Ninth Suture

Hello everyone!

I imagine it was an unpleasant surprise when I announced Eikasia was in hiatus. I apologize for that. I was beginning to feel burned out from writing, and unrelated events didn’t help with matters. I anticipated the need for a break in November–but I thought I could finish up Chapter 13, plus the two bonus stories I owed you all. I was wrong. It’s my fault, stretching myself too thin when I knew I was about to give out. I’ll try and be more up front about it in the future. I’m not so much guilty about taking a break, just at how it came about so abruptly. That wasn’t fair to all of you, and showed a lack of professionalism. (despite my doing this all for free–it’s the principle of the thing!)

So if you’ve been following my occasional updates on Twitter I HAVE been working on Eikasia, but in different ways. First of all, I’ve been working up a lexicon explaining the different schools of magic and the different races found in Eikasia. (it’s at a total of 2723 words) I’ve also been trying to do a color map of the world and the continents. (Though those files were lost–I’ll explain in a moment…) And of course, I’ve been working slowly but surely on Chapter 14.1 (at 2206 words) and the Nyx Bonus Chapter that you guys earned from the review marathon. (still to be 4000 words, I remember! It’s currently up to 1459 words) After that bonus story is posted, I’ll have the poll for the next bonus story ready.

Much thanks to Hawk for the review he posted on Web Fiction Guide! That was very encouraging to see. I’ve added the 15 points to the point pool–which, I don’t know if you guys have noticed, I’ve been updating faithfully whenever someone does something to earn more points–despite the hiatus.

I’ve also got some crappy news. My laptop bit the dust. It may have been a virus, or a hardware issue (I’ve started suspecting the former). I haven’t got the moolah to fix it, and it happened at a silly time. I was beginning to contemplate buying a new desktop computer, but at this rate, do I opt for a cheap entry level laptop or suffer a long drought till I can get the new one? I’m not sure… Fortunately, my files were backed up before this happened, so my important notes for Eikasia were not lost. What I didn’t back up were the color maps I had completed of Eikasia’s world. I’ll have to start from scratch. But that isn’t all so bad I guess, is it?

I don’t know how much longer this hiatus will go on. I’m trying to get my mental health in order. Currently I’m focusing on work, school, and exercise. Suikoden 3 has also swallowed my soul. But as I’ve said before, I’ve been making sure to work on Eikasia now and again, to keep the iron hot, so I’ll be getting back to the weekly schedule eventually. If the weekly updates prove to be too much upon my return, I may start out with just bi-monthly updates, but that’s just a possibility.

So I hope everyone is taking care of themselves! If you need something to read during the hiatus, I have some weblit to suggest:

“Above Ground” by A.M. Harte (Dark Adventure Fantasy; Best Fiction Nominee for the Rose and Bay Awards 2010)

“The City of Roses” by Kip Manley (Urban Fantasy)

“Strange Little Band” by Nancy Brauer and Vanessa Brooks (Science Fiction with a lil’ Romance)

“Addergoogle” by Lyn Thorne-Alder (Contemporary Fantasy in a school setting)

OR!  If you can entertain the idea of fanfiction, and have played either Final Fantasy 7 or 8, I recommend:

“Fire and Ice” by altol (Final Fantasy 8;  Dark Romantic adventure, with Quistis and Seifer as the main characters;  one of my most favorite writers!  Greatly inspired the style and voice in my writing.)

“Vagrants Rhapsody” by…um.  Me. (Final Fantasy 7;  Eikasia’s awkward younger step-sister.  As it’s the last story I worked on, it has alot of the same style and voice as Eikasia does.  Also a lesbian romance. Main characters are Tifa and Yuffie.)

OR!  If you’re willing to go out and get the books, I also recommend reading these paperbacks:

“Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman (Dark Fantasy)

“Kitty and the Midnight Hour” by Carrie Vaughn (Urban Fantasy.  Believe me, the title is tongue-in-cheek.  The writing is actually quite good, and the protagonist grows on you.  Oddly enough, this is one of the major inspirations for Eikasia)

“Rubyfruit Jungle” by Rita Mae Brown (A bildungsroman–or coming-of-age tale–about a beautiful tough and funny lesbian from the south, and the challenges she faces in the 70′s.)

I hope some of those recommendations work for you!  Be sure to keep on an eye on my twitter updates.  Until next time, everyone.

So the bonus point goal of 100 points has been reached–with points to spare! This means you guys get yet another bonus update from me, at a minimum of 2,000 words. The extra points will be rolled over to the next point count, and we’ll start over as soon as a poll can be decided.

As I haven’t finished my LAST bonus update yet, I haven’t come up with a new poll. So for this week, I’ll give you all a chance to send me in your requests for Bonus Update topics. You can post them here, direct message/@reply me on Twitter, e-mail me, or post them on Facebook. I’ll take the best of those requests and put them in a new poll to be displayed in Eikasia’s sidebar. If no one gets back to me in time with suitable topics, I’ll just recycle some of the old choices from previous polls.

You guys can ask for whatever you can think of. Wanna know more about a particular character? How a certain magic discipline works? About a certain region, city, or sentient species? The mythology of Eikasia’s world?

Request a topic, and you can find out! I stop taking requests by Sunday (January 3rd) at midnight!

I got a new audio player for the site because I was getting tired of things not working right.  But if I’ve done that, surely I have something new to share with you all?

Amid the hectic nonsense that I inflict upon my own life, I’ve found a bit of respite in music. Some of these tracks reminded me of characters in Eikasia, so I thought I’d do something fun… You see Tite Kubo, creator of Bleach, had special songs for each of his characters–their “favorite” songs, so to speak.  In this case, none of MY characters would reasonably be listening to any of these songs I’m about to share, but the concept is mostly the same.

These aren’t the last word, at all.  They don’t catch the characters as a whole, but capture aspects of them in sound.  They give voice to personal fears, experiences, desires, and aspects of their personality.  Once again, this is me toying around with the idea of a “dream soundtrack”, but in a much more focused way.

Best that you see how this works.  It’ll be four tracks to each.  Naturally, we’ll start with Elle.

Elmiryn

Nyx

Quincy

Hakeem

Lethia

Some of these might get you scratching your heads–whether you think the genre is odd, or the lyrics are confusing, or the mood seems off…but believe me.  They fit.  Some of these songs might take time to be understood in full.  I can’t wait for next year!

So I hope you guys liked my peace offering!  Some of these songs (if you’ve been reading Eikasia the whole year) you’ll recognize from old playlists I’ve made.  I tried including new things…but hey.  When the shoe fits…

EDIT: And I figured I shouldn’t be a bitch and leave you all hanging, because I really have no idea when this next update will be done. (I know it sounds bad–because I SHOULD know this–but I’m not sure if I’m going to resume Chapter 13 or start Chapter 14…which is why I keep saying “the next update”) So here’s a small preview, because I haven’t done one in a while.  Remember, it’s subject to change:

Paulo sighed. Elmiryn watched him with arms crossed over her chest. The boy stopped behind Nyx, who had gone to where she had left her bag sitting near the rock wall. She knelt on the ground, apparently rifling through her belongings.

“Ah…” The boy glanced behind him. Elmiryn raised an eyebrow, lips puckered. Graziano waved for him to go on. Paulo turned back with shoulders visibly sagged. “Thank you…for doing that. You don’t know us, but…this telescope is very important.”

Nyx stood and turned around. “I didn’t do it because I like you. Or even for your father.” She held up her hand. Elmiryn came forward, spurred by curiosity to see what the girl had in her palm. As she neared, she saw that it was a ring. “This belonged to my dead brother. I thought about how I’d feel if I were to lose this…it isn’t…it isn’t who he was. I’m not holding him in my palm right now. But it’s a piece of a better time in my life. I didn’t want to be responsible for you losing a better time in your life.”

Nyx sat down, and Argos came trotting to sit next to her. She looked up at Paulo, who had turned his head away. “I’m enough of a blight just existing. I won’t let myself soil things further.”

Elmiryn frowned, eyes on the slim girl with wild dark hair and tawny eyes that gazed up in resignation. Paulo muttered something, perhaps another thank you, before trudging back to his scultone.

“Nyx…you little fool,” Elmiryn thought.

And of course, I can’t leave without some holiday something to give you guys, SO…

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!!

I felt bad that I’ve only been posting art on Facebook, so I decided to spread the lovin’ a bit more…but hey–if you guys wanna see more concept art you should totally become a fan on Facebook!

And yes!  The review marathon is done…so what have you guys earned?  A bonus update at a minimum of 4000 words!  Thank you to those who reviewed.  The bonus poll is closed, and the winner was option #2, “Nyx’s time as a spy for the resistance”.  You guys will recall that in Chapter 9, Nyx mentioned she did some cloak and dagger stuff for an anti-war faction.  The bonus update will be exploring that in detail.  Expect it sometime next week.

So…Did you get what you wanted?

The bonus update, “Cold Burns” is now finally available for your reading (dis)pleasure. I fought with this one a lot, notably because of the characters featured in it.  Oddly enough, Argos was the easiest to write of all of them.  Lethia, I fear, still has not quite found that added depth yet–partially because of the situations she’s cast in and the lack of time spent with her.  We haven’t been given an opportunity to see her in a more reflective state.  In hindsight, I regret choosing this particular story to do, because it didn’t afford that opportunity.  Lethia, in truth, isn’t that deep a character.  She has her ideals and sticks with them.  But depth isn’t what I’m struggling with–it’s making her relatable and sympathetic to all of you.

This update came about because Eikasia’s Facebook page reached 31 fans.  I’ve come to decide that updates earned in this manner should be decided only by those who helped make it happen.  In other words, the vote was purely for those fans on Facebook.  But no one voted, so I was left to choose an option myself.  When given the choice, I’ll always opt for fleshing out new characters–so this update (though I wish I chose a better topic–even one without the Moretti brothers) was to be expected.

As some of you may have noticed, the end of the year tends to have a great effect on my writing.  I miss updates, have frequent writer’s blocks, and get impatient with just about everything.  I get sick, I have many important events that I have to go to, end of the semester work to tackle, and I just plain get burned out.  It happened last year too.  I’m also disappointed that I wasn’t able to launch my new weblit, Susie Swordfish, this fall.  It was to be my urban fantasy adventure.  Hopefully I can get that up next year, when I can balance out my work and other RL obligations.

Still, I look forward to hearing some of your reviews next week.  (you guys didn’t forget about my special proposal, did you?)  I had something else on my mind, something which I must think over after the review marathon is over and I give you guys your update.  When I’ve come to a decision about this “something” I’ll post about it here on Ninth Suture…

Till next time, take care!

So, just to give ample warning, I wanted to let you guys that December 7th is my 21st birthday.  Everyone seems amped up to get me as fucked as possible–to which I am resisting.  I want to have fun, not get sick!  But enough of that…this announcement has an actual purpose.

You see, a week from my birthday will mark the one year anniversary since Eikasia has received its last review from the Web Fiction Guide.  The story has progressed much since then, and I’ve even edited the beginning a number of times…so here’s my request:

Starting on my birthday (not before) if ANY OF YOU give me ONE review on Web Fiction Guide on the 7th of December, you’ll have automatically earned a bonus update from me!  For every additional review up to the 14th, I’ll add 1000 words to the update.  So the first review earns the initial 2000, then a second review makes it 3000, a third makes it 4000, and so on…

Am I crazy for practically ASKING you guys to give me more work?  Maybe.  But I know that Eikasia is long overdue for a proper review, and I want it to come from people who know the story intimately.

Your opinions need not be kind–it’s a review after all.  But I still require you guys to lay down at least 300 words, and make sure to speak to possible readers, NOT me.  The goal of the review is to give newcomers an idea of what Eikasia is about, and whether or not they’ll like it.  If your review consists of two lines telling ME how awesome Eikasia is, I’m afraid it won’t count for the bonus update.  So please don’t do that!

…So there’s my offer.  You guys have THREE WEEKS to do a 300 word review for me!  Be honest, be sincere, and be detailed.  WFG won’t like a hurricane of flimsy reviews, and quite frankly, neither will I.  This is a really easy request to meet, and you guys get a lot in return for little work.  Take advantage of this offer!

Remember, this starts on the 7th of December and ends on the 14th!  Exactly seven days!  Any reviews before the 7th or after the 14th do not count.  Only reviews on Web Fiction Guide will be counted–but reviews to other sites still work toward the normal bonus point pool!

I look forward to hearing what you all have to say!

P.S.

In the instance that I get more than four reviewers before the 14th, the bonus update may have to be split.  I can only do so much in a short period of time!  Don’t worry, you’ll still get your word count.  :P

P.P.S .

Oh…and hey!  Eikasia’s Facebook page is two fans away from earning you all another bonus update!  Did’ja guys know there’s exclusive Eikasia artwork on FB? Do you have friends you can bug?  Have you added yourself yet!?  Get to it!

Hey there everyone! Just wanted to post up some quick news–MCM, the madman behind 3D1D and also the writer of the television show “Rollbots” is releasing the Collector’s Edition of Typhoon! It includes lots of fun extras, and will also be featuring two special black and white ads for Eikasia–one of which contains photographic art of Hakeem! You can pre-order the eBook and the printed book now. I’ll likely be grabbing a copy myself, so please check it out!

So there’s a guy who goes by MCM, determined to write the first draft of his novel, “Typhoon”, in 3 days. He’s the author of “The Pig and the Box” and “Torrent Boy”, and the creator of the television series “Rollbots”.  He’s set aside little time to sleep, take care of basic hygiene, and do fatherly responsibilities.  Every HOUR he cranks out a new chapter. I had to let you guys know this was going on.  Today (Oct 6th) is the first day, and as of right now he’s only up to Chapter 2.

Video made by Jan Oda, prominent member of the weblit community.

Be sure to check in and read it. Seems like this’ll be fun.  Crazy.  But fun.  :)

“Doorways are passages to new realms.  I have opened many doors in my life, and shut many behind me…but this time, I have ripped the door from its hinges, leaving an opening without end.  I would have others follow me.  I would have you follow me.”

So Chapter 10 is now finished, its ending signaling a change in the overall feel of Eikasia.  Nothing drastic, but still important.  I love introducing new characters, and as some may have noticed in the site’s Story Navigation under “Character POVs”, these newcomers are especially important.  Whereas other characters may still be of particular importance to the story, returning now and again to take part in the adventure, and even to offer a brief and very occasional look at the world through their eyes–the ones to watch for are the ones listed under POVs by name.

It’s the only hint I’ll give as to their relationship in the story.  These recently introduced characters, I am not afraid to say, will be around for a while.  Why?  How?  Only the course of their adventure will tell.  I may occasionally shift views to auxilliary characters or other frequent cast members, but not nearly as much.  When that happens, they’ll be filed under “Other” beneath POVs.  I prefer stories with multiple viewpoints, and while I admit–large casts and convolution has been one of my bigger problems in writing–I mean to avoid head-hopping.  Hopefully some of you, along with my great and wonderful editor, will keep me from going overboard.

In a way, I have reached a point of no return, but still, the door is open.  What new wonders will stumble in, now that Eikasia has taken this route?

Speaking of open doorways, I’ve come up with some other ways for all of you to earn bonus updates!  Currently, Facebook is only 3 fans away from reaching another update.  But not everyone likes Facebook, and there’s only so many friends and family for you all to badger.  So in light of this, I decided it was time to show some appreciation for the other things you folks do.  Commenting on chapters, pointing out typos, linking to Eikasia, leaving reviews, donating money… Those are some of the major things that help me out, that encourage me, that encourage others to give the story a chance.

Starting today, all of you will be working towards a total of 100 points.  This goal does not include number of Facebook fans (atleast for this first go around) since bonus updates every 10 new fans seems to be working fine, and you guys are currently only 3 away from another update anyway.  So here’s how it’ll go:

1. Every unique reader who comments on a chapter earns 2 points.*
2. Every unique reader who points out a new SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) mistake or continuity error earns 5 points.
3. Every unique reader who links to Eikasia earns 3 points. You must contact me with the page where the link is located–or if you’re linking on Twitter, just reply with @cajeck and/or the #Eikasia hashtag and be sure to mention that you actually read the story (as now and again I’ll have a kind non-reader give me a shout out)
4. Speaking of Twitter, every RT of #Eikasia OR #weblit tagged posts earns 1 point.
5. Every unique review on Web Fiction Guide, Muse’s Success, or any other review site for that matter (at a minimum of atleast 300 words, unless the site prevents that) earns 15 points.  Be sure to contact me and link to the review so that I know.**
6. Every time someone donates 5 USD or more through paypal, they earn 8 points.  Donations of 20 USD or more automatically get a special chapter from me, your choice of subject.  You can choose to share this with others, or keep it for yourself.***

*Just to clarify, you get 2 points for every chapter you comment on–but you don’t get more points for commenting on a chapter more than once.

**The 300 word minimum is necessary, as the point of a review is to give a potential reader a well-articulated idea of what the story is about, and whether they would be interested in it.  These can’t be written as if they were directed at me–if you wish to critique, feel free to message me or leave a comment on a chapter.  These reviews should be geared towards readers.

***Monetary donations, though very much appreciated, do not earn as much as reviews because they do not have the potential to attract new readers.  However, every time the points are reset, you can donate to earn points again.  As for large donations ($20+), the minimum amount of words still applies–2000–and you can only expect this from me once a month per person.  If I have multiple large donators in a month, I may have to spread your requests apart to keep sane.  My gratitude would be endless, but in consideration of other readers and my own personal obligations (work, school, family etc.) I can only do so much at once.

If you think the end goal is too high, keep in mind that the 100 points is a common pool also contributed to by your fellow readers.  Also, please remember that these bonus updates are extra work that I’m willing to take on to show my gratitude.  In the instance that the points go over, they will roll over to the next update.  To get you guys started, I’ll include all comments and corrections posted since Part 2 began. That leaves you all with 43/100!

If I can find a nice visual progress bar, I’ll use that.  For now, I’ll just post the point total in text on both sites–to be updated manually by me as time goes on.  These conditions may be tweaked in the future, as this is the first time I’ve tried this.  In the meantime, chat on Facebook with other readers, or message me with your ideas of what you’d like to see for the next bonus update.  If not, I’ll just put up my own list when the time comes.

…The doorway is open you guys.  You gonna step through?

After School, We’re Waiting by ~ace68 on deviantART

5AM.

Woke with a groan that incited further discomfort from the source–my tonsils.  Once again, they were swollen.  I was immediately upset.  I had promised my 2nd graders apples and a movie today.  I couldn’t possibly work if I couldn’t even talk above a mutter.  I went and told my dad, who had been up doing his morning exercises (and one and two and three and four,) he was out in the back, having a smoke break. His eyebrows went high.  They felt like those volume levels you see on some of those fancy stereo interfaces–only his eyebrows displayed the level of my own dread, instead.

“Go to the urgent care today,” he said, cigarette smoke trailing from his nostrils. “Just to check.”

“You think it might be tonsilitis or something?”  I sounded like I was gargling water.  I had to repeat myself because I couldn’t bring myself to raise my voice.

“Go to the clinic, they’ll tell you.”

Two minutes and a google image search later, I go back to him.  ”My tonsils don’t look like that!” (of course, as I’m talking to him, I’m trying to resist the reflexive swallow that my tonsils cause as they get intimate with the back of my tongue)

My dad, exasperated, waves away my skepticism.  ”Don’t worry about it!  It doesn’t hurt to check.  You don’t want to go to work, do you?”

“Well yes, but not like this.”

“Then quit worrying about it.”

I go back to bed, but not before texting my site supervisor, just to let her know what’s what early on.  Wake up again at 6:30.  Get up out of bed and shuffle outside, with my hair upright and my eyes squinted to an Asian’s fraction.  ”Daddy, the swellings gone down.” I sounded less dorky.  …Less dorky.

My dad rolled his eyes, but smiled a little bit.  ”I said don’t worry about it!”  I was being a bit of an immature prat, I know, but I felt (feel) guilty.  I’m certain I’ll be told by the clinic to just stay home.  While I got why, I wished I didn’t have to.

Back to bed I go.  When I wake up again, my dad’s gone and it’s 10 ‘o clock.  The clinic opened at 8AM. “Crap!”  Up out of bed.  Check facebook, email, browser games, etc….then realized it’s 9/11.  I knew that earlier this week, but this morning I forgot.  Felt stupid.  My mind flashed back to that day, the shock on my mother’s face, the fear that hit me, sitting in bed, watching the planes crash into the towers over and over.  Decided I’d have to meditate on this.

I get going to the clinic.  While I’m waiting there, one of the ladies calling names catches my attention.  I recognize her immediately.  She was a girl from my middle school years.  She used to like humiliating me in front of others to make herself look like a bad ass.   I didn’t feel like running away, on the contrary, I stare her straight in the eye.  She was puzzled by my aggressive demeanor, but she didn’t remember who I was.  After I was taken care of, I paused to get her attention.

“Hey,” I say, voice still sounding funny.  I say her name a few times.  It takes a few tries before she realizes I’m talking to her.  She looks completely confused now.  ”Do you remember me?” I ask, voice mild.  She said she didn’t, a bemused smile on her face.

The entire time I waited for my turn, I thought about telling her, flat out, “Hey, yeah, I went to school with you.  You made me want to commit suicide.  There were whole months that I’d wake up crying knowing I’d have to see you in class again.”

But I didn’t.

I just shrugged and said, “Yeah, I went to middle school with you.” Didn’t say my name, since she saw it on my clipboard.  ”How’re you doing?”

“Good.”  A pause, the smile is a little fixed.  ”You?”

“Alright,” I smirk and point at my throat. “Except…y’know, tonsils.”

“Oh,” she laughs.  A co-worker nearby, listening in, chuckles a little and smiles at me.

“Well, bye.  Take care.”

“Bye.”

I didn’t feel awkward or disappointed.  In a way, the encounter was still cathartic.  The moment she said she didn’t remember, it occured to me that there was no way to be angry at a person like that.  In truth, I had already moved beyond those past moments, and had even played the role of bully myself sometimes.  Who was I to judge?  Maybe she’s a better person now?  What use would there be in bringing up the past?  It wouldn’t make her any closer to being a better human being, and most certainly wouldn’t do anything for me.  I shrugged, got in my car and left.

After an hour waiting in the pharmacy (mostly my fault, I think I missed when they called my name) I came home.

…And that’s my 9/11 so far!  Just thought I’d share.

Did everyone enjoy Chapter 9.3? After the update I went to Oakland with my best friend. (who’s got her own site on Eighth Circle Studios, she just hasn’t done anything yet…go bug her!) The Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert there was incredible! Perhaps one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to (right there with my first–seeing Mindless Self Indulgence before they got big).  I was REALLY close to the stage.  So close that I managed to take this with my phone when Karen O came to interact with concert-goers:  http://twitgoo.com/38v4n It was a VERY good 9/9/9.

I wanted to maybe do a short update for today, but yesterday was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to even do a little bit of writing.  Today, I’m mostly going to try and rest.  Y’know, catch up with class reading and maybe start Eikasia Chapter 10.

…You guys will have noticed by now, but Eikasia has a new facebook page!  For every 10 new fans, I’ll do a special update, just like I did Wednesday.  So if you’re on facebook, show some love!  Spread the news!  Help Eikasia grow!

Till next time folks.