Mid-July Update!

Hello, all Patrons!

It's been a while once again. I hope you've been having a wonderful month so far!

This is an update to tell you all that I'll be slowly returning to audios this month. I've been looking at my body of work as well as the many audios I still need to complete. As of now, there are 15 audios in various stages of production, and this excludes all future episodes of current ongoing series as well as other character ideas that need outlining.

It's simple to create an idea in this line of work, but the planning and execution will always take time. I think I've been too hard on myself with how much time I pour into my audios while knowing it's required for the quality I strive to give it.

I don't regret having the amount of characters in my roster; the different listeners, settings, and plots keep things fresh for me. I know many of you have favourites and want to see them more often than not—and the wait might be too much between their updates—but I think I'll be pausing a couple of characters to focus on the ones that aren't giving me problems.

As I've learnt and grown in this career, my best is constantly changing (you can tell from the length and SFX of these audios now xD). The productions from when I started can't compare to what I'm making now. I'm proud of that growth, but my work ethic wanted to stay the same even though it takes twice as long to create an audio that I believe reflects my skill and my intention for that story.

I do love the audios I make. But as my best is changing, so is what I want to create. Fluff is great, angst is great, but I want to make audio dramas that are thought-provoking, emotional, and something to remember. I might even want to dabble in projects without a listener, but we'll see about that one. Of course, romance with a Listener is a fundamental part of why I'm still here, but having it as the driving factor of a story is becoming stale to write. That's why I love writing The Noble Trials; the main story is about two rivals (with an untold history) competing for the throne, and yet there's an underlying ribbon of tension and romance that ties them together—not to mention that the theories are SO wonderful to read!

However, that doesn't take away from how much I know the characters without these grand narratives mean to you. Choosing snippets of time in their lives can be a fun way to bring them back every now and then (or the AUs :D), but there's only so much I can do to diversify what happens while still catering to the audience. Comfort, dates, sleep-aids (though it's simple to differentiate these), even reverse-comforts and jealousy audios can become too similar. And though these tropes are relatable, too much of it gets boring very quickly—as a writer and probably as the audience too.

With that said, I'm thinking about graduating certain characters as well. I don't want to wring every last drop of content I can out of them; I want to end their story so that other, more compelling characters can be introduced. I currently have 8 on standby (some I'm very excited about), but I can't add them because I have too many characters as is. I haven't decided who I will graduate as of yet, but I think it's something I need to do so I'm not spread too thin and so these productions will remain exciting for both me and the Crumpets.

I'll probably update you again near the end of the month to let you know where I'm at and what to expect.

Thank you all for your amazing patience, understanding, and support while I try to pick myself back up again.

Love, Saku.