So the bonus point goal of 100 points has been reached–with points to spare! This means you guys get yet another bonus update from me, at a minimum of 2,000 words. The extra points will be rolled over to the next point count, and we’ll start over as soon as a poll can be decided.
As I haven’t finished my LAST bonus update yet, I haven’t come up with a new poll. So for this week, I’ll give you all a chance to send me in your requests for Bonus Update topics. You can post them here, direct message/@reply me on Twitter, e-mail me, or post them on Facebook. I’ll take the best of those requests and put them in a new poll to be displayed in Eikasia’s sidebar. If no one gets back to me in time with suitable topics, I’ll just recycle some of the old choices from previous polls.
You guys can ask for whatever you can think of. Wanna know more about a particular character? How a certain magic discipline works? About a certain region, city, or sentient species? The mythology of Eikasia’s world?
Request a topic, and you can find out! I stop taking requests by Sunday (January 3rd) at midnight!
I got a new audio player for the site because I was getting tired of things not working right. But if I’ve done that, surely I have something new to share with you all?
Amid the hectic nonsense that I inflict upon my own life, I’ve found a bit of respite in music. Some of these tracks reminded me of characters in Eikasia, so I thought I’d do something fun… You see Tite Kubo, creator of Bleach, had special songs for each of his characters–their “favorite” songs, so to speak. In this case, none of MY characters would reasonably be listening to any of these songs I’m about to share, but the concept is mostly the same.
These aren’t the last word, at all. They don’t catch the characters as a whole, but capture aspects of them in sound. They give voice to personal fears, experiences, desires, and aspects of their personality. Once again, this is me toying around with the idea of a “dream soundtrack”, but in a much more focused way.
Best that you see how this works. It’ll be four tracks to each. Naturally, we’ll start with Elle.
Some of these might get you scratching your heads–whether you think the genre is odd, or the lyrics are confusing, or the mood seems off…but believe me. They fit. Some of these songs might take time to be understood in full. I can’t wait for next year!
So I hope you guys liked my peace offering! Some of these songs (if you’ve been reading Eikasia the whole year) you’ll recognize from old playlists I’ve made. I tried including new things…but hey. When the shoe fits…
EDIT: And I figured I shouldn’t be a bitch and leave you all hanging, because I really have no idea when this next update will be done. (I know it sounds bad–because I SHOULD know this–but I’m not sure if I’m going to resume Chapter 13 or start Chapter 14…which is why I keep saying “the next update”) So here’s a small preview, because I haven’t done one in a while. Remember, it’s subject to change:
Paulo sighed. Elmiryn watched him with arms crossed over her chest. The boy stopped behind Nyx, who had gone to where she had left her bag sitting near the rock wall. She knelt on the ground, apparently rifling through her belongings.
“Ah…” The boy glanced behind him. Elmiryn raised an eyebrow, lips puckered. Graziano waved for him to go on. Paulo turned back with shoulders visibly sagged. “Thank you…for doing that. You don’t know us, but…this telescope is very important.”
Nyx stood and turned around. “I didn’t do it because I like you. Or even for your father.” She held up her hand. Elmiryn came forward, spurred by curiosity to see what the girl had in her palm. As she neared, she saw that it was a ring. “This belonged to my dead brother. I thought about how I’d feel if I were to lose this…it isn’t…it isn’t who he was. I’m not holding him in my palm right now. But it’s a piece of a better time in my life. I didn’t want to be responsible for you losing a better time in your life.”
Nyx sat down, and Argos came trotting to sit next to her. She looked up at Paulo, who had turned his head away. “I’m enough of a blight just existing. I won’t let myself soil things further.”
Elmiryn frowned, eyes on the slim girl with wild dark hair and tawny eyes that gazed up in resignation. Paulo muttered something, perhaps another thank you, before trudging back to his scultone.
“Nyx…you little fool,” Elmiryn thought.
And of course, I can’t leave without some holiday something to give you guys, SO…
I felt bad that I’ve only been posting art on Facebook, so I decided to spread the lovin’ a bit more…but hey–if you guys wanna see more concept art you should totally become a fan on Facebook!
And yes! The review marathon is done…so what have you guys earned? A bonus update at a minimum of 4000 words! Thank you to those who reviewed. The bonus poll is closed, and the winner was option #2, “Nyx’s time as a spy for the resistance”. You guys will recall that in Chapter 9, Nyx mentioned she did some cloak and dagger stuff for an anti-war faction. The bonus update will be exploring that in detail. Expect it sometime next week.
So this week is my last week for Fall Semester. I have ten pages of writing due, and a math test to prepare for. This weekend was a bit hectic, but not in the way I meant it to be. It’s my own fault, really–but that’s why I’ve been away from my computer since Friday morning. I’m working on Chapter 13.2 (it’s at 3656 words so far) and as soon as it’s done, it’ll be up. I know it’s been a while since I’ve done a chapter preview, but I’m not sure what I can offer up this time around. It all feels likely to be chopped off, depending on the direction I decide to take.
But hey, I see that we have some reviews up on WebFictionGuide.com! So far the word count is up to 4000 for the December 14th bonus update. (Quick note: I’m not saying that the bonus will be posted that day–that’s just when the poll ends)
As I said before, end of the year madness–it really sets in around this time. After the holidays though, I should be better about updating right on Fridays.
You’ll be hearing from me again soon! Thanks for your patience, as always.
The bonus update, “Cold Burns” is now finally available for your reading (dis)pleasure. I fought with this one a lot, notably because of the characters featured in it. Oddly enough, Argos was the easiest to write of all of them. Lethia, I fear, still has not quite found that added depth yet–partially because of the situations she’s cast in and the lack of time spent with her. We haven’t been given an opportunity to see her in a more reflective state. In hindsight, I regret choosing this particular story to do, because it didn’t afford that opportunity. Lethia, in truth, isn’t that deep a character. She has her ideals and sticks with them. But depth isn’t what I’m struggling with–it’s making her relatable and sympathetic to all of you.
This update came about because Eikasia’s Facebook page reached 31 fans. I’ve come to decide that updates earned in this manner should be decided only by those who helped make it happen. In other words, the vote was purely for those fans on Facebook. But no one voted, so I was left to choose an option myself. When given the choice, I’ll always opt for fleshing out new characters–so this update (though I wish I chose a better topic–even one without the Moretti brothers) was to be expected.
As some of you may have noticed, the end of the year tends to have a great effect on my writing. I miss updates, have frequent writer’s blocks, and get impatient with just about everything. I get sick, I have many important events that I have to go to, end of the semester work to tackle, and I just plain get burned out. It happened last year too. I’m also disappointed that I wasn’t able to launch my new weblit, Susie Swordfish, this fall. It was to be my urban fantasy adventure. Hopefully I can get that up next year, when I can balance out my work and other RL obligations.
Still, I look forward to hearing some of your reviews next week. (you guys didn’t forget about my special proposal, did you?) I had something else on my mind, something which I must think over after the review marathon is over and I give you guys your update. When I’ve come to a decision about this “something” I’ll post about it here on Ninth Suture…
...Prepare to Die. 