- The Third Madness
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Madness of Hollowness
At the time of writing, Hollow Knight: Silksong is a literal couple of days (now hours) away from release, and if you keep up with any gaming or gaming adjacent circles you can feel the preparation in your bones. First time playthroughs of Hollow Knight popping all over, "skong" posting commented by big(ish?) figures, game pricing discourse once more reawakening again, and more I can't recall off the cuff.
It shames me to admit, then, that originally I wasn't that interested. Saw those trailers last month and my exact thoughts were, "wow that sure is more Hollow Knight!" Which is great! Hollow Knight was pretty cool, but fuck, the hype cycle for Silksong had gained such an intense reputation, and I just didn't get it.
Well, having finished one of my super secret projects last week, I found myself with some free time and decided to investigate the situation myself, reinstalling Hollow Knight that same day.
And damn. Now I remember. Hollow wasn't just pretty cool, it was PRETTY cool, eh? Probably one of my favorite Not-Vania Vanias of all time, now that I have a machine that can run the thing decently (most of the time).
More Hollow Knight may save humanity. Who knows!
Madness of Realization
But I'm not here just to give you a rundown of my recent gaming escapades. I promised an update on my writing projects, and that's what you're going to get!
First things first, MAIT: Some of you may have seen this already, but I posted a chapter 0 detailing the current editing pass and how far along I am. This is probably going to be a fairly long term project since, you know, I'm a slow writer, but I'm hoping to finish at least the COTL arc by December. The more recent I get, the less I will hopefully want to change, but uuuuuuuh, don't hold me to that.
As for when the new versions are coming here to Priga Locus, that's going to depend on how much time I have. Can't really predict how busy this month will be right now, but if tendencies mean anything, plenty at minimum.
As for my new serial, it's going alright! Essentially done with worldbuilding sans a couple changes I've recently decided on and one important tidbit, but regardless it shouldn't take long now for me to start with drafting the first arc. Next step can't come too soon! Ain't a fan of planning, not at all.
I'll probably explain this in more detail when, well, there are more details to explain, but with this new novel I'm going to be making some changes to my release schedule. Basically: chapters are going to become a little lighter, but are going to be released faster, which is NOT to say I'm going to become a chapter-a-day author (and no judgment if you are, even if I think that isn't a very healthy practice for neither author nor work), but I do want to experiment with a new posting style.
... Not looking forward to changing how I edit. As implied by the first half of this segment of this post of this site's blog, I can be quite neurotic when it comes to the quality of my writing for a litany of reasons, thus my Two Passes System was created: once I finish a draft, I create a new file where I rewrite / practically rewrite the whole chapter, then do a spellchecking pass before forbidding myself from cutting so much as a letter until I post. It's a balance, a compromise between doing my best and actually finishing things.
That line got crossed, now I'll have to drag myself back one way or another. Ain't gonna be fun, ain't gonna be fun at all.
Madness of Goop
Important to the process of creating serials is reading serials, and while this is something I should have been doing as often as feasible, I'm having a hard time finding things that interest me.
Now, for self preservation's sake as I'm just a little fella with glasses, and who wants to hurt an innocent little fella with glasses? I hope what I'm about to say doesn't come out as me trying to shit in my own backyard, but before I was a Webnovel writer I was a webnovel reader, it's what got me interested in the medium in the first place, and I do have some heat I carry since then.
So, to make matters short: the kinds of subgenres that can survive and even thrive the current high speed posting, algorithmic led landscape can be just so repetitive!
And that would be fine, if the gruel wasn't so overwhelming as to be all devouring! It fills up trending tabs, completely flood last updated lists, and worse is I can't even search around them because I don't hate them! The opposite, actually, there are a lot of progression fantasy novels that I very much love, LitRPGs and Cultivation and others from less neat subcategories.
A lot of other people love them too. So much so a lot of progression fiction seems to be created from a perspective that doesn't take anything but direct subgenre predecessors in account. Similar concepts with similar titling styles and similar "here's what to expect" type blurbs, which speaking of, I have to imagine those work on someone out there, I see them far too often to assume otherwise, but personally speaking that kind of boring bulleting list spoiler just turns me off? Even in novels where I was otherwise caught by the summary!
And like I said, can't even search around the usual suspects, because I otherwise like them. One of my favorite WNs of all time is a light LitRPG that got me through some of my roughest mental health spirals. The one work I picked recently that really took me hook-in-urethra was kind of a LitRPG and Progression Fantasy for sure. The worlds that Cultivation novels can be wonderful and dreadful in such great ways!
But the gruel though! Omnipresent interbreeding, and for the sake of what? Salting the Dead sea?
Make no mistake, I know I'm beating one rancid horse here by complaining about the same unsolvable problems people have been pointing out for years now, but if you can't cry on your own blog then where can you?
At least here I won't get the typical anti-argument double-sided barrel argument of "maybe it's just not for you?" It's not inherently wrong, yet there's someone for everything, innit? From that point of view no form of criticism can exist at all. And besides, some of us are whiny bitches, you know?! Complaining is a form of enrichment for us and if we don't babble a little from time to time we can literally die! Is that what you want me to do, you incorrigible rascal?! You want me to die slowly and in much agony in front of your cold cold eyes, is that it?!
I just wish it was easier works less convenient than those belonging to the algorithm's current favorite children to find their footing, you know? Not even talking about myself, a lot of cool novels I read over the years ended as blips on the radar, and it feels a little like shit, you know?
Meh. As a picky reader, I know I'm at least a little pigheaded about the topic. I don't really judge anyone for doing what they believe they need to stay afloat(within certain boundaries), so don't mind this old soul too much.
This aimless ramble brought to you by Swedish With a Side of Finish VPN™. You can trust your data in the hands of the new dev team, for the old is carrion in the stomachs of crows, their broken blades flimsy graves soon to be erased by the sands of time, an example taught and well listened.
Madness of Carry On
The snob spirit is hard headed but enduring. No matter the issues I run into, I'll find my way!
In between bouts of sulking, I've wondered about doing my part in highlighting other webserials I enjoy. Priga Locus already has a Resources page where I shout out tools I use or have used before, and I've considered creating game recommendation articles, so why not create a post or two about novels I like? Why not start giving impromptu reviews rather than just keeping to review swaps?
Cause I'm a little fella with glasses and I don't want to bother anyone :3c~
I'm working on that. Still not super comfortable with the idea of existing, but it can't be helped can it? Gotta live in the light or die in the dark.
Welp, this one is stretching a bit. Thank you very much for reading this far! I hope you have a nice day and a better week. Let us meet again under the endless spring sun!