And so, after rigorous work, we've reached the 200 followers mark, along with the 30k views mark. It took a couple years, but this makes me happy nonetheless. A milestone that honestly isn't reached by the broader amount of authors, without including luck as a factor. It's been a long 2 years to write all this and if I were to spoil you on what's up a little, it'd be the fact that the first volume of Life Dew Collapse is nearing it's end. As such, and as the title suggested, I thought of dropping a few things as a thank you for it all, which I'll highlight bellow, so to those you may be interested, this will be a longer read than some of the previous milestone thanks I've written in the past.
THE BACK SCENES
Throughout it, I've seen my writing and myself evolve, as I opted to actually get into the very shoes of each character before even attempting to write a piece of their dialogue, and my narrative descriptions have honestly improved too, adding much more detail than what the blandness at the start was. To tell the truth to the few that reached this point, this story has a ton of research behind it all, as delicate subjects sometimes out of mine, or other acquaintances of mine experiences go. I initially had the story into a much more action based one rather than what it is now, which in all honesty added intrigue due to that fast paced action, but it never landed with me.
If you couldn't tell, although it's anime inspired by the designs, I felt that there was no clear takeaway from the story up until that point, it was all just badass action with a very basic plotline. So before I released it, I completely revamped it. I studied a lot of different subjects that revolved around what I was about to write, as I wanted this to somewhat land despite being the first work of mine. Some of those included things you probably read up until now, such as Anya's little problem at the bar, Dante's long lasting trauma and the lingering effects of it (such as sporadic emotional bursts) etc.
But it didn't even stop there, because I also always wondered this. How would a hero's journey look, when they were to take their powers seriously enough to realize that all they did had consequences? And I don't just mean the dilemma of killing or not, but in a post-war world, how would their grand actions affect the countries they did it in and the grander scale? The result of it, if I say so myself, was a story that at one point far exceeded my abilities, as a complex landscape and world that somewhat mirrors that of ours, but of course in a fantasy setting, fair? Agendas of different country leaders, the publics opinion and trust on their governments to actually have them benefit them and all.
I got so into all those different subjects that I decided that if I wanted this to land, I'd have to ditch the action all the time and actually build a properly standing world out of it. Which, if you noticed as well, made the beginning chapters a little bit of a grueling task to get through, in before the actual good stuff later on. Although, me being me and the style I chose to write this story in, a style I wholeheartedly believe gives more personality to the characters themselves, there were a few lore-dumps here and there at times. And though I could be splitting it in bits and pieces, by then, this already slow paced story would become something much more unbearable for me to personally write, as I'd have to pinpoint multiple different key moments to place lore of the past in places where I honestly didn't see it belong at all.
And don't even get me started on how my fusion with anime style fighting, mixed with irl world elements and believable, sometimes exaggerated (because ain't no way I wouldn't at least get a bit on that train) conversational elements came up. And just saying, this was a mediocre powertrip fantasy before I thought that the way this is going, with victory as a result of your typical OP MC is just a very downhill ride that doesn't add any excitement. Powers are there, but have obvious downsides and are unearned enough to lead to very dangerous situations with all the characters now, and as it should be on such early phases, because strength in numbers is what bonds are built after, something which I nearly didn't avoid before realizing that making everyone simply broken asf off the get-go is a perfect way to butcher potential storytelling.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
As such, I experimented a lot, such as with Terna's first side-arc where I went extremely narration heavy when the opportunity creeped up on me due to the lack of having to manage multiple character dialogues, letting me express a lot of artistic based, opera style narration and action (fitting to the character herself). But even before that, I was trying my best to write it in a way so that I could let the characters do the talking as they gradually discovered it all, with my cut in narrations only existing for emotional explanations, setting scenes and visual worldbuilding. Things do get a bit complex, I'll admit that, and sometimes, the characters are forced to do my lore dumping for me, but if there is to be any progression, someone has to do the deed, and with as many details as I have written down on my personal log, it rather needs to be done out of a necessity or not be done at all which is, of course, bad. But do I have room for improvement? Sure as hell do. There's a ton more balancing between all different character dialogues, lore etc. I have to do, and I hope to always keep improving. That holds especially true when I am forced to nail historical events that actually happened and tied in the story itself despite it's fantasy, and of course, cultural characteristics and personalities both the designs and the actual characters themselves that heil from all different parts of our world, now in Zero (a.k.a. every single one of the Abyss Hunters).
But to those who endured the early phases, where the world is set in and the goals are finally, finally revealed, the action starts on the second season of the story, where the world itself will crumble and be eaten to it's core, shall the characters not do something about it, all while growing up themselves as their powers will to. Now for something a little more...interesting?
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
As I mentioned, the first season is coming to an end. As for the second season...it's a struggle for me, honestly. Between doing a 2 year cycle of work>write>work>write while having university studies, it has been somewhat of an overbearing task to reach up to 1.5k-2k pages on season 1 with the amount of studying I had to also do to try and make everything make sense. And unfortunately also, it has finally come down to where I will need to head off to do my mandatory military service starting the first half of January, lasting around 12~ months, maybe more, maybe less, but no less than 9.
Adding to the fact that scraping by for character designs and everything (as you probably saw the lack of intermissions also) has become a challenge in of itself...but not too big to send the first season off with a bang. There will be one last character design intermission in the end, with, I kid you not, an original soundtrack that fits the final scene of the season, unlisted on YT, with the link being pasted here.
When I said through my posts and everything, that this has been a grand ambition of mine, I meant it. And though I struggled to keep up, mentally or financially, I wasn't letting up on it for a long time.
Nevertheless, about the second season's release...tricky. Between a year long military service, recent and very harsh self doubt about the project where I walk the thin line of keep going or dropping down...I don't know. This is obviously not the typical happy version of my posts, where it's really inexcusable to be so, given the milestone but growing numbers also means more responsibility on my part.
How I think of it, it's like I'm shoved on center stage, with 200 pairs of eyes on me and...between writing properly, writing good plot, making the characters sound like themselves and building a proper world after a narrative that sounds at least believable (with the obvious slight bending of rules of science and stuff bcz we don't want it completely bland off the fantasy aspect). Out of the little feedback I received, at least behind the scenes is that the concept is good, but the execution is...lackluster. Which obviously, frightens me for the future when that's the most I have to go off of.
Not saying that it's cancelled but...I can't deny that I'm getting burned out. As of now, it's my editor and I and where my editor's job ends at actually proof reading and correcting, managing my own time between work, university, writing, studying for university, studying for the story, getting in contact with artists for designs, managing where funds go and get distributed in the story in either advertising etc...yeah.
But my thanks still stands. I reached this goal thanks to you who gave me your time, through work that was either good/mediocre/bad, in just two years, which is nothing sort of amazing for an unestablished author. Where I take it from here, if I can find it in me to keep going until the end, it all lies within my guts to face that responsibility regardless of the storm.
We will talk again, don't worry. After all, I have to give you a proper season 1 sendoff, and I'll be there to do it. But regardless of what will be done after...thank you.