Time For A Writing + Anime Update!

Haven’t done a proper update (or a post in general) in a while. So let’s do that!

“So How’s Burning Sky Going?”

Right. First of all, in case you weren’t aware, the fifth chapter of Burning Sky Prelude dropped, today. Hope you guys enjoy that! As for our actual progress on things beyond what’s already hit the web, we’ve got some pretty exciting updates to talk about! Alas, I can’t mention all of them right this moment. But there’s still a nice little bit I can discuss. The most noteworthy is our forward progress on the first volumes of the other 9 series in the collection – Heroes, Dawnbringer, Prestige, Odyssey, Senshi, Virtue, Adventure, Divinity, and Kindred. We’ve made a lot of headway, there. The first drafts of several of those books are already done. And we’ve recently made some good strides on the ones that aren’t. I won’t say which, but now there are basically only 4 left to finish. Then we can do our first round of rewrites because we’re pulling a format change. After that it’ll be time for early readers!

So let’s discuss that format change. I recently mentioned that we were going to be pressing a change in format that would allow us to produce content more frequently, in shorter, more digestible packages. Briefer chapters, but more of them. We’re going to try that style and that means the books we’ve already finished, we’re going to be taking a look at, seeing where we feel comfortable breaking the longer chapters apart and making alterations. It’ll take us some time, but we think it’ll be a worthwhile experiment. One of the major upsides is that, under this format, we’ll be eventually be able to bump up our timetable to include weekly publication, if not daily. We want to be able to make this our primary thing. Not Burning Sky specifically (though, if we’re being realistic, it probably will be that for a while), but original content in general. Starting with our enormous Original English Light Novel project.

As for hard numbers, the three of us currently exist in pretty radically different life situations. So there is that to consider, but we operate less on time and more on word count. It just works better for us because it forces us to “put pen to paper,” rather than blowing time by just browsing the internet or staring at a blank screen. The goal-oriented style helps me far more than time-oriented, that’s for certain. Currently, I’m working on Burning Sky Prelude and two of the first volumes (again. not saying which). But since the former is already written and I’m just doing a final draft, I don’t measure that by word count. I just set a goal for the day of how far I want to get, based on the scene breaks. The other two series I plug in 500 words per day. And then if I still have any gas in the tank, I put a little into EXTRA (more on that, shortly). I am curious, though! Are you more of a goal-oriented writer, or do you prefer to work based on time?

Last in the Burning Sky camp is a pretty huge announcement. When we first revealed the scope of the project, we mentioned that it’d run on a subscription service. Well, our plans kinda took a hit. Certain opportunities we would’ve had to set that up were dashed and the recent global dilemma has caused some money troubles I’m not gonna get into. But we’ve decided that, at least for now, that’s no longer going to be the case. It still may come into effect, come future volumes. But at least for the first volumes of the series, the chapters will, as with Burning Sky Prelude be uploaded for free on our main site. We do still intend to eventually create a website specifically for the series, but yeah. Also, just to clear this up, we’re still going to make printed versions. Those you will still need to pay for. Because artwork and printing costs money. The artwork (aside from thumbnail variations of the covers) will not be posted on the website with the chapters. They will only be available in the printed or digital complete versions that you have to buy. It’s unfortunate, but due to those aforementioned circumstances, we also won’t be able to get the artwork made as easily. Hopefully this changes by the time we’re even ready on that. But for now we’re in a position where we have to make the project pay for itself, rather than the “out-of-pocket” approach.

Even with all that said, there are exciting things on the horizon for Burning Sky. I really believe in this story of ours and I’m looking forward to seeing just how far we can take it. Is it ambitious? Absolutely. But if anime has taught us anything, it’s that when ya have big goals, ya gotta push past them limits, yo.

“What about EXTRA?”

Nothing to report! Well, that’s not entirely true. But very little has changed since last I spoke about it. The first three chapters are finished and I’m waiting on early readers. I don’t really have a timeframe on that since I don’t have a set date that I’m aiming to launch it yet. But I’ll let ’em know when I do. I might’ve mentioned this before, but the first three chapters are just longer than the subsequent ones are going to be. At least in my head. So it’ll likely take a bit of time. I maintain that, if you’re interested in it though, feel free to reach out. I’ll send over some early reader copies, your way. For anyone not in the know, I’ll very shortly be making a post detailing all of the information on EXTRA, so far. Can’t wait to release it though!

“Watch Any Good Anime Lately?”

I watched the latest episode of Kaguya-sama: Love is War! It’s just… ugh, I love it. It was hilarious and then it was heartfelt. I adored every minute of it. I don’t have much more to say about it, though. I wasn’t really expecting the series to get that heartfelt, that early on. If anything, the second half of this episode felt like something one would expect from a season finale. But I’ve not read the manga, so I have no idea how that would’ve played and how much they have in store for the next several episodes. The humor is, as always, airtight. Even the memory lane bit, which was basically a glorified mini-recap segment, was just great. Reminding us of older jokes while also using them as springboards to tell newer ones. Just good stuff, across the board. Oh. And Bob did an Anime Burst on it that went up today, so there’s that.

I also got through a bit more of my rewatch of No Game No Life. I think I’m starting to get an idea of what I want to do with the upcoming episode on it, for the show. But I’ll finish the show first. Unfortunately, I’m kinda burnt out today. After I wrapped up that and getting the posts up on the main site for the day, I got dragged away to deal with the choriest of chores and it took several hours, kinda blowing my mood to watch… anything, really. Right now I just kinda wanna make something or play a videogame. I’ll just finish the show tomorrow or, if I’m really feeling up to it, in a few hours. It’s still just as fun as I remember it being. Though the sheer volume of abuse thrown Steph’s way still kinda bugs me. I never liked how she was treated. I “get” it, but it still makes me wince. And no, that’s not going to be the topic.

When I finish No Game No Life, I’m gonna move on to Flip Flappers. Then I’ll get back to my reread of the Medaka Box manga. Beyond that, I’m not really sure what I want to look at next. I don’t need to look back at The World God Only Knows because I already did that recently enough that it’s still pretty fresh in my mind. Probably My Next Life As A Villainess will be next on my list. Like I said, the anime I’m most looking forward to, this season, is BNA. But I’m gonna wait and binge that one when it’s finished.

“And How’s Quarantine Treating You?”

I’m fine. No significant life updates, anyway. I haven’t had an especially bad day or anything since this is kinda my norm. A few really rough games of Overwatch, but that’s honestly it. I may do a post on that another time, but… yeah. All right, that’s it for me. So I’ll close this out with the usual. Stay safe, Stay healthy, Stay Awesome!

Voyager