Peacock King News

Another new chapter!

2009-04-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

The new PK chapter is up at the new site. Pahchoo!

We've moved. News is really being posted up at the new site now, and I'll only be updating here a little bit longer.

If you got here from another site then please ask them to update their bookmarks to the new site's URL.

New Chapter!

2009-04-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

The new PK chapter is up at the new site. Bling!

If you got here from another site then please ask them to update their bookmarks to the new site's URL.

PK 2 Chapter 2 Is Up!

2009-04-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

Hey, I'm not sure how long we'll keep updating the news blog here, since the new site has places we can do the same thing, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew that there's a new PK chapter up now! It's right here.

Also, we have some cool things happening on the merchandise front, but I'll wait a little while to tell you about that.

Keep an eye on the new site! We have a lot happening there and a lot of cool features to reward people for interacting and commenting.

Oh yeah, and remember that I tweet chapter updates as @irkdesu, and Char is @charnanigans, if you want to follow either of us in Twitter!

NEW SITE, NEW NOVEL, BOTH UP

2009-04-11T20:18:00.001-07:00

ZING!

SUPER-FINE AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS, YA'LL.

(Go start reading Book 2!)

The Last of the Dhealg'seala (Part Five) is up!

2009-04-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

When Arms attack!

Oh gods I am so sleepy but I just wanted to remind everyone that this Saturday PK Novel 2 will go live, as will the new Peacock King website. Details will be posted, you know, everywhere. See you then!

Most Armed Trainees don't have intact pants.

2009-04-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

It is a FACT.

(In related news, part 4 of The Last of the Dhealg'seala is up.)

WIIISE FWUM YOOR GWAAAAAVE!

2009-04-02T07:55:00.001-07:00

I was supposed to update this last night when the chapter posted. BAD CHAR. BAD.

So! Language barriers and teepees and eggs, oh my!

Ugh. Why were mornings invented? The only reason I haven't up and killed anything is because I haven't had enough caffeine yet... and my cats are chasing squirrels, and it's a little hard to be cranky when you're watching that.

Today really feels like work.

2009-03-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

For the most part, The Peacock King and its related microgalaxy of projects is my hobby. At least, that's the way it's been for ages; I wrote when I felt like it, drew when I felt like it, and worked on the wiki when I felt like it. The most effort I expended was nagging at Irk to write, an effort that has paid off well, if I do say so myself.

Lately, though, the game has changed for me. Infernal Shenanigans is now my bread-and-butter, and what used to be my collection of fun little hobbies is suddenly also my job. For the most part, it's not so bad; it's not like drawing taxes me much when I have to just churn it out, especially given the way I have constructed my workflow so that I can spin several plates, depending on which mode my brain is in at that given moment. Writing, though... writing is different.

It's harder, for starters. I can pick up any sort of mark-making device and scribble at any time. In fact, I'm notorious for my habit of doodling while on the phone, and have had a few phone-doodles turn into full-fledged drawings. I can't just open a document and write... well, I can (and have), but the results aren't usually anything I'd be willing to share with the general public. Call it the text version of Gerald's doodles (although, to be fair, I'm rather certain that my word-doodles are a lot less dangerous to the stability of reality than Gerald's doodles). I'm also a lot more forgiving about sloppiness and general yick in my drawings than I am writing. Hell, I've posted scraps to dA that, had they been the written equivelant, I wouldn't have even bothered to save.

In spite of those misgivings, I've managed to land myself in a position where I have to write, no matter what my brain says about it, or how loud the kids are being that day, or how much (or how little) tea I've managed to consume. (As of right now, 15:16 Pacific, I have had 4 cups of White Ayurvedic Chai and 1 glass of ... that peach flowering tea Irk bought and I can't remember its name. I am about to go for a cup of Mate Vana, which means I'll probably end up drinking another.) Part of writing this entry is trying to warm myself up and get that flow of characters a-marchin' across the screen, and another part is to track just what the hell keeps distracting me from writing.

I feel warmed up, and can now happily report that I am being distracted by the following things:

My kids
Urgent biological needs (I've been drinking A LOT of tea, if you haven't noticed)
Desire for more tea
Unordered lists
The urge to work on this commission some more, despite the issue with the hands throwing me into a tizzy and requiring MORE TEA to keep me calm
Gmail (damn you, G-Labs!)
Housekeeping (even though I STILL haven't scrubbed the toilets... hey, suddenly I want to write more! WIN!)

Now that all that is (un)sorted out, I can start un-distracting myself and get to work.

With the exception of my kids. Not much I can do about that except peck away in between taking care of them until the blessed little creatures are in bed.

Bonus Short Story Update!

2009-03-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Char has another chapter of The Last of the Dhealgseala up! Go enjoy it.

This one's gonna run longer than two parts, which is great because it gives you lots of background on Camden and Elric, who are two really cool guys. If it runs longer than the date when we start Novel 2 back up, we'll run both stories at once. The new site will totally be able to handle that.

See you on Wednesday or earlier!

Infernal Shenanigans is OPEN for Commissions!

2009-03-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hey. Hey guys.

Char and I have a studio called Infernal Shenanigans. Together, we are writing and illustrating a novel you happen to be addicted to, working on secret art projects, and making custom artwork for wonderful people like you! So come have a look. There's a pricing table up to give you a good feel for how much it would cost to hire us. And you can choose whether Char or I does inks and who does the coloring and whatnot. Think of how flexible that is! It's...very flexible!

The commissions page is right here, and the sample artwork page is right here. You can take a look in our personal galleries for more examples as well, of course.

If you know of anyone who would like character art or story illustrations or, heck, even a novel cover, now's the time to point them our way! Don't hesitate! Press that button! Do it for your country!

Also, the more we make from commissions the more time we'll have to write and work on our stories, which will make you all happy people, leading wholesome and fulfilling lives. ^_^

Chap--- er, Short Story Update!

2009-03-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

You know that dream you've had... the one where you're standing in front of a huge crowd, giving this long and passionate speech, and suddenly you realize that everyone is unusually quiet and it's kind of breezy and cold for some reason and OH GOD YOU'RE NAKED IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE WASHINGTON MALL! In FEBRUARY! AND YOU HAVEN'T WAXED THAT AREA IN FAR TOO LONG! That dream?

Yep. Today's update was written by me.

I suppose I should say something here about how much I wuv ikkle widdle Cammie and his awesome brother, but dude. My butt is already feeling a bit too chilly right now for my comfort, and I'm out of tea and accidentally put my favorite teacup in the dishwasher and still have 1,683 photos from the past week and a half to go through. (No, that number isn't a joke. I'm shutter-happy.)

Two short stories, plus poll results! Pronunciations revealed!

2009-03-21T23:00:00.001-07:00

Two shorts today, one by each author. Aren't you lucky? You might know a little bit about Stevane if you're digging around in the wiki, but it doesn't really mention in there just how much of a uh, perfectly normal girl she always was, so we wanted to show you. Remember, regular chapter posting resumes April 11th, which is when we start Novel 2.

Also I bet a lot of you (well, at least 16 of you) are wondering just how to pronounce Xaillyndesse. The one person who voted for Chill-in-dess was the person who got it right. Congratulations, you may step up and claim your prize: the justified pretentiousness of having been right. Of course, you are always right. Probably so much so that you are a Xaillyndesse, or at least were dating one at one time.

Oh, by the way, if you didn't know, there's a twitter I use for letting people know when I update PK, or when I, you know. See a cool bug, or think of silly words that rhyme. Important stuff. Follow if you want updates as soon as they happen! Also, I'm gonna be making a rewards points system for the new website, and anyone who follows on Twitter will get points for doing so.

First teaser chapter up for Novel 2!

2009-03-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

In case you were wondering just how The Peacock King In Court starts off.

This is a shorter post than the usual PK chapter, but it IS a teaser. Coming up on Saturday we'll have something at least a little bit longer -a short story written by either me or Char. She's whipping up something special to post during these interim updates. I hope you're looking forward to it, because I sure am!

Oh yeah, I'm glad to see so much turnout for the most recent poll. We'll reveal the answer when the poll closes, so cross your fingers!

By the way, if you enjoyed reading the Peacock King's first part, please consider ranking or reviewing it over at its Web Fiction Review page. Registration is quick and easy there and the support really helps the story spread!

Final chapter up of In the Court of the Peacock King

2009-03-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

IT'S LIKE MY BABY'S ALL GROWN UP. ;_;

Info on the upcoming release of Novel 2: The Peacock King in Court, is posted at the end of the chapter. Please note that I'll still be updating up til the release of Novel 2 - I have shorts and teaser chapters I'm gonna be putting up on the same schedule as Novel 1 was posted.

Aww, man. I really am all sadface about this. nn;

Oh yeah - my personal blog is over here. I talk about writing and cats.

There's also a new poll up in the PK story blog, about how the heck you pronounce Xaillyndesse.

New Chapter and also THE END IS NEAR

2009-03-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

Uh, guys? This is the second-to-last chapter in Book One. That means on Saturday the first novel concludes.

...

oo; I'm really scared. AND I WROTE IT. (...Possibly I'm scared because I wrote it. >_>;)

Look, I um...well, CHAR liked it, I...

OH GODS SHE'S GONE AWAY FOR A VACATION AND WHEN I UPDATE THE FINAL CHAPTER SHE WON'T BE HERE AND WHEN PEOPLE COME TO KILL ME I'LL BE ALL ALONE--

--I mean...

:D See you all on Saturday! *packs bags*

... ooops. HEY GUYS CHAPTER UPDATE! :D

2009-03-08T18:16:00.001-07:00

It went up on time. I... did not.

In my defense, I was getting ready to go out for the night when Irk updated, and by the time she was ready to go, I was doing the I'm Kind Of Paying For This Car Right This Minute And We're Not In It dance. (I opted for a car-sharing program versus owning one outright. It's LOTS cheaper, and worth a bit of inconvenience now and again for me.) By the time we got home, all I wanted to do was sleep.

So there.

(Besides, I have a sneaking suspicion nobody uses the news blog to track updates.)

Anyway! Lots of fun doing that rush job on the image there. I was in a rush (and it shows), but it was also kind of fun to just throw something out there without fussing myself into fits over the lines, or agonizing about every little aspect of composition, or trying to decide on technique... all of which I end up tossing out and doing what I want most of the time anyway. Some days, I just don't feel like a real artist. XD

Too Hot For dA

2009-03-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

Yeah. dA won't exactly let me upload these, I think. I'm not gonna risk it. Irk is gonna color 'em, so don't take the slapped down shit I put on the second one as biblical, mmkay?

... and to prove that I don't just draw 'Sy and Kathe:

... Crap. Nobody knows who they are. *sigh* Just enjoy it, K? I'm only doing all this lineart because I like to draw and I'm kind of hoping people will pay me to, plus it's good practice. Right?

Stupid dA.

Further Adventures in Weird Google Ads

2009-03-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

On Chapter 35's page:

Seriously, is this because of Jax?

The Myriad Ways Google Image Search Makes Me Happy (plus a chapter update)

2009-03-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

Chapter 35 - Pigs on the Wing

Thank you, Pink Floyd.

The best part of doing this chapter illustration was finding the references for the critters. See, I tend to search Google Images with SafeSearch off. I admit that the biggest reason is because of the delicious little bits of trauma it occasionally throws my way, but sometimes it tosses me something that makes my inner 12 year old ROFL. Such as a photo of a moose humping a statue of a bison (probably NSFW... hard for me to tell, being all self-employed and all).

In the meantime, I'm trying not to have a panic attack about Novel 1 finishing. I've been loving this update schedule, been loving watching things develop around the story, and I'm worried about having all that stop. baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw. Perhaps I should get Irk fired from her day job so she can write more or something. I'm also ass-deep in writing my own huge chunk of story, which of course I can't post because it takes place 15 years after the events you're reading about, and... yeah. That's spoilers even I won't sneak out.

... Then again, there's all those snippets and short stories that we've been writing that can start being posted.

Anyway, back to drawing OTP#1 again (I drew OTP#2 yesterday, but it's so chock-full of spoilers and stuff that would make NO SENSE yet to everyone else that I haven't uploaded anywhere).

Hey, am I even allowed to call it an OTP, if it's partially my story anyway? Does "OTP" necessarily imply a non-canon ship in the first place? I SHALL HAVE TO PONDER THIS.

Chapter 34 is up!

2009-02-28T22:23:00.000-08:00

Y'all.

Y'ALL.

NEED I SAY MORE. ... AND THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE AWESOME THAT IS THE JUDGE.

I like what Irk did thar with his hair. Might have to keep that for future works. :3

So, I'm kind of sick tonight, so I'll leave off the references to masturbation and general glee-squealing, and just tell you to GO READ IT ALREADY. <3

Chapter 33 - Girls Gone Wild!

2009-02-25T23:35:00.000-08:00

New chapter up! GIT SOME, JENNY!

So! .... New chapter up. ^^;;

The sad part about a new chapter being up is that it means we're that much closer to the end of Novel 1. Not that it's the end of the novel that makes me sad... in fact, this chapter is where I started going OH HELL YEAH WOOOOOOO \m/ every five minutes or so until the end of the novel. It's just...

... Oh you guys, I was just distracted by some downright FRIGHTENING art cycling on my other laptop. (Yep, I work on two. Believe it or not, it helps me make my ADD into something productive.) I'm not going to share what, though. Just trust me on this: there are some things I'd rather not see again, but it's just part of the hazard of posting art on y!gallery.

OH RIGHT. It's just that it's the end of an era in a way. Kind of bittersweet and all.

Oh man. I think I'd better just go to bed. Who knew that Sleepy Time tea would actually, you know, make me sleepy?

Google Ad-ventures, Chapter update coming soon!

2009-02-25T20:18:00.000-08:00

I find it interesting which Google ads tend to run on different chapters. I've noticed a lot of makeup and cosmetics ads in most Lyric-centric chapters because he's a great big fag, for instance.

And then there's chapter 32, which at the time of my viewing had these two darling ads running:

You know, I was going to ditch that google ad banner once the Project Wonderful skyscraper was consistently making a bit every day, but this is too entertaining to lose.

I'm adding a banner or two at the bottom tonight, if anyone's looking for more adspace. Or I might put in a rectangle ad somewhere just because I like that size and find few people who offer it. I'm not gonna plaster the place with ads but I like seeing who decides to advertise here. I've actually found some interesting and worthwhile sites through Project Wonderful ads (it's how I first found Meilin Miranda, for instance). By the way, if you'd like to support our work, please consider buying some adspace. The more that comes in through ads, the more I spend on advertising, which means more exposure for those ad boxes. ^_^ And of course for Peacock King! I'm pretty happy with the readership so far!

Oh! I just need to finish the chapter art and then I'll post tonight's update. Let me go do that. nn;

... WHAAAT?!

2009-02-24T01:00:00.000-08:00

I love my OTP.

I was SUPPOSED to be relaxing and just shaking loose after going all bonkers on the fonts, but a quick pose study ended up being this. ... Not that I'm complaining. Mistakes ahoy, but damned if it doesn't make me grin.

Oh oops there was a chapter update, too!

2009-02-23T23:17:00.000-08:00

Chapter 32 - Pertinent Document Section II

Awesome, huh? G... gh... CAMDEN'S ARMS she's kind of awesome.

Also, Chapter 6 now has art:

That is also awesome.

BEHOLD.

2009-02-23T23:12:00.001-08:00

Common Radian - Beta

You can download it here.

OMG. I am SO SO SO SO SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOOOOOO EXCITED. I'm STUPID with giddy. SERIOUSLY.

I'm going to make myself take a break before tweaking it, though. There's a few changes I already want to make, and I'm going to see if I can find another font proggie that will allow me to add points without having to redraw the entire damned glyph. 9_9 It should help solve some of the jaggedness issues.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Royalty

2009-02-20T22:10:00.001-08:00

FWEE tossed out four sketches of the four main rulers in the story.

They're also being slapped on their profiles in the wiki.

Dunno. Might keep going through and do these for everyone... although I'll probably switch to head shots for everyone else. ^^;;

Holy BALLS, y'all.

2009-02-19T22:19:00.000-08:00

I just totally put together a working writing system. Holy b'geezus. You can see working examples of it here and here and also here (no spoilers; those just link to the image files with the names written out). More will go up as I write 'em. I'm also in the process of outlining a wiki entry on how the system works, including a chart of the base characters and explanations on how things actually are written out. There is a method to the madness!

Oh my GAWD this was so much fun to do. Hellfire, I might even get up the gumption to work out the Aurocan system as well! HEEHEEHEE I HAVE NO LIFE.

Chapter update, Twitter

2009-02-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

Chapter 31 is up, yo.

Looks like we stopped getting into the habit of posting chapter updates in here. Of course, if you RSS subscribe to the PK story blog, that's probably less of a problem for you.

However, if you'd like to be updated when I post a new chapter or, you know, breathe or something, I've got a twitter. And look! Char does too. I'll be posting chapter update status in mine as well as other PK-related stuff and the usual things you tweet about, so feel free to stalk me.

Er.

2009-02-18T12:02:00.001-08:00

Weird. I think 'Sy killed the page. *searching through HTML*

Edit: Oddness! Just a I suspected, this post cured the front page of its blankness. I can't find anything wrong in the actual posts that would make the index to bork... *shrug*

So. ... Back to work, I guess.

Spam!

2009-02-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

Sketchin' instead of, you know, workin'. As you do.

Gerald and Gerude looking epic. Except for the fact that they're Armed, so those stares probably mean something like "holy crap, look how big that horse's balls are!"

The Judge and his ~~Hayfork~~ Trident.

Elete, by some minor miracle sans crown.

Dude, SAI is ruining my productivity. Well, by some measurements. I've pumped out more doodles in the past 18 hours than I have over the previous 3 months, and one of them even made it as far as a finished drawing! At this rate, I might even catch up with Irk in terms of sheer bulk of works...

So, like, I draw and stuff on occasion?

2009-02-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

But I forget to update here when it's Peek-related. ... Which is an awful lot lately.

So. Thanks to Irk's constant nagging and the irresistible draw of people LOOKING AT MY STUFF :D :D :D I have a y!gallery account. The downside? Boys-only club leik woah. The upside? Lots of drive to push stuff out because people LOOK at stuff there OMG!

There's a lovely pic of Erynn there, as well as 'Sy and Daemon giving each other the friendliest-looking stink-eyes ever. The best part? Nobody knows who Daemon is, or anything about the Velvet Hell! (Except Trav, because Trav is special and introduced us to the Hell.) It's still worth looking at, right?

... Right? ;_;

OH MY GOD LOOK AT MY STUFF AND LOVE ME I CRAVE APPROVAL.

Now that I've spammed up the news feed, it's time to get back to drawing! Because God FORBID I write another word. Ever. ... ¬_¬

The best Peacock King drawing in the history of everything that's awesome

2009-02-17T21:25:00.001-08:00

Seriously, Char did this tonight while practicing in PaintTool SAI and it is the best goddamn picture of Ebrellin-i that will ever exist.

The Peacock King: A story with a lot of WORDS.

2009-02-16T12:31:00.000-08:00

I put the whole text of the first novel into Wordle and here's the output: the words that I wrote the most.

It actually motivates some critique of my writing style since I've tried to eliminate words like "see" and "look" in my prose and instead just straight-out describe the surroundings.

So, check it out, it's a pretty cool-looking diagram!

Does anyone want to review The Peacock King?

2009-02-05T10:33:00.001-08:00

Web Fiction Guide is a great site for online fiction. It has lots of categorized listings and is very well-organized. It also has a member reviews and rating system that's very useful. I got The Peacock King listed there a few weeks ago and already I've had over fifty visitors from it. That's pretty good considering most of the traffic I get here is from when we pay for advertising for the story. Not too many people have linked us yet and I'm still getting my feet wet when it comes to the online marketing you have to do for this kind of fiction.

Anyway, Web Fiction Guide's registration is pretty quick and easy. It's done through WordPress. If you've enjoyed reading thus far, and if you have the time and the inclination, we'd really appreciate a review or rating for The Peacock King. The listing is right here. It hasn't been reviewed or rated yet as of this posting.

If you'd like to link to The Peacock King, but want a shiny button for it, I'll have some graphics handy in an upcoming post. Thanks a bunch!

Artses

2009-02-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

The continuing saga of our Valentine's Day art spree:

V-Day 2 - Rachella and Gerald by ~irk on deviant ART

V-Day 3: Katherine and 'Sy by ~Karis-Surya on deviant ART

I have another pairing that I want to do, too. It's an utter crack pairing, but it's cuter than HELL and also makes me squee a little inside with delight. Sadly, it's spoilery as all get-out because it reveals a character that's not been introduced yet and a character who... well, shit. I might do it anyway, because NOBODY ELSE IN THE WORLD (except Irk) would get what's going on there anyway!

But first, website work. ... Well, maybe after sketching a bit, but I really do need to work on the website today!

Waugh. Web design gives me gas, y'all. I did it for a living... like, a decade ago, and I think it shows. I'm rusty as heck and I'm worried everything will look dated and ugly and WAUGH. I need to do it anyway, or I will have forgotten the face of my Father or something.

New Peacock King Site Coming Soon!

2009-02-04T17:07:00.000-08:00

I am making a Peacock King site instead of just leaving it as only a blog. That way I can have a better organized archive, a gallery, some static info pages, and a forum, and polls, and all kinds of cool stuff. Lots of stuff for you guys to look forward to!

Sort of like Meilin Miranda has here.

I decided to use Drupal for it since it's been successful for her and she actually lists all the modules she uses so I can do just that.

Anyway I'm gonna be banging my head against that for...awhile. Whee! If you have any experience with Drupal and feel like chatting about it sometime on instant messenger, I'm cuisinirk on AIM and cuisinirk@gmail.com on Gchat. I keep Pidgin going pretty constantly.

Chapter 27 is up, plus new bonus art

2009-02-03T20:46:00.000-08:00

Chapter 27 - Valued Servants

I sketched out a very unexpected bath scene today.

Yesterday, Char did the same.

Valentine's Day is coming, and we are celebrating the onset of VD in all its many facets, shades, and horrible rashes.

Also, I guess I should note that the end is nigh in Peacock King. There is really not that much story left to post! After that it's novel 2, which makes me pretty nervous. Mainly because uh, I'll have to start writing it faster, which is kind of intimidating. I've never written full-time before. I get distracted or brain-tired pretty easily. I'm not really sure how professional writers do it. At least I'm better at putting out these days than I was when I started. Less than a year ago I'd be lucky to write once a week. These days if I miss writing for one day, it means I must have some sort of mental problem or the day was bad enough that I was really tired.

Guess I'll try and push and see what I come up with, huh?

Chapter 26 is up and stuff.

2009-01-31T21:09:00.000-08:00

PK 26 - What Washes Out by ~irk

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?

Chapter 25 and Progress on Novel #2

2009-01-28T23:10:00.001-08:00

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!

Chapter 24 up on time, aka, late.

2009-01-24T21:01:00.000-08:00

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.

FANGIRL PONIES UP YO

2009-01-23T21:50:00.001-08:00

See? 'Sy! :D

OK, bad pun.

A FORMAL COMPLAINT

2009-01-22T19:49:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-01-22T00:07:00.001-08:00

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

Well.

2009-01-21T23:21:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-01-21T23:15:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-01-21T21:51:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2009-01-18T23:18:00.001-08:00

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!

2009-01-18T22:41:00.000-08:00

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.

THE END IS NEAR

2009-01-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

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.

Update - Art - Character Chatter

2009-01-16T23:54:00.000-08:00

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.)

IGNORE THE MISTAKES OK? :D

2009-01-15T17:32:00.000-08:00

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.

Art - Peacock King ATC

2009-01-14T22:35:00.000-08:00

Peacock Profile by ~irk on deviant ART

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

Ramblings I

2009-01-14T21:26:00.001-08:00

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'...

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

2009-01-13T22:16:00.000-08:00

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.