I'm trying to gauge if it's worth trying to post here. :P

I got in touch with a childhood hero. How to say this while respecting privacy...he's written the story for an MMORPG, has nearly 20 million sales of his books, and has asked for a copy of my book when it's ready for other peoples' eyes.

Coincidentally, about 40 beta readers have the first of three parts of my book, and I'm about to enter a phase of game development where I stop showing people incremental steps because they're going to culminate in a massive leap forward.

2022 was a doozy, starting with temporary blindness in one eye and ending with major breathing trouble from October through December and a funeral the day before Christmas. I've gotten nowhere near as much done as I wanted to get done. But when I think about it, there's actually a lot that's been done.

This is the year it all either takes off, or blows up. Wish me luck.

If you want to do more than wishing, beta readers, beta testers, and people who'll shout about my book and game from the rooftops are invaluable to me. Get in touch if you're interested! :)

Back in 2018 I got really, really sick at the outset of graduate school, to the point I nearly died. I've covered that before, I think. Maybe not. But anyway, I lost something major.

My ability to hit a flow state. Mathematical, creative, coding, etc. It was just -gone-. It was like losing 3rd and 4th gear, or more like losing the ability to go over 50% throttle. It's back.

https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9292100/ Three years and a couple of weeks ago I mentioned an unnamed project that I was at 75,000/144,000 words. It was going to be a web series, smutty, and go alongside several other stories I was working on simultaneously. Since then, it's rocketed forward with cataclysmic energy that eclipsed everything else I was working on. It's now pushing 200,000 words and is the first in at least a trilogy. The second book is ready to start drafting, and the first video game is ready for me to go into formal production as soon as I finish revision.

Even sitting here with almost-pneumonia-hey-we're-going-to-have-you-take-these-two-antibiotics-at-once-okay?, my week's been hella productive, and so's my month. I'm in a slow-rolling upgrade on all of my tech. Finally got a decent deal to replace my 10 year old laptop, am turning my entire house into a smart home, and am splitting my first novel in three because the feedback I've gotten is "More, more, more" not "This is unnecessary, cut here, maybe less here"!


It's been a cool year. Slow, but cool!

This year's been fantastic overall. The worst I can say about it is that I need to drop 10 lbs, but I'll have that done by the end of February.

I've hit my goals for this year, including a few swag goals. 2022 and beyond will show what achieving these milestones was worth.

There are a lot of people I miss, both that are still alive, and that are gone forever. On that note, do me a favor this New Year's. Scroll to the bottom of your contact list and pick a friend you've lost touch with and send them a message. Reconnect for at least a little bit and maybe comment here letting me know you said hi to someone you've not said hi to in awhile after you do. :)

I don't know how many people still watch this account, so I'm probably barking at the wind.

I've entered revision on my book.

The game is sitting pretty.

All systems operational.

If you want to help out/Patreon/etc, hit me up. (Discord: EyVol#4460 , Telegram Eyvol )

I'm publishing free SFW stories elsewhere, hit me up and I'll get you a link.

This is cool!

Holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck holy FUCK.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think this was a leak for the new Elder Scrolls". -Feedback on a WIP video of the game.

My goal's been to punch above my weight class with this and so far I can throw some really fucking awesome punches. The final product will, of course, not be at 'maximum quality' because let's say I can make awesome nature that rates at a 9/10 and the animations are only at a 7/10, putting 7/10 animations against 9/10 environments is incongruent, so we'll be setting our goals with that in mind, but still. Holy SHIT this is shaping up.

I've got a bit left on the book before it goes into revision in earnest, which should take not-very-long to do. There are a few relatively minor things I want to do, but yeah.

I'm over the moon about how this is going, which, coincidentally, is a really weird place to be as a werewolf. Doggy paddle in space, anyone?

RPG engine is just about good to go. Generalized combat both turn-based and real-time are working and ready to get specific with. I've done a mock-up of several different battle systems that were not polished but that 'worked' and am confident I can get what I want out of it. Inventory, menuing, dialogue, quest-tracking, etc are all up and running. There's a little bit more to go, there.

The graphics are looking awesome.

Sound? We'll be working with Dolby Atmos unless something changes. You'll be able to hear where things are before you see them.

And the story. We're sitting around 100/160k words for the novelization of the game...or novel we'll be gamifying, doing some further design work on how it's going to translate to a game w/ regards to player agency and ensuring the player has real control of the narrative. I also needed to take a break on re-drafting, but we're moving ahead again.

This is going to be awesome.

Every year that passes is another year less that your friends and family have left to enjoy you - and vice versa. Live loudly and share your story. :)

Currently on chapter 18/36 big pass 2 of 3/overall pass 2 of 6 on the big book. One of the things I'm weighing pretty carefully is the use of anthropomorphism and non-human characters. Is there justification for deviations from the norm and such? Does it add to the book for a general audience? In some cases, I can say absolutely. In others, not so much.

The level of focus and brainspace it's taking to produce this is utterly immense such that it is incredibly difficult to shift focus to other worlds, characters, etc. As such, the Trespassers of Staerdale series is on hold. I'll probably aim for a release next spring via Amazon.

I feel like I've done my time writing free stuff, so I will not be publishing any significant future work on any free-to-access site including FA. There may be freebies on professional sites, but I'm certain I'm good enough to warrant paying for, and with that certainty comes an obligation to tell stories that are not only worth your time to read, but far more enriching than most anything else you could have spent the money to acquire. Therefore, I hope people who were willing to read my work for free are willing to follow me into a new chapter of my writing career.

Over the past year I've spent an equal amount of time writing and progressing toward certifications to drive supercomputers, certifications that will likely land me a job worth six figures shortly after achieving them. I have no illusion that I will make anything remotely around that amount from writing fantasy, but it is a similar amount of effort to write fiction worth reading as it is to learn to drive supercomputers, at least for me, and since I expect payment for one equally difficult discipline, I believe it's only fair to myself to expect payment to continue doing the other, and I believe that'll clue you in to the standard of quality I intend to deliver on in my writing.

Anyway!


Happy Halloween, all!

Full, blue, and on Halloween. The moon'll be out and right now the plan is for novella 1 of the Trespassers of Staerdale series (working title, possibly not the final title) to be ready by then. I've been wanting to do a hyper-realistic portrayal of not-berserk werewolves for awhile, and I'm certain this won't disappoint.

I'm working on chapter 3/5 for it. The revision process for Trespassers will be short. I'm also pending cover art for it.

I'm afraid that I've shifted my larger novel away from the furry fandom, so it will unfortunately be featured elsewhere. If you are interested in it and I do not already know that you are, you will have to get in touch with me to be able to read it. I am looking for beta readers to start in 3-4 months once I finish draft 2, but I'm not quite there, yet.

So far, I'm reworking chapter 11/36 for book one, which has all chapters drafted. I expect this to take awhile longer.

I know what chapters 37-56 (book 2 chapters 1-20) will be about, and I have chapters 106, 107, and 108 planned (book 3, chapters 34, 35, and 36). Unfortunately, drafting these may be done far in the future, as book 1 is slated to be made into a video game immediately after publication. :)

Hit 18K words written last week, total goal is ~300k to finish up this project, I'm at about 40k revised+another 71k drafted (and in need of a lot of redoing) in the main book, then another 40-60k-ish in other documents.

So far, feedback from alpha reading is positive.

I'm considering trying to publish something on Halloween. Look for more news closer to October.

Day 3. I've clicked lots of buttons and found myself in a realm I'm not quite certain of. There's a dragon. It's dark. Very dark. Where am I and what am I doing? Wait. What's this?

It's a button.

I uh. I think it looks familiar. I'm confused. I think I'm going to press it.

-Boops the Create/Update Journal button.-

Unnamed project - 75,000/144,000 words done (realistically, drafting will stop at 110,000 and the remaining 34,000 will be added in via scene/chapter expansion during revision). Character teasers will come out soon. Launch date for this is moving to March to allow me to recover/get back in the swing of things.


Guild Whores 2: 1600/4500 done on Ch1, Ch2 and 3 will be 4500/each. A silly, smutty story involving an 'innocent' strawberry-loving charr and his oblivious merchant friend friend. Features Moonmoon and Ryskis!

Stardust: 0/X, pure badassery meets comedy, a sci-fi twist on stories like Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, with a bit of inspiration from Dark Matter and Firefly. This is a candidate for another 144k-word story, but it will be outlined, but let's clock it in at 3x4500 for now.

Mouse Infestations: 3533/4500 Ch1, will be 3x4500 when done. Tales of a shapeshifting demon hound with a penchant for crawling out from under peoples' beds while they sleep and stealing their socks! Featuring Mouse Del Razzo and Volkan Del Razzo!

Have a CAO: 0/4500 Ch1 of 3, An immortal elf with a twisted sense of humor granted demonic powers and hired to run an intergalactic interdimensional arms company. What could go wrong?

Oh Deer! 4823/5000 Ch1 of 3, when the captain of a massive airship shows up for a diplomatic call, he finds that the 'complimentary' body servants have designs on him! Featuring Eyvindr of Elan!

Werewolf Bells, 3921/4000 Ch1 of 3, an elf seeks a cure for nightmares and propositions the wrong (or right) werewolf! Fun ensues. Featuring Akrura den Tysta!

Cursed Fun, 5184/4000 Ch1 of 3, a coyote gunslinger gets himself into more trouble than he really has a right to be in! Boy is his ass going to be sore in the morning! Featuring Pax Mikasi!

Hypersonic, 1077/4000, Ch1 of 3, the pilot of a massive airship and his coyote pal take their Steampunk tech and go blow shit up! Should be fun. Featuring Kiron Cyneward and Pax Mikasi!

Claws of the Empire, 0/4500, Ch1 of 3, the Emperor's Claws embark on various missions to keep the peace! Featuring Canicus Bannatyne, Belen Levente, Bevyn Ardghal, General Chennai, and others!



While it won't be 'active' until I start publishing, if you want to keep up with what I'm writing, join the Den of EyVol at https://discord.gg/jbgFv6W which is integrated with https://www.patreon.com/eyvol ! True story, someone handed me $20 as a donation to write and I tripled my daily productivity! If you like what I write, that $3 tier is awesome at getting me going!


HOWEVER. I'm taking it very easy with this since losing my best friend who I used to collaborate with/bounce ideas off of/etc...there's been so much loss in the past 12 months, on a creative level as well as a personal level, much of it tied up in my writing that I -HAVE- to take it easy or I'm going to end up torn up. Still, I figured I'd give a real teaser as to what I'm up to.

Hey all,

I learned yesterday that one of my best friends caught a variant of the flu that caused brain lesions and died on the 20th of last month. He just disappeared and was gone. He's gone, and in immediate hindsight I'm recognizing how deliberate an effort he made to see that I was never alone. I'm running pretty short on people that've stuck by me for as long as he did.

Considering he was my first serious boyfriend, ever, and that over a decade after we'd broken up (in 2007, I believe) we still talked daily, well. It should give you an idea of how important he was to me.


We roleplayed and wrote, often, and I got to meet lots of his characters, and he got to meet lots of mine. They developed quite a bit, together.


So, my question is for people who have multiple characters that aren't their 'fursonas', or for people that read furry literature.

For the former group, the authors, if you died suddenly, what would you want to happen to your work and characters? If you had a writer friend die suddenly, would you ever consider continuing to write their characters, in their spirit?


For people who read but don't produce, let's say you were a fan of an author, roleplayer, or character and the individual died. How would you react to someone that loved them dearly attempting to continue their legacy?


Thanks.

I woke up today with clarity.

Rough doesn't begin to describe the past couple of years. Failure after failure after failure. Grad school, being sexually assaulted in my sleep, problems with friends, failed relationships, horrible illness, spinal injury, family issues, dogs dying in my arms, failure, and endings. It's all a part of my life, now.

My roles in each incident and my reactions are entirely my own fault, and I lacked the capacity to move on in friendships that had not been able to support me through certain things. Again, that's my fault. No matter how much I tried, I was unable to get to a point that I felt safe reaching back to certain friends reaching out to me, friends who had let me drop when I wasn't able to deal. That's a me problem, not a them problem.

I feel so utterly cold inside, I said that I loved them and needed to say goodbye. The feeling's close to the same as when one of my friends died of cancer, with the sensation that if I was stronger I might be able to undo it. But it's been 9 months, they've been waiting, and I've not been able to do it. It's time to call it what it is and accept it rather than leave them flailing in the wind, because I do love them even if I don't feel safe around them.

Failure hurts, but there are only so many minutes in a lifetime. At some point you have to reclaim your time from failure. Especially when your own failure induces it in others.

It really just about feels like two of my friends died, though.

I've got a few questions for everyone here!

1. How much do minor errors disrupt your enjoyment of furry fiction?

2. Do you want my journals to be posted as 'me' the writer or Eyvindr the character?

3. Should I link roleplaying profiles in my biography?

Uhhh. More to come shortly!