July 1 Update Article
Just to let you know that I'm still alive.
July 1 Update Article
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I almost expected what I’m going through right now to happen sooner or later. In fact, while I was suffering from a tooth abscess during the holidays for the top of the year to keep this from happening sooner. But that buffer wasn’t going to last forever, so here I am, out of scheduled articles and suffering a lull in postings. And all I can do now is chug away at articles that aren’t yet ready and decide whether or not to apologize for the crickets Substack has right now.
I’ll just settle for this post to let people know I’m still alive and still working. Whatever or not I have any excuse for this depends on the existence of grace in my audience, but June just got too radio edit slow, and July isn’t looking much better.
I don’t want to make excuses or pass blame somewhere and instead just say that stuff happens. While my parents recently got a dog and a cat and they need me to petsit every other day, which has indeed slowed me down, I don’t want to blame them for my lack of progress (and besides, they pay me.) And while some might say that I’ve been playing Touhou: Lost Word too much, most of the farming there can be done automatically. I can have it run in the background while I type on Word. And I can always type some more while I’m in an RPG session, no?
But instead of just making excuses or passing blame—ain’t my fault if there’s not enough compassion and patience in the world—I’ll just give you an update list on what I’m working on right now, and maybe give you another update later.
The draft and proofreading process
I just got back my optimal proofreading method of printing out the documents on paper so I can do it offline. I got a new HP printer and enrolled in HP Instant Ink so I’ll have plenty of supplies. I especially got it because I’ll be using it a lot on my work on Sunken Fortress.
The way the first several drafts is that, after I do my first draft, I print it out and proofread it on paper, then I use the proofread printout for the second draft. Maybe I print out the second draft if I need it or just do it on the screen, it depends on the items.
Proofreading Stage
Tablelake Arisen, Episode 2, and Sunless Citadel, Part a are both printed out and proofread.
Amber of the Woods, Episode 3 is printed out, as well as the first part of a project I’m getting back on:
Touhou: Lost Word: The Collector, Episode 1. I earlier thought about making a fanfict novelization of Touhou: Lost Word and using that to introduce Amber as an otherworlder character (from another Gensokyo, instead of the old classic Mary Sue route of being from the Outside World aka the Real World) who while studying danmaku herself has the ability to capture—and use—the spell cards from the Touhou Characters. Give her enough time, and she’d have all the Spell Cards!
The first attempt at this, titled Touhou: Lost Word: Cherries Wild, also included a variation of the Gatcha mechanic from the game, but I ended up getting writer’s blocked after the fifth episode. So I decided to give it a rewrite from the start with a new mechanic.
The first part of Episode 1 is already in the first draft which I’ve printed out for proofreading, and the rest is planned to be written later.
First Draft Stage
The first draft is Sunless Citadel, Part b is going to be known as the Oakhurst Worldbuilding Document, which I’m almost finished writing the first draft of. This is where I take eight paragraphs in The Sunless Citadel and flesh them out into material I can work with. I’ve already got three decent maps made and set up some other businesses and locations that would be of interest. Once this draft’s done, it’s going through the printer. Good thing that Instant Ink Cartridges hold more printer juice than XL cartridges you get from the store. I just hope they learned to pace their shipments so that I won’t need to buy a reserve cartridge if the current one runs out.
The second part of Touhou: Lost Word: The Collector will be next on the queue. I need something to relax my mind after all the slugging, something as a palate-cleansing as I work on second drafts, but after that, it’s on something that I caught my interest in after a D&D Live event from Wizards of the Coast.
Starjammer Inspiration Document. When I heard that Wizards of the Coast is going to get back to the Starjammer Setting, I knew that I had to set up the Meta Lore for Penumaria to be like Spelljammer. By Meta Lore, I’m talking about how the Realms work, and how each world of The Realms is put together. My initial idea would be that all the many worlds share a single galaxy, but since Spelljammer is already thought out and worked on, I’d figure it’s best that I just use Spelljammer and add to that. This Starjammer Worldbuilding Document will connect Penumaria to the Spelljammer setting.
The Current Pace
After I finish the first draft of Oakhurst Worldbuilding, I’ll start off on the second draft of Tablelake Arisen and Sunken Citadel, Part a, while typing up the second part of Touhou: Lost Word: The Collector. The first part of which, as well as Amber of the Woods, will be proofread. All of this will be at a daily pace since it’s best to take a big project and divide it into chunks, especially when you have real-life issues happening that is always getting in the way.
That’s the list of items that I am working on right now. There are plenty more that I can move on to once I trudge through what I do have now. All I’ll ask is your patience on this. I’m just experiencing a choke point not unlike some placed in the global supply chain, and the only thing I can do is just make sure I keep making progress and not make things any worse.
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Tales of Penumaria is Copyrighted ©2022 David “David Foxfire” Gonterman, and is licensed under the ‘BY-NC-SA’ Creative Commons License. All Dungeons & Dragons related material is available under the Open Game License from Wizards of the Coast. Follow this link for credits and details on the licenses.