#ootf

Hello starlings! Oh my gosh, it's been a minute! I had a great pride month and I hope you all did too. So sorry for missing last month with my updates--time really flew by me then, and kind of did now--but I have PLENTY to show for it. Such as a hopefully drastic jump in word counts! I haven't counted the words yet. I also haven't typed everything out yet. Surprise for all of us!

Order of the Fourpoint

I wrote a TON!!! To cover a few base bullet points, here are some scenes I've covered by their title in my Notion:

◦ Meeting... (Well, that character's name is a secret, actually.) ◦ The (Second) Peragliph Incident: I ◦ The marrow furnace ◦ ummmmm Baking Interruption

And more! I also thought about it really hard. Again. But I said that last time, so what's the fun in that?

Word Count: 

Overall: 11608+ (Last Last Month: 11027) (I haven't transcribed everything and it's already the third! I can't keep putting off my upload!)

Senoia

I worked on it for three months in a row??? That's so rare with this one! Like last time, everything's organized now, and I've started coding... more... BUT the fun part is that I've got some sprite sketches down and even FINISHED ONE? Whaaat??? I never get that far!!! I'm also practicing coding generally with Ren'py. It's getting easier. How fun!!!

???

Upon rereading this section from April, it makes No Sense. Sorry, guys! But I'm feeling prouder about this one. I feel like this is definitely a high point in the 'creative process', and maybe it's just the fact that I actually took my meds talking, but I feel super productive right now! This is a lot of work for someone juggling this and crunching summer semester courses with college. I feel kind of awesome. Which is great! However it IS midnight and I DO have class in the morning. Whoooops. It's fine! It's at 10:15!!!

Love you, my starlings! Stay curious!!!!

Signed Sincerely,

Thank you for asking, sandy-bonus-track! ::)

💙: How has the idea changed between starting it and where it is now?

Oh, big question. Order of the Fourpoint started as a five-book series plan that was all central around what I've turned into the plot of just the first book, but that's after all of the characters finally assembled. Originally, all the way back in the beginning, OotF was about Melancholy as a ruler, and it was definitely not called OotF! Since then, it's had a major antagonist become an MC, the themes and morals of the story have changed, and I've managed to shorten my plot layout down from five books to three. Thank goodness.

💕: What has your favorite scene been?

The next-to-last scene in the first book and the first scene in the second book are both tied in my heart... The former was a challenge to write, but goodness, it was just so cathartic! It's definitely the climax, I think, and I also like the fact that I get to write that MC processing that (to be as vague and spoiler-less as possible). As for the latter, I really love the characters involved, and I think that the way I'm going about the first and second books is really nice transitionally. Not to sound full of myself, of course, I'm just really proud of myself for those things!!

Thank you so much for asking, anon!

💛: What is the title based on?

Order of the Fourpoint was something I had scrawled in one of my old sketchbooks with a list of names. A lot of the characters' names came from there too, but I think it was originally based around the idea for one of my D&D characters to have some sort of religion they were associated with. Now that's the name of the religion formed in the book!

I don't actually know why I made up a bunch of names, though. Even if that campaign never took off in the first place, I don't think that it would've been very relevant! Something something fate.

❣️: Which scene has been hardest to write so far?

In terms of ones I've actually written, I'd say the end of the first book? I had to do a lot of research for it, and it took an entire evening (and looking at a lot of pictures for descriptive accuracy, which got quite grotesque!). In terms of ones I haven't completed, the second chapter in its entirety has been torture, but specifically the part that involves one of my MCs going up and down a lot of stairs. Bolted up the steps. Travelled to the next level. Traversed tilted terrain (I didn't actually write that one, lol). It's been getting really repetitive and I've been putting off rewriting it... 

💟: How is your style different in this work compared to previous ones? Has it more shifted for the story or just developed in general?

Considering that Order of the Fourpoint was the first big project that I've sworn I'd complete, a lot is different. For example, my writing feels more cohesive, my pacing feels more thought-through, and I feel as if I've been more careful with my wording? The setting itself is different from my other projects, like Senoia, as well, being in a completely different universe, and that affects a lot of my vocabulary and phrasing in some points (though those changes are usually more minor!). I would say, though, that OotF is really what I would consider to be my style, and most things I write will have that style unless I consciously decide to shift it for those stories. For example, Senoia will not sound like Order of the Fourpoint does.

Though, actually, sometimes the limited third-person point-of-view changes from chapter to chapter can switch how things are worded. This question has a lot of nuance, and I suppose I have a lot of answers!

Hello starlings! I had a GREAT month. However, it was not a productive one in terms of word counts. I don't actually think I did anything in my book document this month, which is shameful, however I did work a little bit on the second project, Senoia!

Order of the Fourpoint

I thought about it really hard.

Word Count: 

Overall: 11027 (Last Month: 11027) 

Senoia

I got a lot done. The plot is laid out, everything is neat and organized, and I've even been getting some help with coding it! Renpy is hard to learn, but I joined a group which is also helpful for me to commit. I also figured out one of the more prevalent plot points, which is great news!!

???

This isn't super vulnerable, at least in the form of a work update, but there are always going to be damp points in yoyr creative process. As ashamed as I am to share this and as tempted as I was to crunch in a bunch of work on the book, I realised that it's important to be honest and true.

I also feel like a lot of my work has "fanfiction prose", as it's called, which stresses me out a bit! I love to read fanworks as they're great encouragement for me (if a random teen on the internet can write this absolute art, I could write well, too!), but in the midst of that, it feels like I am forgetting to read published works that have been through the professional editing process, and I've been far more lenient with my work. I saw some conversation around the topic on social media a while back, and quite honestly, it was a bit disheartening, as I feel like I see it a lot in my own work when I read back! I always thought it was nothing or unnoticable, but people seem to agree that it is, which stresses me out. I don't think a work sounding like a fanfiction is any testament (good or bad) to the quality of a storyline, but it's just not what I'm going for, so there's a chance I will go and rewrite my first draft from the beginning after a small reading hiatus. I'm not sure. 

In other (much lighter) news, I should be releasing a small short story (potentially publishing into a flash fiction publisher I heard about) sometime this month, so stay tuned! I feel very proud of it, and I hope you all love it too. Thank you, starlings! Stay tuned, stay curious. <3!!

Signed Sincerely,