#runewriters

"It's a fantasy webcomic about a mundane deaf girl trying to help her shapechanger friend and a mute necromancer fix some embarrassing magical mistakes."

Hey gang, it’s been a little while. Wanted to make an official update.

So, the short version: Runewriters will not be continued for the foreseeable future. I’d like to put together a post to share how the rest of the comic was planned to go, but it’ll take some time to figure out how to put that together.

Obviously I can’t say with 100% certainty that I will never return to this story, but I think I am finished with it. This is a decision I thought really hard about – is there some way I could do a paired down version, or a very sketchy version, without dipping right back into burnout? This is a comic that ended before it ever got to a lot of things that I really wanted to share. But… ultimately I think, I can’t keep holding out hope that some future version of myself will want to finish this. As dear as Runewriters has always been to me, I can’t imagine coming back and working on it again. I still really appreciate how much folks invested in it; it genuinely means so much to me still today, and I’m sorry that I no longer have the rest of the story in me to give you.

Here is a comic by Valerie Halla that resonated with me… a lot, while I was trying to make sense of this decision. Obviously, she wrote that for her, not me – but she really captured feelings I couldn’t put to words.

That said, I’d really like to come back at some point and put together, like, a little rundown of concept art and synopsis for Runewriters, just a little something to share what the story would’ve been and the ideas I had, to kind of resolve it. I’d like to not keep spoilers for a comic I’m never going to finish locked up inside my head, haha. And there’s a couple of characters you guys never even got to MEET! I’d like to let people meet them, even if it’s just through me and the ideas I had. Maybe it’s silly to do this so far after the last update; after all, I don’t know how long it’ll take me to put together, and I’d like to wait until I have friends nearby to help me organise it, and that’s a long time to wait for a story that won’t really be finished. But I’d still like to do it!I think that’s all I’ve got. I don’t know if I’m going to do another comic eventually. I don’t have anything else lined up! I’m still drawing, but less focused on PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS at the moment.

Follow me on social media if you wanna know what I’m up to online (tumblr, twitter)!

Follow me on patreon if you just wanna get alerted the next time i start any kind of personal artistic project, and not other stuff!

Connect your patreon to discord and pledge one dollar if you want to see everything I'm drawing, to get dumped into the server where I post All Of My Sketches right after I sketch them!

(Æmber in a square of blue light, dark stage? Squirrel on shoulder)

I don’t wanna spend my whole life here, forever eleven, just a child.

Just me and my squirrel, watching the world go byyyy!

Trapped in this box, they say I am destined–for what?! In this box, no excitement, no friendships, this stupid stupid box, Artist, please free me

In this church, sure I’m the Chosen One, but in this church,

Dance of the Necropony. Like dance of the sugarplum fairies. Just Necropony prancing around the stage by their self.

Opening/setting song: busy town, kinda like the bonjour song in Beauty and the Beast. Introduces a lot of characters. Tareth’s mom tells her to be careful, “mom, I’m just going out with Sev!”

Sev running around

Aberrant hunters doing stuff

Mayor dude worried

Villagers doing normal stuff

When someone signs, a screens show the words. Kinda like in Dear Evan Hansen.

When someone uses magic, it’s portrayed by lights–When Quentin’s arm runes flare, he’s suddenly lit up by a swirling red/orange spotlight. When Sev transforms, a flash of green light. When Jonan uses magic, red shadowy light.

Magic also portrayed by ensemble members. Just like old stage ninjas. You’re supposed to ignore/overlook them. Dressed in black for the most part.

Iavin and Xira: black and purple swirly figures that dance around and puppet/move/manhandle a person. When Iavin makes Esra shut up, one of the ensemble members claps a hand over his mouth.

Maybe they could hold up pictures and stuff for Xira searching through memories, and dance around physically connecting Xira and the person he’s mind-messing with.

Sev’s guys are green and black and when he transforms, they move with him and hold up stuff like bones, etc. Like if he became a dragon, they would make a dragon shape around him and move like they’re marionettes when he moves. Wave a green squirrel around.

For Jonan, red and black stumbling, slouching, zombie-like figures. When he reanimates someone, they manipulate them. They literally hold the person up.

Quentin and Esra’s songs are Quentin moving around the stage, singing excitedly and dramatically, but also with that catlike chill he’s got, and Esra interjecting and correcting and frantically scurrying after him. Quentin tosses a paper over his shoulder, Esra catches it. Other members of the order move around the stage, checking in with Quentin, doing magic, etc.

Jonan’s intro song is great. They get through the gates, mention Jonan, and the villagers start popping up and singing a spooky warning song about him. Kinda like that song about Elphaba in Wicked, ‘I heard… I heard…’.

He healed some girl’s eyes shut!

I heard he struck her blind!

I mean who knows what goes on in that evil, twisted mind?

He’s got zombies all around him, and guards at the door.

???

But what he does in that tower, is anyone’s guess

Find another healer, save yourself the stress!

(Around the campfire on the first night. Jonan steps away and starts singing to the audience.)

Idiots, idiots, I’m surrounded by idiots.

Do you see what I’m working with here?(Gestures to the squad being weird)

If that stupid girl hadn’t messed up my spell, I wouldn’t be stuck in a personal hell

(Xira does something weird)

Are you seeing this? Can you believe this?

Can nobody see somethings wrong with that kid?!

(Grabs Sev, mumbles angrily and gestures. Sev backs away.)

“Uhh, I don’t . . .”

(Jonan turns away, exasperated.)

Can you believe this? Do you see this?

Music kinda like poor unfortunate souls.

For Iavin’s song where he threatens Esra and Quentin, kinda like the ‘well well well’ part of Shiny, where Tamatoas beating the crap out of Maui.

Iavin starts to walk away,

Wait!

Violin note, Iavin turns.

You fetch the research, and we lift the curse!

Only if I get paid first

Erm, no

(Iavin turns away)

Then no deal. If you can’t keep up your end–

Wait a minute, friend!

(Clears desk and starts scribbling. Iavin leans over his shoulder.)

A ritual?

Unaltered!

That’s not how it works!

Okay, slightly altered, but here (points to a part of the rune) we lift the curse!

And I get the research.

A bargain guaranteed! And now that we’ve agreed … I believe I mentioned blood?

@shazzbaa was at the stream and HAD TO DRAW HIM!! such wonderous facial structure.