Thanks very much to the 18 people who participated in the raffle over the past couple of days. I really appreciate each of you for the support! The random number generator has spoken, and the winner is;

 BlahBlah453!

I'll be sending him a note shortly regarding story ideas. Congratulations on being the first winner of one of my raffles! As for everyone else, thank you again for participating. Hopefully the story will go well, and we'll be seeing more such side stories happening in the future ^^

...Okay, this is actually less about the amount of watchers I have (though I do appreciate every single one of you who watched this account ^^) and more about just wanting to branch out, and start writing for other people's characters or ideas. I do still want to start commissions eventually, after all. And this way I get to practice, and also start to give something back to all of you!

All you have to do to enter is reply to this journal, and on Wednesday morning I will use a random number generator to pick a winner! You don't have to be watching me in order to enter, and each person will only have one entry. Once you've won, I'll be contacting you for a story idea via notes. While my stories so far have been mainly focused on Pokemon and Vore, I am willing to try writing for other settings or subjects as well. Though I am willing to write ideas based on my characters as well, or a combination of both mine and yours!

The only hard rules I have are;

1) No ideas revolving around fatal vore. I am fine with that subject as a plot element in my main series, but for shorter stories like this, if there are any ideas involving vore, it will be non-fatal.

2) No incest, not even vore between siblings. This is just something I've never been very comfortable with, and any ideas involving such will be rejected.

Those are the main ones that have come up in the past, but for a more detailed list of what I don't like (and what I -do- like writing), my F-list is Here.

But other than that, anything goes! Vore, adult, or even just plot based ideas with neither of those two things. The resulting story will be roughly 4k words in length (about 15-17 pages) and I'll work to get it done as soon as possible. I'll be checking with the winner before uploading the finished story to make sure everything is in order too, especially if I'm writing for characters of theirs.

I'll likely be doing more of these raffles in the future if everything goes well! I think it'll be fun though, and hopefully will result in some pretty interesting side stories. Thank you in advance for participating, and thanks again for watching, commenting, and just generally being supportive of my writing so far! I'll see you on Wednesday! ^^

EDIT: The raffle's over now, and a winner will be chosen momentarily. Thanks for participating, everyone!

Heh, I wasn't even aware this was a thing until now. Still, I think it's as good a cause for celebration as any!

If I'd known beforehand, I would have even written up a quick story for it, but alas. I suppose there's always next year. But there's more than one way to celebrate such a momentous occasion, and I think we'll start with a fully detailed, intimate tour of the typical Flareon's digestive system. Who wants to go first?

It's been a while since I last did a proper update, hasn't it? That's mostly because not much has changed on my end in the past few months. Though, going into the new year, I do finally have a few things to say.

The first is just to thank all of you, for reading my series and for all of your support. I've passed 100 watchers recently, met a bunch of great new friends, and have gotten much farther in my series than I ever thought I would, way back last April when I got the crazy idea to start writing and submitting stories on FA. You guys have been nothing but welcoming, and it's hard to believe that it's already been almost eight months since I submitted my first chapter. Thank you all so much, and with any luck, I'll have an entire year's worth of more stories in the future!

And now, for the thoughts I've been having regarding my writing. All of my writing so far has been very self contained, with just my characters. I have a few plans regarding a couple other characters in my main storyline eventually, but nothing else. And recently I've been considering changing that, writing some characters that aren't my own. It will also give me a chance to play around with some new ideas that might not fit into my main story! There's a number of ways to do that, of course. There's requests, which I do take but the odds of me accepting one would be slim; I would basically have to really, really like the idea. I've also considered doing raffles, like some of the other PMD Vore writers have done. Or coming up with a general outline for a chapter and asking for volunteers to put their own characters in. And of course, there is always the possibility of commissions.

Commissions are something I've thought about doing for a while now, though a few things have been holding me back. Figuring out prices, for one thing. And ensuring that I can produce them in a timely manner while still keeping my main series going at a brisk pace. No matter what, they would be a lot of work. And there's also my nervousness for writing other characters and being able to represent them properly... though practising with Raffles/Requests and keeping in touch with the commissioner to discuss character and plot threads would certainly help with that. Despite my reservations, and depending on how much interest such a thing would attract... I do think I will open at least a couple of commission slots sometime in 2016. I just need time to figure out how they would work, to practise, and to see how many people would be interested in it. ^^ Though, if I do start taking commissions, there are a couple of things regarding my writing that should be squared out.

The first is that I will not write fatal vore. The only possible way I would include it is if it's a dramatic plot point, similar to a character getting killed off in a regular show or story. I will not write a fatal vore story that is meant to be enjoyed on the same level as non-fatal vore, period. I find the concept sadistic, uncomfortable, and I wouldn't be able to bring myself to write it if I tried. I will repeat as such in my commission rules when I get that far, but I wanted to make it clear now too, for when I start doing raffles or accept a request. If you want me to write a story that includes fatal vore, 99% of the time I will refuse.

And the second thing I won't be writing is incest, even in vore situations. While it doesn't repel me in the same manner as fatal vore, I still find the subject deeply uncomfortable. I do enjoy writing sibling characters, and family relations, but these situations will never include vore. I do understand on some level why people like incest and/or sibling vore, and I don't put any slight on them for enjoying it. It's just not my thing, if I tried writing it I would be too uncomfortable to do it properly.

And lastly... I do want to start another smaller series that stars Blitzen, my main 'sona. I feel like the poor guy deserves a chance to finally shine, and it's certainly something I've been putting off long enough. I just still don't have an idea for what he'd do yet. All I really know is that it will probably involve Larry as well, heheh.

Also, any ideas you might have for requests or commissions that include my characters, I would be okay with. The resulting stories would just likely be non-canon, unless I feel they can fit into the storyline without changing too much. Want to see Deirdre nomming River? Or one of my characters interacting with one of yours? If I like the idea, we'll see what happens!

And that's it for now. I might be starting up a raffle soon, I might just do a character AMA, or maybe I'll just keep trucking along with my main series and put this all off for a few months while things get sorted out. I just wanted to let you all know what my thoughts have been lately, and to just give a general update on how things have been going in this crowded head of mine. Thanks for taking the time to read all of that, and here's to a great 2016!

It's been a while since my last journal, heheh. I'll be making a new one soon, once we get to 2016. I've got a few ideas and thoughts regarding my writing here on FA, and on this year in general, but that's all stuff that I'll go over when the time comes ^^

For now, in case I don't see you to say it in person, I hope you all have a good holiday! Whether it's enjoying time with family, friends, or just having a quiet holiday to yourself, I hope you all have a very good time. In short, Merry Christmas to you all!

PS: The next chapter will hopefully be out on the 27th.

Just as a quick update, Chapter 4 of The Travelers is going to be a bit delayed, coming out either later in October or near the start of November. That doesn't mean I'm taking a break from writing, though! I've got another project lined up that I'll be working on through the coming month. What could it be? You'll have to wait and see!

...Although it might involve a certain Flareon finally getting involved in the action for the first time. Ssshhhh, it's a secret.

So today's lesson is: Don't submit a chapter 10 minutes after writing the last scene, or else a problem with it will come up that you would normally have changed while editing it over the next day. And that's what happened with Chapter 2: Dark Instincts for me. But I just ended up deciding to change it anyway.

The change is very slight, really only affecting the very end. The file's been changed, but for those who don't want to re-read the entire submission to read one change, here's an excerpt:

~~~

“River, you’ve gotta settle down!” Lorne shouted, a worried edge in his voice. “Your leg...and your ribs…”

“I don’t care!!” River roared back at the two of them. “Just get the hell out of the way!” But they still wouldn’t let her go, no matter how much she tried to break their grip, no matter how much she yelled. What the hell was so hard to understand about this?!

As River kept shouting, she felt a hand grasp her lower jaw, stretching it open with a frim grip. She looked around wildly, seeing the Doc was the one doing it. River yelled wordlessly at her for a moment before Deirdre thrust her other hand forward, a calculating look on her face. River gagged as Deirdre shoved her hand into her open mouth, pushing it deeper until she started to swallow reflexively. Her muscles clamped down on the Charizard's wrist, trying in vain to drag the rest of the Doctor down with her wrist. She felt something get released from Deirdre’s grip, a small object travelling its way down her gullet, before Deirdre pulled her hand free. River coughed and sputtered at her, still trying to free herself from Viera and Lorne’s grip. “What the hell?! What did you...do to me?”

Deirdre just sighed at her. “I'm sorry, River.” She said, slowly turning away to head back towards the Gardevoir. “But I have a duty to protect all of the patients in my care. Even if it's from themselves.”

River groaned, whatever the Charizard released into her stomach wasn't agreeing with her. The room was swaying, starting to fade in and out of focus. Her limbs started to feel heavy, she couldn't seem to move them as well as she could a moment ago. Even after Lorne and Viera finally let go. Her head lolled to the side as she tried to see what was happening, tried to say something in protest. All she could see was the Gardevoir, his own head turned to look at her. Their gazes met, his purple eyes hazy and distant. “Get me a scalpel.” She could hear Deirdre saying from a long distance away. “This burn isn't deep but I'll need to remove some of the dead tissue before it starts to get infected. Clem, check on River's leg and make sure she didn't break it again.”

Whatever happened next was lost on River, as the Sleep Seed in her stomach finally took full effect. The last thing she saw before drifting off was the Gardevoir doing the same.

Chapter 5 is now 20 pages and counting, and I still have two more scenes to write. One of them is fairly long yet. So I'm going to admit that I tried to cram far, far too much story into one chapter than I should have. However, instead of having part of that chapter bleed into the regular series, I'm just going to split it up into two parts. I promise, promise, PROMISE that I will separate The Travellers into smaller, more appropriately-sized chunks when I finally get to it.

The good news is that since I'm 2/3rds of the way through, I should have Part 1 ready to submit tomorrow, barring weather or freak accidents or alien abductions.

That last journal kind of...broke my page. So now I'm replacing it with a new one.

Unfortunately I don't really know what to really talk about. So.

...I guess I can just give a general update on my work. Chapter 5 is still being worked on, slowly. It's a pretty big chapter plot-wise, so I'm making sure I get it all right. Patience is also coming along nicely, not sure which one will end up being uploaded first. Maybe I'll upload them at the same time and it can be a contest to see which does better. Chapter 3 Alt Ending is on hiatus until I get motivated for it again. I also have an idea for another short story that I might try writing after Meeting the Travellers is finished. One that might actually have, *ahem*, other adult themes besides vore. I'm a little nervous about that since I've never written anything like that before, but I'm still willing to try it.

So that's all I really know. Enjoy my non-broken page again!

Well, I've been trying all day to make a start at Chapter 5, but I can't seem to get anywhere with it today. I just keep deleting what I have and it's been a mess. So instead of just getting more and more frustrated I decided to try and wind down and get myself in the mindset of my last main character in a different way. So I decided to do a character meme of my own! I'm totally not just following a trend here.

So yes, spoiler alert, the last main character in my idea is Viera. Although it's probably not too surprising.

Viera: Well, River and Deirdre were kind of out of the blue, so maybe they were hoping for something a little more inspired.

And Viera's insisted on only doing this if her mate Keran participates as well, so here he is to answer the questions alongside her!

Keran: Hi!

RULES :
1. Pick one of your OCs.
2. Fill in the questions/statements as if you were your OC.
3. Tag four people to do this meme!
4. Tell people that they been tagged with a link from your journal

So I'll leave you two to get started while I play more Hyrule Warriors. I mean work on Chapter 5 some more.

Viera: Mmhmm.

~~~

QUESTIONS:

1. What is your name?
Viera: My name is Viera Stanford. I took Keran's last name when we became mates.

Keran: And mine's Keran...well, Stanford. Heh heh. We don't use our last name very often though.

2. Do you know why you were named that?
Viera: Even if I did, I've forgotten.

Keran: I'm not really sure why my parents named me Keran. Maybe they were trying to name me Kieran but didn't spell the name right? I guess that's as good an answer as any. I don't really think about it all that much.

3. Single or taken?
Viera: Didn't you just hear me say that Keran and I are mates?

Keran: Viera, it's just a set of standard questions, you don't have to be rude.

4. Have any abilities or powers?
Viera: I'm a powerful psychic type, and I use those abilities to make my Fire Blast attack even stronger and more accurate. I also have the ability to use Grass Knot. It's useful for tripping up people who are trying to escape. And for...other purposes. But that's between me and Keran.

Keran: *blushing* Viera, they don't need to know that...

Viera: I can also use Hypnosis, my father passed the ability down onto me. He was a Ninetales. Keran doesn't like it when I use it on people, but I think it's useful.

Keran: Watching people being hypnotized is just...I dunno. It's kind of creepy. But as for me, I can use Wish and Protect to help the two of us in combat, and I also know Foul Play if I need to start doing some attacking myself. I also know Toxic, but the taste is horrible so I try not to use it unless I really have to.

5. Stop being a Mary Sue!
Viera: What is that?

Keran: It's a term for characters who are absolutely perfect and everybody loves.

Viera: Well judging by the way people avoid me on the street I'm pretty sure I'm not one. Keran though? Definitely.

Keran: Hey!

6. What's your eye color?
Viera: Red, for both of us.

Keran: Um...yeah.

7. How about hair color?
Viera: You can tell I'm a Delphox, right? I mean, you can see me?

Keran: Black fur for me, blonde for Viera.

8. Have you any family members?
Viera: Besides Keran, nobody. Everybody else I would be related to is either dead or I don't know about them.

Keran: Yeah, same with me. But even just the two of us is enough for me...

Viera: You're sweet.

9. Oh? How about pets?
Viera: Not unless Keran and I are roleplaying.

Keran: I don't want to do this anymore...

10. That's cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don't like.
Viera: Wouldn't it be shorter if I told you what I do like?

Keran: Come on, Viera. They want at least some decent answers. Um...let's see...I guess the biggest thing I don't like is just people who take advantage of others just for their own personal gain.

Viera: Yawn.

Keran: I also don't like it when people make fun of me for saying what I feel.

Viera: I don't like it when people don't talk direct or say what they mean.

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?
Viera: Arguing with Keran is fun from time to time. Keeps the mind fresh, you know?

Keran: We also just like to travel. Meet new people, see new places, that sort of thing. We tend not to stay in the same place for very long. We'll probably even leave Stony Plain after a while, but I do like it here.

Viera: I'm also partial to skydiving.

Keran: That's because you have thrill issues.

Viera: Then why did I marry you?

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?
Viera: Yes. Next question.

Keran: Um...I don't want to talk about it.

13. Ever… killed anyone before?
Keran: I don't...I mean...okay. Yes, I've killed people before. I try to tell myself that they deserved it, but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with. And I really don't want to talk about it anymore.

Viera: Sometimes people have to be killed.

Keran: ...

14. What kind of animal are you
Viera: A Delphox. We're psychic/fire types, and I use all of my attacks with this wand I keep in my fur. I'm actually quite thin without all of this fur, but I don't mind it.

Keran: And I'm an Umbreon, one of eight different evolutions for an Eevee. I always wanted to be an Umbreon, I just liked the way that they look. Plus being able to see in the dark is a nice bonus.

15. Name your worst habits
Viera: How much time do you have?

Keran: Viera just has difficulty getting along with people. But she really is a good person, deep down.

Viera: Hmph.

Keran: And I guess mine is that I sometimes get tricked by people. I've fallen for scams a few times before, heh heh. Viera usually keeps me grounded though.

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?
Viera: Not particularly. Although if I have to pick, I guess Liam the Guildmaster is pretty decent for being able to handle all these rescue teams and keep everything organized.

Keran: Well...Viera...

Viera: Oh, Keran. You're hopeless.

17. Are you gay, straight, or bisexual?
Viera: Straight.

Keran: Yep, same.

18. Do you go to school?
Viera: I've never been to school. I learned to read and write thanks to my parents, but that was as far of a formal education as I've ever gotten. If you ask me, a lot of people put too much stock into things such as school. If you want to say, be a doctor or a carpenter or something, sure. Go for it. But I really don't think absolutely everybody needs to know what the square root of 3842 is or whatever.

Keran: I dropped out of school.

Viera: To?

Keran: ...Come on Viera, it's embarrassing...

Viera: Keran, they want some decent answers.

Keran: ...ugh, okay. I dropped out of school and...stowed away on a ship so I could become a pirate.

Viera: *snort*

Keran: I was young, okay?! Everybody does dumb things when they're young. Besides, the crew kept me and treated me more like a family member than my real family ever did.

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?
Viera: Well a little late on the marriage thing, bucko. As for kids, it's not really an option for us right now.

Keran: Um...yeah...

Viera: Next question.

20. Do you have fangirls/fanboys?
Viera: A long way from here, a long time ago.

Keran: Well that's kind of vague.

Viera: Well it's kind of a dumb question.

21. What are you most afraid of?
Viera: You're going to make me say it. You're going to make me say it in front of everybody and there's nothing I can do about it, is there?

Keran: Yep!

Viera: Fine. I'm most afraid of losing Keran.

Keran: Awww~

Viera: Keran's afraid of heights and spiders.

Keran: And losing you! *hugs Viera*

Viera: Stop that!

22. What do you usually wear?
Viera: Well Pokemon don't usually wear clothes. I'm not an exception. Although my fur does kind of look like a dress if you think about it...

Keran: I don't wear anything either. I never needed it.

23. What's one food that tempts you?
Viera: Grilled...um. Cheese. Grilled cheese sandwiches. I don't know why.

Keran: ...I like pretty much everything, I guess. Although I kind of see where Lorne is coming from when he talks about how great apples are.

Viera: How can you? You swallow them whole.

Keran: W-what?! No I don't!

Viera: Do you really think I'm not paying attention to these things?

Keran: ...Can we talk about this later?

24. Am I annoying you?
Viera: If you were annoying me we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Keran: People don't annoy me easily, so don't worry.

25. Well, it's still not over!
Viera: That's not a question.

Keran: How much longer is this?

26. What class are you (low class, middle class, high class)?
Viera: What class is 'wanders homeless from place to place and occasionally settling down for a little while before going off again?'

Keran: ...Semi-wild?

Viera: Good enough.

27. How many friends do you have?
Viera: One.

Keran: You don't mean that. Well, okay we don't really know a lot of people in Stony Plain yet, but I would consider Lorne a friend. Wherever he is now. And there's this Absol named Jill at the clinic I got along with. Oh, and Deirdre was nice too. And then there was this Lanturn-

Viera: Keran? We'll be here all day if you don't stop.

28. What are your thoughts on pie?
Viera: It's a baked pastry, usually cooked with some kind of fruit. It's finicky to pull off, but when it's made just right, perhaps with a little bit of ice cream...

Keran: I want pie now.

30. Favorite drink?
Viera: Put anything vaguely alcoholic in my hand and it'll be my favourite drink.

Keran: I like milkshakes, myself. Especially mango ones. It's too bad mangoes are so rare around here.

31. What's your favorite place?
Viera: Well right now I guess it would be our home here in Stony Plain. Travelling in the wild loses its lustre after you've had to comb the dirt out of your fur every morning for an hour. I'm not like Keran, who can just shake himself off in the morning and he's fine. Havng a comfortable place to sleep and some running water that hasn't been swam in recently is doing me a world of good.

Keran: My favourite place is anywhere, as long as Viera is there with me.

Viera: You're trying to make me sick now, aren't you?

32. Are you interested in anyone~?
Viera: ...

Keran: Well I should hope not!

Viera: Har har. Keran and I are mates. Do I have to repeat myself again? Do I stutter?

33. That was a stupid question.
Viera: Yes. Yes it was.

Keran: ...What? I don't have anything else to add!

34. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?
Viera: I'm a fire type, my favourite body of water is a shower. A fine mist shower.

Keran: I prefer lakes rather than the ocean. Oceans are nice to look it, but it's not something you want to spend a lot of time in. There's Sharpedo, riptides, storms...it can be a bit intimidating.

35. What's your type?
Viera: Fire/Psychic.

Keran: Er...I think the question is about what your favourite type of person is. You know, to date.

Viera: Oh. Well, I like somebody who stands up for themselves. Somebody who's confident and forthcoming. Somebody who's not afraid to be who they are. Somebody who can talk to me without flinching or apologizing all the damn time.

Keran: I've heard a saying that you can judge somebody by how they treat those who are serving them. Like, at a restaurant. Viera can be a bit harsh to them sometimes, but she's like that to everyone. She wouldn't give a king the time of day if she thought he didn't deserve it. Basically she's incredibly honest, you know that she's not just putting on an act. And if she says she's got your back, you can trust her for the rest of your life. I really, really like that about her.

Viera: ...

Keran: Did I actually make you blush?

Viera: Next question!

36. Any fetishes?
Viera: I'm pretty straightforward when it comes to those sorts of things. I like a bit of roleplaying occasionally. I've been trying for years to get Keran to try BDSM but he's being awfully stubborn about it.

Keran: V-Viera!

Viera: He does like a bit of bondage here and there, but that's about as far as he'll go. And I guess I do prefer dominance. And he's definitely a submissive personality, so it works out pretty well. He's also got a thing for cunnilingus, which is definitely a point in his favour. Also-

Keran: Viera!!

Viera: Gods, Keran. If you blushed any harder you'd turn pink. I'm just answering the question. He also seems to enjoy swallowing things whole, which I don't really get-

Keran: NEXT QUESTION PLEASE!

37. Seme or uke?
Viera: I don't know what that means.

Keran: It's...a sex thing again. Um...seme is dominant and uke is submissive. But it refers to male-only relationships.

Viera: ...How do you know that? How do you possibly know that?

Keran: I don't want to talk about it!

Viera: Because if there's something I should know-

Keran: Oh like you've never accidentally stumbled across something weird on the internet before.

38. Camping or indoors?
Viera: Camping can be all right if you actually bring things like a tent. We usually just rough it. So yeah, I'd prefer indoors.

Keran: Me too.

39. Who are you gonna tag?
Viera: Nobody, but Blitzen wants the two of us to stay here for a while in case other people have questions.

Keran: Although we can't answer questions like "what's going to happen in the story?" for obvious reasons.

Viera: Everybody's actually going to die at the end. It's a really dark twist. It's kind of bizarre.

Keran: Okay so maybe we will answer those kinds of questions, Viera will just be really sarcastic about it.

Viera: Also, Lorne and Lin get together. After he dies he becomes a Gengar and the story goes on for a bit with just the two of them. It's really weird.

Keran: So um...ask away I guess. We'll just be here until...when can we leave again?

*Viera shrugs*

Thanks to my discovery of the 'Change Submission File' button, all of my chapters are now in .txt form, and I was able to make some changes to Chapter 3 that were bugging me. Nothing big, I just reduced the population of the town and changed 'writ of certification' back to 'writ of permission' instead of using the two interchangeably. Now that I've got encoding down as well we shouldn't have to worry about any more annoying downloads just to read each chapter.

Anyway, I mostly just wanted to give an update on that so my last journal won't be so out of date. Also, Chapter 5 is currently in the works. I have a whole paragraph written!

I'm trying to release chapter 4 as a .txt file but I'm having issues getting the quotation marks to show up properly. If you see the chapter come up then get taken down a bunch of times that's the reason why.

Aaaand I just realized that I could have been clicking 'change submission file' this entire time instead of taking it down over and over again. Why do I always figure these things out after the fact? Oh well, it's all sorted now.

I said I was hoping for the release to be over the weekend, but some stuff came up I had to deal with. It's written though! I just want to sleep on it and then finish up any last-minute edits in the morning before I submit it.

After that just one more chapter to go! I am also still writing other side stories, they're just not progressing as quickly. I'm considering making a progress bar on my user page to let people know how the stories are coming along. If I've started, how far I have to go before it's finished, whether I'm editing them or not, that sort of thing.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I'm still trucking along.

Since I've been active here for a little while I decided to add a few things to make getting into contact with me easier should the need ever arise.

I made a g-mail! I really don't know why I waited so long to get one, but here it is: blitzenfalis @ gmail.com
I also made a Skype! I think the last time I used an IM program was MSN back in...2002? Something like that. Anyway, my Skype username is BlitzenFalis. I'm also going to add that to my profile page.

As for Chapter 4, it's still being worked on. I've got one scene left to write, and it's about 17 pages long as it currently stands. It's going to be longer than the previous chapter again, but I had some Actual Plot Development™ to get through. Involving one or two more returning main characters, it's always interesting writing the same character but from the POV of another character instead. I don't really have a release date set for Chapter 4 yet, but I'm hoping for at least sometime this weekend. I sort of rushed through editing the previous two chapters, and going over them again later I noticed a few errors. Nothing major enough to need to take them down and re-submit them but still enough for me to slow myself down and stop submitting what are essentially rough drafts.

Submissions might also slow down due to the fact that I found my old joystick and downloaded Star Wars: TIE Fighter on Steam. My ability to resist internet purchases is practically nil. The game's aged a bit but it's still pretty fun!

The fact that my story now includes a Doublade character has NOTHING to do with this fact. Nothing at all. She's a different gender than the talking sword in Transistor. Also Doublades have two swords. Totally different.

But seriously, you should play Transistor. It's an amazing game. The graphics and soundtrack are beautiful, it's got a wonderful sense of atmosphere, and the gameplay is challenging enough to keep you invested but without seeming cheap. Play it. Play iiiiiiiit.

Also disregard my last journal I'm working on Chapter 4 as we speak as well as the other shorter stories because I hate free time.

Meeting the Travellers, which will eventually just become The Travellers, is starting to get me burned out a bit. I've been sick over the past week (for some reason I seem to do my most productive writing when I'm sick. It seems backward.) and now that I'm recovering I feel myself stalling a bit. I have a massive, MASSIVE plot planned for the series. I think I just need to let all of my ideas settle and stew for a bit until I can come up with a clear outline of the plot and streamline my ideas into something with a clear beginning and end. I'm by no means abandoning the series, so don't worry about that.

What does this mean for my writing? Well, I was thinking of doing a few smaller submissions for right now, maybe connected to my main storyline, maybe standalone. I've spent a lot of time character building and trying to make the world seem as alive as I could; now I think I need some practice writing my vore scenes and just generally trying to trim up my writing a bit. I already have an idea for an alternate ending for Chapter 3, and I'm hoping to come up with some quick story ideas from there. I'm also going to challenge myself and try to keep each smaller submission under 10 pages if possible.

Having said that, I really, really appreciate the people who are sticking with the main series so far. I'm very humbled, and very happy that there are people out there who like my stories and want to read more of them in the future. Thank you all so much! But I do understand that reading through such a long series of chapters is a bit of an investment, so I just want to have a few stories that are more accessible alongside the main series. Or maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and feel like finishing Chapter 4. Who knows? I sure don't know what goes on in this weird, crazy head of mine.

I'm also going to start submitting my stories as .txt files, so people don't have to download them in order to read them. I struggled a lot with different files and different programs in the past, so having a format that lets people just read the stories directly on the site seems better for everyone involved. It might also give me a chance to stop abusing ITALICS so much :3

If you like, feel free to let me know what you think. Tell me what you think works in my stories and what might need some polishing. Basically if I feel like I'm lacking in something I'm going to try writing shorter submissions to practice. The only way to get better is to write, write, and keep writing. And coffee. Lots, and lots of coffee.

That's all. Thanks for listening! Now then, shall we see how this all plays out?

Let's all celebrate with a display of fireworks and a healthy bowl of poutine!

What does everyone think of the sprite art I put together for my two chapters so far? I'm extremely new at sprite art, and not nearly artistic enough to do anything more involved than that. Do you enjoy it, or do you feel that it would be better if I just made a basic template and used that for each submission to make them more easily recognizable? I was thinking something like a picture of one or two Pokemon in the story with the title above and the content warnings below. I'm a bit torn on the issue and I just wanted to see what other people thought.

 Ebony_The_Umbreon is doing a free vore raffle to celebrate 1000 pageviews and 50 watches! Go help him celebrate by participating in the raffle. He's a talented writer, and it takes only a moment of your time to reply to his journal and enter into the raffle. Link's below, if I can figure out how this newfangled HTML works.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6828597/

Go check out his works while you're at it!

As for my story; it's on it's way! Sometime today actually. I just need a bit more time to edit it.

For those of you at home, keep your stick on the ice.

...from an eleven and a half hour drive. Talk later, sleep now.

Oh, and Chapter 2 will be up before or during this weekend.

For those at home...etc etc.

Chapter 2: River the Captain will be delayed. Recovery from my aforementioned surgery took longer than I anticipated, and I'm going to be spending a lot of time travelling over the next two weeks. I'm working on it as much as I can in the meantime, though my internet connection will not be guaranteed and even if I do finish it might have to wait until I'm home to be uploaded. I'll try not to make everybody wait too long though!

I do have a rough outline set up all the way through chapter 5 however, so when my life settles down again (hopefully) after these next couple weeks I should be able to rip through them fairly quickly.

For those of you at home, keep your stick on the ice.

In other unrelated news, the sky is blue.

In all seriousness though, I did go through a minor surgery that I'm currently recovering from. This means that due to the fact that my jaw feels like it was hit by a sledgehammer that I might not be up to working on any of my stories for the next couple of days. I'm hoping to have the next chapter of my story up by June 6th, but we'll see how it goes.

For those of you at home, keep your stick on the ice.

...As evidenced by the fact that I spent about 40 minutes in Paint trying to come up with a decent thumbnail for Chapter 1 of my story. How hard is it to slap a few Pokemon sprites together on a blank background with some text? Apparently the answer is 'very'.

In more exciting news chapter 1 is about 1500 words in, which is more words in an hour than I've written in the past year. Probably about a third of the way done, probably won't have anything to submit by this coming weekend though because of work and other commitments but I'm hoping that the following weekend will see chapter one on here. The hardest part is, as always, finding a title. Two titles actually; one for the story itself and one for the first chapter. Why are titles as hard as thumbnails?

Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.