So…...wow, this volume ended up being longer than I originally planned and took quite a bit more research. So many bookmarks. So many new playlists on Youtube.
Feel free to send questions in the comments or PM.
Note: I needed to amend this message a bit with information pertaining to this site, so it took a little longer to get it over here. This was first written on Scribblehub, but I made some changes for it to fit here as well.
I'll get to what people are probably wondering about most in this first section.
"Beastkin of GRIM" on RoyalRoad and stuff
So, readers may be wondering about the story's future on this site after the Volume 2 epilogue.
Unfortunately, after careful deliberation, I plan to leave RoyalRoad and focus more on Scribblehub as well as another site called Tapas. I was debating this for a while based on the story's current state and on my previous experience with this site when the story was in its infancy a very long time ago. I believe it has been nearly two years since then. Time sure flies.
This is not a decision I took lightly, and it wasn't something I considered just recently.
Back during its first upload, the story hit trending at some point, but it did not receive much positive response. In actuality, it received far worse than just constructive criticism. I eventually removed the story back then due to being more than a little discouraged. When I brought the story back, a part of me was actually relieved that it didn't hit trending again.
After taking a break, I worked on the story some more and took some of the actual constructive criticism in the hopes of improving my craft. But I did not change everything. Some aspects remained that were met with disapproval in the past, but they needed to stay for the story to work. Overall, the plot remained the same with some added details and clarification.
It is pretty difficult to upload on three sites, and this is the decision I've reached. RoyalRoad has a nice interface and garnered a bit of interest. I greatly appreciate the support that some readers have provided over here, but I have found RR to be very stressful compared to other sites. I have some amazing readers on this site, and I cannot stress enough what a relief it is when I click my alerts to see something positive or some constructive criticism from a thoughtful reader with tactful diction. It really brightens my day, because I usually don't look forward to clicking my alerts on this site based on past experiences and quite a few current ones.
The short reason for leaving: RoyalRoad is frequently stressful, mentally taxing and takes too much extra time. I gave the site a second chance, but my mental state hasn't changed enough to keep me going here. Maybe my story, writing style or just overall ability doesn't work here. I'm not sure. I'm just one person who enjoys writing and takes it seriously. I've already had a couple writing friends leave this site for similar reasons, so I know it isn't just me, which is a shame since the site itself does have a nice setup and a large audience.
To those of you who helped improve the story back when it was first uploaded, and to everyone who provided encouragement and thoughts at present: "Thank you so very much." You made everything so much easier for me and kept the story going as long as it did on this site. I always planned on continuing to write this story, but it may have never progressed in this fashion.
I want to continue honing my writing skills, and I want to provide even more of this story. I even have some other projects I've been dabbling with on the side.
If you would like to continue reading the story, then please head over to Scribblehub which is the story's main home. If not, then thank you for the support shown on this site thus far.
I apologize if some readers hoped I wouldn't reach this decision, but RoyalRoad simply isn't working. I believe it is something that just needs to be done at this point. I will leave the story here in its current state with a message regarding this decision in the synopsis.
Thank you, thank you once again to all you helpful readers who keep authors going.
Alright, back to stuff concerning the story itself. Feel free to keep reading if you plan on joining at Scribblehub.
A not-so-brief discussion of what has happened so far and all that stuff:
My original outline for this volume was to have many POVs to establish a number of characters placed in various roles while still mostly focusing on GRIM. Overall, I stuck mostly to my plans for this volume. I wanted to make a story where the main character didn't take care of everything himself. I wanted him to be surrounded by many characters with different roles and personalities that contributed to their successes and failures. The character backgrounds – accompanied with a pretty unforgiving world – shaped how many things would come together.
I am satisfied with this overall. There is room for improvement and growth with my writing, and I plan to go back through previous volumes to give them some polish. There will be no need for readers to return to those chapters in terms of content; it is more so I can add small details and work on flow/editing.
Okay, time to shift gears so I don't just start rambling (I do that anyway). First off, thank you all so much for the support. We hit trending on Scribblehub towards the end of Volume 2 and saw a huge increase in our community. It was wonderful to see the story garner such interest, but the valid reads analyzed by the site boosted my enthusiasm immensely. Thank you – thank you – thank you! A lot of work goes into each chapter: planning, editing, research, letting thoughts stew, agonizing constantly (haha). So thank you x1,000 for all the support. This has been one heck of a project. It has been stressful at times, but I also thoroughly enjoy it.
This isn't really an organized author's note, but I wanted to provide some information concerning the story's future and such. Many readers may have noticed that my upload schedule is absolutely atrocious. It is all over the place, but I try to at least keep an average of two chapters a week. Sometimes there might not be a chapter for a bit, and I try to make up for it with more chapters later, but it hasn't always been possible thanks to my job, family obligations, working on other chapters to keep my sanity and also letting chapters stew since I am my own worst critic. I also have other hobbies for winding down after a long day of labor.
There are a lot of details added to the story that I think contribute to the quality as a whole, but they are sometimes not entirely noticed, so that can take a while as well. Regardless, I believe that they have an important contribution, whether they are actively noticed or not (I'm glad some people appreciated the information about virga clouds. Lol). The spear techniques used by Liam were also pretty fun to research. And things like why Ash may have decided to add freesias to her garden. Stuff like that. I noticed that many readers in certain chapters read between the lines a bit and came up with their own theories for certain actions/decisions. I enjoyed reading those very much.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Support stuff (this author's note is totally organized):
When this author's message is posted the first chapter of volume 3 will be completed. I have a few patrons over at my Patreon that I want to do right by, and I appreciate the support over there immensely. The artwork of Kirie for the story's cover wouldn't have been possible without my current supporters. Every little bit extra helps towards artwork, my lifestyle and anything else that contributes to the story and getting chapters out at a faster rate. Please consider supporting my coffee addiction and giving me more time to search for catgirls- er, I mean, giving me more time to write.
The support so far has been amazing, so thank you all so much for that.
Since we have come this far with the story, I will be amending the tiers over at Patreon so that readers at tier 2 and above will receive chapters anywhere from at least 1-2 weeks in advance of public release. Tier 1 is still for those who want to take that extra step to support my work. As time goes on I really want to provide more, but I don't want to make important promises I can't keep due to the time constraints and my erratic life schedule. I would also like to provide another project I've been working on, but we will get to that in the next segment of this note. But if there are any other suggestions, please let me know. If we reach certain goals, or if I get some suggestions, I will be able to add some things.
Other Stuff I Work On...and Stuff
I am also working on another story on the side as a change of pace from this one. It is a story that isn't nearly as complicated, and I have only worked on it a bit. But I have been enjoying the process of writing from the perspective of a strong female lead who is a unique form of beastkin. It is a bit darker, more violent and is written in a slightly different writing style that received influence from writers such as Joe Abercrombie (if anyone is familiar with his style). The story takes place in a city ruled mostly by corrupt nobility and underground organizations. I am considering posting this story on Scribblehub and then creating a backlog after a few chapters to provide early. I am debating whether to keep the story in the same universe as “Beastkin of GRIM,” and the story so far is flexible in that regard. It would be interesting if this character ran into Alphonse and company at some point (wink wink). It won't go through the same meticulous editing process as “Beastkin of GRIM,” because editing for me takes a considerable amount of time, but it will be receiving plenty of grammar checks, sentence structure tweaking and help from my best friend: the thesaurus. If only we had more than twenty-four hours in a day.
A second outline I have going for another story is something I've never really done before...it's sort of like (*heavy sigh*)...slice of life............YEAH! I've written a couple chapters in the past, but who knows? It has some of the reincarnated-as-a-spirit qualities with sprinkles of ecchi, more hints at romance, the main character (begrudgingly) helping people with life troubles, mystery, fox shrine maidens and doses of action. It's different! Lol. Sometimes, you need a bit of guilty pleasure.
Maybe I'll put it up to a vote. A poll?
If you would like to take an extra step towards supporting the story (and possibly getting these others out), then please consider my Patreon. I also threw together a Ko-fi account and a Paypal. You can also join us at the Discord server for updates and discussions outside the story. We also have a promotion area to support other stories. Speaking of...I reaaallly need to work on my own self-promotion rather than relying on the recent updates page. If any readers know anyone that might be interested in the story, then please send it their way. Spread the love of catgirls too. Why not?
The future and stuff (...stuff):
Now, what can we expect from “Beastkin of GRIM” Volume 3?
One thing that I intended from the very beginning was to have a magic system that had laws but also a bit of leeway. So it is somewhere between a soft and hard magic system. I wanted to focus on plot and character development rather than extended chapters of magic/active skill explanations. We did receive quite a bit in Volume 2 at one point to tide things over, but some more explanation is required about: magic tethering, bonds, delayed spells, shapes used for protection spells (just to name a few). I also needed to think carefully about the progression system since this is a massive project, which is why I utilized the traditional decrease of stat gain as more points are obtained. As we know, stats are not the only means of growth in this world, but they do help and have plot relevance. I wanted characters to develop by more natural means rather than too many skills, but we will be seeing the results of some stat gains in this upcoming volume.
In volume 3, I plan to focus more on GRIM in the city of La'abrine. We will also be following Ashliv Diavelia and Jin Hanlon as they work in a precarious partnership in Forgedalk. Ruslin Vasiliev and Sue will be entering the Lamfell dungeon with their guild. And we mustn't forget the Many-robed One and his followers. And what about Daichi Coremaul and Rinka Foirena at the Submerged Oasis?
I am also juggling with the idea of having short quotes at the beginning of chapters that have bits of Hovestile's history and rules of magic/active skills. There is still a lot about the world to explore. We will be looking into magic through Asa's perspective and more details about perception with Alphonse under the guidance of the mysterious demihuman, Mina. I will provide a sort of volume 3 synopsis before the next book officially starts to give further details (Scribblehub). That's what stories usually do anyway when a new book comes out in a series, I guess.
Ah, another side note: I will be updating the glossary with a ton of information during the week after this author's note is posted (Scribblehub).
I will be going through Volume 1 for some editing passes and adding a bit of these details with magic, since I don't think I delved into it enough. Please note that there is no reason for readers who have read Volume 1 to return to it after the edits -- unless it is for your own interest. We will be getting more in-depth with Volume 3. So we are totally covered!
This story is currently a hobby, but it is a hobby that I am taking seriously. Who knows? Maybe after more writing/editing it could turn into something more. I have written a number of stories in the past, but this is the first one where I've known that I'd continue it no matter what. No matter what obstacles popped up in life, I was determined to complete this work. Even if my progress was impeded by unexpected circumstances, I would still find time to work on the story. So there is that.
I have grown to love these characters, and the story has progressed in ways that even I didn't expect when I first started out. I even have plans that changed as far as Volume 5, and it is interesting to see how the characters transform the world and vice versa. I don't know how long it will take, but this story is my baby. Thank you all for joining me on this journey.
End of rambling:
Discord link will be provided below. I will also put the Patreon link there as well...and yeah, there is this thing called topwebfiction that I didn't hear about until a couple months ago. Yay! You can support the story by placing votes on it there.
*chugs more coffee*
Alright, I think that's about it. Thank you all again for the support, and thank you for reading the ramblings of this silly writer. If there are any questions, suggestions (for Patreon as well), etc. then feel free to post a comment, hit me up on Discord or send a message.
Hope to see you all in Volume 3! :D
Discord: https://discord.gg/Z6BGvZS
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lordastrea
TopWebFiction: https://topwebfiction.com/listings/beastkin-of-grim/