#munwritesst

[v-mum-writes]

So,

I'm currently working on the SlaveTale re-write currently called in my files as "Shifting Ocean" and im trying to put more backing behind the main character's history as an Aggressive Protestor, which i touched on very lightly in the original ST story (and i mean VERY lightly, i never really went into it because I didn't think the mc there would ever really want to bring those days back up considering they were a protestor for Monster Rights and the whole thing failed... spectacularly)

Anyway, my point is: im fleshing out that a bit more in th re-write's characterization, and in addition to their past involvement with monster rights and monster laws protests in the *past* I want to have a like, secondary protest-like conflict in the story. just an additional conflict for the MC to have to like, demonstrate some key themes...

My problem is I want to avoid "Dating" the story- so avoiding real conflicts, like real-world war protest efforts such as Ukraine or Palestine; especially since fiction and fan fiction are usually escapism methods and bringing that kind of intense stuff into a story that is demonstrably about a fictional peoples (monsters) treatment and lack of rights seems disingenuous, potentially stressful, maybe even disrespectful to those in the actual crisis involved...

Now all that said, im considering inventing some sort of ficitional issue that would insight violent protesting and agressive action the way issues like that cause. I have two concerns.

The first is whether that is more disrespectful (to ignore real-world conflicts and instead invent fictional conflicts for the sake of comfort for the readers and, yeah, probably for me the writer too. as it would probably be more comfortable for me to write a fictional conflict as I wouldnt have to worry about making a potentially critical mistake on such an important topic)

The second is that im just looking for ideas on that particular invention. Again, my point is to not Date the story with a real world issue, and to avoid painful parallels to such modern day problems for people who are likely looking for escapism from said concepts. So if someone has a suggestion- for inventing the conflict, or maybe an existing historic conflict that doesnt bear a lot of weight in the modern atmosphere that could be paralleled? (I have briefly considered modeling a conflict around the Vietnam war, or maybe researching how other conflicts went?)

Anyway, depending on the timeline of the conflict i use / invent, interesting concepts for those who might be waiting for the Shifting Ocean to start posting: Main Character maybe takes the skelebros to a fucking Peace Rally. that'd be a fun chapter.

[v-mum-writes]

What is very likely the last update for ST is done, at least until a significant chunk of the revision is done.

I’ve been debating with myself, though, if i want to put the five-or-so chapters Ive written and only partially revised after Chapter 91, The Papyrus Chapter, up on Patreon. I dont post nearly enough there, but i’m not sure if anyone on Patreon would care to see them all things considered.

And in a similar vein, I’m considering posting the early-version of my oneshot for Let Papyrus Say Fuck Day on Patreon, which I would obviously revise and work on a little more and then actually post on Ao3 on the 16th of June. And yet again, I’m not sure if anyone there would care, or if anyone would be interested in paying something just to read it?

(Which is what I think about most things I write, for that matter, and is probably why nothing ever gets posted there. The agony.)

[v-mum-writes]

Rewriting ST is going wild can i just say.

I am Cringing at my old chapters they are an agony unto the self to read.

[v-mum-writes]

SlaveTale, Ch 88 is now posted!

like i said before, it didn’t take long to be posted. Mostly because it’s another waiting period chapter.

It feature’s special guest, SAMMY! Mc’s tiny little brother!

[v-mum-writes]

Hello! I always love your story slavetale, I was wondering if you will continue posting more chapters? You are a great person!

Thank you! Yes, I donintend to - I've mentioned a couple times recently that I have begun a re-write, and I'm about 10 chapters into it at current. The process is a bit stunted due to repeat moves (some to different states entirely) and multiple times switching jobs, and my current one is rather physically demanding. So while progress is slow, ST is being re-worked by the current title Shifting Ocean.

I'm not gunna lie, I think I'm a bit estranged from the Fandom which is in part why I have a hard time focusing on it- but I have already too little free time to WRITE let alone drag myself thru ao3 for first to like, re-fresh my brain. This isnt the only issue (another issue, for example, being some personal conflict and turmoil on if/how to acknowledge real world issues in a fic discussing the complications of living in a world with ongoing enslavement and not really having a lot of people comfortable with discussing / that I'm comfortable discussing with.) But at the moment it's the only issue I'm really equipped to tackle on my own.

So I suppose if you really want progress to be boosted on Shifting Ocean, throw good fic recs my way? Or if you feel like you have opinions on that other mentioned issue, shoot me thoughts?

[savsonfire]

I'm so glad to hear that you'll be continuing with the Shifting Oceans rework! Normally, when I see stories that are unfinished and un-updated for years, it's rare that they get reworked and/or continued. I truly love your interpretation of each character and your portrayal of emotions like guilt and the struggle of responsibility. I can't wait to see what's in store! I did have one other question. I wanted to ask if, in the rewrite, any main plot points or events will be changed that have occurred thus far in ST, or if the current 'lore' would remain largely unchanged?

Glad to hear!

(spoilers to follow)

As far as changes, Lore-wise, nothing big is set be changed, but there's a pretty substantial chunk of unspoken lore stuff I want to actually include in the rework. A lot of details, funny or meaningful or character developing, kind of just got........ left out. My reasoning then was that "well the MC didnt notice that" and "well the POV wasn't looking that way" and "well that's just not the right thing to focus on"

Like, most of the big lores i wanted in the last chapters i posted in ST made it in because i feel like I've developed more as a writer. In the later stages of Gaster forcing his way into the plot, that last chapter I posted from Papyrus' point of view highlighted those details a little heavy handed because i kept pushing them off, but included background details like G being the eldest 'brother' and one of his forgotten contributions to monsters was preventing extinction temporarily and preserving near-extincting variety of monster by creating artificial means of 'birthing' monsters. And how some of those monsters did NOT come out quite right, namely Undyne, Papyrus, and Sans, who were some of the first ones.

There's been a lot of things that I *didnt* get in because i just didn't know how, but are still background data. Like the detail where the MC delivers a coffee to grillby every morning was a detail i had in mind since the start- but as far as the MC's point of view, it was a detail they tend to suppress mentally similarly to Drinking With Apollo TM and other small details about her involvement and friendship with Grillby, simply because Grillby is involved in a lot of trauma by virtue of Existing There. So I never had a time to bring up the coffee thing until the Big Reveal Chapter, where it came with Grillby's perspective, cause on an emotional level, it was way more significant to him.

Details about the MC were also scrubbed early on to make the self-insert thing a lil more generic, but some of the details were necessary for the hospital arc anyway to make sense and bled back in. One of those details being that the MC has some history dealing with traumatized people she needs to act responsible for (see, her nephew from Abby's side) and that a lot of the ways she attempts to get along with Sans early on is based on how she learned to be a rolemodel for a struggling teenager. It has pros and cons with her approach considering the situation is very different, but little of that really gets explained because it was all subconscious background noise? Like i'd want to elaborate on all that wayyyy better in the rewrite, which isn't a *change* in lore, but it would be *new* lore to anyone that wasnt me, yaknow?

Stuff like that. I think the only thing I might change up is the Gaster Inolvement events (i think i might adjust the timeline more than anything, maybe change up the events themselves?), work in a bit more Undyne Focus and make some other small adjustments... im still very early into the rewrite, obviously, so I've not gone all that far just yet. there could be other changes as i rewrite chapters that were originally written in like, fucking 2015/2016, FUCK this shit is old and makes me wanna peel my skin.

[v-mum-writes]

On the topic of Shifting Ocean / ST, also gunna share these refs for the revamped apartment i have in mind for the story. featuring some more focused looks at the main rooms.

It's significantly more disorganized on average up until Papyrus shows up, lol.

[v-mum-writes]

Surprising myself with the realization i never shared the first Cover Pages I made for Shifting Ocean (the ST re-write) on this blog!

Full title of the story, "The Shifting Ocean You've Left Behind"

I've made significantly less progress on it behind the scenes in the last year or so I've been working with it; a combination of writers block, moving states, hospital stays and hospital bills, frequent job changes, attacking my debts the best I can, etc etc etc. On top of trying to focus on more than one specific fandom or even exclusively fandom content, to avoid burn out and failure all together, lol. I've stepped a lot away from undertale for that reason (cause i've been in that position before with another fandom) but that doesn't at all mean Shifting Ocean / ST is dead.