Monday Mooning

No, not with my butt, you perverts.

So, Uzobono is off on her month-long trip for the CIA (note: informed speculation only), which basically means I can stop writing for a while. Right?

No?

Eh. I did precisely bupkis this last weekend (aside from playing Fallout 4's Far Harbor DLC) so any chance of 'Pierced' the-conclusion-no-I-mean-it-this-time coming out over Memorial Day weekend is pretty much shot. Which may be for the best, I'm continuing to second-guess the endgame I've come up with. I'm having difficulty living up to the reputation I have created for myself in my own mind, and to be honest (spoilers!) I haven't been seeding the preceeding chapters with hints or clues with the intent of there being some big reveal, I've just been writing to move the story forward.

Maybe I should know better. Don't write anything without a solid, gut-punch ending ready for it.

But at any rate, I'm not best pleased with my plan for the finale at this point but I need to put the story to bed so I can move on to the next thing, whatever that may be. I'll try getting it underway this week so that I can hopefully conclude it first weekend of June.

I'm still a bit enthused by that Stardew Valley / Joja story idea I outlined a few posts back. Some intelligent, urbane commentators provided some really great suggestions there in the comments and cogitating upon them gave me the intertwined plotline I need to actually make it a story with some tension to it; if I could knock it off in a week, I'd do it, but I am doubtful of my ability to do that.

Also, need to write that last chapter of CORE #10, and then collect all the renders that Uzo has created thus far and re-edit the whole script. That is our process, by the way; here, I shall outline it for you:

a) I sit down with a blank page and write story pages, which consist of a page number, the layout of the panels on the page, a brief description of the content / image in each panel, and any dialogue. I'll do this one or two chapters, each between 4-12 pages, at a time. Send to Uzobono.
b) Uzobono renders the images. (As far as I'm concerned, this step is fucking magic, because holy shit does she make purty renders, with details and oh the expressions she can capture) She sends them back to me as individual images, a chapter's worth at a time.
Steps (a) and (b) proceed concurrently, so that in theory at least I am moving forward with writing while Uzo is moving forward with the renders. I throw in some initial comments on the renders in case there's something that I'd like changed or added.
c) Having received all of the renders, I review and edit the script both for general goodness and to best fit the images that Uzo has rendered. Send final, complete script back to Uzobono.
d) Uzobono does the necessary postwork and then stitches the images together onto the pages, and inserts all the word bubbles and sound effects.
e) Deliver to you!

So for CORE #10, we're well into step (b), with everything but one scene written and only two scenes left to render. But, as I say, Uzobono is off to Davos for some Illuminati consulting gig and won't be back until July, so there it shall stay until then, although I need to finish up my end through step (c) so that when she's back she can render the last two parts and kick right into (d) and then (e).

But tonight I'm still feeling 'bleh' so I'll probably do some video game and go to bed early. Perhaps tomorrow Tabico will be ready to kick ass and take names.