A blog for all of my creative endeavors.
Main blog: @exkomuses @derpyfeesh helps me with most of my projects (they make most of the art, plus they help me with ideas). Go follow them, they’re cool. ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧ ⓘ All works here are teen friendly and will be very loudly and obviously stated if not. I intend to keep this a safe space for everyone, however a lot of my stories deal with heavy themes. Always remember to take your health and safety into account first. You can always click away.
I'm Exko or Echo X, whichever. I'm a novice writer and artist.
I'm currently working on two three four (but one’s a secret) projects (all currently incomplete)
Quick disclaimer:
All of these projects are passion projects, but also not guaranteed to ever be completed (due to a whole host of personal problems). As such, my work will always be free, but somethings may go unfinished. I deeply apologize for this.
That Distant Shore
Play here on Itch.io
Play as a displaced highschooler struggling with their parents tragic death.
Info post
The Last Mage AU
An Echo X Undertale AU interactive fiction.
(Info post tbc)
and
Saint Winslows, Vulston Pride
Read here on Quotev
Strange things have been happening in the little town of Vulston. Strange things do tend to follow Fritz though. Frederick Corbin, otherwise
Read here on AO3
Saint Winslows, Vulston Pride by ExkoXx
Chapters: 3/20
Read here on Wattpad
Strange things have been happening in the little town of Vulston. Strange things do tend to follow Fritz though. Freder...
BITCH THIS IS THE MOOD WE'RE GOING INTO THIS YEAR WITH
I'M GOING TO WRITE BADLY BECAUSE I HAVE FRIENDS WHO WRITE WELL AND I'M GOING TO PAINT BADLY BECAUSE I HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARE AMAZING ARTISTS AND I'M GOING TO EMBROIDER BADLY BECAUSE I HAVE FRIENDS THAT ARE AMAZING AT FIBER ART.
When I was deciding between Twine or ChoiceScript I eventually settled on Twine for a variety of reasons. I also question my life decisions. :,)
No regrets though. I would still make the same choice now. But man is it difficult. Is it worse starting from scratch vs having learned a different one? Like, does that previous knowledge carry over at all?
Oh, also! If you need any help with Twine I have some resources. I started using it a bit over a year ago and have used it on and off since, but I am by no means good at it lol. That does mean I have done a lot of googling and at least know what to look for though! I use Sugarcube. ^-^
I actually started with Twine first, but I became overwhelmed instantly and was recommended Choicescript. It was still hard for me as someone with no experience, but I managed to get the basics down in a week's time and complete the first chapter of my IF. Then Uni started, and I started doing major rewrites.
Fun fact: 'Twisted Love: Red String' originally started as an Ancient Chinese romance story, as it was based on a book I wrote when I was younger (terrible but close to my heart). Now it's more of a fantasy with some other elements sprinkled in.
If that wasn’t enough, I got ambitious with all the features I added to my IF, and it became harder to get ChoiceScript to do what I wanted. So I tackled Twine again. It was a big learning curve, but like you, I don’t regret it. It’s actually letting me be more creative while expanding my programming knowledge. Although it is tough using both Twine and ChoiceScript, since I’m still working on my other IF, 'Protocol R.E.D', and trying not to get certain things confused.
Ps. I also use Sugarcube aswell, so I appreciate any resources you may have.
I so so feel the overwhelming feelings and the over ambition. I’m struggling with the same thing right now. One of the things I wanted to do was have a really in-depth character creator. That was neat. But also absolute hell lol. My current project I’ve actually slimmed down the CC a ton. It makes me a bit sad, it feels like compromising something that was important to me. But, I think this has been a good learning experience for me. I guess that, it’s better (at least for me) to make something imperfect, than to not make something at all.
One of my stories is also based on a book I was writing when I was younger! I never got very far with it at all but I really liked the concept. And then about a year(more than atp) I was going through my old documents, saw that project and had the realization that the themes would work perfectly in an interactive fiction format. Thus began my journey with Twine haha.
Resources under the cut cuz this got a bit long.
You might already know some or honestly probably a lot of these resources but I’ll list them all just in case (and for anyone else who might need them, I’ll also be using the generic you for that purpose)
The Twine Cookbook & SugarCube v2 Documentation (along with the others but since sugarcube is what I use it’s what I’m familiar with) web pages are the most basic of basic but are really helpful. Can be a bit difficult to comprehend if you’re new to twine/sugarcube and especially if you’re completely new to coding in general.
That actually leads me to my next point and that’s like genuinely just… searching my problems has worked out fantastic haha. Intfiction.org has a ton of answered questions on there. In that same vein the Twine subreddit is also great, I’ve asked a few questions there before and they’re super helpful. This is the method that worked best for me because I got to see exactly where the problem was (which was often my same problem) and the reason why it didn’t work + the solution. Which let me extrapolate for similar problems/know what to look for in a general sense.
There’s also a ton of video resources on YouTube, though I haven’t actually used those much. They didn’t really mesh with my learning style unfortunately, and sometimes just left me more confused. Would probably work well for someone else though.
Then there’s here, Tumblr. There are a few IF writers on here that document their process and/or answer(/d) questions. Unfortunately these can be really hard to find since Tumblr’s search feature sucks, but the author of Wayfarer made some great resources.
Oh! And Chapel’s macros. Not a resource (or well, not in the same way as the other examples) in and of itself, but can make some things so much easier and add some cool features that I think most people wouldn’t know how to code themselves.
This one probably isn’t really relevant to you specifically but; Itch.io for templates and the like is really good imo. I am so thankful for them, I did not and probably couldn’t have built the ui from scratch.
That is all I can think of right now. I hope at least something in here will be useful to someone. Good luck with the writing! (Both with the code and the story, each are so difficult in their own ways haha)
When I was deciding between Twine or ChoiceScript I eventually settled on Twine for a variety of reasons. I also question my life decisions. :,)
No regrets though. I would still make the same choice now. But man is it difficult. Is it worse starting from scratch vs having learned a different one? Like, does that previous knowledge carry over at all?
Oh, also! If you need any help with Twine I have some resources. I started using it a bit over a year ago and have used it on and off since, but I am by no means good at it lol. That does mean I have done a lot of googling and at least know what to look for though! I use Sugarcube. ^-^
I’m just a writer, I have no clue how to code and learning has been so weird. I am struggling so hard with getting character stats set up. Welp time to call my Dad and have him check the code. Maybe I should get a rubber ducky lol.
Oh you sweet summer child (aka me from a year ago) if only you knew that would be the easy part 😔
Currently I’m actually finding coding easier than writing. More frustrating in some ways but I’m actually making progress with the code. Meanwhile with the writing I’m just staring at a blank document for an hour before reopening twine lol.
A lot of my stories have gone through so many iterations especially when it comes to the titles (cuz I suck at naming things).
For ‘That Distant Shore’ it’s especially interesting because that was supposed to be a book before it became an IF.
The two names I was able to find for TDS were:
Crashing Tides and a Mothers Hand - this was like… the first version and all I really knew is I wanted it to be a family tragedy on a coastal town lol
The Things We Lost - this was after I knew a but more about where I wanted to go with the concept. But it was still far from the current draft.
Then for Saint Winslows, I basically only knew I wanted a boarding school mystery story (this one actually came about cuz of She Who Shall Not Be Named and my learning about her being an awful human being. Her book series was big for me as a kid though, so I wanted to do something similar-ish while being inherently queer cuz I live off 50% hope and 50% spite)
The oldest name was “The Haunted Halls” which is… definitely a name. 👍
That’s kind of all I have to say about that. The only thing that carried over into what it is now is the town layout lol. This first draft was bad. Like… soooo bad. It was ridiculously wordy. There was a three part prologue that was entirely just describing the town.
This draft eventually changed names to be “The Flowers We Saw That Day” which honestly has nothing to do with the story I have no idea why it was called this other than I think an ex recommended the name. It also finally got to some character stuff. Was still pretty bad though. Eventually I completely rewrote it, starting off with the man characters actual thoughts instead of a disembodied voice explaining the towns layout in excruciating detail. Then I settled on the current name. Somewhat inspired by Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (or the title at least). But also horror movie titles for some reason. (The taglines specifically)
Anyways, idk how to end this. I was just musing I guess. Maybe someone else will also find this interesting.
Going through and editing variable names because past me was stupid and named them shit like “$FNameVar” I’m not even joking that is a real one I had to change. And they were all named like this!!! Specifically with the “Var” at the end. Like yeah no shit it’s a variable what else would it be dummy???
First piece of 2026 (and first complete piece since last May 😬)
I had a sci-fi outfit idea which gave me motivation to break out the iPad and from there it kinda snowballed into this. Originally it was just gonna be a quick outfit sketch, so I used a pose based (not sketched over, but still, transparency and all that) from Pinterest. I don’t know who made the base, but if I find out, I’ll add the credit.
Survived another year. Here’s to surviving the next. Thank you to everyone in my life who continue to support me through all these ups and downs. You mean the world to me. (╥﹏╥) ❤︎
From Love to LOVE Jam officially starts today, and I couldn’t be more excited to see what you’ll create. Whether you’re crafting heartfelt stories, diving into bold AUs, or exploring new ideas, this jam is all about celebrating creativity within the Undertale community.
Let's make these 50 days count!
I can’t wait to see your visual novels and interactive fiction!
❤️ Join the Jam on itch.io!
Here’s a quick reminder of what’s ahead:
🗓️ Jam Dates: July 14th–September 1st
✨ WIPs Welcome: There’s no pressure to finish—just focus on creating and sharing!
🎨 Resources: Don’t forget to check out the Starter Pack if you want a springboard for your project! Download for free here!
✨ Hashtag: Use #FL2L Jam to share your progress, connect, and inspire others.
✨ Tag me: Feel free to tag me at @fromlovetolovejam!
❓ Weekly Questions: I’ll be checking in every week with a new question! Tell us about your progress throughout the jam!
Drop your IF below please. I want to get some more authors on my radar so we can start rebuilding the community. I'm not sure yet what I want to organize but if you are wanting to start getting more dialogue going between all of us, lets start with just making a thread with all our info down below. :)
The Last Mage AU's prologue is done, it's short but I think that's okay. Now I'm just wrapping up some variables, the prologue review screen, and some fun settings!
For an example, there is now a setting that allows you to see which choices are tied with what soul trait!
I am clearly less creative than I thought I was because this is twice now that I've used a car stopping as a way to transition out of exposition...
Aaaanyways, prologue for The Last Mage AU is going well! Should be nearly done. It's short but so are the chapters for this story. I'm hoping piecing it into smaller chunks will let me post more often. 🤞
