State of the Realm 2013, Part Two

First Sun Saga also had some good work this year in fleshing out the broader story. I terms of completed chapters it is in the same place as Third Moon. In terms of development of story ideas it is probably a little further ahead most simply because I at least know which of the Two-Six will appear and when. However, it has seen far less in terms of actual composition of story fragments, and I do not yet know how First Sun will end. It has become a fairly large story but it will be hard to figure out just how to wrap it all up. Third Moon by comparison has far fewer characters to worry about over the course of its story, and the options for an ending are much more limited given the events that are to play out.

First Sun does have the most number of characters within any of my stories possibly aside from First Moon. I’m slow walking First Sun a bit precisely because I don’t want to underestimate that complexity. If I get too far and realize I messed up something, forgot something, then it makes it a headache to try to fix things, possibly needing to scrap work up to that point. There are a number of intersecting, simultaneous stories at play, a deliberate step for the sake of trying for some greater dynamism. This means that Third Moon will likely move ahead with greater speed despite being started well after First Sun.

Outside of any particular story I was able to finalize my vision for one of the Two-Six; Izanami. I’ve long held a concept for a character that I have called Izanami. But I was fluctuating in my view of how “evil” she should be and what character would represent her, in the same way Dark Magician Girl of Yu-Gi-Oh represents Anzushiro, or Arachne of Soul Eater represents Drusilla. Izanami’s basis will be Road Kamelot from the manga/anime series D.Gray-Man. Supporting inspirations will be Perona of One Piece, Enoshima Junko of Danganronpa, and Anshin’in from Medaka Box, among others.

I’ve even done her first image which will be part of that image series I’ve slowly been developing, Gathering of the Two-Six. Preferably I would like to wait until I actually have her firmly in a story before I share her image, but I’m tempted to go ahead sooner rather than later. For now I do have other art projects pending, so I’m not really worried about being too tempted.

This year has been particularly good from an artistic standpoint. With the divergent writing experiences I’ve had, art has been a sort of seventh inning stretch during writing blocks. It has produced the newer works such as the image of Athena of the Two-Six, the coloring of the Anzushiro piece, the edit and coloring of the Kali image for the Christmas card, and other yet unshared pieces. I am anticipating that there will be even more good work done in 2014. This year, timer permitting, I will be taking a new stab at full digital artwork. My job may take up more of my time now, but it gives me some financial leeway to try stuff out, including an art program, Corel Painter, that I could get on the cheap. I was originally hoping for a New Year’s themed art project, but I couldn’t figure out the details in time. At the end of the year I did manage to work out an idea for a Valentine’s Day piece of sorts. The question now is will I be able to finish it in time for that date.

But the most substantive news from 2013 has been the establishment of my online presence. It had been a goal of mine for some time to offer up my story to more than just the few friends I shared it with. I wanted to have a central portal from which I could share and discuss the aspects of my story as well as some of the elements of the real world that influence the thinking that goes into some of the events therein. My preference was and still is to do this through a full and complete website where I can permanently host my work under my own supervision. That goal has not yet been reached.

In the interim last year I started my blog, BookOfTheShadows.blogspot.com. Through this blog I have been able to share many of the facts presented here in this address. And, as I mentioned at the beginning, this s the first address on the State of the Realm that I have distributed via this format. While it has been a decent and worthwhile experience, it still does not replace what I believe will be the better gambit which is having a full website. Due to issues both in terms of time and finances I couldn’t resolve get my website up and running in 2013. Hopefully in 2014 with the financial prospect seemingly not much of an issue anymore I will eventually be able to launch the website. That remains my number one goal outside of writing the actual stories of the Book of the Shadows.

Part of the distribution framework I’ve used in conjunction with my blog has been three separate websites. FanFiction.net has been the website on which my stories have been hosted. However, due to the 90-day limit, Book of the Shadows I and II have since expired and can no longer be read there. Second Star Saga has also been posted there, but will expire soon. I will not upload again unless I receive a specific request to do so.

Minitokyo.net and DeviantArt.com have been the sites where I have posted my artwork. I decided to go with the dual approach because of the fact that Deviantart is such a large site it can be hard to find anything without looking very specifically. But a number of issues have prompted me to re-evaluate that stance. Minitokyo began as my preferred site since it is specifically geared towards Japanese anime and manga, which is the basic inspiration and premise behind the Book of the Shadows.

However, limitations on the size of uploads always meant that Deviantart got the better quality images. MT’s policy on duplicate posts means that if you have a color image and a black and white one or one of the line art, the color image is kept while the others are deleted. As a result a couple of posts I made were deleted from MT. From an artistic point of view I think it can be very helpful to see both the line art and the colored version of a piece, but MT obviously disagrees. Most recently towards the end of the year they announced a policy change they claim is an assertion by their advertisers requiring that any image depicting a woman with large breasts, regardless of her state of dress, how much cleavage is shown, how tight the clothes are, etc., must have an “eechi” tag placed on it. Beyond even basically lacking in a definition of “large” this new rule is just another headache and hoop to jump through. Since I rather not deal with website admins angry over not properly tagging posts or whatnot, and the fact that I rather not obsessively worry about such frivolous tagging requirements, it is very unlikely that any of my future artworks will go to Minitokyo. If I can get my website finished, this will all be a mostly moot point.

As you can see, 2013 was a busy year. I am confident 2014 will be the same, if not better. The state of the Realm is very good. Here’s to a great year gone by, and to a great one ahead. I hope you’ll enjoy the ride along too.