Sorry for the slow month, all. I wanted to do this quick write-up to keep you updated. The coding for the Oleander chapter is 95% done. I just need to add some finishing touches after my editor is done with it.
As some of you know, my next project is a proper sequel to Magical Mishaps. Writing a continuation of the story involves some significant challenges.
The elephant in the room is that the six epilogue chapter endings do not have a unified canonical ending to use as a springboard into the next story. Throwing out the events of the epilogue also throws out most of the critical character development of the girls, which is essential moving forward.
Now that the characters are well-established, involving them in a plot that uses their personalities and strengths is a natural first step. I think there’s a lot of room to build out their relationships with each other (while still keeping the main character in the picture, of course)!
I’d also like to build out the setting more. To accomplish this, I’d like to develop the other classes at the school to make it feel less like “going to Oleander’s general studies class every day.”
Does Katlyn, the antagonist in the first game, fit in? Do the pygmy goblins come back? If I introduce new characters, shouldn’t they be important moving forward?
This stage of the writing process is delicate. Writing a “Chapter One” needs to set up the story's foundation, but you also need to know where the story is going to set up payoffs for later. I’m not writing all of the chapters at once in their entirety, but I need to know where it’s going, which makes this task considerably harder than writing the epilogues.
Figuring out a strong direction that progresses some overarching plot and maneuvers around these points has been tormenting me lately. I don’t have all the answers right now, but what I have been working on is shaping up and will soon be in a workable state for wips.
TLDR: Sorry for the lack of drawings. Lots of coding and writing is happening. Thanks for sticking with me.