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ATM Volume 2, Major Update
🕑 Added 2023-12-08 03:44:26 +0000 UTCFirst and foremost: Mari Bee should be finished with the Audiobook of Volume 1 in two days! Exciting! I will need to go over it and make sure that it is all up to snuff before releasing it, and all of you will hear about it first!
tl:dr: I LOVE Volume 1 of ATM, but I have not been happy with the way I've been writing Volume 2 thus far. So, I have to make another hard decision. Allow me to explain:
Many of you know that I enjoy my complex storylines, vast world-building scales, and in-depth characterization. I am usually very proud and have great joy in the quality of what I write. That is one of the reasons why I went with a rewrite of the series instead of a cash grab of just posting the over 5 million words I've written across my first drafts on Amazon... because I knew I could do better.
And that's how Volume 1 of ATM and now TO have come about, which I am very proud of (although I'm still doing the edits in TO; sorry, Val, for always putting so much on myself and you that it takes me a while to get to all your edits).
I love the way UE Volume 2, TO Volume 2, and Pokesync Volume 4 are going. It is JUST ATM Volume 2 that I am struggling with.
Allow me to outline what I have been feeling as I've written Volume 2 of ATM:
1. I had a grand scope and plan for Bathin, for HAREM, Raven and Cora, the fae, the Unseelie, the 72 Pillars, our triplet Reality Warpers, and everything in between, but my problem comes in practice rather than in theory. It all works. There is a massive, complex plan of things happening in the background for this awesome scale, which are things I love to do, but the issue is in how rapidly I have to introduce things and how convoluted it can then feel from Volume 1.
It's just too much, too quickly, and after pulling in some of the editors/proofreaders and expressing my thoughts to them, I got some really good feedback. Yes, how I've written volume 2 is just... too much, too quickly. I need to take a step back and CUT, CUT, CUT! I need to trim everything down, take out characters, and simplify the conflict into bite-sized chunks that aren't so crazy.
2. We've just gotten off of an insane and thrilling conclusion to Volume 1. We need to take the time to deal with the fallout in Volume 2 without jumping RIGHT into the next conflict. Sela should be the focus for the start, with settling things down. The Foundation and Occult World Order need to be heavily scaled back to focus on Sora and not other conflicts. Btw, OwO is such a good acronym xD I love it.
3. HAREM's protocols need to be far stricter and more in line with something like the SPC Foundation, although the SPC is created to have breaches lol. It just needs to have some more measures and things associated with it. We don't need to focus so heavily on HAREM at this time and let her cook in the background.
4. The Moon Wizard can do much of what the OwO was doing, in any case, and we can focus more on that aspect with Wendy and her changes while introducing the OwO later. Again, cut some characters to give more time to our main cast.
5. We need more fluffy and cute things (with the serious things, of course, but a balance)! We have to allow our characters to stretch and get comfortable with one another.
6. Mia needs more time to be a mom and for our girls to be more comfortable around her, which means, sorry, Dad, you're going to be unconscious for a bit.
Okay, those are the big points, I think. I have to start at Chapter 1 and cut things out, like probably the twins, and start with Fen and only Fen since she was introduced at the end of Volume 1.
What does this mean?!
It means I need to go back and rework the chapters in Volume 2 and cut out a lot, which... might take a week or two of me plugging away at it to get things back going for the public. I'll be releasing these chapter reworks as I finish them, and the editors/proofreaders get a chance to go over them. I'll release Chapter 1, for sure, tonight for the $10, $15, and $50 patrons, but it may be a week or two until another ATM hits the public.
These are my unfiltered thoughts. Yes, I had an outline, but in practice, it didn't turn out as I'd hoped. I am sorry. I'm just not comfortable with my quality going forward without doing this.
NOW, tell me YOUR thoughts and ideas. Your hopes, your fears, and your desires to see remain inside the 2nd Volume.
Comments
Ryan
Also giving Sora an actual reason to distrust Azrai
Ryan
I'm kind of glad you're doing this, it definitely felt rushed at times. I hope we can see some Wendy/Mia bonding since we don't really have a picture of their relationship right now.
