago!) stretch credibility somewhat. David, a man in his late thirties, passing as an eighteen year old? Unlikely, though I always made sure to set encounters in dimly lit locales to help preserve the illusion.

In the scene below, this isn't 2024-11-07 01:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post

Sneak Peek: 5-6 (Cindy 2.0)

Whether this latest scene will be 5-6, or the start of chapter 6, remains undecided. Either way, it gets us back into the protagonist's 1st person point of view. Without giving too much away, 5-6 fills in what was really going on during those three months covered by the funeral arc. There's the story told to Julia and the humiliations suffered at her hands; and everything David was up to in the background, which may go some way to explaining some of his behaviour along the way....