Hello everyone,

It's been a while, and an update on things is due. 

The main reason we haven't posted anything recently is that RLion, our artist, is in his final year of university, and it's extremely demanding. We talked about free time for drawing and there is basically time only on the weekends at most. That would also cut into his free time a lot which he also needs. We've got most of the other stuff done, but we are missing the art. As soon as things improve on that front, we will notify everyone. Light My Way needs a little bit more time because of all of this. We're going to wait for him. 

We started this together, so we'll finish it together 🐯🐱🐶

On the flip side, I am working very hard on Graven. It's turned into a whole lot of editing. I have taken the time to research more and more about structure, plot, character development, how to use subplots properly, description enhancement, and so much more. The result is that I now feel like I have been aping around for the most part. I read what I wrote and am slightly embarrassed.

It's totally fine, though. I am growing, and seeing mistakes in past works is a sign of improvement. While that is in fact very good, I now have a mountain of editing to do because I am unhappy with my level of writing. I spent around 12 hours or more only on editing about 5000 words. That's just 12 pages. And I still find stuff I think I could improve. The next part that I am working on is 4 times as big...Then there's the next one and the one after that.

"Perfection is the enemy of good." Voltaire warned us all about this. I need to listen and decide that at some point, I have to stop editing endlessly and accept that my work will never truly be perfect. Some will say that it's too negative, or too flowery, or too this or that, so there is no point in going on forever. But this shouldn't mean that I should also leave it as it is. When I look at "Light My Way" I see at least 15 things I could have added in Chapter 1 to actually make it hook the reader even more. I missed out on many world-building details, interesting interactions, more description, and insistence on the Aspect concept. One day, one very far away day, I will edit Light My Way so that I can show you all what I have learned since I started on my journey as a writer.

The last thing that I wanted to let everyone know is that I am going through a bit of an existential crisis with AI being so good at writing. There are a lot of videos on YouTube popping up about how writers are basically obsolete. An AI can churn out a furry visual novel script in less than one minute. There will be an extreme flood of this in the near future, but I hope that the small fan base that I have now will still turn to human writing and find solace in knowing that my stories are based on my own life, which has had real experiences with real people that inspired my characters. I have days when I think it's all for nothing, but then I see someone comment on Light My Way or my friends ask me how Graven is going, and I know that even if I will have just a few people who will want to read my work, then all of it is still worth making. 

You'll see my improvement with Graven in a few months. I don't expect RLion to be free enough to start with Graven any time soon, as he's still working on Chapter 8 for Light My Way. But that also gives me enough time to fully immerse myself in the cold, rainy, and surprisingly snowy landscape of Kazuul.

As a small spoiler for Graven: 

Prepare for grimdark vibes...with a heartbeat. 

Thank you all for your support!

See you in Stradia!
-Hadrian Maximus