MOTORHEART

Set in a world where machines are built with a form of sentience & sapience, Motorheart is a tale about trauma, community, and revenge. After killing the lover of a car named Joan in an illegal demolition derby, the misunderstood Brad goes off into the world, alone, for the first time in his life. During his journey he is attacked by his own conscience and is forced to reflect on the gruesome actions he was forced into in the past while the vengeful Joan is hot on his trail.

WEBSITE (lore & characters): TBA.

Hi! Long time no see. Things have been a bit hectic for me and I’ve been circulating through a lot of different creative writing projects. To be honest I’ve been having trouble sticking to one thing for more than a month or two at a time, and that’s been extremely frustrating. I really want to be able to work on Motorheart, especially this storyline, long enough to make progress… it’s not a world I plan to abandon by any means. I’ve been developing this story for years now. My interest may ebb and flow, but I still love it dearly and would like to get Brad’s story completed at some point soon.

Long story short, Motorheart is still absolutely a thing, I’ve just been preoccupied with other tasks/concepts and life is making it hard to focus. And with that being said, here’s some things I want to get done/am changing:

1. I will be removing the written preview chapters from this blog. I appreciate everyone who read them so so much. The reason they’re being archived is because I’m toying with ideas for a different format. Motorheart has had several drafts over the years and I’m still developing the latest, so even if I were to stick with full prose I feel as if I wouldn’t be comfortable presenting it in its current state.

Besides… I just don’t like my writing and I’d like to put more care into editing for future drafts. If you’re interested in being an editor (or test reader) feel free to reach out! (Unfortunately I can’t offer a lot in return other than my thanks, I do not have the money to directly hire people.)

What the new format will actually look like is very much in the air. I’m leaning towards a First Person POV (both Brad and Joan) with some illustrations and plot/thematically-relevant tidbits here and there. More than anything I want to have fun writing it. I want to get it completed in a way that’s actually manageable. So when I have a clearer idea I will update everyone.

2. Since Motorheart is moreso the world’s name now rather than the singular story it started out as, I’ve decided to give a title to Brad’s plotline: Runaway Champion. This has the potential to change in the future but I’m just happy to have something there during development.

I have also considered making more separate stories within the universe simply because it’s fun and I don’t want the two current works to be the end-all. More on that will come along eventually; as I’m writing this, I have character concepts but no plots.

3. Im going to try releasing new material only when I have a solid, updated (and edited) draft thats at least 80% done. I will still answer asks, share art, maybe share previews. I’d really like to make character profiles as well. But the actual story of Runaway Champion may not be here for a while.

I wish I could give an estimate on a release date, I really do, and it’s just not possible for me right now. I’m hoping to recenter my creative focus and get some decent work done for Motorheart this year. All in all, we’ll wait and see and I will update where I can.

Sorry I didn’t see this until now!! Such an awesome ask.

Vehicle/vehicle relationships are normal and expected. Most vehicles interact more with humans on the daily but they will most likely find a stronger connection with other motorhearted beings. There’s definitely a connection to be made with others built like you and to everyone it just “makes more sense”. Humans don’t necessarily frown upon friendship with vehicles (ignoring them is seen as rude) but depending on one’s exposure to Advanced Vehicle Automatons they might think you’re a bit weird.

A lot of people who don’t like AVAs are forced to acknowledge their sentience, as they do have rights, but not everyone is entirely convinced into seeing them as more than machines if that makes sense. It’s kind of like how characters like Data and HAL are treated. They don’t see AVA emotions or thoughts as genuine.

And there’s also a sizable group of humans who communicate with AVAs out of fear that they will take over, which is not helped by active propaganda from certain political groups across the world. It’s not an entirely paranoid train of thought (although terribly exaggerated from any meaningful concerns), as machines are powerful and there have been uprisings before, though majority just want to be treated with mutual respect and not be abused for… being a talking car.

Humans and AVAs, on average, are co-workers. They share mutual benefits by respecting one another and many advancements (good and bad) wouldn’t be made without their collaboration. Humans are expected to have their own lives outside of AVAs, AVAs are expected to have their own lives outside of humans. (Key word here: expected.)

Vehicle/vehicle relationships can be anything; platonic, familial, romantic, sexual, etc. and it’s not really seen as shocking if you are fine with AVAs. Human/vehicle in the familial sense is pretty normal too— a lot of people who get AVAs consider them a part of the family, which is something that will be brought up in future chapters. But human/vehicle romance of any kind is… unfortunately taboo. It isn’t wrong by any means but like real life objectumness a lot of humans are disgusted or confused by it. Some don’t even consider it to be possible. I could definitely see unjust laws being made against it.

However, Hurdy’s attempts to give rights to vehicles definitely didn’t go unsung. His ideals have a big human following! He was very approving of relationships between vehicle and human, and he often argued that pushing it into the norm would lead to more people being generally accepting too. I imagine there are organizations to protect and secure these relationships with his words in mind.