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Cognizant Retrospective. Where to go next.
3 years ago
This year has been such a journey.
I started Cognizant Christmas of last year. When Jack Du Roi heard me sleepily insisting that I was going to host Hypnovember for myself out of frustration for missing it in 2021. He suggested the idea of a multistage story that everyone could enjoy. What started as a 30 chapter singular event turned into 5 simultaneous arcs, and the birth of the Masterminds.
It took months. many of which was juggling a massive audio project, my career, and dozens of artists who came and went, some understandably not getting what I was trying to accomplish.
And here we are. 66 pieces of art, with some more on the way across 30 artists and 10 talented writers. And an overwhelmingly successful RP server on discord that everyone seems to love.
I'm speechless to be honest.
It wasn't flawless. I made plenty of mistakes, missteps, and I did let my focus on this affect my mental and physical well being. I wanted to do this right. Because the last time I tried doing something big, I messed up from either lack of foresight or lack of preparation.
This was the most ambitious thing I've ever done as Darkwitt, at least publicly. But now? I look forward to what's next. I'm not sure how many of you are invested in what I am doing with my writing, or my audio. I have ideas. but I want to hear your thoughts about what you'd like to see from me. There are many things mulling over that I'd like to tackle:
1. Developing the Facilitator story more, now that people seem to be invested in hearing about it. I have a LOT of interesting ideas with more twists and turns than what I did with Cognizant.
2. The Tip of the Triangle. I want to continue that, since Hypnovember took all of my resources and energy this year, I was too afraid to work on it.
3. Potentially a Patreon? I've been afraid to start one because my busy schedule means I have many periods of disappearing to focus on my day job. but perhaps I could be more consistent with my work this way if I had a budget I could rely on? The only reason I was able to afford Hypnovember was due to the extremely generous assistance of some colleagues and by dipping into my savings, which I admit put me in hot water when I had a financial crisis in the middle of the year that I could not have predicted (and almost cancelled the whole thing).
4. More Audio ASMR. I have Ideas to collaborate with Estelle Ellis (the Voice of Krystal from Starfox), work on audios for ladies seducing and giving people relaxing things. Maybe reprising as Vincent or Jadir. Or maybe introduce more characters. One person even suggested a series about the Honeycreeper.
5. Converting the Facilitator story into a full Audio Drama. This is likely not going to happen as a straight up drama about darkwitt and all of these stories are likely the last thing anyone would want compared to everything else I can provide.
6. Evolving the Cognizant Server. Quess volunteered the idea to me merely days before the whole event went down and now I can't imagine it having been this successful without it. I want to create consistent events and make Cognizant a haven for Hypnosis enthusiasts to engage in stories and ideas for this setting.
One thing is for sure. Hypnovember was expensive. time consuming, and exhausting physically and emotionally to maintain. I will not be hosting it again anytime soon.
Either way. Thanks for reading this Journal. I'd love to hear what you're interested in. It would help me figure what I should prioritize.
-Darkwitt
I started Cognizant Christmas of last year. When Jack Du Roi heard me sleepily insisting that I was going to host Hypnovember for myself out of frustration for missing it in 2021. He suggested the idea of a multistage story that everyone could enjoy. What started as a 30 chapter singular event turned into 5 simultaneous arcs, and the birth of the Masterminds.
It took months. many of which was juggling a massive audio project, my career, and dozens of artists who came and went, some understandably not getting what I was trying to accomplish.
And here we are. 66 pieces of art, with some more on the way across 30 artists and 10 talented writers. And an overwhelmingly successful RP server on discord that everyone seems to love.
I'm speechless to be honest.
It wasn't flawless. I made plenty of mistakes, missteps, and I did let my focus on this affect my mental and physical well being. I wanted to do this right. Because the last time I tried doing something big, I messed up from either lack of foresight or lack of preparation.
This was the most ambitious thing I've ever done as Darkwitt, at least publicly. But now? I look forward to what's next. I'm not sure how many of you are invested in what I am doing with my writing, or my audio. I have ideas. but I want to hear your thoughts about what you'd like to see from me. There are many things mulling over that I'd like to tackle:
1. Developing the Facilitator story more, now that people seem to be invested in hearing about it. I have a LOT of interesting ideas with more twists and turns than what I did with Cognizant.
2. The Tip of the Triangle. I want to continue that, since Hypnovember took all of my resources and energy this year, I was too afraid to work on it.
3. Potentially a Patreon? I've been afraid to start one because my busy schedule means I have many periods of disappearing to focus on my day job. but perhaps I could be more consistent with my work this way if I had a budget I could rely on? The only reason I was able to afford Hypnovember was due to the extremely generous assistance of some colleagues and by dipping into my savings, which I admit put me in hot water when I had a financial crisis in the middle of the year that I could not have predicted (and almost cancelled the whole thing).
4. More Audio ASMR. I have Ideas to collaborate with Estelle Ellis (the Voice of Krystal from Starfox), work on audios for ladies seducing and giving people relaxing things. Maybe reprising as Vincent or Jadir. Or maybe introduce more characters. One person even suggested a series about the Honeycreeper.
5. Converting the Facilitator story into a full Audio Drama. This is likely not going to happen as a straight up drama about darkwitt and all of these stories are likely the last thing anyone would want compared to everything else I can provide.
6. Evolving the Cognizant Server. Quess volunteered the idea to me merely days before the whole event went down and now I can't imagine it having been this successful without it. I want to create consistent events and make Cognizant a haven for Hypnosis enthusiasts to engage in stories and ideas for this setting.
One thing is for sure. Hypnovember was expensive. time consuming, and exhausting physically and emotionally to maintain. I will not be hosting it again anytime soon.
Either way. Thanks for reading this Journal. I'd love to hear what you're interested in. It would help me figure what I should prioritize.
-Darkwitt
Also, get that patreon set up. I'll work it out with my mom if I can spend some cash over to you if you do it. Might not help much, but I know many people who know you, personally or not, that would love to help you out even a little.
Your stories can be worked however you wish; however quick or long you want.
Also, god damn, you got to chat with the VA of Krystal? Damn!
In whatever case, we're here for you, Witt. Count on it.
Also, wow... A collab with the voice of Krystal? I am very looking forward to that!
You have a pleasent rest of the year. I am there for you every step of the way. I think I am right in saying that we all are.
Just keep doing what you want to do when you want to do it, and I would be proud to have just known of the facilitator that has made all of this a reality.
If you do get a Patreon set up, I will be one of the first people there to support it. Cognizant was such an awesome event, and I got to meet so many amazing people, but I am also interested in what you do in the future as well. I am also glad you want to continue your Facilitator story, as it has been one of my personal favorite stories to come from you ever since I started following your work.
In the end, just keep doing what you want to do, and so many of us will want to follow along. That's how much people here enjoy your content.
Skills you can only learn by continually taking the plunge on big, unwieldily projects.