Book 2 - The Second Sight: The Devil and the Wheel
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This is the development blog for the interactive fiction series called "The Second Sight". You can find the first, completed book and the in-progress sequel at the links above.
This is my first IF project, although I've been writing original stories and fanfiction for years.
I've included the story description and character profiles from the itch page below the cut.
This blog will be a combination of development info, images and music that I associate with the story, and other musings.
Fair warning, there might be spoilers from the latest chapters here, so I recommend catching up before reading too far.
Asks and submissions are always open.
spoiler tags: "ss book 1 spoilers", "ss book 2 spoilers", "ss spoilers"
(Content and trigger warnings at the bottom.)
Youāre an urban legend in a county full of them.Ā When you were thirteen, you were found passed out in the road by one of the local cops. No missing persons report. No fingerprints on file. No memories. Just a name.
Oh, and some bizarre psychic powers.Ā
You're content with simplicity. You like your isolated cabin and helping Carter track down missing persons.Ā You know that in theory there are more people like you out there, but you've never wanted to look behind the curtain to find out.
But now, you no longer have a choice...
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The Second Sight is an urban fantasy series, where you step into the role of a psychic whose strange powers have always separated them from others. Those same powers will drag you down the rabbit hole and into a world that is both familiar and foreign to everything you know. A world filled with magic, witches, fae, demons, and the unknown.
You can immerse yourself in the story by customizing your protagonist's general appearance, choosing how they interact with others, and whether you lean on logic or intuition to problem solve. There are three love interests planned (more may be added depending on player reception and feedback), the genders of which will be selected by the player upon meeting them.
Characters
Jacob Carter
Age: Late forties
Race: Human. Definitely.
Gender: Male
Temperament: Carter radiates grizzled, old bastard energy and despite being the least paternal person in the world, he is your adoptive father. While surly and rough around the edges, he is also fiercely protective of you and has bent over backwards to give you a decent life. He doesn't talk about his life before coming to Herman County and you haven't asked him, though that might change soon enough...
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Renard/Rowan
Age: Appears to be in their late twenties or early thirties
Race: Human. Maybe.
Appearance: Tall and slender, white-blonde hair, and gold eyes.
Temperament: Playful and witty, talking to R always feels like a game of cat and mouse and you can never be sure which role is yours. Part sad clown, part trickster, and always maddening to work with, the only things you can be certain of with R is that they probably know what they're doing. Everything else is up in the air.
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Zander/Zora
Age: Late twenties/EarlyĀ thirties
Race: Human. Mostly.
Appearance: Umber brown skin, black locs, grey eyesĀ
Temperament: Gentle and resolute, Z isn't what you imagine when you think of an agent of the mysterious Magic and Anomalies Bureau. Kind, soft-spoken, and exceedingly polite, Z is Carter's former apprentice and something about them puts the old man on edge.
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Unknown aka "The Kestrel"
Age: ???
Race: DefinitelyĀ notĀ human.
Appearance: Tall, beautiful, elegant, with black hair and blue eyes.
Temperament: The Kestrel is a complete unknown. It's impossible to say whether they are a lethal ally or deadly enemy, but either way they are a powerful dreamwalker. You don't know how long they've been watching you, but you're willing to bet that it's been longer than you're comfortable with.
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This series includes strong language, sexually suggestive material, violence, emotional/physical/mental abuse, slavery, and other mature topics. Not recommended for those under 18.
(All visual elements were made using Canva's free assets.)
HIII i just wanted to say that i just finished second sight book 1 and whats published of book 2 and the writing is so immersive <33 it was a joy to read !!!! im so invested in the mc and carterās little found family š„¹š„¹ and all three routes were so interesting !!! AND THE MYSTERIES AAACK
after reading through zās route i keep imagining them with the hand flex from pride and prejudice and making myself go insane. so much yearning there !!! its attraction sure but i really like thinking of their relationship as one where understanding and kindness inspire the will to enact change. whether thatās change within themselves or their circumstances im not sure!! my brain has been consumed. z really reminded me of these quotes from baldwin so i wanted to share !! hope youre doing well author <33 thank you for sharing your writing !!
Ah! The Darcy hand flex! You've struck on one of my biggest weaknesses š
Z and MC will figure it out eventually. They just need time.
Im also a huge sucker for quotes and these are perfect for Z
You know with all the talks about deals with demons and fae a powerful bloodline witch with mysterious parentage NOT having magic? A so called maybe family curse?
I do feel that Rose might be more than just a cute mascot. And that maybe a certain student/maid was chosen as a subject of observation and imitation had at least as much to do with her relationship with Rose as her closeness to Kate's husband.
But who knows. Maybe the author. Not that they'd tell me more. ... Or maybe they would?
Dream with The Shadow King cameo!! š Very curious about that - and what ripped MC out of it.
Interesting observations about the genetics of magic (or the lack of it) with Rose...
Maybe a tiny bit slow while MC was in/getting shown around the house at various points, but I got sucked back in when they were debriefing about the vision where Felix went missing. The mystery! I'm curious to learn more about this creature type and Felix is just such a sweetie that I care about finding out how he's been doing since his abduction.
As if I could ever pick a route where I don't follow Carter. "#let's eat shit with mama" meme but it's let's explore creepy tunnels with papa.
One typo, missing the word "a"?: On a bigger note, Iād rather we keep it just between us that that thing has [a] key.ā
....waaaaait a secondddd. Is Kate short for Katherine? And her sister, Elena. IS THIS A "THE VAMPIRE DIARIES" REFERENCE??
Lol it is not an intentional reference although this has to be like the 3rd unintentional reference I've made to other supernatural shows.
Also I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! I'm afraid a little bit of early chapter slog is unavoidable as we set up the chess board but I appreciate you hanging there with me āŗļø
And I'm glad everyone likes Felix so far. He's a soft boi and he deserves it.
Had the random thought of the significance of MC having Carterās surname to help protect them, and now Iām so curious how thatād tie in if MC got married- would the ROās technically fall into that protection if they took MCās last name?
Because now I have the mental image of the ROās taking the Carter surname if they marry mc, with the fae off to the side of the wedding, slightly quaking in their boots going āoh god, theyāre growingā
Good question. I guess I see it really only affecting MC because Carter's the one that's respected and he's bestowing that protection on who he's decided is his kid. I don't think MC could extend it past that. So one generation of nepotism only. If in theory MC ends up with that same cred (oor inherits the Balor title from Carter) then they could.
how would the ROās (+ Carter and probably Kas) feel about being forced to watch Twilight? (or alternatively for Carter, āCarter dealing with teen!mc getting into their Twilight phase?ā)
Since Kas says real vampires would view romantic relationships with humans as equal to bestiality and that vampires are unequivocally monsters, I can't imagine any iteration of vampire romance being well received by anyone actually in the know.
It'd probably be the only thing Carter might outright forbid. He'd probably like to laugh at it but knowing monsters are real probably makes it hard
Sorry, I promise I'll send actually useful feedback at some point, but I was just playing the end of chapter 2 and want to let you know something in the code didn't work. During dinner the sentence "You andĀ $rrnameĀ share a look across the table" is showing instead of the actual name. Wanted to let you know before you finished and uploaded the public Chap 3 in case fixing it does something to the saves.
Lol chapter 3 is already public but I'll go take care of that š
if I ever tell you ālmk what you think if you read/play/watch it!ā I am firmly inviting you to send me a play by play minute by minute cataloguing of your thoughts about The Thing
My MC for The Second Sight!! I still have catching up to do with The Devil and the Wheel... ^^;; But I've been itching to draw an updated portrait of one of my favourite MC's lolol. Her name is MEL!!!
The Second Sight is written by @spoiledblogif !!! It's one of my favourites because of my attachment to Mel and Renard TT
Also because someone said that Renard in their mind dresses like Lestat HAHAHA (this was an excuse to draw Renard I fear)
Also SOME more doodles under....
Spends too much time on her hair.... Step by step routine guys.
I saw this on Pinterest and was like.... That's THEM!!!!
Zora............ Sobsob (thank you to the artist that drew zora!!! I was highly inspired by that rendition!! She's so.... Gorgeous.....)
I loved how I imagined the sparrow mask in my head.... I'm okay-okay with how I executed it lol.
This is extremely random but I'm doing research for my own IF right now and have ended up down the rabbithole of scottish fair folk / faeries' folklore and the roles of wise women / wise men. And the fact that they are given their powers through something called "the second sight" and it is passed down by the faeries themselves. And our MC has an unknown connection to a fae ruler (through their presumed familial look-a-like) and psychic powers almost unheard of in strength...
So, what I am asking is...did I happen to connect any dots here? ( ā¢ ĢĻā¢Ģ )ā§
Love your IF btw and can't wait to see how it develops! (ć„ į“ _į“)ć„ā”
I'm trying to think of how to answer this without spoilers.
So, what I can say is that MC's powers are something they were born with, and not a gift in and of themselves from the fae. And they're inherited.
A... Wolf? Short? by Spoiled Sweet on Patreon. Join Spoiled Sweet's community for exclusive content and updates.
This time about... Wolf?
I'm not sure if it's ever come up here, but the Wolf lust has been thrown around on the Discord a few times. And apparently that was somehow enough for the ADHD gremlins to decide we're writing smut for them.
This was never actually meant to be published, it was just a writing exercise, so if the quality is meh I apologize. The ending is also somewhat abrupt and bittersweet because this "experiment" was already at 5600 words.
$3 individually ($4.50 for ios users I think) or just join the $3 tier and get access to all of them
Huh so the secret RO is fixed male too huh. So there's 3 gender selectable ROs and 3 fixed male ROs but not a single fixed female RO or nonbinary presence whatsoever. And since you can set the genders of the ROs and MC to male, you can end up with an ENTIRELY all male cast including the dads and Oswin's bro (females like the twins and Emre's wife do exist but hardly ever appear as more than a line or two of flavor text in passing) Rather imbalanced but hey it's your story I suppose.
Hopefully the natural diversity for your next project will include fixed female and NB ROs/characters written with their gender mattering more than a flippable switch that can just be set to male (unless it's an actual genderfluid character now that'd be interesting to see)
Sorry if I sound super bitter, just been reading too many things with sausage fest casts recently
Yup, āfraid so, Anon. I'm going to note real quick that the mystery suitor was always penned as a man, and is noted in the pinned post. There's also other relevant spoiler-things with this that I'm not diving into here.
I honestly nearly deleted this ask because Iāve responded to a similar prompt in the past before, but Iām responding on faith that you are not the same person as before.
To start, I donāt need to justify who I am or how I write to anyone, so Iām not going to do that, but I will provide a little perspective from my end. Iāve said before that one thing Iāve learned about myself is that the āfeminineā to me isnāt the same as the feminine to you or anyone else. And I do not ascribe most traits, quirks, behaviors, etc., to either men, women, or anyone in between. In my writing, changing a gen-selectable character does not change their habits or personality. For me, that doesnāt make sense. Gender has been a matter of extreme conflict in my personal life, and that has bled into my work, but Iām not fully going into that here.
You donāt like that there doesnāt seem to be a balance of men and women - what in life is always in balance, though?
Our perspectives on balance and storytelling are different, but this is my story. This is how it came to life and how it will be.
A good portion of the men in my story are softer, exhibiting what many people would ascribe as more feminine qualities. The fathers are doting nurturers, Oswin cries at everything, and Emre is soft and flowery. I know this isnāt the balance you may be seeking, but I feel that itās worth pointing out.
Again, I donāt need to justify my creation to you, but youāre neglecting to see all it is.
Honestly, if you want to be bitter about it, thatās fine; itās how you feel - feel it. Youāre disappointed because youāre seeing a gap in a medium you care about; I understand that intimately. But what I would encourage you to do, instead of trying to transfer that bitterness to an inbox, is fill the gap yourself. If you donāt enjoy writing, then find a team or start one - you can volunteer as a developmental editor, consult with those seeking help, etc., or use another creative avenue.
If that still doesnāt resonate with you, then create inspiration. Hype the authors who strike the balance you love. Focus on encouraging them - they already resonate with you in an area that I donāt.
You might be pleased with my next project, you might not. Maybe youāll like the balance I create but dislike my execution of it.
Part of why GC came to be was that there were things in other IFs I did not see but wanted to. So, I wrote them.
Not that Lunan needs me to jump in here and add my two cents, but:
Dear anon,
shut the fuck up and go read something else if this gets your undies in such a twist (or at least have the balls to come off anon to say this kind of thing, it's telling that you didn't)
Sincerely, another writer really tired of this attitude
I don't like the "just go read something else" argument in general, but literally if something doesn't appeal to you it takes 2 seconds to just move on to something else.
