Last year I surprised myself blowing past my original goal and even surpassing 25k words with a final count of 34596. This year I'm not sure how far I'll go. I kind of ran myself ragged trying to get as much done as possible and trying to write on the travel tablet ended up biting me in the butt while on vacation. Things this year are certainly not as stable as I've been used to in the past. Writing itself comes fairly easy, but most of my works I tend not to prioritize unless I have accompanying artwork. I've improved my workflow considerably and I've been busy working on projects in the downtime. Even though I have an entire month to figure out what to write about...I'm nowhere near figuring out what I'm going to write about.
2. Area of Focus
Characters!! Yes there's only one available slot but I can always do a character, a personal item, or a specific location. Last year I was able to write my first fully-formatted Vanguard character page. This year I would like to try doing a Core Cast member, but I had a goal of minimum 10 full-color images, and I'm not quite there with either of them. Ryo comes the closest at six currently. Sage has four, Rowen and Sehkmet only have three, Kento and Cye have two apiece, Cale and Anubis one and....I actually don't have any color drawings featuring Dais yet. It's not that he isn't a fan favorite I just haven't gotten around to any of the planned scenes involving him. If I wanted to cheat I could include raw sketches and thumbnails but I'm holding myself to a personal standard when it comes to Core Cast articles. I actually have other pieces I haven't uploaded yet but waiting until I reach a specific goal before I update Aftermath with new scenes.
Most fanfics aim for something lazy like "NCIS except with the Avengers cast members" or "everyone's in highschool (again...) and prom is juuuuust around the cooooornerrrrr!" Age of Defiance strives for something different with a large cast of major, minor, and supporting characters to make it more than just a fanfic; it's a ficVERSE.
Moms of AoD by Mardrena
Dads of Age of Defiance by Mardrena
3. Yes yes the meta....
If I had been able to meet my personal goals for this year maybe Id've done it by now, but personally I feel it would fall into spoiler territory. Until I can complete the season five finale, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving away too much info. I've scattered quite a few plot breadcrumbs through chapters throughout the years. I know how my story will progress. Getting there should be a journey readers get to savor. Maybe if things work out better than last month I can finally get SQ 15 finished in time to give my readers a early Christmas present...
Week 2: New Readers
1. The Front Page
I'd like to think my front page is pretty self-explanatory as is: the OAS is an extremely niche franchise and AoD is a niche ficverse. It's intended for both fans of the OAS and fans of classic 90's era animation, the kind that all the flashy keyframing of "modern" animation just can't recapture. I'm reminded of an interview with animation veteran Don Bluth where he recounts asking his superiors how did they animate the crashing waves in Fantasia, and the senior animator couldn't answer that. There's so much that's gotten lost and as much as technology progresses alot of attempts at animation just fail to recapture what made those old classics so iconic.
Ultimately I hope to have specific sections set up to showcase the OAS Core Cast characters, Vanguards, and other characters like Major, Minor, and Supporting, but articles for me have to be complete or substantive: I hate stubs. It might take time but I'd rather be deliberate with it than trying to rush things, which has bitten me in the butt in the past... I'm still using the default layout but I have a specific background image in mind showing off OAS and Vanguard characters. Something like that with alot of characters at once takes a long time to iron out, and I've got a lot on my plate as it is...
Last year I got to post Season 1 of my ficverse and incorporate some of the fully-illustrated artwork I'd made throughout the year. I put alot of effort into the cover art and when it came to the five guys I was kind of annoyed that here I'd made so much detail for each of them and smooshing them all together at the bottom of the cover hid some of those details. I ended up repurposing the vector files and adding backgrounds with my trusty partner BlackInk and created a little foreword using the portraits of the guys. Each page gives some background info both on the OAS and AoD in general.
I had someone message me on FFN last year and I'm not entirely sure what they were looking for, but here I was trying to engage them and be cordial and they kind of got snappy calling my take on the OAS "lame" and "cliche". Bitch, please. I been writing since 1996. I was there when those "cliches" were MADE. I don't market AoD as being definitive or canonical or official. I work with the canon lore as much as possible and build upon it. It's my take on the franchise just like any other fic writer. Considering this individual apparently disabled private messaging, I'm getting the impression they are an insecure little prickwad who seems to think they have a monopoly on fic writing.
I'd rather let people come across my works organically and decide for themselves whether it's worth a follow or not. I don't like constantly hawking things. One thing that annoys me about youtubers is they'll spend 5 minutes peddling "like and subscribe like and subscribe". If I like your product you'll earn my attention, I don't need someone hectoring me nonstop. If I want specific content I'll look for it specifically, I don't need scammy algorithms conveniently forgetting that I like a particular genre of content then all of a sudden shoving ASMR clips of divers playing with moray eels in my recommendeds... One of these days when I have internet speed that isn't potato or lower I'd love to upload timelapses of drawings, and who knows maybe even do drawing streams. ACTUAL drawing and not garbage that caters to a clientele that needs to be dropped into the Marianas Trench...
4. CSS Shenanigans
I can count on one hand how much CSS I know. I have some stuff in a little cheatsheet I'll copy paste to articles but there's so much I've yet to touch and other stuff that's actually tier-locked. Currently my priority is artwork and adding as much as possible to articles so that when I write about something they'll be able to see it as envisioned.
Week 3: Inspirations
1. Books and Movies
I don't watch movies anymore unless its something I have in my personal collection. The iconic AMC 30 that used to be in walking distance from my home shut down and got bulldozed to make cheesy apartments, and I've read all the books I care to read. When power went out during the May Mayhem derecho and I had no power for five days in smothering weather I couldn't even DRAW because my pencil strokes were getting smudged from me sweating so much....so I ended up binge-reading Berserk: the Deluxe Edition up to volume 6...
Most of the time I'll listen to videos on youtube and long-form podcasts or informational videos. One covered the Boeing Whistleblower Murders and it hit very on the nose since at the time I was in the process of writing Spacequake Ch. 13, which not only introduced a new Vanguard, but also touched upon something unfamiliar to our heroes: corporate corruption. The character herself is very old by my standards, and the storyline I'd planned out years ago, but in the midst of pretty FLAGRANT corporate coverups and unabashed skull-duggery, it's not entirely beyond the pale to have a shady corporation willing to go through incredible lengths to keep the gravy train rolling.
I have dedicated folders both for reference images for OAS characters as well as AOD specific characters. Most OAS images I've collected over the years and I even had some printed out and put in a little ring binder to take with me as drawing references when out of town. Occasionally I'll revisit the OAS trying to look for specific references or lines of dialogue. I take great pride in doing my own artwork, but lately I've been targeted by scambot art trolls trying to con me into outsourcing art, which I've flatly refused. These people seem to think I'm made of money (which I'm NOT on account of getting fired in August...), and even if I had money to spare I wouldn't want anyone handling AoD-specific artwork because I know they wouldn't do it justice. There was one youtuber I came across and she actually has very good linework and I browsed her website-and granted these are villain characters she's depicting-but my GOODNESS alive, she drew these guys with expressions like someone had farted in a crowded elevator...
3. Playlists
These are my go-to playlists for binge-writing/drawing. Most of it is a healthy mix of fantasy and sci-fi ambiance since AoD while primarily is fantasy incorporates a lot of sci-fi.
8 Hours of EPIC Music 2SFH Solaris Album (Not available in disc form *cry*) Monstercat Electro Playlist for heavy sci-fi/techno/punk 2 hour looping playlist. I like just about everything except for this one song that has REALLY obnoxious vocals...
I have my trusty antique ipod I'll listen to when on the road or on long overnight shifts at work. It's a vintage nano silver I got as a present from my Dad and I make sure to never let it out of my sight. I remember when the battery was pooping out I made the mistake of taking it to a Apple store asking for the battery to be replaced and the smarmy douchebag there said "oh we'll just give you a new one!!" I don't WANT a "new one" I want THAT one because it has an engraving you dipshit! So I never went back to the CRAPple store. Thankfully I found a wonderful local gadget guy who is a wizard with tech repair and was able to replace the battery easy peasy. And it's still kicking like a fine Swiss watch....
Week 4: Friendship
1. Community
I don't really do "communities", even this one. I'm an introvert: social mingling isn't my thing. I'll engage with a select few individuals but I do poorly in large groups and the few social channels I'm a member of I've ruffled more than a few feathers with just offhand comments or "Mom-isms". I used to be heavily invested in MMO communities and MMO's are pretty much forever and for all time dead to me. Not only have the games themselves been infested with unsavoury elements that frankly have no business being in games about space battles or fighting dragons, but the "communities" have been polluted with equally unsavoury, thin-skinned individuals.
I actually got kicked out of a ice mining channel for "denigrating a sweet girl who just wishes to save the planet" by including a political cartoon in my bio. This was in a game where there are literal space Catholics that enslave space Mexicans. I've been pretty burnt on "communities" and my investment in World Anvil goes only as far as establishing, refining, and displaying my lore and artwork. I've noticed more than a few red flags pop up on some prominent Anvilites and I've been keeping a small list of individuals with which to avoid with a 60000ft barge pole. Given subtle changes to the "community" page lately, I'm getting the impression of a growing hostility towards the World Anvil "Community". Even Discord channels that were supposed to be full of like-minded individuals sharing creativity I've had to block several members because they've turned a channel that was supposed to be about sharing ideas, art, and prose into a mental asylum where everyone airs their dirty laundry and if I post a picture about the cat momma and her litter it gets flooded out by 200+ messages by two basketcases blabbing about something completely unrelated.
I actually got into it with an Anvilite recently. I've lost more than a few friends in the past because they've let factors beyond their control or influence destroy their personal lives. Apparently my unique brand of Texan encouragement failed to have an impact with this individual and they proceeded to bite my head off, snarling and foaming like a rabid beast. I have no idea what had this individual's panties in a literal bunch but if it's what I'm inferring it is, they have no business being upset about it much less letting it impair their creativity. I am reminded of an article by ECC Books I think it was a World Ember entry from last year, Troll Disease, where victims' growing negativity could literally turn them into monsters. It seems too often lately people are quick to throw away their creative soul over something that likely will have no effect on them and they have no ability to directly control any more than they can control the weather on a given day.
2. Schedule
My writing schedule will be whatever free time I have between shifts, meager that it is. Thanks to my unlawful termination from my job I'm having to work twice as hard to compensate for what I used to earn with just one. It is not a situation I feel comfortable with, but until my lease expires and it is time to move back home I'll have to make do best I can. Worst case scenario I can knock out the minimum with 2-4 articles. I at least have narrowed down subject ideas especially when it comes to a Vanguard page...
Dynasty Goons for Breakfast (Scene from Aftermath Ch. 10) by Mardrena
I'm currently 7/10ths complete with an art project I've been trying to complete this month but my progress has slowed to a crawl thanks to Black Friday week... I originally planned to use the NovelEmber event to import chapters of Foes From Another World pt 1 but that's looking less likely to happen as my off days have been getting gobbled up by double shifts. I need the hours and the income, but at the same time it presents an unwanted hurdle in my personal goals. One saving grace is I FINALLY wrote out Spacequake Ch. 15, concluding Season 5 of AoD. I've been using articles on WA to do some pre-writing for Season 6, but it'll take some planning and piecing together before I even write chapter 1. I don't commit to a season until I have a list of short episode summaries written out, and the old original roadmap I had written down in my Blue Folder is HORRIFICALLY outdated and needs to be revised. Maybe if things fall into place I can have something ready by Christmas...
3. Fresh Air
There is no fresh air to be had where I am currently. On top of long-simmering work-related tensions, the recent takeover of my current residence by the literal Orcs of Isengard has permanently destroyed the "community" I'd been a part of for well over two decades. In a matter of days I saw grand sprawling oaks, gorgeous flowering magnolias, radiant crepemyrtles, and soaring tall pines destroyed by a repugnant corporate blob that promised "improvements" but turned my apartment complex into a desolate ruin. What I thought I could stave off another few years or so has now been thrust into my face, and come Hell or High Water I'm leaving this wasteland behind after the New Year. I can't even enjoy TexRenFest one last time before I move due to my income situation. Best I can do is to bide my time, save what income I have, work on projects best I can, and count down the days until my lease expires and I can give these corporate weasels who destroyed my home the finger.
To conclude WorldEmber Prep on more of a high note, here's a cute little video for anyone unfamiliar with the OAS. I had the opportunity to attend a panel hosted by this individual and a friend of hers at Anime Matsuri which provided entertaining insight into classic shows such as Yu-Gi-Oh! and G-Gundam. Whether I'll ever be able to attend AM or TexRenFest in the future remains up in the air...and also hinges on me learning how to drive given the fact that I haven't driven in literal decades....
All artwork used is self-made and belongs to me unless otherwise stated, such as kitbashes and commissions. Age of Defiance does not and will not use or feature RW/YST original artwork out of consideration for the OAS creators
Age of Defiance is a fic-verse set in the world of the Ronin Warriors anime series produced by Sunrise Inc. Ronin Warriors/Yoroiden Samurai Troopers and associated OAS (Original Animated Series) Core Cast characters belong to their respective creators. Characters, Locations, and Concepts unique and original to Age of Defiance such as Vanguard characters (Tanya Sanada, Raurgoth, Roxi Hirochner, Shannon O'Connor, Brianna Johansen, Danae, Black Hawk, Dygra, etc) are my creations.
Cover image:
Anubis vs Balthazar Header
by
Mardrena
That looks like you are having a good plan for novelember! I wish you the best of luck and hope you are having fun!
Sit down, my friend, and let me tell you of Aran'sha . A world where the sands shift and the stars sing, where the wind carries secrets and the twin moons keep silent vigil over it all.
Good luck reaching your goal! I hope you have fun building your characters and a great WorldEmber!