Author: Autumn

I write 'n stuff.
About Writing

In the Zone

Autumn

I wrote about 10,000 words of additional content for The Scion Suit in a week, which is *fast* for me. And, since the original was only 15,000 words, means that the VN is going to be *substantially* bigger (I’ve only added one alternate ending so far).

I definitely should have kept exercising over the winter, instead of letting myself get bogged down. But now I know just how important it is to my health (my blood clot resolved a few days ago, in case you were wondering).

Rules of living:
1. Stay hydrated
2. Keep moving
3. Magnesium

Anyway

I decided to write in my normal 3rd-person narration style since that’s what I’m most comfortable with, to be converted into a script later. And, in lieu of numbering each section, I titled them instead.

Highlights include:

Learning to Cuss
Kinky
My Girlfriend is an Alien
Actions Have Consequences
That Didn’t Go Well
Have I Gone Mad?

I’m probably going to eventually publish this stuff as a choose-your-own-adventure novel, since it includes events from Lambert’s perspective that aren’t going to be part of the VN … I got a little caught up in the story, lol.

I’m more than likely not going to be able to keep up that pace (I promised my kids a banana cream pie today), but dang it sure is nice to know that I’ve got it in me. But who knows, maybe I’ll be able to get this out faster than I originally thought.

About Me

Blogger Recognition Award

Autumn

The Rules:

  • Thank the blogger/s who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  • Write a post to show your award.
  • Give a brief story of how your blog started.
  • Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
  • Select up to 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
  • Comment (or pingback) on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide the link to the post you created

Thank you Kat, from The Lily Cafe for the nomination!

The story:

I’m currently in writing binge mode, which (true to the stereotype) is making me ditzy about everything else. So, forgive me for the weird things that I’m inevitably going to say.

I created my blog during the summer of 2012, while my husband and I were living off-grid with our first newborn. I was in an alternate world back then — talking to trees to predict the future sort of stuff — so I can’t for the life of me remember why I did it; I just know that “Autumn Rain” was intended to be highly symbolic and infused with magic for my lifelong desire to be a writer. I sure wish I knew what was going through my mind, but I trust that I set myself up with the right thing.

Ultimately, I traded psychic ability for a laundry machine, because my body couldn’t keep up with the amount of physical labor that was required with the resources that were available. Consequently, I now eat too much junk food, exercise too little, and rarely have a clue what the breeze is trying to say. I’m always telling myself that I know better.

I didn’t post at all until 2017. By that point I had three babies, and I realized that the planets were never going to align and give me space to focus on writing — I had to carve some out for myself. So I started Light Eternal, and published occasional posts to my blog. In 2019, I decided that it was time to become serious about it all, and started updating regularly. It’s amazing how many superfluous activities I was able to cut out of my day in order to find the time, and now I’ve got a good routine going.

Hey, I told you it was going to be weird.

My advice:

  1. JFDI

Life is never going to be perfect, and the work is never going to be done, but don’t ever let that stop you.

2. Blog about what you love, because you love it.

The goal shouldn’t be monetization, because then you’re setting yourself up for burnout. This is something that I say about fiction writing as well: you are your most important audience, and your main focus should be on keeping yourself entertained. Basically, have fun.

I’m going to skip out on nominating anyone. I have a neurotic character named Carol who needs to have some adventures in a mechanical Suit from outer space, and quiet time only lasts for so long.

About Writing

White Space

Autumn

This is probably pretty weird of me, but I love it when the white space between words lines up organically while I’m writing, and I always notice it instantly.

I added a pale yellow line for emphasis.

The Scion Suit

The Scion Suit Character Notes

Autumn

Carol

  • Age: 31
  • Rank: special officer
  • Time served: *2 years cleaning the Suit*
  • Appearance: 5’4″, brown hair – just above shoulders, wears neutral t-shirts and tank tops
  • Personality: “Obedient and unambitious”, but has a petty vindictive side. Struggles with anxiety. Starts off bland, because [SPOILER].
  • Drink of choice: Moscato (sparkling white wine)
  • Other notes: Lambert mockingly calls her “commander”. The Suit recognizes her as the primary user.

Lambert

  • Age: 40
  • Rank: Captain
  • Time served: 6 years
  • Appearance: 6’0″, bulky, dark brown hair, wears dark colors when not in uniform.
  • Personality: Irritable. Has no life outside of the military. Secretive about himself.
  • Drink of choice: Whisky
  • Other notes: Was a psychiatrist before joining the military.

Hartmann

  • Age: 35
  • Rank: Master Sergeant
  • Time served: 18 years
  • Appearance: 5’11”, angular, sandy blonde hair
  • Personality: Joined the military for the action, loves being recognized for his accomplishments.
  • Drink of choice: hard liquor for getting drunk/showing off
  • Other notes: Brain damaged by the Suit

Holmes

  • Age: 21
  • Rank: Corporal
  • Time served: 3 years
  • Appearance: 5’10”, lanky
  • Personality: Young, likes to tease, but takes his job seriously and follows his orders very well.
  • Drink of choice: Anything lawl
  • Other notes: Has a girlfriend, planning on getting married after his service is up.

The Scion Suit

The Scion Suit VN edition

Autumn

I’ve been converting The Scion Suit into a script for an interactive fiction game, and I’m amazed at how well it’s translating over into second-person narration. It’s almost like I wrote the story for this purpose without realizing it…

I don’t remember laying it on so thick with the Carol/Lambert pairing, but apparently I did. Lambert’s seriously got the hots for Carol, but she’s too obsessed with the Suit to realize it, lol.

I wasn’t actually planning on starting this project right away, since I know full well that I’m committing myself to months and months of work here, but my husband can be so persuasive. He immediately jumped on getting me set up with Twine and Vim, supplied me with documentation, and appealed to my teenager years when I played with HTML for fun.

Tangent: Bit funny, really, but the only reason why I didn’t go down the web designer path is because one person flaked out and left me feeling stranded. I would have eventually quit to raise babies and write anyway, but it could have possibly spared me from developing a great deal of cynicism.

Let’s not kid ourselves: we’re here for the deep undercurrents of cynicism and alienation.

Back to our regular schedule …

It’s fun to type up things like:
<<Lambert “I yell at you so much because I secretly want to bed you, but I know I shouldn’t.”>>
”How do you reply:”
[[I love you too! -> Ooo_la_la]]
[[Who are you again? -> OUCH]]

Look at me! I’m programing! I AM SO SMART! LAWL.

Anyway

While I’m playing it safe and basic on the technical side of things, I’m feeling ambitious in terms of branching “what ifs” for the story. The whole point is to provide tons and tons of avenues to explore.

Including this:

Unfortunately, this isn’t the sort of thing that I can really share as I work on it, so you’re going to have to wait until I’m ready to publish the game. I know, I’m disappointed too.