Saturday, January 31, 2009

Chapter 26 is up and stuff.


Random Ebrellin-i stuff. No, I have no idea what's going on, only that he looked awful pretty and I couldn't resist.

It's a good thing Ebbie's marks aren't exactly tattooed on. They shift and change, which is really great for lazy artists like myself who can't be bothered to, you know, actually adhere to a particular look. The closest I get is a consistent motif in the Poet King's threads, and even there things get changed up a bit. Hey, people IRL have wardrobes and experiment with their hair. Why should Lyric be the only one having fun?

So, next week marks the first days of Irk and I making Infernal Shenanigans our full-time thing. I guess this means I have to actually, I don't know, do something with the website (besides the terrifying ASCII version of 'Sy asking you what the hell you think you're doing surfing the Internet instead of being a productive citizen). Alas, all that is present at the time is the wiki. ... oh gods it's like actual work, only I'm STILL AT HOME.

Which reminds me -- I need to con some people into helping me reorganize my garage into office space in exchange for tasty vittles.

By the way, did you guys know that pianos are really annoying to draw?

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Chapter 25 and Progress on Novel #2



Sorry this one got out so late. I had to scrap my work on the chapter illustration yesterday and start over. It was pretty detailed and time-consuming work, but I'm very happy with what resulted.

This chapter has some of the creepiest stuff I've ever written, by the way.

I started work on Novel #2, tentatively titled The Peacock King in Court, last Friday.  I've got around 3,000 words done so far.  I had to slow down to make sure to plot the thing out - it's usually early in a story when I have to do the largest amount of plot-building and mental prewriting.  That way I have lots of foundation to build on as I write the whole thing out impromptu with no outline.  Only way I can get something out that reads fresh, and that I enjoy writing.

Anyway thus far I'm really enjoying the results and am happy with where it's going.  Here's hoping I get it written at a good enough pace for you readers.  I have no idea what sort of update schedule I'm going to use whenever I start posting that story.  I'm starting to wonder if I'll have to slow it down to weekly updates.  I can't write very fast because I work full-time and only have so many hours in the day to devote to writing.  Those hours have to be shared with illustration, site maintenance, marketing research and a plethora of other things I do to keep the Irk ship a-floatin'.  Occasionally I even get out of the house.

There's so many things I'm excited about with novel 2, though!  I hope to share them with you soon, when you get to read it!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Chapter 24 up on time, aka, late.


I try to shoot for the day before when I put up a chapter, but it took awhile to do the art for this one.  Also, I had one or two scenes I skipped when I was writing this section, so I had to write a little bit of the update yesterday.  Anyway, it's up.  Char and I did another collab on the art this time.  I did the characters and she did the background.  Make sure to look at the big version that's linked when you click the chapter header image - Ebrellin-i's face has at least 5 times as much disdain up close.

After this, it's pretty downhill.  I'm a little nervous on whether I did it all right, but if I have to make a few more tweaks before I post the rest of the chapters, that's how it is.  Taking the whole thing and editing it for print is gonna be a bitch, but for now?

I'm gonna go write the second novel now, kthx.

Friday, January 23, 2009

FANGIRL PONIES UP YO




See?  'Sy!  :D  

OK, bad pun.  

Thursday, January 22, 2009

A FORMAL COMPLAINT

She did it to spite me, y'all.

Have you seen the new poll in the Peacock King storyblog?  That's OK, I'll give you a minute to go check it out.

Notice anything missing?

THAT'S RIGHT.  THERE IS NO 'SY OPTION ON THAT LIST.  ... and don't even try to pull none o' that "What?  He's not even in the story yet!" bullhooey.  We already talked about this.  

I suppose I could do something nefarious like, oh, hack the poll and add him to the list and then generate a bunch of fake votes to drive up his numbers watch as people all flock to his side (as they should), but no.  No, I will not stoop to such levels. 

Instead, I will continue on, basking in the happy knowledge that 'Sy was, in fact, so damned awesome that he didn't need to be added to the list.  It's simply assumed that he's in first place, and the rest of the cast is simply competing to stand in his shadow.

ETA:  WHAT?   GERUDE ISN'T EVEN ON THERE?  THIS POLL WAS POSTED WAY TOO EARLY, IRK.  FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF~

New poll - which character would you want to date?

Because they compete for these sort of stats, you know.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Well.

Kind of makes me feel bad about not working on mine, eh?  PK1 is, like, double my word-count on Averseen.  Chee-rist.

Congrats, Irk.  We'll talk about your schedule for the next novel tomorrow.  >:3


I just wrote the ending to the first novel.

You hear that? Story's DONE. That means for the first time since April of 2008 I can have that little shred of sanity back until I start building novel number two on top of it!

I WIN! \o/

Next step is to go back in and add in a few scenes I skipped over while racing towards the end, so the whole thing will be ready for incremental blog posting. After that...geez, who knows what lurks in novel number two?

...Well, I do, and Char does too, kinda, but...you don't! So there! And now I'm going to bed and sleep the sleep of a writer who has written a novel to its finish line!

Night guys!

PS - Wordcount before additional scenes are added: 114566

Well, *I* thought my "Poll's Closed" joke was funny.

So, another chapter, another header-art-thingie:



This time, Irk and I collaborated!  What this means is she asked me to do the illustration, I said "OK!" and got to work, I got the lineart done... and went "fffffffffffffff IRK YOU COLOR THIS."

So, she did!  I did the trees, though, because I get my rocks off drawing trees.  And rocks.  And trees and rocks and rocks and trees and trees and rocks and rocks and trees and trees and rocks and ... WATERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

If you didn't see that coming, you need to listen to more Arrogant Worms.  Seriously.

I'm thinking about posting snippits of what I write, but I'm still *meeeeeeeeeeeh* about it.  There's issues with things like spoilers for the most part (at least until somewhere in Novel #2), and... I don't know.  I'm not entirely convinced people would be interested.

Know what the best part about the end of this novel is?  I bet you can guess from the tags I'm using for this post!  HEEHEEHEE.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Okay so the end is...somewhat nearer!!!

107714 is the current word count, guys.  Next scene is the big one, so after that it's wrap-up and then hopefully finish.  I want this thing done so I can start getting pecked at by the next volume!

Also I want to see more of what Char is writing really, really, really bad and I'm having to read more Bleach manga to satiate that.  That isn't so much a bad thing but eventually I will run out of that too and what I really want is more Char stuff!  How do I get her to write moar? ;_;

...Maybe I should tempt her with art or something!  Averseen could use some shiny illustrating, and Splice could certainly be illuminated a bit...

ONE ONE ONE... Someone call Art Bell!

Irk hit Chapter 1 with this:



and then she requested I hit Chapter 11 with this:



... so I did.  

Gerald is so disturbingly hot when chained, collared, and out of his mind with durrrrrrr.  I hope this doesn't say too much about my real-life kinks?

YOU GUYS YOU GUYS YOU GUYS IRK FINALLY WROTE THE JUDGE IN A SCENE.  I did not pee my pants when I read it, but it was pretty damned close.  I may have actually squealed out loud.  I may, in fact, have squealed so loud and enthusiastically that she fell out of her chair in shock and mirth.  The only thing that could possibly top that is writing a scene with the Judge and Jhe Katherine in it, but alas.  That will have to wait.

I really should be writing my own stuff.  I even started getting twitches to write Cambodia into a story.  She's a character I came up with a few years ago when I was first toying with the idea of playing in a Shadowrun game.  I ended up drawing her as a convention badge image (I think).  I was doodling her and toying with a slight redesign, and then I started playing the little "what-if" games that inevitably develop into plot-bunnies, and now I'm whimpering in my comfy grey Nike pants because I'm already shoulder-deep in Averseen and dipping my toes in Splice, and those two aren't getting enough love as it is.

[For the curious, Averseen is a novella-sized and growing Peacock King-universe story, and Splice is some crap that /x/ got me thinking (and giggling) about that desperately keeps trying to be an alt-u PK story, but DAMMIT I'M ALREADY WRITING A PK STORY, I'D LIKE TO WRITE SOMETHING ORIGINAL THANKS.]

Instead of writing stories, though, I'm dicking around in the blogs and drawing pictures.  Go me!

Well, now I'm going to finish my tea and head to bed.  Something tells me all four cats are going to end up on me tonight... provided the Allie-cat doesn't growl and hiss the others away.  She's a funny girl, that one.  

Saturday, January 17, 2009

THE END IS NEAR

Char mentioned last post that I'm almost done writing the first novel.  I just might finish it tonight.  But what I wanted to say in this post?

Current In the Court of the Peacock King wordcount: 105058

FUCK.  I've never written anything that long in my LIFE.  Even my epic Slayers fanfictions only came to about half that.  That's just...stupid long.  That's like a real novel or something.  I did that in nine months?

Ffffffffffff...

Anyway, I'm glad I can guarantee everyone that the novel I'm blogposting actually does have an end, and that end is so near that I am squeezing its furry tail in my fingers right now, and pulling it towards me no matter how hard it tries to squirm out of my grasp and hide under the end table.  ...As stories often do.

lol gunz

New chapter header up, for Ch. 9:


I have many love for revolver.

Irk's getting awful close to finishing the first draft of P-K.  I'm of two minds about this; on one hand, I'm very excited that it's almost done, but on the other... I'm deeply fond of this story and don't want it to end.  Yeah, I know, there's more coming out and heck I'm writing pretty good-sized chunks of the world myself, but it's not the same.  

We're pretty different writers, when you get right down to it.  Beyond the basic stylistic differences, Irk and I handle the Peacock King universe in very different ways when we write.  She's very much into the political intrigue, and loves exploring the plots and events and what I like to think of as the "epic storyline".  I, on the other hand, do a lot of character exploration and, in the wiki, a lot of worldbuilding.  I've tried to write epic storylines and intrigue, and I bore myself to DEATH when I do.  I'm kind of jealous of how she writes.

Irk's storytelling captures my attention.  It feels lively to me, awake and aware and very much in the moment she's describing.  I, on the other hand, would set fire to what I write if I were actually capable of doing it.  (I'm the same way with my art, actually.  Irk literally steals what I draw to keep me from tossing it all out, and there's been more than one occasion where she's heard me shrieking at the screen and had to talk me out of completely wiping out a drawing.)  I read my stuff, and most of the time feel like just destroying it all.  The thing that stops me the most is knowing that Irk would never shut up about it if I did, and quite honestly, as much as I despair of ever pulling out a decently long piece of writing, there are parts of what I write that are, in my own humble estimation, brilliant.

At some point, I'm going to trick her into actively cowriting something with me.  It'll be interesting to see what comes of it.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Update - Art - Character Chatter

In the interests of feng shui, the chapter art is left uncredited.  It's probably prudent, then, to freakin' take some credit where we can, yes?

So, the rundown at this moment:

Irk:

Chapter 18 - Conscripted


Chapter 19 - Threshold of the Tamed


Chapter 20 - In the Garden of Hespiredes


Chapter 21 - Avian Flew

Char:


Chapter 2 - Big, Mean, Nasty Dogs


Chapter 4 - Come On! It's Fun to Spy On Your Siblings.


Chapter 22 - The Harbinger


Now that I've imagespammed the heck out of this page...

I love Jax.  He's one of my favorites by far, for all that he's just a giant cuddly dumbass.  YAY JAX <3

I honestly can't wait until the end of this novel, just so we can have a favorite character poll.  Irk wants to do it sooner, but that's just bloody unfair because my TOTAL FAVE (and therefore y'all's, too, iffen' ye know what's good fer ye) is the Judge.  If she puts up the poll too soon, he won't be included, and everyone will be forced to write him in even though he's not in any posted scenes yet!

(Ha ha, guess which character I tend to write a lot of in the side-stories.)

(In fact, most of my personal faves are still Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film.  DARNIT.  I want to SHARE THE LOVE.)

Thursday, January 15, 2009

IGNORE THE MISTAKES OK? :D


Dude, Lo-Pan and Ebrellin-i are total BFFs.  Yay over-tall evil sorcerers!

This is totally the fault of the previous post, in case you had any doubts.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Art - Peacock King ATC


Peacock Profile
by ~irk on deviantART

This would be the humongous, awe-inspiring, Lo-Pan-is-my-frat-bro version of his crown.

Ramblings I

Our setup is something like this: two laptops on the kitchen table, roughly two feet apart.  My laptop is usually jacked into the stereo, and is usually playing the most current version of the Peacock King soundtrack.  (Currently playing: "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" - Paula Cole... wait, make that "You're No Rock n' Roll Fun" - Sleater-Kinney.)  The lights are on overhead, my knitting is half-hidden by stacks of papers, and Irk occasionally looks up from her laptop to stare into space.

She also twitches, people.  It's like her brain runs on a friggin' friction drive.

There is the ever-present tea.  Neither of us are capable at this point of writing without a cup of tea to keep us company.  When Irk first moved in with me, I had to train her in the fine art of brewing tea, and introduced her to the wonders of fresh loose-leaf teas.  I can now safely say that she's at least as hard-core about her tea as I am, although I suspect she's a bit more willing to drink the pre-bagged stuff than I am.

Laptops, music, tea... cats.  We're up to four cats in the house now, even though two of them are still ensconced in my bedroom acting as if the entire universe just shat on their little kitty lives.  (In a way, that might just be true.  After all, the poor dears have to live with my kittyboys and my children now.)  Roland, my snowshoe Siamese mix, tends to either hang around our feet or hang off the back of the couch, when he's not trying to upturn the garbage can.  Gordon is ... Gordon.  I think he's more of a mobile rug than a proper cat.

In the midst of all this, Irk drinks her tea and shimmies the table and churns out more story.  I support this activity by playing music, drawing, and surfing 4chan writing my own stuff.  After a while, I either give up waiting for her to finish and go to bed, or she'll announce (with the proper amount of angelic trumpeting and holy beams of light) that she has finished another bit of manuscript, and would I like to read it?

We'll ignore for now the fact that seven times out of ten I've been sneaking peeks at the document while she's writing anyway. Oh, the joys of sharing GoogleDocs!

... I think that's enough rambling for now.  I'll just finish this off by pointing out the new banner (yay) and the new art on Chapter 4 (also yay).  Time to get back to my own scribin'...

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

This is what happens when you ask for advice on the internet.

So, I guess you should know that I partly based the character of the Peacock King on Big Trouble In Little China's Lo-Pan. I mean, I'm sure you can see the similarities - love for big hats, long, flowing robes, extreme haughtiness, the power to control people, and being about ten feet tall.

While looking up Lo-Pan on google I ran across Ask Lo Pan. It seemed a pretty reasonable prospect to me. Being a thousands-year-old chinese demon-warrior-thingie, Lo-Pan's probably pretty smart by now. A little vulnerable to stabbing, but still clever. So, I ask him what you ask anyone in this type situation, and I get this.

I was pretty creeped out. I mean, the A/S/L of the Peacock King is pretty much what comprises the novel I'm writing, so it looks like Lo-Pan sees all and knows all.

As for the tail end of his advice, I think I'll leave that to Char.