Shadow (the_shadow_rising)
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Update (13th May 2017)
🕑 Added 2017-05-13 19:14:38 +0000 UTC I am currently (as I write this) working on the story and thought a little explanation of how much is done and what is to be done may help everyone understand things a little more. Warning: this is a boring update, but explaining it helps deal with some comments I receive.Essentially my stories are broken down into 'build up', 'sex scenes', and the 'outro'. When I write percentages this means that between 40-50% is when the build up is done, up to 95% is when the sex scenes are done. This is based not on quantity but on how I see the story - really basically half of the story is build up, half sex scenes.
When I write sex scenes though these get split up into different things. So, a 'scene' is a whole where the first, second, third, etc, 'whole' times they have sex occurs. This can include more than one full sexual acts and each scene is broken up by other narrative. So when Beth first has sex with Rhys in Crying Wolf in the bed, this is the first sex scene. The second is where she is at the top of the stairs and in the shower. That should help clarify a little.
Each 'scene' is then broken down into what happens in it, including positions, events that happen, things that are said, places, ideas being explored, and so on.
All of this can be of varying lengths and so all of it affects the percentage of the story. So one sex scene may be twice (or more) as long as another, have lots of positions, more than one sexual act. I update the percentage based on all of this and only when a scene is done. Though every now and then I will update when a significant part of scene is done if it is long enough.
Why am I telling you all this boring stuff? Simple: to give you all a better idea of why I do not update all the time and why certain things may take a long time (e.g. why I will say that the first sex scene of the new story will take a while).
To give you an idea - without spoilers - the first scene of the new story has several sexual acts rather than the traditional 'one', though 'one' is much more focused on than the others. There are roughly 14+ 'positions' (that is a very loose term as I use it, and covers more than you think - this is deliberate to avoid spoilers) in that first scene. There is a second scene that comes after that which, while shorter than the first is still significant. That has about 4-6 positions in it. There is then a third much smaller scene that merges into the outro. (All of this may change, but not likely).
So, 50% marks the end of the build up. About 70% marks the end of the first scene. 85% the end of the second. 95% the end of the third, with the last being wrapping up the outro. This is even though they are of much different lengths and complexity, and given that there is narrative between each (of varying lengths and complexity).
So basically, it may seem like I am not updating anything or I have been working on the first scene for ages - and so knowing there are more scenes it may be thought that that they will take equally as long. That is not the case. Just because I do not update or am working on the same thing for a long time doesn't mean there is no progress on the story itself. Updating everyone this way just makes it more spoiler-free and gives a clearer idea of when important things have been progressed to in the story.
So, I am currently working on the first scene - the longest and most difficult of the three. This is because it is the very first moment of cheating and the very first moment of sex between the two or more characters, and that just has to be right or the whole build up (and story) falls apart. This is why I spend so much time on this scene and will be for a while yet.
The story *is* coming and it is coming along nicely. I *am* working on it. I am hoping you will all understand when you see the size of it. As I recently replied on the Lit Forums, currently the story may end up being well over 36-40+ (maybe even 60) pages on Lit. It is currently well over 200 pages in Word and I am nowhere near even halfway through the first scene. Not even a quarter. So I would guess that 400+ pages is not impossible. To give that perspective, House Party was 121 pages in Word and 19 pages on Lit.
Does the story need to be that long? Maybe not. The scenario (which in my terminology is the core idea that the cheating centres around and the idea of the story itself) could easily be written in 2-15 Lit pages, depending upon how the author liked it. For me, and what I want to do with the story, and how I want to 'feel' the journey with her along with having the slow, self-seduction, this requires a lot more. Whether others will like it or not, I don't know. Likely many won't - but that is what the disclaimer will be for. But it should give you a better idea of why it takes so long - even without changing my mind, adding new ideas, looking through to remove repetition and ensure consistency, etc, being considered. And a lot of that does happen.
Hope that helps ;)
~Shadow~
