Hello there everybody, a few big announcements.
The first few chapters have been updated in a chunk, as I go through the first part I will be adding detail and fixing up wording. After going through the writeathon I feel like I have come far, not like super far, I'm still a new writer, but far compared to the first chapter that I literally wrote and posted it while drunk because I was afraid of posting it online. The important part for you guy's, the story, its plot and characters are not changing, and if you don't want to go back and read it, you don't have to. If a detail becomes important that you don't remember reading it, it will still be explained as it comes up. Down below in a kind of change log, it's not perfect, but if you want a quick recap it's there.
Most of the changes are more along the lines of quality of life than large stuff.
An example is how when Saphine comes from the cave she now also looks north and spots the ruined monastery. It's details like that, for the most part,
I'll quickly recap them further down, chapter by chapter, for those that don't want to go back but want the details. For those that do want to go back and read, each chapter is marked with a .1, so 1.1 and so on. Each also has a poll at the bottom, and I'll give you reputation if you leave a comment, just like I do for everyone that leaves an edit, it's not much, but I can always revert the chapter if it's objectively worse. If your reading this in the future, or don't care, then just skip to the next chapter or down to look at the rest of what's going on.
The chapters will have the .1 for a week or two, so check them out.
Patreon
Now that that's out of the way, I have a backlog, not much, but a backlog is backlog. When I get up to five or six chapters, I'll be launching a Patreon, if that doesn't interest you, feel free to skip to the next section.
The Patreon only has four tiers right now, one for donation at $2 a month, with the other three giving you four weeks of extra chapters each and access to a monthly Patreon interlude. I say weeks because if Patreon takes off, I would love to increase the rate I release chapters, so if I get enough to make it a part-time job I'll post extra chapters every week. I'll be putting it in the post-chapter author's note when it comes out.
Currently, the tiers don't give much more than extra chapters, but the top tier subscription does give the right to vote on stuff, like Patreon chapters, which will be bonus content, and I'm not against adding extra stuff if it gets going.
I have a few milestones roughed in, although I have no idea how realistic they are.
$250 is for bonus chapters in the form of an interlude once a month which will be released on Royal Road just like other chapters, Patrons will get the chapter however many weeks ahead of the RR release, just like a normal chapter.
$500 will get an increase in chapter releases from once on Wednesday to Wednesday and Friday, which will be echoed on Royal Road and in the number of chapters each tier gets.
$1000 will be an increase up to three chapters, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
If we get there, which is kind of crazy for me to think about, I'll have to come up with more. But with those three, it would go from 4/8/12 chapters for Patrons to 12/24/36 chapters of reading which is kind of crazy to think about.
BAMG
Soo, I kinda did a thing.
Listen, it's not what your thinking, I don't know what your thinking, but it's not whatever that is.
Unless you were thinking a different story, then it is what you were thinking.
I got this idea in my head, and then much like with this story, I pushed it aside and wrote something else. But the idea kept coming back, so I decided to just get it out of my head, indulge it a bit and then leave it once I had gotten it out of my system.
Then I wrote nearly 5000 words, fixed up a map of a solar system and a bunch more. So that's a thing now, I guess? It's out now, and will update Fridays. I'm looking to have shorter chapters closer to 2000 instead of 3000.
BAMG, or Bad Ass Magical Girls, will be more like a Space Western. Part soft Sci-fi but with highly advanced technology akin to magic, set in a futuristic solar system where Humanity got to the stars, decided they didn't want to do the hard work and made stuff to do it for them before collectively biting the big one and leaving their creations with what was left behind. Future tech alongside cap and ball revolvers, swords and laser guns. Spaceships and wagons.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
As for the Magical Girl part, think like the Tenno from Warframe, running around picking up artifacts like a Metroidvania upgrade and dealing with horrors both describable and beyond comprehension.
Check out the first chapter, Interception. Link in the lower author's note.
The Edit
So here it is, this is the part where I tell you what I did.
Chapter 1.
The chapter has been re-arranged a little. I mentioned Kobold and described the differences between Goblins and Kobolds earlier in the chapter.
Kobolds are more like animal people, with the ears and noses of their counterparts. They don't have fur, or a tail, just independent traits and a little instinct, whereas Goblins are (technically were but that's for a future chapter) Animal people, muzzles, fur and all.
Some more about the other related cousins of Kobolds, along with a brief bit describing them as Quilinoids instead of humanoids which is a nod to their ancestors, the Quilin.
Saphine's race got brushed to the wayside when I forgot about it, she's a DeerFox which is based on a maned wolf.
The general name of the region the valley is in gets referred to as Qiland.
I softened Saphine, and the dialogue to be more like a person. She no longer just tells Ayme she's going to die, etcetera.
I added a detail that talks about Saphine getting lost as a kid and bumping into an elf who helped her, topics related to what this now illudes to already exists and will come up in a few chapters again.
Ayme's mother exhibits the age-old trait of scurrying
Lord Mynes is now referred to as a Count, where as later on, he will be referred to as a Barron, which signifies a fall in noble rank. It's a small detail but one that helps flesh out the world just an itty bitty bit.
General editing and styling.
Chapter 2.
Extended dialogue with Kindly and Skipseo.
Minor talk about herbs, and healing.
Brief talk about Saphine's mom.
Saphine gets the ingredients for Kindly's tea
The later part of the chapter with prayer was made into its own chapter.
General editing and Styling
Chapter 3.
New chapter, all other chapters were shifted up one.
The chapter covers prayer, and going into the tomb.
The chapter includes a brand new Skipseo monologue as Saphine uses her skills for the first time in the story.
Magical puberty, and a proper explanation about the first few levels, which comes up next chapter.
General editing and Styling
Chapter 4.
Chapter now end's when Saphine gets to the top of the ladder.
An emphasis was placed that the laughter was something that happened against Saphine's wishes.
General editing and Styling.
Chapter 5.
Expanded upon the descriptions of the City and its surroundings.
General editing and styling.
Chapter 6.
Went through the text and expanded upon it.
The conversation has a slightly different content, less tangent about her marriage and an insinuation that Clause.
Small detail change to when Anna thinks about magic to help with distinguishing early on, which we will be retreading later on and expanding upon.
General editing and Styling.
I know I probably missed some stuff, but the first chapters definitely needed the most TLC.
Art
I told you there was going to be art, and here it is. I use the art I generate to get a clear vision of the characters, modifying them in gimp if NovelAi's image generator won't give me what I want. They're not super polished, but here they are.
Saphine
[https://i.imgur.com/D44iiOy.png]
Also Saphine
[https://i.imgur.com/b0EA7lD.png]
Anna
[https://i.imgur.com/jiUkdIt.png]
More Anna but done with Fotor
[https://i.imgur.com/w1wv0vf.png]
Rough Map Sketch, this one is rather large. Old moarn(The big flat rock thing) and new moarn are in the top left. This one is no Ai, everything is just gimp.
[https://i.imgur.com/7to9Fzr.jpg]
Conclusion
Well, that's all for now, holy moly, look at that word count. Quick talk, I always read the comments, even if I don't reply. If you have comments, suggestions on stuff, or even things you want to see as part of the edit, leave a comment. It's been a blast writing, Spade Song, but it's my first story, so I want to make sure it's something you want to continue reading, while also sticking to the main theme that I started with.
I want to make sure it's something I can look back at and not cringe myself to death over in a year or two, you know?
I'll get back to writing chapters now.
Hope you have a good week, I'll see you next Wednesday, and also Friday for BAMG now I suppose.
-Articoke.