#krythe

FMN: When magic awakens within the anthro population of T’zen, the mob-controlled senate’s first instinct is to discreetly acquire as many of the most skilled mages they can find; Their second is to capture the rest and exile them, usually by teleporting them to Thurlos.

Though the gift of magic is already exceptionally rare amongst anthros, most who discover it can only manipulate it in subtle ways.  Very, very few are capable of going beyond and achieving real conjuration.  Daru is one such exceptionally gifted mage, one who works with light for shielding and restoration.  Highly inquisitive, he has a knack for understanding how things work, and spends a lot of his free time watching the sky.

I’m not sure what I want to do with this guy yet.  I think he’s going to be a minor character, though at this stage I’m not even sure which planet he’s on!  The robe and vest (they’re shimmering scales) are clearly magical, so that means he has to have been to Thurlos at least once.

Krythe: Continuing to revise the entrance of Fio, the fourth character in the main party.  Fio is a farmer involved with one of the rebel factions as a recruiter.  Originally, I had him acting childish, which was intentional to go along with his idealistic views.  Reading it over, I don’t think I like that tone anymore.  I’m still trying to find his voice (and keep it similar enough that changing it doesn’t necessitate serious rewrites), but I’m finding it’s easy to make him sound sure of himself to a fault, and that’s generating some good wordplay.

Despite falling behind here, I’ve been making a lot of headway in Krythe.  Just... not as quickly as I imagined I would.  Goes to show, even if you can give yourself the time and space to do it, that’s not enough.  Sometimes the world sees things are a little too convenient, so you go and fracture your toe off the side of your bed hard enough to keep you hobbling not far from your bed for a month or so.

Between bouts of staring at a blank page, or trying in vain to fit two edited paragraphs together before throwing it out and just rewriting the darn thing to erase the seams, or throwing my hands up in the air and watching Voltron instead (it helps that it’s become a legitimate inspiration for what I’m writing), I’ve been doing a lot of research on quantum physics and metaphysics.  Stuff I want to incorporate into my works, trying to put these things in layman's terms so it’s a bit educational beneath the entertainment.

One other way I’m fighting procrastination is by trying to write something every day.  Sometimes it’s in a journal (which I’m actually very tempted to publish as-is, as it’s filling up with illustrations of theories on how reality works, as well as my very personal experiences with the supernatural which I am DYING TO TALK ABOUT!), other times it might wind up here as free prose, a prompt, a vignette, whatever I feel like.

As for Forget Me Not, things have cooled on that front.  I want to focus on Krythe right now, and while I’m sure I’d be down to throw out a character sketch every now and then... heh.  Truth is, I think right now I’d rather be working on this comic, but I know if I jump down that hole I’m probably not coming back to finish the novel for a long time - and by then, my writing style may change again, meaning even more edits.  It won’t be much longer until Krythe is ready to publish, and then I can dive into Forget Me Not full force.

Between all of that, I have to make a very big decision very soon: When do I go back to programming?  Full time or part time?  How do I find the right job to balance with my life goals?  Or, am I close enough that I can keep my head down and push this thing out?