02/07/2022 Patreon Devlog

This Week's Summary:

• Edited Ch 8
• Edited Ch 9
• Edited Ch 10
• Started Ch 11

The Ramble:

So this week I edited Chapters 8, 9, and 10 - and started Ch 11.

Ch 8 - didn't require massive revisions I don't think (at least I don't remember any) but I did end up doing a bit of reorganising the chapter divisions.

Ch 9 - involves a lengthy conversation with Reuben, who makes a cameo in this route. I had made some earlier (minor) plot shifts that required this conversation to have a lot of smaller edits for continuity. I also did a lot of reorganising in terms of chapter divisions, shifting a huge chunk of the content toward the end of this route to the beginning of the next chapter.

There is also a tense/action sequence in this chapter so it needed smoothing out to make it more exciting.

The love scene also happens in this chapter so that had to spruced up. I still want to go back and read a couple of the others in other routes to make sure they read similarly and that it's roughly the same(ish) length. I'll do that on my second round of editing.

Ch 10 - another chapter with an action sequence. This one required me to actually make a floor plan of Quill's flat. I have four images for Quill's flat. One of them is just a close-up of the loft you see in the full image. The others are a bathroom and a terrace.

However, Morgan makes reference to Quill having a work space that isn't pictured in the full image - and my assumption has been that it's in the foreground and sort of "behind" where the viewer would be standing. It's not really an image to assume "off screen" portions of a background because the player can use their imagination. The terrace door, for example, would also be off screen. But I realised that I needed a clearer mental picture of Quill's flat to write out this scene of them dealing with an intruder they find in the flat when they come home one afternoon.

I realised that my descriptions of various parts don't quite line up and I probably need to slightly revise a couple of scenes to account for where the entrance really would have to be. Not a big deal - and honestly, most players wouldn't notice. But it helps me quite a lot to picture things like this clearly.

Overall, this week I did a lot of revising. There was a lot of reworking, re-ordering, fixing continuity, smoothing things out, etc. I removed several massive chunks of the story that were no longer needed after I'd smoothed out earlier scenes.

That said, again, the amount of rewriting means there's a lot of new content that really needs a second look. That is why I will be doing a second (probably faster) revision round after this one.

Overall, this stage of revising is nearing an end but I do realise I am going to have to go through the route a second time for another clean up.

One thing that has been a struggle in this route is the fact that the antagonist has complex motives that are really unclear to the main group and there's not a way for them to really work out what Nico is after so there's a lot of stuff with them speculating and no logical way to reveal the  truth. This is something I want to try to address in revisions to see if I can clear up the guy's motives just a little and maybe work him into some earlier scenes a bit more than he is there now.

Quill's route deals a lot with the internal politics of Nysa as its plot. Morgan is along for the ride and ends up playing a significant role - but not in the same way as she does in other routes. For her, she's just trying to live her life and adapt to the changes. She gets dragged into this very political situation because Quill is a central committee member. Her being an Esper is actually quite incidental to the plot - unlike all the other routes (including Lance's) where it's the reason she's involved.

That adds some unique challenges to writing and setting up the plot.

Sneak Peeks:

I had joked previously that Quill needs a version of his hair with the front clipped back of his eyes. I doodled this last week (maybe the week before?) and now you all get to see it. 🤣🤣

Upcoming Week:

As expected, I didn't finish this round of editing this week. There's been a lot of crappy things happening in the world this week which is always a huge drag when it comes to creating.

But also these three chapters were just a little tricky to edit (particularly 9 and 10). I expect the next four chapters to be tricky, easy, tricky, easy. LoL

Chapter 11 starts the final act and begins the sequence of events that lead to the story climax.

Chapter 11 has a substantial amount of action in it. Chapter 12, is a lot of talking and planning, with some action toward the end. Chapter 13 is the climactic ending. And, of course, Chapter 14 is the story resolution.

So that's what I'll be doing this week. Hopefully I will get through this round and be able to start on round 2 of revising.

I do expect round 2 to go faster. I just want to knock the revisions out and move to the next stage, but I don't want to rush either. Writing is THE place I can't afford to rush. So I'm trying to force myself to take it slow and make sure this route gets the polish it needs and that you all deserve as players and supporters.