by Phoenix | Jan 27, 2022 | Blog, LGT
Usually, when I have trouble starting these chapters, I just chalk it up to a combination of my nerves and the realities of doing entire outlines in my head. This time, I think what’s keeping the words off the page is the actual order of events. Even though I would have preferred to have The Emancipating Blade chapter be the fourth or the fifth, it still functions well enough as the third. With the Class Array, I’m starting to think it’s coming too early. In fact, if Lydia’s Golden Treasury was going to be a longer series, say twelve chapters or so, the Class Array would probably be the tenth or the eleventh. After going over everything that chapter is about and what happens in it, it doesn’t fit well happening before the Golden Ticket.
So here’s the new plan. Considering what’s going on with Enya and Lydia at the end of The Chronicles of Proxima, I think the Golden Ticket makes more sense as the next chapter in the series. The Class Array will also benefit from coming after it, and then it should segue nicely into Eisenwolf, the final chapter. That’s the hope, anyway.
Since I’m making a last minute switch from one chapter to another, I’m thinking about giving myself a few extra days to finish the Golden Ticket. Say, around February 3rd for that deadline. I don’t know if I’ll need it (the Golden Ticket chapter was one of the first chapters I’d hashed out the events and the purpose of in this series), but starting with a little under five days for a chapter that will average 12,500 words is going to be rough. Whether I finish it in time or not, this is a big change to work with. There’s also the other goals to wrap up, though I’m getting close on all of them.
For now I’m going to keep chipping away and will post updates as they happen.
by Phoenix | Jan 26, 2022 | FV, Journal, LGT
FV#17 is effectively the first chapter of the main story I was aiming to tell with Fleeing Victory. Everything leading up to this was setting the stage and introducing all the central characters. It’s still all a prelude, so I don’t know what naming scheme I should use. For now I’ll keep names of Fleeing Victory #1-16 as is and change things up for FV#17 and onward.
Going forward, FV#17 will be Fleeing Victory Chapter 1 or FV1. I’m actively trying to improve and I’m in the middle of incorporating some things I’ve only picked up recently, so the chapters from here will have some noticeable differences in how they’re written, particularly when I’m establishing locations in a scene.
I haven’t made enough progress to finish up FV1 today but the plan is to have it finished by tomorrow. We’re getting down to the wire for this month, so I’ll be focusing more and more on priority targets like this and The Class Array. If it comes down to the last hour then so be it. As long as everything that needs doing gets done, that’s enough for me.
On that note, back to it.
by Phoenix | Jan 25, 2022 | Blog, Life, Pinned
January 25th 2022. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m finally free from one of the worst specters of my past. Cutting ties with people is painful when you genuinely want to see relations improve for the better, especially someone once considered family, but it’s just too much. I was no more capable of fixing this now than I was back when it all started. Things have only gotten worse since then, so I made one last overture, was promptly ignored, and now it’s done. I’m free of the delusion that this can be fixed, and I’m free to focus all of my hopes elsewhere. Upward and onward are the only directions left to go.
That’s not to say this is all completely behind me. I’ve had the gears shifted on me so many times that it affects all of my relationships. For two decades, I’ve been praised to high heaven and eventually slandered to the deepest hell, begged for money and favors and eventually blamed for anything and everything that’s ever gone wrong. I’ve been falsely accused of the most horrific actions possible, given disgusting ultimatums, prejudged in every disagreement and strawman’d to the point where communication was impossible. I tried to fix this. I pardoned the near unpardonable. I made countless attempts to get around the big evil strawman standing in my place over the years, but that thing was just a weapon held in reserve. There was never any way to beat it, and trying has left some serious scars. Still, the last shots have been fired, and the air is starting to clear a little bit.
I don’t have much else to add here. I’m just tired, relieved, tending my wounds, and trying to get into a more productive headspace. I think once I’ve put enough distance between myself and all of this I’ll be able to get a lot more done. It will be a while, but upward and onward I go.
by Phoenix | Jan 24, 2022 | Artorius, Blog, Frame Ops, FV, LGT, Remnants, TMFC
I’ve got a lot of my mind right now, not least of which being tomorrow. More on that in this post. What I think is really important right now is keeping what momentum I’ve got going and make sure I’ve got things lined up for this Spring.
My Four Candidates
I’ve got four I’m considering: Artorius, Frame Ops, The Man from Ceres, and Remnants. Each has some merit and enough things set in stone that I could theoretically start on them right now. I’m learning that it’s better to tackle these very carefully, though. Lydia’s Golden Treasury and Fleeing Victory are difficult enough as it is. The former is going to be wrapping up by early April, so I’ll need to slot something else in.
None of these are any closer to being primed than the others, so it really just comes down to preference. I’ll give a brief overview of each as an official introduction for the blog.
Artorius
Adversity, thy name is Artorius.
Some years ago I was involved in an RP that had a lot of interesting characters and while the main thrust of things was finished, I really wanted to see the aftermath of all that development. These character came out of a war as completely different people. Unfortunately there was no follow up, as almost everyone was worn out after several years of following the same characters around. Some folks were dragged over the finish line.
Artorius is an adaptation of some character arcs into a new setting and couched in a different kind of war.
Note: That logo up there is a placeholder from Aeon’s prototyping days that I updated for the site.
Frame Ops
Frame Ops was just shy of being someone else’s idea. Despite the way things are set up, it’s not inspired by team sport shows like Gundam Build Fighters, though the atmosphere is definitely the same. When I was prototyping the Aeon setting, I was designing scenarios for others to play that would help me iron out problems I would have missed otherwise. I got the suggestion of making a scenario that was more casual, so I gave it a shot and came up with Frame Ops. We didn’t finish the scenario, but that turned out to be a blessing, because …
Now I can make a book out of it!
When setting up Frame Ops, I was more interested in figuring out what life should, or at least could look like living far away from the Earth, but with the kind of comfortable infrastructure that makes cities reasonably comfortable places to live. The gaming aspect was needed to make things more casual. Otherwise, we would have wound up with something more akin to Star Trek: DS9. I wouldn’t have minded that, and there may even still be room for a spinoff way down the line, but what Frame Ops needed was in the name, giant robots fighting it out.
The Man from Ceres
The Man from Ceres was envisioned as a kind of space western, but the space part would be boldened and italicized for good measure. The main character’s glory days are supposedly behind him and he’s supposedly happy about that, but with a ridiculously well connected nemesis constantly gunning for him, a son whose future he’s struggling to protect, and old wounds both physical and emotional opening back up at the worst times, the Man from Ceres’ journey’s far from over.
There’s also a dog. Dogs in space are always interesting.
Remnants
Like Artorius, Remnants has its origins in an old RP I was a part of, though that one I started myself. Unlike Artorius, the Remnants setting is a spiritual successor to the one I made for that old RP. Its individual stories will be mainly character driven, but the idea itself was inspired by the world and not the characters. Since Remnants falls under the Zion umbrella, the world’s similarities to ours should be downright amusing, especially for anyone interested in world history or technology. Or even culture. Remnants has a lot to say about a lot of things, actually.
Remnants is the one that’s been churning up too many details in the back of my head while I try to focus on things like Lydia’s Golden Treasury and Fleeing Victory. Thankfully that’s slowing down enough that I can organize my thoughts again.
Closing
I don’t have any hard leanings right now, but Remnants has the advantage of ideas flowing more easily. I know better than to trust that to carry me through the whole project, though. It’s better to wait until April is closer to see what’s really looking better. I just wanted to get my thoughts out there and out of my head, so with that done, goodnight.
by Phoenix | Jan 23, 2022 | FV, Journal, Site
I’ve got to figure out why the featured images don’t center regardless of what aspect ratio I use. For now though, Fleeing Victory #16 is done. It’s posted here, and Sable’s Turn is officially finished, barring any future editing I do.
A few more tweaks to the site are almost finished (though I’m still having issues getting the fonts to display properly). It’s nothing major, I just want to make sure the home page both looks nice and can easily get visitors to wherever they’re trying to go. That should be finished in a few days or sooner.
Tuesday in particular can’t get here soon enough.
That’s all for tonight.