Hello, followers of this account and the others I will reblog this too. I'm just gonna kinda ramble here, but I also have some important info re: when Ruefell will be completed (and Burwick)
I'm sure people have noticed I have a habit of starting projects and never getting anywhere with them:
Honey and Fire, that was my first try at IF and I was a teenager and had no idea what I was doing and it's just no longer a viable project, so that's cancelled for real.
Burwick Destination, I was still inexperienced and young, so my planning is total garbage and needs to be completely rebuilt from the ground up, perhaps the story will change a good deal when I get around to that. But I'm not ready to do that and I won't be for a while. I'm ashamed of how long it's been on hiatus, so I need to take this time to clear my plate and just not look at it for a while, that way it won't go the way of HoF and take a toll on my mental health.
Magic of Ruefell, my planning is much better and I'm still confident in this one. But it's a big project. Which brings me to my newest project.
The Book of Broken Candles. @bookofbrokencandles This one is my new and primary focus. I feel prepared to see this one to completion.
See... I have problems lol. I'm just gonna level with you guys. I struggle really, really badly with executive dysfunction and some symptoms that lead me to certain labels I can't get diagnosed, but are symptoms that frequently strangle my creative efforts. I was in a much worse place when I started those first three projects (and my not-so-secret other one on my main) so they also got this treatment as I fell into yet another pit that prevented me from working. But I feel like I'm in a better place now. It's not perfect and I'm still slower than hell at writing, but I'm also still writing. Consistently, at that, which is something that hasn't happened for me since my fanfic days in my teens. That's a good sign, to me.
I'm worried about what will happen as we get into December, because I already hate how early the sun sets where I live and I don't do well with seasonal depression. But I won't be too hard on myself, whatever happens, and I hope that will be enough to get me through this season without a great deal of pain to my writing.
But that's neither here nor there right now. I wanted to clear state what's going on in my head right now regarding my projects:
Truth be told, Burwick and Ruefell are too much right now. Burwick moreso, but that's for multiple reasons. I've already said it, but I need to return to it at a much later date and pick up the pieces of my teenage mess.
Ruefell, it's in a way better state, but it is... a big bite to chew right now, in terms of being my first completed IF. So I don't think it can be my first completed IF. Its cast and number of variables are on the large side and I don't want to burn out on it. There's also more promise in the plot that I'd really like to have the experience needed to deliver on.
Candles is... getting a bit on the big side haha. It's seeming larger than I expected when I first conceived of it. But I'm keeping it in a much tighter scope. Its focus is much narrower, I'm more confident in the decisions I'm making to keep the number of variables under control (aka not being too much of a people-pleaser) and I have a set limit on the number of chapters it will have, so I can see the timeline a lot clearer. What this means is basically just that Candles will take a little longer to complete than I initially thought, but it won't be harder to complete.
So here's the timeline: Candles completed -> Ruefell completed -> Circle back around to Burwick and complete that.
Then I'll see what ideas I've shelved in that time. I have some I've been kicking around for a long time, and one that may very well end up being my magnum opus when I get to it. And I think my dream is to one day write a VN. I have an idea, but it is also massive, so maybe I'll manage to make that dream come true with a smaller project before that one.
I think that's all I have to say right now... Thank you, everyone, who's been patient with me all this time. If you still enjoy my work, please follow me over at @bookofbrokencandles and send me asks and stuff, I need engagement to survive or I feel like I'm screaming into a void that won't echo.