That does sound like fun soapie drama but I’m going to be honest with you, there’s already too much going on. If I had to incorporate baby daddy drama amidst my Regency romance thriller with nine RO’s and 2 origin stories and 5 different pathways and fully different scenes for each gender there is a chance I may explode =P That said, anything is possible in the future of this story, who knows?
@Snowflower my research indicated that pugs became popular in the Victorian era? But I’ll consider it xx
Tin Star is a brilliant game in how adaptable it is. It’s one of my favourite titles ever. I really appreciate how much Allen Gies must have flogged themselves writing all the different multiple options and pathways, but I don’t think all writers should feel that they must be forced to go to such lengths.
@Kwartel I will be fine, just a lot of time spent recovering, so I have far more time to read IF. On a side note, your flavour text is top notch. E.g, all the inclusions for trans MCs are wonderful. I also appreciate the tailored male gay MC reaction for the Blevins RO path. Btw, how strongly do you feel about the physical description choices and appearances being historically accurate to how society then perceived what counted as beautiful and attractive? Is it a thing you want to bother with? Because if not, that’s fine, if so, I have feedback.
@Logan3000x It’s not regency, but I recommend reading When Life gives you Lemons, if you want to explore similar plotlines.
As much as I love this idea, having children out of wedlock was extremely frowned upon. It would’ve been extremely likely that they would’ve married as soon as the pregnancy was confirmed. It would’ve been a case for adultery and divorce, which while also interesting was also more complicated than ending an engagement.
I’m not entirely aiming for period accurate looks, it’s skewed towards a modern Regency ideal, I suppose. Bridgerton-esque, if you will. (Though I am trying to be a little more period accurate in general than Bridgerton is.) You’re welcome to give feedback regardless, it’s always good to learn. Hope you heal fast and well xx
@Snowflower I’m a medium/large dog fan and it pains me that I can’t put a husky in there (I have a husky princess. She’s the best thing in the world bar none imo ) I do agree that more dogs is always a good thing. I meant to add cats too, although they apparently only became common household pets in the Victorian era too, so I decided I’d put it off for the moment and think about adding them later. If I do that I will add more dog breeds.
@Niko_Farrell yeah, I enjoy drama but this is not the story or the era for this flavour of drama. Unless I go completely off the rails. I could write a side story on it though
Can we be a wing(wo)man for other characters? Hester is the most obvious choice as our sister, but it would be nice to set up the ROs we don’t choose with someone who will be kind and loving.
Also will there Ginevra/Griffith eventually come out to a straight MC?
I don’t think you’ll be able to match up your RO’s. At this point it seems a bit difficult. And I don’t really view them as seeing each other romantically, tbh I haven’t really thought about it. I guess we’ll see later in the story? And Hester has her own story.
As for the rest, a British prime minister once said ‘wait and see.’ ( I mention it in in my author’s notes in the first post too, but I don’t want to tell readers what will happen. I want you to be surprised by the story. There’s a lot of secrets and mysteries, I have to keep mum about the plot.)
Hi everyone! I’ve been quite scarce lately, but I wanted to give you all a progress update. This last chapter has been slow going because of real life issues and other work, but I have been chipping away at it sporadically. I’d estimate it’s about halfway now at 41 000 words.
But I should be able to up the tempo considerably from now on. Except for a small holiday to Cape Town to visit friends and family next week (where I’ll probably write a bit too) there are no other obstacles, problems or delays in the way of writing now. I’m still aiming to release Chapter Three before the end of the year. Wish me luck!
Thank you! I just got back from my vacation last night so I’m getting ready to tackle the rest of Chapter Three and focus on only Season of Shadows for the next month
Frankly offering the modern version of Regency beauty standards ala Bridgerton as you are, will be far more appealing to your contemporary readership, than me suggesting strictly historically accurate options of what was actually considered pretty during the regency era → hooked noses, pointy chins and tiny lips anyone?
Yeah, that’s kind of the conclusion I came to. For many readers (myself included) part of the appeal of COG is having attractive people fawn over you. It’s just an easy, lazy fantasy. And hooked noses et al can just distract from that fantasy in our current reality.
Granted, some people want to romance people with ‘unattractive’ features, but it’s not the majority. But that’s also why I’m trying to be fairly vague about what the characters look like, so that people can see what they want to in them. You can give them hooked noses in your head, I’m not planning on being overly descriptive to disturb your vision lol. (If I did describe anyone too vividly, let me know, I’ll tone it down into something more generic.)
In fact initially I was going to draw the RO’s, but I don’t really like it when authors’ visuals of characters don’t fit what’s in my head. So I’m not doing that (for the moment.) I may compromise later on and draw them all from a distance.
I know it’s a me problem, but I personally absolutely hate facial hair and it’s sometimes a deal breaker for a romance option for me.
But in a few IFs–I can’t remember some, off the top of my head, but I remember them existing–there’s guys whose full beard could rival Santa Clause’s (hyperbole, but you get what I wanna say) and it really takes me out of the story from cringing at the thought LOL
Like, I get it, taste is subjective and I’m sure there’s dozens of people that are into facial hair. But I am not and I don’t need to be reminded of it every other sentence lmao
So I rather have authors keep it vague-ish so I can picture the characters how I want them.
I do like authors showing art of their characters though, a lot of plus points if they drew them themselves. Always gonna support fellow artists! Also makes it easier to me if I were to ever decide to draw anyone lol
What a cruel place to end the demo. I have been wanting to make the ex and their new spouse miserable the whole time and now I’ll have to wait to see if it happens
Haha, sorry, I do enjoy a cliffhanger. I’ve heard it said that only bad authors use cliffhangers constantly - well, consider me bad, I love them! Also, just a warning, you may need to be patient for a while longer to get even with our fiance. It’s not happening in Chapter Three.
@rkgk It’s weird how something small can take you out of an IF, right? I’m aroace so you’d think I wouldn’t be fussed about such details, but I am. E.g. I don’t really enjoy it when people wear thick golden chains around their necks, and one IF I read had a few of the men sporting that. Clearly the author thought that was incredibly hot, and that’s valid, but to me it’s the opposite of hot. I was immediately taken out of the story and didn’t like my RO anymore. It’s so weird how that works. Makes me feel shallow and ashamed of it, but it still happens.
I might draw or paint a bit when I finish Chapter Three then. My style is pretty old school and traditional, but I guess that’s appropriate for Regency
Firstup, I have a small progress report. I have been busy, and am almost done with writing Chapter 3 (pretty sure I’ll finish the text today)… but there’s still a lot to code and edit, and I have to still add a lot of choices. I do think I’ll probably make my end of December deadline unless I’ve woefully underestimated the editing work.
Onerequestfromme please - I need your help with names for background characters for Season of Shadows. Basically I need 14 male and 9 female names. These names will be given to other young lords and ladies taking part in the Season. All the names will appear in Chapter 3, and they may be used intermittently as background characters throughout the story.
Regency names are ideal, but you can even use your own name, or your character’s name (but if it sounds like something Elon Musk would name his children, it’s not making the cut, sorry. I need to at least try to sound as if I’m trying lol. )
You can PM me if you like, or else just post your character name here, and if you have any specific details about your character, PM them to me too. I might include a mention of your details.
(I’ve already asked this on Discord and received some great names, but I thought I’d ask here too, because this is more fun than making up names!)
Hey! I just want to give you a little praise for your story, especially for the ROs. There are relatively few stories where it really matters if the MC is attracted to her own gender. In most cases, it doesn’t really matter if my heroine is in love with another woman, it doesn’t really complicate the situation. This is not the case here, so much so that right now, I can’t even imagine how my little lady and her chosen one (probably Quinn or Esther) can have a happy ending in this era and socio-political situation. And I love this uncertainty, I love not knowing how things will turn out positively for two women. Good job, and keep it up!
Thank you <3 Yeah, there’s going to be so many endings! Love will work out for everyone, and plausibly too. Unless readers choose the bad (or dutiful) endings on purpose, of course. (And I have a feeling Quinn may have some more fans after the next chapter, I had so much fun writing her scene Though she and Esther are very different!)
) I do agree that more dogs is always a good thing. I meant to add cats too, although they apparently only became common household pets in the Victorian era too, so I decided I’d put it off for the moment and think about adding them later. If I do that I will add more dog breeds.
Though she and Esther are very different!)