Haunted 1-38
on December 8, 2021
at 2:03 am
Chapter: Up In The Air
Ugh… blew right through my buffer. Turns out this one was a LOT more figures than I was ready to draw, there was some career stuff due, and the next CT chapter is absolutely bitchin’ hard to write. But here it is! Happy Wednesday.
I love how consistent you are with the plain vs. colored speech bubble text. Xiyuan’s not in the first panel, so of course it’s uncolored! Also, you can’t tell me Xiyuan didn’t hear Iliana’s bracelets jangling as she leapt back to avoid the door. Not one of her smoothest moments XD
What kind of outside food is Champei going to bring? I bet it’s not movie theater snacks, unless it is.
Champei likes to eat the same lunch every day!
Thank you for making everyone scroll back up to check the speech bubble text and maybe go “ohhh!!!” As for the bracelets, Xiyuan not hearing/reacting to them does fit into the (spoilers! spoilers for people who haven’t read anything about the character outside of CT/Haunted!) “high as fuck” theory.
I like to eat the same thing every day, and I like to bring my own food! But it’s so rude, so I used to just order coffee and eat later under my favorite tree.
That works! Depending on how you want to interpret it, either (a) restaurateurs in this universe widely accept that some people like to bring their own food and will make accommodations if they’re in a group; or (b) given that strangers can walk up and take the food off of someone else’s table, Sim restaurant etiquette is complete anarchy.
::sings “writing is hard” at the top of her lungs::
Seriously, good luck. I’m excited for the next CT whenever it comes but am also uber aware of how much it takes.
Okay so this is something I noticed a few Haunteds ago but didn’t articulate it (at least I don’t think, but my brain’s gone to mush so maybe I’ve said this). The characters really seem like a group of people who have been working together forever. I know that sound so simple, but like, it’s hard! To write characters to supposedly have all these years of backstory together and make them sound natural while not spending 35 panels explaining all their backstories? I mean BRAVO. Like I know which role everyone plays at work even if it’s not who they are “at home.” I love using context clues to pick on their dynamic and gah, I wish I could hold back more in my writing and do this sort of thing.
It’s so hard. I know this chapter is missing something, but I don’t know what yet. Yesterday, I decided there was too much exposition and to let the songs, which I haven’t finished, land on their own—hooray, that only took six months. Yay. Writing.
Haha, thank you for noticing! I put a lot of effort into building these characters and figuring out how to introduce them not just efficiently, but in a way that gave them a purpose in the narrative. Now they’ve gelled enough that they’re driving the story themselves. You know who was the hardest to pin down at the beginning? Champei. And now she’s carrying the whole dang mystery subplot.
It works that you waited for this particular comment to talk about holding back, though, because this is the page where Haunted starts explicitly hinting that there might be something else going on in this universe. Right now it’s subtle, but there’s a point planned in the future where even the most casual reader will be like “…wait. WHAT.”
Idk why but the middle pieces felt chaotic. I had to re-read the second to last row a few times just to realize that Iliana wasn’t barking out Champei Restaurant! (I thought she was yelling at her to make the reservation, but Miles was the one to make the call), and instead it was Ari who was saying that line. I guess it just felt like panic-mode to me and Miles is just on his shit, and got it covered.
I like that Miles parents’ are the final say. Like if you grew up eating authentic/home-cooked food of that culture, your taste buds know if it was made well or not lol.
Oooh—feedback on construction! Thank you! I wonder if pulling Ari’s first speech bubble down would help. Might spend a few minutes looking at it.
Thank you, Miles’s parents, for the restaurant recommendations! They could’ve also made Yuan order dim sum for everyone, but this scenario is way better for foreshadowing unsaid features of this universe.