Writer's Blog: Demo Update Moved To This Weekend

Sorry for the delay, everyone! I'm covering lessons for a coworker this evening, and will need another day to finish. (I usually take release days off work in order to make the deadlines, but remain on the substitute call list so as not to burn bridges with my employer.)

I need another few hours to finish up the demo release. Since I don't get off teaching until 2am, this will be done tomorrow morning.

To compensate for this delay, I'm sharing the reason . . . which is that the first scene still needs work. But that's not what I meant by "sharing" the reason. I'm actually sharing it: attached to this post is the first ten pages of Chapter 10 in all it's ugly unedited glory (the rest of the chapter is complete, but can't be put on dashington until this first scene is coded in).

I would strongly recommend not reading this first draft abomination unless you're curious about how the hotdog gets made, since it'll be much more enjoyable once I have a few more hours to add in the missing dialogue/choices and finish editing. But it's here if you absolutely can't wait, because I feel truly sorry for the delay and figured that giving you insight into what I still need to finish is only fair. I'd have shared the other scenes that are fully polished instead, but they don't make sense if read out of order, and I didn't want to spoil some of the best moments in this chapter.

A lot of Mind Blind isn't written sequentially. This isn't an issue when I work on a project independently--I simply write whatever scenes I most feel attuned to at the moment. A coded demo, however, complicates things (and I feel that IF needs to be shared as it's created, because there's simply too many variables for me to check are working independently). I continue to write things out of order, yet I can't skip critical scenes in the demo, since the coded part is reliant upon what came before. This hasn't presented too big a problem, since I've been using the "Under Construction" picture whenever a branching scene isn't ready.

Since it took me so long to decide on an opening scene, I haven't had the time to imagine all of the various responses Button can give, which is why a lot of the answers are reduced to general notes that say "HUMOROUS" or "MORBID."

Again, I apologize for the time bump! I do my best to keep deadlines, not only because I consider being on time something that I owe to you guys as Patreons, but also because setting release dates helps me continue writing through periods where I feel less inspired. I'd call it writer's block, but I'm always capable of at least writing badly so the phrase doesn't really apply. More like "writer's blah"? I go through periods where nothing I write meets my standards, but deadlines force me to forge through (the great inspiration/perspiration division of creative work). 

Please accept this pre-pre-alpha version as my apology for the delay, and know that my decision to share it is akin to me streaking down main street in total creative nudeness. (No author likes being seen without their adjectives on and sentences fully written.) It does give some insight into how I write, however, which is hopping between paragraphs like a caffeinated squirrel.