23/01 Patreon Devlog

Hi everyone! Time for this week's devlog! You may have guessed it but......

I'm going to talk about writing a lot! LoL

This Week's Summary:

• Finished Magnus Chapter Eleven
• Started Magnus Chapter Twelve
• Maggie's route is just shy of 100,000 words
• One completed BG. The...The LAST BG.

The Ramble:

Okay, so first...writing. So far, I'm still hitting my daily goals - though a few days it's been only just.  As I mentioned, Maggie's route is just shy of 100k (about 98.6). I'm currently in chapter 12. I basically have two and a half more chapters to go.

The current chapter has a love scene in it, which is always fun to try to get through. LoL I was thinking about it last night - Ari is the only other character so far whose romantic development waited until just before the story climax.

Morgan and Magnus are having to work through some things at this time as well, so it'll culminate in the two of them taking...comfort...in each other's presence. I'm also excited because this is the first time I've gotten to write about the Twilight Wastes...so it's nice to explore a brand new setting within the world!

I have, essentially, been writing like crazy every single day. Currently, I have to continue writing at least 1200 words a day to hit at least 110,000. I expect Maggie's route to go a little over 110k but it's not going to be as bad length-wise as I was thinking for a while.

So that's good.

I do expect Maggie's route to require a substantial amount of editing. I've written it very quickly and I know Magnus isn't really in-character in places. This isn't uncommon actually. A lot of times I add characterisation when I edit. This is particularly true for characters who are funny/joking characters. Or if there's a lot of banter. I really don't write humour on my first passes - not much of it anyway. I focus on including that during subsequent edits.

But, of course, I won't be editing until after I start Lance's route - which I'm going to try to give myself 10 weeks to complete. When I get there. SO...yeah.

In art news, we received our last BG! I wasn't expecting to get it this week but Son pulled through and I'm really ecstatic. I'm still waiting to see the variations for it (we're using the same training room for the training area at the Fianchetto manor, but I'm having it recoloured to match the manor decor.

I'm not sure if I will do much with the backgrounds yet? I might poke at coding some during weekdays when it's more difficult to write. This means replacing all the placeholders with their official BGs (all of which we have now). As well as setting up and coding the new BGs.

If I do happen to do this, it means I'll probably start coding in Ari's BGs as I've mentioned.

Sneak Peeks and Previews:

And a snippet from Caissa's Route:

Caissa: "Do you...understand things a little better now?"

Morgan: "I think I understand your goals better now, yes."

Caissa: "I know when you came here you didn't expect to become tangled in Crimson's affairs. But know that Jack wasn't truly lying to you when he said you'd be a part of the Court."

Caissa: "That is the ultimate purpose."

Caissa: "I apologise I didn't find a way to make it clearer from the start. My father was more heavy handed from the start, and the push back was more extreme than I expected."

Caissa: "I found myself struggling to prove your worth in a way I hadn't anticipated. I didn't expect my father to take such an interest in your development."

Caissa: "When I realised how interested he and others were in you I was concerned about bringing you to the Court."

Caissa: "I panicked and handled things poorly. I put the Court above your needs and forced you into an environment I hate, knowing how painful it would be for you."

Caissa: "I am sorry."

Morgan: "Thank you. For bringing me here today."

Morgan: "I'm sorry, too. For...I don't know, thinking the worst of you, I suppose."

Caissa: "In some ways I'm used to it."

Morgan: "There's one more thing...I want to say, though."

Caissa: "Yes?"

Morgan: "I know you keep saying you aren't Deimos...like it's a bad thing. But I don't..."

Morgan: "I don't think it's bad. I think it's enough to just be yourself."

"For a moment, I don't think he knew what to say. He coughed abruptly and looked away."

Caissa: "That's surprising, coming from you."

Morgan: "Well..."

Morgan: "I haven't enjoyed being a prisoner. Or your father threatening me."

Morgan: "But you know, I chose to go with Jack and I understand, somewhat, that there has been a certain inevitability to how things played out. That not everything was in your control."

Caissa: "Do you...do you regret choosing us?"

Morgan: "I don't know. I mean yes - at times."

Morgan: "I haven't acquired the ability to see into the future yet. Much less to compare what might have been with what is."

Morgan: "I made the choice that seemed best at the time."

Morgan: "The only thing upsetting about it was that it wasn't what I expected. But it's also not as bad as I thought it was, which is...a relief?"

Morgan: "And I do think there's value in what you're doing here, you know."

Caissa: "Will you help me do it? I know...it isn't what you wanted. And at least for now, I don't believe there's a way to let you return to that life."

Caissa: "Perhaps...in the future."

Caissa: "When we're no longer subject to what my father wants."

Morgan: "I'll help you. I mean, of course I will. What kind of person would I be to say no to helping make life better for others here?"

Caissa: "Will you help even if it turns out your desired future is irreparably broken?"

Morgan: "If that's the case then I'll have to fix it. Or find a new one. That's..."

Morgan: "That's how life works, isn't it?"

Morgan: "I'm sure everyone here has had to do that."

Morgan: "Even you."

Caissa: "That's...I..."

Morgan: "Isn't that part of what you're doing here?"

Caissa: "I suppose I can't deny that."

Morgan: "Then I fit in well."

Caissa: "I...suppose you do."

"It was funny but when I finally was back in my own room..."

"For the first time in a while, things seemed...less bleak. Hopeful almost."

"And I felt like I finally had something to look forward to."

Upcoming Week:

I have around 11,000 words left to hit the 110k marker for Magnus' route, which is obviously what I'll try to complete in the upcoming week.

I think the remainder of Chapter 12 will go fairly quickly since it effectively ends with the love scene (I have a bit more to write before I get to that moment, though).

Chapter 13 is the most difficult for every route since it involves the story climax. I think I have a general idea of how I intend that chapter to flow, though. I'm hoping I can get through it quickly. Chapter 14 is the wrap up and best endings so it's usually much shorter than the other chapters and not quite as difficult to write.

It's so great to be this close to the ending and see the light at the end of the tunnel - both for Maggie's route and this part of the development in general. Having just one route left of the original six is *such* a huge relief. Especially given how difficult the last few routes have been.

My overall word count for Gilded Shadows is 590,000 words. I've not mentioned for a while that the coded word count always drops by a significant amount after all the menu text, labels, and character tags get removed. It actually comes to about 2000 words lost per route in the end. So it's actually a little less than 590k. This is just the uncoded number.

Either way...it's a lot of words! LoL

And that's all for this week. By next week I'm hoping I'm either finished with Maggie's rough draft or very, very close to it. We'll have to see, but here's hoping.

See you then!