Willoughby Whippets and Tibetan Spaniels

We’ve reached the end of another great year in the SimLit community. Happy holidays, everyone! You are all truly wonderful and I’m grateful to be among such kind, fascinating people. Thank you for the joy you’ve brought to my life.

Here’s some good news: this comic was finished on Dec. 16, with pages 1-42 and 1-43 having been finished by Dec. 19, and now I. HAVE. A. BUFFER. Since keeping my head above water with weekly updates was what kept me from finishing this very high-effort CT chapter, I’m planning to publish in mid-January. And there might be something extra, too!

Now here’s some rambling on what has changed and what to expect moving forward.

• Since the blog has started, I’ve gone from having this fantasy that a serious work of post-postmodern metafiction would help draw mainstream attention to the unique features of SimLit as a genre, to having my soul crushed when pieces I thought would take off (“The Watcher” in particular) just didn’t, to quietly blogging in my corner with my still-crushed soul. But lately I’ve been feeling better about sharing my work.
• The truth is, I do think there are more people out there who feel the way I do, and could possibly connect with these stories. I just haven’t been well enough to search for them on my own. Now here’s the actual point: I may have found a way to generate interest in CT without having to bother anyone else. Illustrations! Yay! This was always the plan, but I wanted more practice before I felt ready. And being able to finish 4 pages of Haunted in one week has given me confidence in that area. Starting next year, you can expect more standalone illustrations for CT/Haunted, including cover redesigns and improved character portraits.
• AND THAT BRINGS US TO THE SECOND POINT. Weekly updates have consistently kicked my ass, and so with the buffer, it’s easier to give the upcoming CT chapters the attention they need. Let’s aim for one a month. Starting January, expect one new CT chapter per month, and you can yell at me if I can’t keep up.
  • Look, I feel so bad about delaying this ViR chapter that my brain is screaming at me to make this a multimedia experience. So let’s see how much music production I can learn in a month? I guess?
• Most importantly, with the buffer, I’ll now have time to keep up to date with everyone else’s work. Expect a lot more comments on other SimLits! Spread the love! Woo!

“But what about non-meta stuff? What’s going to happen in the story?” you ask.

Look.

• In just a few CT posts is the much-anticipated chapter where Xiyuan and Bernard go totally off the rails and ruin a fancy party. A lot of what I appreciate about these two characters is finally going to gel, some art people from Haunted will make cameos, disco will be resurrected, and it’ll be a good time all around.
• Wanna meet Althea? We’re gonna meet Althea.
• Of course, we’ll also meet Bernard.
• Current estimates on scene length put the remainder of Haunted Ch. 1 between 45–50 pages, so, um, uh-oh. But we might get there.
• Sometimes you turn on the shower and your brain’s response to this is “BERNARD HAS A PET SNAIL NAMED TIPPINGTON,” and so now it is canon forever. Sadly, the snail doesn’t show up until Haunted Ch. 3. But if you saw that and thought “oh my god, ghost snail ghost snail, illustration of Bernard painting in the apartment with a god damn ghost snail named Tippington on his shoulder,” we’re very much on the same page and you can thank me if I ever get around to it.
  • Tippington is going to be a prick. You heard it here first.
• It’s sad how much there is to do before we get to some great moments in both stories. But stay tuned.