arilin

The next story…

So, those of you who’ve been following me on Twitter know I’m working on…something.

If you’ve read Goddess, “The Perfect Secretary,” or “The Sea Monster of Dorgissey Harbour,” you’ve been introduced to an alternate-earth setting of mine: it’s furry, it’s the mid-1930s (although the Great Depression doesn’t seem to have happened and the world may not be on a path to a second world war), and a few people are size-shifters. Part-time giants we’ve met in v...

Scheduling note (redux)

The next Moira episode will go up on November 10th, next Wednesday, not tomorrow. Episode #29 came out two weeks ago and "Coyote Sky" last week, so while this means three weeks between episodes instead of the usual two, it brings me back to the "every other week" schedule. (This may also give me a chance to get a little ahead, since we're heading into the holidays, when things can get a little frantic.)

Coyote Sky

In my extremely informal tradition of Halloween stories, I have a new one! This one's less creepy than last year's, and may be more unabashedly button-pressing, at least for certain buttons. (This is a standalone story, not connected to "Moira" or other serials.)

• • •

The warehouse is huge, bigger than a football field, probably bigger than two or three, high, and loud. Rain hammers the metal walls and ceiling, dripping in through small leaks: a high-grade tropical...

Scheduling note

I will probably have a slightly silly and smashy Halloween vignette ready this week, which I will post as "bonus content" for all patrons—even just at the $1 level—before it goes up on FA if I get it done. (By "slightly silly" I mean the idea is mostly an excuse for smashy stuff.) It's possible, although not guaranteed, this will push the next Moira episode off by a week.

The Rha status report

So, what’s been going on since we last spoke over a month ago?

As predicted, I didn’t get a lot of writing done since the last post. I’ve started the next Moira episode, but it’s been unusually slow going, I think because it’s structurally a “pivot point” in the overall series arc. I’m trying to build up some steam again.

However, I took the time to do a full editing pass (finally) on Saida & Autumn, and hope to get that out as at least an ebo...

Winter updates

So: the chances are I'm not going to be able to get a whole lot of writing done from mid-December through mid-January. I'm going to have family obligations, the stress of traveling during a pandemic, and an extremely variable amount of necessary solitude.

If possible I’m going to use the time to catch up on overdue Patreon obligations and do some more story plotting as far as Moira episodes go, and I will see if I can post bits and bobs here so the Patreon doesn’t lie dorma...

Quick update…

I'm slow, as usual for this rather cursed year, but have another episode of Moira almost finished. I'm going to turn off the next billing cycle; I don't know if I'm going to get another episode out in December, although I certainly hope I will. (Unless plans change, I am going to be traveling cross-country in mid-December and back in mid-January, a prospect which makes me nervous—see "rather cursed year," above—but isn't avoidable.)

I am hoping that I'll be able to get back on a fas...

Wildflowers

This is a horror story for Halloween! It may have some disturbing images, depending on what disturbs you, and note that while it's not overly explicit, it's certainly sexual.

“Man, this would be an incredible place to hold the wedding, wouldn’t it?” Jeremy had stopped behind the rest of the hiking group, hands on his hips, looking down like a prince surveying his kingdom.

Susan nodded once, not agreement or disagreement, just acknowledgement. They�...

Moira #10: Peaches and Cream

“Here’s another one.” Diana looks up from her computer worriedly. “And I think it’s talking about my place.”

All four of the goddesses are in “her place,” Diana’s house, at the moment. Nothing requires them all to stay together, but they seem to have come to an unspoken agreement that at least for the moment it’s a good idea.

It’s debatable whether Diana’s place is more or less off the radar than Hazel’s; there’s no giant mural of a giant pika goddess a...

Moira #9: Low Profile

Moira hadn’t expected the farmers' market to be this crowded, and it isn’t. There’s something else happening.

This isn’t the park Rhiannon had her misadventures in a few days ago. It’s in a neighboring city, and the park’s a huge field between the waterfront and a big, palatial museum that’s what passes for old in this country. The farmers' market brought Rhiannon out here; wanting to keep an eye on Rhiannon brought Moira out here. Diana’s off with Hazel… somewhere, ho...

Moira #8: Training

“All right.” Rhiannon raises her arms over her head. “Let’s practice.”

They’re standing near the top of a hill—if a rise of just a hundred feet earns the name—at the center of a municipal park. It’s a crowded day, but nobody’s any closer than the hill’s base. Moira remembers hearing somewhere that it’s one of the bigger such parks in the country, bigger than more well-known ones, but its chief virtue is being a few blocks from Hazel’s place.

“There’s ...

Moira and the Mind Map

 If you follow me on Mastodon or Twitter, you may have seen me talk about “mind mapping” rather than outlining for the Moira serial. What the hell is that? Glad you asked!

No plot, no problem

You may remember I started the Moira stories under the whimsical name “Grumpy Bunny”; I didn’t have a plot in mind. Honestl...

Moira #7: Natural Order

“This is a much nicer area than it was a few years ago.” Diana waves her hoofed fingers around. “All the paint is fresh, the buildings are clean, the sidewalks are spotless.”

“And about half the stores look like they put in new ramps recently.”

“Maybe Hazel’s been improving her neighborhood.”

Moira points across the street. “Well, whatever the hell she’s doing, it’s getting noticed.”

Diana follows the hare’s gesture. The building that had st...

Moira #6: Potluck

Moira’s kept herself entertained for centuries blending in with mortals. Mostly blending in. She’s been the inspiration for a few tall tales over that time, a few new legends, a fair number of conspiracy theories, and so many love poems and war poems and drinking songs and bar fights. That’s been fun! Screw Max and his “you’re bitter and desperately bored” accusation. He was bitter. Although he’d gone pretty well with the IPA.

Yet she can’t help but sus...

New episode coming!

I am behind expected schedule (hello, 2020, you are still quite a year) but should have a new episode of Moira's story up by next weekend. I'm hoping to get on a more consistent schedule again by the end of July.

In other news, I'm getting ready to serialize the Red Savina screenplay's final form on Fur Affinity, and those of you at higher-level pledges will get complete PDFs in true screenplay format as well as a later version down the road with somewhat more "reader-friendly"...

Moira #5: Interview

When Moira steps into the restaurant, the disdain from the maître d’ as he looks her over is palpable. “May I help you?”

She doesn’t think she looks that bad. Yes, she’s in jeans, but they’re jet black and unfaded. She’s got nice sandals on her paws. She’s in a blouse for once. The jacket is leather, but fashionable. “I’m here to meet someone.”

The stoat arches a brow, and his whiskers twitch. Eventually he offers a stiff smile. “Please t...

Moira #4: Checkpoint

There’s a line of people ahead of her, and there shouldn’t be. Some idiots have set up portable fences around the three blocks or so that make up the city’s burgeoning waterfront hotspot. They’re only letting people in on foot, through two side-by-side gates. A police cruiser’s parked near the gates and another one’s just ahead, both with lights flashing but sirens off.

“Hey,” she says to the first person at the back of the line who looks her way, a lanky, shaggy-haired ...

Updates!

First: I’ve removed the “Grumpy Bunny” name from the Moira vignette series. While the name’s funny and not inaccurate, it’s maybe a little too comical for what seems like it’s becoming a real ongoing story project. Right now the tags are just “Moira”; maybe there will be a better name down the road, maybe not. (While I’m open to suggestions, I am not a cat who’s particularly enamored with puns and broad jokes. A title I settle on might be funny, but it’s unlikel...

Moira #3: Parking Permit

Moira doesn’t have great luck with parking spaces. She’s expecting downtown parking to be its usual bitch and she’s heading for a garage a few blocks away in, so she almost drives right past an open spot. The curb right behind it is painted blue, marking a permit-only disabled parking space; she hadn’t noticed the blue paint ended a car-length before that SUV. Well, almost a car-length, because the SUV isn’t parked well, because they never are, but never mind.

The hare brakes ...

Updates, of sorts…

So my output has been a bit, ah, sporadic recently. While that started with me stepping back to rethink Kani’s story, the last few weeks of increasing panic over global pandemic has certainly not helped my concentration levels.

I began the shift to this sort of looser “post when you can” model rather than scheduled weekly postings saying it was an experiment, and it still is. I’m not sure it’s a successful experiment, but I’m willing to keep at it if you are. But I�...

Moira #2: 15 Items or Less

15 Items or Less

The rabbit woman examines the onion she’s just picked up from the produce display. Round, yellow, papery. Yes, it’s sure an onion. Should be the last thing she needs. She drops it in her basket and heads toward the checkout lines. A few guys give her appreciative stares—she’s pretty and curvy—or disconcerted ones—she’s over six feet tall and borders on buff.

Only one of the three “15 Items or Less” registers is open, and it’s s...

Stuck in the middle with awoo

So, I’m still stuck.

At this point, this is a sign that the scene I’m working on is, no matter how cute, wrong for the story in some respect. Maybe it just needs a little tweak, but there’s something I need to figure out that I haven’t.

When I wrote “Finding the Story,” I had this thought about the story’s theme:

The story’s central question seems like it’s...

2020-03-06 01:08:46 +0000 UTC View Post

Moira #1: Two Wolves

I’ve been continuing to wrestle with writer’s block—while the Kani story is “flowing” a bit more than it was, it’s still not nearly as easy writing as Saida and Autumn, for reasons which remain a little mystifying.

While I was working on S&A, I wrote a trashy vignette called “Size Doesn’t Matter,” which I described as,

It’s the (deliberate...

2020-02-24 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Kani's Story 3: Oh, She's Big

Kani had been gaping at the campus’s entrance archway for at least a half-mile. Once the coyote stood underneath it, it seemed, if anything, even more incredible.

It wasn’t a classical arch, straight sides with a semicircular curve at the top; the sides curved gradually inward, the base thicker at the bottom than the top. But the stone structure rose at least three hundred feet into the air, a huge metal sign reading MENSURA COLLEGE bolted across it about three-quarters of ...