Wow, that was less than I expected. And the thing with the hydra sounds interesting; wouldn't that entail having different brains? Sounds fun. But I have to read the things I was supposed to anyways. Sorry for lack of contact from me recently. I will finally read the chapter you sent me soon. ^^

Didn't you say that exact thing half a month ago, rofl. Well, at least you're not as bad as my mom yet; *promised to read novel, 5 years later, hasn't read past chapter 3, forgot where she even put her copy of it*.

Actually, half a month is longer than I was expecting. I mean, I wrote the year end finale in 5 or so days, and it has just as many chapters. Although its erotica so, easier content to write. The Shape Of You has sex and tf but I would like to think of it as more of a character driven drama, sort of coming of age story in terms of feel. I probably could have finished this a lot faster if I needed too as well but deliberately paced myself out to make sure I got everything right. Spread out everything to it has pretty even pacing. I always struggle with starting a story, because you want to set everything up to play the story out but also listing facts and describing characters all at once in a block at the start would probably put my regular audience to sleep.

Also taking a break after I finished each chapter at the least helped keep pacing properly, because the end of several chapters is pretty hot n heavy, but obviously the start of the following day isn't going to keep that going, its a fresh new day- a reset. So if I were to keep writing straight from the hot n heavy part, it would be hard to get my head into the correct scene mood for the following day, because to me the hot n heavy part was seconds prior, not an entire night's sleep away. So I took a day off after every chapter to reset my own head.

Welp, it's not personal so to speak, lol. :P I can't focus on anything and my mind is just fuzzy and I don't even feel one single emotion in span of an entire day. I want to read it, but it's painful to continue reading after one page or so and my mind just wants to return to some rumination, constant monologue and that kind of thing. If I was able to focus on doing stuff then I would create some furry art and fun stories at this point. Or transcended this reality with meditation. xD Whatever. I will just do it somehow finally. Maybe right after writing it, because I feel motivated to do it right now.

And you're a very quick writer to be honest. Not everyone just writes novellas in half a month, or five days haha. And I can see what you mean by these breaks. And in regards to the beginning, my instinct would tell me to begin with something intense to make people feel this world from the very beginning. Something that also would say something about this world. But I don't know how well it works out in the format you're writing in. Just something that came to my mind.

Coming of age sounds fun. It's kinda what I expected, especially with Nelly. Good luck with finishing it then.

Ouch, that sounds like it would be hard to do anything with, never mind reading. Personally, I don't live in my own body/head 95% of the time, so my own emotions are incredibly easy to manipulate. My trouble comes from testing in the bottom 4% for cognitive response speed, so I take forever to do basically anything, and my energy level is abysmal. Like, I chug an energy drink and get absolutely no energy at all from it, it just keeps me at my current level of energy for longer- and I can't stay awake for a single full day without one. Still don't know what a sugar high even is- eating sweets did nothing to me even as a child when I'd dive into Halloween treats. If I am writing something on a certain day- it has to be the first thing I do, if I try to do any other task before that, it probably won't work. My concentration will dip with my energy and then I won't be able to shift gears to get properly into writing, or it will take so long for me to do it that the day will be over and i'd have to immediately stop again anyway.

If you think that is fast- I wrote a 300 page romance novel in a single day back in high school. 90% of my erotica on here were written in 1 day. Starting and stopping is the hard part, so the trick is to not stop in the first place, haha. Just do it till its done and then I don't have to worry about keeping momentum because its already finished.

Yea the hot opening is usually how I approach it- like the last year end finale I opened with Ethos already consulting the king, then flipped back to the real start of the story after teasing that scene. Doesn't work with The Shape Of You though because... well, its a drama. There is no villain, there is no danger, there is no action to tease in the first place. Best I could do there was have them already in the process of heading out when the story starts. I am doing some touchups and edits today- already done writing, might even post it today too.

Good luck pulling out of your mental mire :X

Thanks. I have been like that for some time now. :/ But it's so much better than some negative emotions. Currently I'm kinda happy to be honest. :P Just can't do anything like you said, and currently I don't do anything and the near future when I will finally have to do something is something I just ignore. It was my twentieth birthday a week ago, but I don't feel like an adult at all. A thought of me dying seems a lot more easier, more acceptable than managing to pull off living a fully normal life or something like that. There's so much anxiety and so on hidden inside of me when I challenge myself in any way and it's impossible to do anything. Ugh sorry for talking about it like that now...

And yeah, my energy level is like that too. I don't drink energy drinks, but I like yerba mate and coffee. But I think that I don't actually need these anyway. And the same with me in regards to sugar. I actually feel worse after eating too much of it, not any sort of rush lol. And I think that in my case when I would try to write, it would be just after I had some idea and inspiration at night.

And haha, 300 page romance novel in a single day? Now that sounds intense. But keeping the momentum like you mention is something I can understand quite well.

Well, I can see fully what you mean about The Shape Of You being this drama. I faved it now as a way of bookmarking it for future reading. It will be fun certainly. ^^


Speaking of this reading, I managed to read about 30 pages of the aforementioned chapter! I really like it! It instantly made me think of movie Seven Samurai. Which is kinda understandable obviously. xD But the supernatural elements make it more fun! To be honest I have only good things to say about it. I really liked worldbuilding and characters. The fox is nice and I wonder if she will ascend somehow to become a yokai maybe. :P And I'm curious about how the chapter will end. Maybe they won't manage to defeat Kage since he has support of this weird magical flame entity/power if I understand correctly. Or someone will die, like Juno. Well, I will have to read to the end. But I really mean it when I say it's fun to read and I like it very much. I think it really deserved a lot more attention than it got.

Happy late birthday, haha. Does being adult even have a feeling? None of the things people say happen when you grow up actually ever happened to me. Oh you'll start noticing girls... no, I already noticed them. My first friend was a girl, thanks. Voice will change... no it didn't. Will have wet dreams... no I didn't. Angsty/rebellious phase... no. I have never had a PHASE, ever. I still do and enjoy all the same things now as I did when I was a kid. Elementary to high school, oooh big step, be prepared for change. Okay... what was the difference? Oh, I walk to a different room every so often. That's it. That is the only difference, wow. I am exactly the same now at 38 as I was when I was 7, absolutely nothing has changed about me.

Even when you go out to get a job... basically the same thing you've already been doing. You have to wake up and go work... well okay, but... you've already been doing that. School work. You were forced to wake up and go to school and do a bunch of mental work all day, so what's the difference? Now your employer gives you your allowance instead of your parents- wow, what a massive change. Being an adult is basically the exact same as being a kid except you can go to 18+ sites without someone shitting themselves over it.

I can't work because of all my mental disabilities, but I did work for many years before being diagnosed properly, now I survive off of disability pay because I am too retarded to hold normal work, lol. I started drinking energy drinks back in high school because it seemed the only solution- I would fall asleep in one or both of my afternoon classes before that because I didn't have the energy to drag my ass through one whole day.

Great to hear you are liking The Man And The Moonlit Spider so far! Seven Samurai is a super classic, so if I can match up to that, I must be doing something right, haha. The chapter 'War' is the one I wonder about- because it has a completely different feel and pace from any other chapter in the entire book, but it provides context on that important war, and I think its a neat, detailed look on what actually happened. There are also several names in that, that end up returning later on. Oh, and in case you haven't picked up on it- I use the traditional naming, so if their full name is given; the last name is given before the first. And names like Tsuki no Seishuku, means 'Seishuku of the moon', because he is not of noble blood and thus has no last name, so in place of a last name you give the place he is from. Like Washu no Juro; Juro has no last name, he is a lowborn, so you said Juro of the Washu region.

Kage's powers are actually all his own, the elixir he stole doesn't grant him any new abilities... it is however an elixir of immortality. And being literally unkillable does pose a rather large problem to anyone trying to stop him. If you pay real close attention (it gets more obvious later on); there is a Fire and Water themeing through the entire story. Juro running and surviving from that war technically makes him a criminal- he is supposed to take his own life according to the Japanese law at the time. So both Juro and Kage are criminals, both forged in the same war, both consider themselves nameless. But one seeks forgiveness and to protect, while the other seeks revenge and to destroy. Kage got his immortality out of the fire, and Juro set out to hunt him just when it started to rain. Fire and Water. But will the flames evaporate the water, or will the water finally douse the fire?

FunFact: The seemingly throw-away line that the fox was playing with a clever carp in the river even ends up coming back in a later story and ending up an important detail, lol. Don't disregard anything- you never know what will end up coming back, haha.