Weekly Update #59

So, the plumber came today for what we thought would be a simple, 15 minute in-and-out fix. As it would turn out... it's going to be far more than that. A temporary fix was applied, but to fix the real issue will require going through the land management for this area, giving everybody on the water system 48 hour notice, and then shutting down water for the entire community so that they can fix our problem (which basically comes down to it being impossible to turn our water off - no matter how much you tighten the valves to try and close the pipes, they just continue leaking). So, I got to deal with that this morning when I was in the middle of writing, and I'm going to have to deal with it some more whenever they come back after another appointment is made.

Yay. Fun.

Anyways, memes:

(though, these aren't really memes anymore so much as they are just random videos I've liked in the past week)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td3No1TO6JE&feature=youtu.be 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSXZ5sXj32U&feature=youtu.be 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyofqsBQS5I&feature=youtu.be 

Weekly Worksheet: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1byIQJobpY22iTqT9FXwCZe-OsMDvst8d

Technically, I did as much writing as I'm supposed to be doing and got a total of 39 hours last week, but I'm still "behind" which is why TTE/EDE/LDQ have been coming at the start of the week. In order to stop being "behind," I've got to write another TTE and LDQ chapter before the week is over in addition to the ones that came out today. Blegh. But anyways, I just spent the last 13 hours writing. I really wanted to get CORE done, too, but I'm tired and need sleep. The good news is that I should be able to get it done quickly tomorrow morning since I know what's going to happen and it should be a very easy chapter to write. Then TQH. Three chapters in a day is pushing it, but two is certainly doable!

The True Endgame

It's funny. One might think that the longer a story goes on, the more stale it feels, the more repetitive it becomes, the more boring it gets, etc. Yet, TTE, to me, feels like my most solid story in pretty much all aspects. It just has its identity nailed down at this point and everything is as natural as can be. There are some things I'll need to change in the first two volumes to help it better match the tone of the series from volume 3 and beyond, but other than that, I don't think there is much I would want to change.

I'm just very happy with TTE. As much as I might have been worrying about EDE which is my second longest running story, I don't have a single shred of doubt for anything involving TTE. This is part of why I want to change EDE as much as I do - I want to bring it up to this level. If I can have as much faith in EDE as I do in TTE then I know it's going to be vastly superior to what it currently is. TTE is like... the benchmark for how I want to feel about my stories.

Ero Dungeon Evolution/Online

Hoh boy.

So far, both from comments on Patreon and discussions on the Discord server, it seems like  thoughts break down like this:

50% like the new direction but still think it will suck to leave behind the current progress, but  plan on reading the new direction if it's chosen

20% don't have any interest in the new direction and several of the people with this feeling have already unpledged

20% don't care either way as long as there are lewds, in which case the "online" version would probably end up being superior to them after a short while

10% just straight up like the "online" route better and don't care about the previous version

Either way, I'll be doing a few more "online" chapters this week to test it out a bit more. They'll cover the basic dungeon stuff + Lily's introduction + the first sex scene. The last one I do this week might even cover a tiny bit of Damian's real life. I've always thought that people disliked "real" chapters in VRMMO stories... but I always see people asking for more of those both on TTE and on other VRMMO stories.

I do plan on his real life adding a new and, imo, interesting dynamic that he hasn't dealt with before, though. I think it'll be a ton of fun and also add to certain aspects of his past.

The Queen's Hound

The Queen's Hound is something that I think is still trying to find its main identity, but I think it's making good progress toward doing so. TTE took like 3 and a half volumes to find that and I feel like TQH is going to find that much sooner. I've been adding in more comedy and lewd scenes while keeping the action going, plus there are actual relationships between the characters starting up now that people can actually communicate with one another.

But yeah. There might be concerns regarding my other stories after what's happening with EDE, but I can promise that I don't have any of these doubts when it comes to my other stories (TQH included). When I say that this story is still trying to find its identity, I don't mean that as a negative thing. I mean it as an exciting and interesting thing. I've already got 10 more volumes planned for it and know exactly how the main arc of the story is going to end. I just don't know yet what balance of serious, lewd, and comedy it is going to find on the way there.

Overall, I don't think TQH has reached its peak identity yet, but I am extremely excited to see what it develops into. At the very least, it doesn't have the issue that EDE has of trying to be 5 different things at once that all contradict each other. 

 Also, cover for the second volume is totally going to have Woofen and Snow on it. 

Lazy Dragon Queen

This applies to CORE as well. When it comes to style and identity... both LDQ and CORE have pretty much got that nailed down within their first ten chapters. Unfortunately, their styles don't really work for anything "serious." Their style wouldn't even work for TQH which is like a 7/10 on the scale of serious (by my standards). It is probably safe to assume, though, that all future stories of mine are going to be written more like these are. The style I've developed for CORE and LDQ is just my favorite by far. It has also started slowly leaking into TTE and is going to influence EDO's style. TQH will be safe from it, though. I don't think that the style for these stories would work with TQH at all. But I like that. I think TQH has a solid style at the moment - as solid as CORE's and LDQ's. It's different and not what I would consider my "main" style, but having a series with a different style is still good for my personal growth, switching things up to keep things fresh, and just because I think it's better with its current style.

But so that I don't only talk about my other stories in LDQ's section...

Window has a way of just instantly improving any chapter that she shows up in. Even if she only has one window worth of text, the chapter becomes better.

inb4 free readers comment/review about how much they hate her every appearance

CORE

Oh, CORE. If there is one story of mine that has flawlessly nailed its style and identity in the first volume, it is you.

Which is kind of amusing to me seeing as how this story is also the most divisive when it comes to style. I still get comments from people 10+ chapters in who are like "I hope the whole story isn't narrated like this."

It's like people don't get that the narrator and the narration style is one of the main points. The narration style is even more important to the story than the fact that it's a dungeon core story. There is literally nothing more important to the story than the narrator and the narration style.

But some people would rather have a generic and basic style that is similar to every other dungeon story while also only caring about the dungeon parts. Some people really love their copy-paste dungeon stories. And, to be fair, CORE would be one of those if it wasn't narrated how it is. That is why I will never change how the story is told. I wouldn't be writing it if it weren't for the style and identity of it.

In Closing

I am extremely tired now and I can hardly keep my eyes open, so there are probably a bunch of typos in this weekly update.

CORE and TQH will be done tomorrow. I already wrote for 13 hours today and need sleep.

Thank you all for your continued support, and I hope that you continue enjoying my stories!