Update #2

I was planning to write an essay explaining what I was planning, but got to work researching instead.

At the very moment, I’m amassing quite a few books to read, mainly VR not to lose the theme, and the first one has already greatly exceeded my expectations.

If I find a few similar ones it should be enough to start off anew with a nice, complete plot for Loiterous. Hopefully a new magic system as well, since the elemental one is full of plot holes.

I will also be taking part in James Patterson’s Masterclass, so that should help a bunch with the newby style.

Anyways, that’s about all. I have no idea when will I even begin to get an outline, or a first arc, as I’m still researching, but I’ll keep you guys posted.

Thanks for having my back so far and encouraging me even during this long, desolate break.

Quick update

Since I’ll have an almost monthly break from uni after midterms, I’ve decided to get my hands on Loiterous again, hopefully ending the dreadful hiatus.

Whether it will be “resurrected” in any way, shape or form will be revealed after the February 20th, maybe sooner.

If I won’t be able to get back into it, I’ll just write something else and come back to it when I’m more… experienced, I guess. VR genre is a hard nut to crack. Especially if you want to make it logical.

Anyways, I’m dead tired from midterms that have already started and will last for the next week and some, so I’ll post a bigger update around January 20th.

If you have any suggestions as to how to make the VR relevant to the story, make sure to comment.

Thanks for the encouragement during my long break guys, it meant a lot.

Announcing Hiatus

I’ve tried guys. A lot of thinking went into this decision before I made it, as I didn’t want a rewrite, yet it was bound to happen. But even that wasn’t enough. Not with the setup I currently had. This includes both the setting, number of characters and the already existing chapters.

Too little planning went into writing Loiterous, and although discovery writing is fun, it isn’t used in online publishing for a reason. Discovery writers rewrite their novels after they’re done. Before they do, everything is out of place. Authors like me don’t have that luxury.

Originally, I had this long post written explaining my reasoning, but I don’t think that’s adequate. An experienced writer would probably come up with one sentence that describes it all. I thought a little and I did come up with one.

I just wasn’t good enough.

That’s why I decided to announce an indefinite hiatus until I have a proper outline. A story about characters who are both alive and memorable.

From what I can say from the initial planning, there will be at least 3 main characters, including Jason (Icicle). This is all for now, as there is still much for me to learn. I hope to return to you guys with a story that will be both entertaining and original in a few months.

See you then.

Need another week

TL;DR: I need one more week to implement the changes and show the results. Read below for the short explanation.

These two weeks flew by quickly. I didn’t expect my research to take this long, but at least it has proven fruitful. To some degree. I haven’t been able to do much… not yet.

The problem I encountered almost immediately was style. The narrative has been too crude for the story I have envisioned. Lately, I was writing chapters to keep to the wanky schedule, follow the deadline, instead of showing you guys the story it was supposed to be.

For that I apologize. I was so preoccupied with what to do with the characters’ past that I didn’t focus on the “present”. Recent chapters were unnecessarly prolonged, losing in quality. I’ve noticed that, but glanced it over, toiling away to write yet another chapter. Your comments made me fully aware.

Anyways, that is fixable. It will definetely make me incorporate some changes, most likely switching some scenes, addding more detail.

To the point now. I have been looking for a new narrative. Something that will let me express myself better, instead of stringing the words together just so they can make do. Reading is about that magic after all, something that makes us visualize the events in fluidity. Too plain and it won’t be magical. Too sophisticated and the readers will frown at the strangeness. Finding that tenuous balance is what separates the good writers from the great.

I could rant about how I read for over 10 hours a day to find the answer, but it’s not really that important. What matters is that it worked. However, after I read through a 400 000 words behemoth of a book, I haven’t had the time to implement any of the changes.

Thus, I’ll have to ask for a week more of your patience. I honestly doubt I will be finished by then. There’s a lot of chapters to rework, but it has to be done. At least if I want to proceed forward in a steady, comfortable way.

Fear not, I will not get over my head with another rewrite. I DO NOT plan on changing everything. If anything, I plan on adding more detail to the world, so that it doesn’t feel so flat. There probably will be some new content mixed in too, chapters of real life or interludes of the past. I feel like there has been way too little focus on that matter.

Sadly, it means more work for me and probably a REREAD for YOU. I’ll bring you guys the results, at least a few chapters by the end of the week so you can judge whether the change of narrative is for the better or if I should find another way around all this. All I can say for now is that the new narrative is that of published books. Whether I can use it well, as I said, you’ll be the judge of.

I’ll try to get a chapter from the beginning of the series and a couple of the latest ones, although do mind that these will be the “test chapters”, so they might differ a bit in the long run.

Thank you for all your recent support, you guys are awesome <3.

 

Taking a week break

I need to take some time off to read my own work and rework some of the latest chapters.

The main changes:

  • Vilenne’s and Icicle’s relationship progressing faster
  • More real life between in-game chapters
  • Tweaking some scenes, characters and dialogues

That should be all for now, I’ll get a change log if anything major changes. I might do something to the identifying process, we’ll see.

As for the chap 46, it will come out in a 3 chapters batch next week.

Chapters in 3 days & writing article

I had most of chapter 39 and the prologue written out, but the whole thing was too short-sighted. For the last few days, I’ve been working with an improved version of the next arc, hence the delay.

The prologue itself is almost done, I’m just figuring out how much information I can give you without revealing too much.

Anyways, I’ll release chapter 39 in 3 days and be done with prologue by the end of the week. Once I’m done with both of them, I’ll try to release some extra chapters to compensate for the delay.


Now, for the writing guide. I’ve been writing for over a year, so I thought I should help others start along this road. With that thought, I made a little guide for the budding, aspiring writers.

The issues presented in the guide are quite general, so for case specific matters you can ask me in the comments/mail me at tyhuko@gmail.com

Writing Guide

Many thanks to Zhaernon for including pictures and the bookmarks!