And to balance well. If you put promotion and community maintenance on the same level as writing, you’re in danger of never finishing the latter, even if you don’t burn out first. Throwing stuff up on Patreon, Tumblr, the forum and Reddit can easily eat all the time you have in a day…
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$100 for an ebook?! Hot damn. That’s fully American textbook pricing.
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RIGHT?! I even tried searching for a pirated PDF (yohoho!) and couldn’t find one.
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Wow. It’s been a while since I’ve been on these forums. Discord and other media (and life!) swallowed me up. Still writing, albeit in role play with others. Telling myself that writing even as a hobby and in role play is acceptable and fine. Coming back here and re-reading a lot of new and old WIPs has sparked something. That itch to write and create.
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I just didn’t want to make a winter villain cuz I feel that’s common. I do have a good Winter King though. The Spring Princess is probably at least neutral or neutral good. She’s one of my potential sixth rangers. and I dunno about the Autumn Archduchess… she’s just chilling for now.
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This made me giggle.
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Hi, everyone.
I hope the second week of September went well for everyone.
On the 15th of each month, I share an excerpt from what I am working on, and invite you to do the same. It’s too raw for proper critique and feedback, but a friendly word is always welcome.
This month, I am sharing part of what I worked on this week:
Edit: the choices that are in the game are removed in this excerpt for both brevity and clarity.
09-15-23 Shared excerpt
((Beginning of excerpt))
“Now that we have all of that settled…” Raphael huffs out: “Elle. Daniel. Take $!{name} into the chute room. I’m sure ${pcnoun_xhe} would appreciate it if you would do so now.”
“But…” Elle’s widen and she presses her lips together before she lets out a gruff protest. “We want to stay here to help! There is still clean up to do here.”
“Bah!” Raphael rolls his eyes at Elle’s dramatics and explains Daniel’s and Elle’s role here. “You’ll stay and deal with the guards. So, go and show $!{name} the way out.”
“Okay, Raphael.” Daniel speaks up, shooting Elle a glare that seems to be telling her to calm down. “We go about our day and clean the chutes. Then what will happen?”
“Once you are done cleaning the chutes…” Raphael smiles at the other two cherubim. “You come back and misdirect the guards. That will give you all the cover you need and help everyone at the same time.”
“Er —” These two are here to clean… chutes? What types of chutes are there in a prison’s morgue? You can’t hide your confusion. “Chutes? In a prison’s morgue?”
“Uh huh.” Daniel waves away your confusion with one hand and points to something behind you. “The chutes in the disposal room.”
“Disposal room?” You quickly glance at the wall behind you, where Daniel is pointing and see that there is another reinforced oak door, labeled with a brass plate spelling out the word “Disposal.”
“While Elle and Daniel stall the guards here…” Raphael turns to you and narrows his focus, making sure he has your attention. “You and I will travel through the chutes.”
“Uh…” You raise first one shoulder than the other in a rolling shrug. You understand the plan as given so far, but you can’t pierce the unknown. “Then what, Raphael?”
“Mmm.” Raphael stops a moment to gather his thoughts together and then rubs his hands together as he answers you. “We’ll make our way to Emille, $!{name}.”
“Er?” You ignore asking why you would want to get to this Emille and instead focus on who she is. “Who, exactly, is Emille, the person?”
“She’ll get us to Charon.” Raphael lowers his voice, as if he is reluctant for Elle and Daniel to hear. Nevertheless, it is obvious they both do, by the looks of surprise on their faces that they quickly try to hide. “Charon will get you to the Under City.”
“Argh!” You realize that Raphael avoided your question of who Emille is by answering what she could do for you. Perhaps it is best to drop the question, at least for now. “I am still confused.”
“So am I.” Raphael chuckles and then screws up his face into a serious mask once more as he replies to you. “Hopefully there will be more answers on from Charon.”
*page_break
What you know so far is very sparse. Raphael was sent by Charon to escort you to her barge, but those plans went to hell when a trio of prisoners confronted Dr. Morgan with a conspiracy of one nature or another, and the doctor ended up dead. The leader of the conspiracy ended up killing his co-conspirators, leaving a mess for you to find in the prison’s morgue where you awoke without any memories of your own.
You do possess a power which Raphael named “deathsight,” a power which allows you to experience the memories of others right before their death. Who you are, or why you possess such power is a mystery to you still, and neither Raphael nor Elle nor Daniel can clear anything up for you.
The only thing left is to make your way to Charon to find out more from her, and to do that, you will need to make a journey down into the prison’s depths where you will meet someone named Emille. Emille is the person that will get you to Charon’s barge and hopefully some answers.
How do you feel about this? …
“Elle. Daniel.” You heft your @{weaponn shank|metronome|walking stick} and accompany the two cherubim towards the disposal room. “Let’s be on our way then!”
The two watch as you approach the oak door labeled ‘Disposal’ and try to open it. The door has a lockable auto-latch installed on it and can only be opened with a key.
“Here.” Daniel stifles a giggle and crowds close to you as he holds out a brass key. Elle quirks an eyebrow while watching you struggle with the door. “I have the key.”
“Move out of the way…” You do not appreciate their amusement at your expense and growl in irritation. Quickly, you swipe the key out of Daniel’s hand, before he or Elle can react. “… and give me the key!”
You fumble with the brass key for a moment, but you finally get it inserted into the auto-latch below the door handle. Hearing a click as you turn the key, it seems that the reinforced door is now able to be opened.
“Nothing ventured…nothing gained.” You push the door inward to open it and see a large room dominated by three brass-plated chutes built into each of the three facing walls. “Well, that opened easily.”
“Its just a stupid door.” Elle, rolls her eyes while she wraps a curl of her hair around her finger. She pauses before she makes another snarky comment aimed your way. “Better get going before someone else enters the morgue.”
“Does…” You ignore Elle for now and turn your attention back to Daniel, who is tapping his foot impatiently on the floor. “… the door lock from the other side?”
“No…” Daniel, fidgets under your gaze at first, and then begins to pace. “Don’t worry about that.”
*page_break
“What?” As you take in the sight of Daniel pacing and Elle toying with her hair, you shake your head to clear it. “Why not?”
“You should be gone soon enough…” Daniel turns away and hides a creeping smirk from you. He looks you up and down out of the corner of his eyes. “… that is unless you plan on staying her much longer…”
“Besides…” Elle looks from Daniel to you and tentatively holds out an item in her hand. “We brought the doorstop.”
“Doorstop?” You give the cherubim a once-over and glare at each in turn. Is this going to be more amusement at your expense? “One of you, please explain.”
“When we clean the chutes,” Daniel shoots a wounded look of betrayal at Elle before he turns his attention back to you. “We usually eat our lunch in there, before we do our chore.”
“Lunch…” That explains the origins of the food you had earlier. You decide not to mention this to the cherubim. “I see.”
“Yes.” Daniel, draws closer to Elle, and then pivots while wrapping his arm around Elle’s shoulder. “The doctor normally leaves — left us lunch in one of the corpse coolers.”
“And the doorstop?” You gather your mental thoughts together and take one last look around the morgue. “What significance is it?”
“Huh.” Elle rolls her shoulders in a shrug as she shifts under Daniel’s arm. “We use it to keep anyone from interrupting our lunch.”
“Alright…” You gently close and latch the oaken door behind you as you end up following Daniel and Elle into the disposal room. “Onward, you two.”
…
((End of excerpt))
I will be making a second post with my week’s update sometime later today
. 
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At least it’s not the price of a Bachelor’s of Science textbook, or it would be double the amount… speaking from experience.
But, I just thought I’d share a quote from Sven Vincke (I hope that’s how you spell his name. On my phone and very tired so not gonna check) that pretty much explains partially why I think it’s so important to at least stay partially active and transparent with the people that are inhabiting WiP threads.
“[Our listening to the community] hasn’t changed, honestly, that’s been day one … you can only do that really well if you remove all barriers between developers and players as much as you can. There’s risks with that, things can go wrong, sometimes you’re too open or you say something wrong … but if you don’t do that, you become very silo’d. You can’t do cool stuff in a silo.”
No excerpt from me yet, possibly a bit later.
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Hi everyone –
I’m putting my moderator hat on for a moment.
I’d like to remind everyone that not only in my support threads, but in the forums everywhere, discussion of piracy of any nature is against the forum rules.
Each of us, as creators ourselves, should remember to respect other creators, even if we disagree with something they do relating to their creations.
Thank you all for striving to keep this thread one of the best resources of this nature out there. It is a group effort that requires us all to work together.
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I don’t know how to address the following but my therapist today has almost command me to explain publicly why the topic these two days have been extremely triggering.
As someone who. has abysmal self-esteem and none confidence in my writing skills. Read and hearing what others considered needed for writing or even just posted a except makes me feel wrong and a pure failure.
I have nothing to do with fans, i have no merchandise, I have no art. I have no talent, I have no contacts. I have no media platforms or otherwise.
So what I do have? Lacking of everything and stubbornness.
So yeah, There is no way in humanity’s development that I achieve anything here.
This is not a call out. The problem is on me, but it is also a reminder that the language we use and mostly advice on What is needed if not you will fail Can cause others not even trying.
“Oh, I don’t know how to make a Tumblr page and I have no art… So maybe I should not try?”
My therapist said me today that explaining my feelings publicly will be instrumental to learn to filtering other people opinions as opinions and not like truths that makes me an awful person.
I hope it works as I would love could read all your posts without thinking I am trash pile of garbage
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Hey, a lot of us write as a hobby. Sure, years ago, when I was still new to it, getting published/becoming a ‘successful’ author was one of my dreams, but I’ve long since realized that I like it more as a hobby.
Just me, my thoughts, and a piece of paper. No outside pressure. Not even inside pressure from my own expectations. Just writing what feels right in the moment, and being able to scrap or tuck it away inside a folder somewhere if that is what feels like the right thing to do with it without judgement as well.
Basically the opposite of that discussion of the days before. Which is also why I didn’t feel the need to respond to it.
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Thank you for the reminder! My apologies! Should I edit the post to remove the mention?
EXCERPT TIMEEEE!
Summary
"How dare you accuse me of this?!" Zhong Luli demands, stamping ${pc_his} foot childishly. You can't help the huff of amusement from escaping your nose, only to startle when your bully's finger snaps up and points at your face. "$!{surname} $!{given_name} is the thief, I'm sure of it!"
"Hah?!" You exclaim, an unspoken demand for this accusation to be explained. "Zhong Luli has lost ${pc_his} mind!"
`"You've had it out for me! $!{surname} $!{given_name} has some sort of grudge against this servant, and ${pc_he} hate this servant!" Zhong Luli sneers, crossing ${pc_his} arms over ${pc_his} chest, as those present turn to see your response. "Supervisor Ban, search $!{surname} $!{given_name}'s things! I'm sure you'll find the stolen goods!"`
"I am no theif!" You lie, the outrage on your face mistaken for hurt honor, rather than for the fear it actually is. "If I have a grudge against you, Zhong Luli, it has been [i]earned[/i] with behavior like this!"
`"Enough!" Supervisor Ban snapped, silencing the outbreak of whispering that had started at your declaration. "$!{pc_Hon_Higher}, bring out your belongings and money. Do not hide any, or this supervisor will assume you are in fact the thief."`
`"This is unjust! Supervisor Ban, this servant begs you, search everyone's things, at least! This bias is too much!" You demand, putting aggreived tears in the corner of your eyes.`
"Fine!" Supervisor Ban declares, waving ${pc_his} hand to scatter you all into pulling your things from the cubbies, dropping them into piles around the room, and glowering. Supervisor Ban searches through your collective belongings, taking yours first, and finds your 'savings'.
*if (wealth >= 1) and (wealth <=10)
"${Wealth} taels," Supervisor Ban comments, raising an eyebrow. You swallow, and consider your next words carefully.
`"Supervisor Ban, the missing taels total`
`*if (tookccmoney = true) and (tookssqmoney = true)`
` eleven. `
` *goto elseif6`
*elseif (tookccmoney = true)
five.
*goto elseif6
*elseif (tookssqmoney = true)
six.
*goto elseif6
*label elseif6
I have been saving my wages since I arrived, and before even-" You speak over Shao Shaoqing's exclamation that so had ${pc_he} and Cui Chen, ", and so it only makes sense that I would have ${wealth} taels to my name! This is not admition of guilt, and my savings was in the open! Supervisor Ban,this lowly one begs you search for secret hidey-holes as any sneak-thief will surely not hide their stolen gains in the open like this!"`
Your therapist is right, of course. Learning the ability to filter other peoples opinions is instrumental in maintaining your own self-esteem. Not a therapist myself here, but I’ve done enough therapy to know that.
Thing is, there are successes with every approach, because the universe has so much randomness to it that it is equally possible to be a breakout hit with no previous advertising as it is to build a slow-growing cult fandom. So I mean, the information shared here has to be taken with a grain of salt, and determined by your own needs/abilities to be what’s best for you.
That said, I don’t know your therapist, but I’m sure they’d be saddened by your negative self talk here. You do have talent, or you wouldn’t be here trying to hone it.
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”— Stephen King, author.
I wish you all the best on your road to self-esteem recovery and hope that you find it precisely when you need it most.
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Oh, She is happy with my progress! This is positive for my standards I was in the most extreme scale in the scale in lack of self-esteem and anxiety. Now in a year I am in the levels of a normal pr
The with chronic depression.
But yeah, I know that I have way to go to improve My illness is chronic and as that I have to improve and work hard every day. And that is what I’ ve done.
And I feel really proud and without that anxiety know I adressed it without anxiety or anger.
Thank you for your words.
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Mara, when I had my depressive episode last month, you were the one who dragged me out of it. And even a brief skim of these threads or even the forum at large will tell an outside observer that you are one of the most helpful people here.
Stand proud, stand tall. Try going back and looking at the many helpful advice you’ve given to others and apply it to yourself.
Now, this is just a personal suggestion of mine, but I quite like it. Try thinking of your writing like a skydive. While that may seem dramatic, that’s my point. In a skydive, you can only go one way - down, thanks to gravity. So, I suggest you look at your writing as moving in only one direction. Yes, it may be shite, horrible, and overall making you feel horrible, but it can never get worse! You can only improve.
As for opinions of others, I agree with @Niki_Christopherson, that you should learn to filter. And remember, they are all opinions, not facts. Were the world run by the opinions of this forum, I dread to think about the horrific apocalyptic scenario we’d find ourselves in. Might make an interesting IF though.
I just hope you know that we’re all rooting for you 
My monthly excerpt
This month, I’m not doing an excerpt. Instead, I’m doing a villainous monologue! MWAHAHAHA!
I personally enjoy finding the most cruel and evil ways to kill a player. Normally, this would be frowned upon, but thanks to the nature of my WiP, I can get away with it.
Did I mention I enjoy killing people?
Anyway, in my upcoming update, there is a row of 15 rooms. The player needs to find an object in one of the rooms to progress. However, the room said object is in, will be random every playthrough. At the same time, a randomly chosen room will kill you upon opening.
[Insert diabolical laughing, followed by an exposition dump about how I plan to take over the world.]
Hope you all have a good rest of the month!
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Revisiting this quote from the other day, as it’s worth remembering - everyone has different processes, journeys, and goals and it is always really great to hear about what everyone’s up to in this thread 
My excerpt is a real one from the depths of the writing mines. When playing it will be a few lines/paragraphs about a couple of characters leaving, and I will probably expand it a little bit for more details when I edit; under the hood there’s a ton of responsiveness to all the different kinds of relationships or interactions that have happened previously that… will hopefully be noticeable and fun when it’s played.
Notes for the below:
mat_rel and sav_rel are the basic relationship bars seen on the stat page; mat_romance and sav_romance are set to true where you’re actively dating the characters; mat_initiate_flirt and sav_initiate_flirt control how overtly flirty the characters are (Matia is set to true by default, Savarel to false; they can be changed via conversation); sav_see_flirt_mat and mat_see_flirt_sav track how many times people have seen other people flirt with the PC; mat_interest and sav_interest are set to true if the PC has expressed more-than-friendly feelings about them, whether internally or to them directly (so you can have the interest variable set to true for any number of characters and have crushes on them without necessarily being open about it); mat_flirt and sav_flirt track if, and how often, the PC has expressed those feelings to them directly.
Phew.
Although I’m pleased to have this amount of detail, and it suits the sort of social-focused/dating-sim/slice-of-life/intrigue/whatever game I’m making, this sort of complexity should not, I will say, be considered an essential!
Monstrosity within (of the code rather than content variety)
Dinner continues, and afterwards the students and staff alike disperse. Matia and Savarel head towards the entrance to start the drive to Elene's Prospect; you are going in the same direction back to your room,
*if mat_romance
and while Savarel steps up into the truck, Matia
*if mat_initiate_flirt
*set sav_see_flirt_mat +1
catches you in a tight hug, kissing you on the cheek.
"I'll be thinking of you," ${mat_they} ${mat_say} in your ear, then @{mat_pl release|releases} you.
*else
gives you a warm look.
"I'll be thinking of you," ${mat_they} ${mat_say}.
"See you next week. The town meeting will be…something."
*elseif sav_romance
and while Matia steps up into the truck, Savarel
*if sav_initiate_flirt
*set mat_see_flirt_sav +1
takes your hands in ${sav_theirs}.
*else
gives you a warm look.
"I'm looking forward to seeing you soon," ${sav_they} ${sav_say}. "Maybe we can talk more after the meeting."
*if mat_see_flirt_sav > 0
"Come on, lovebirds," Matia calls from the driver's seat. "I don't want to be driving all night."
Savarel smiles sheepishly, ${sav_their} cheeks coloring a little, @{sav_initiate_flirt squeezes your hands,|} and heads up to join ${mat_them}.
*else
and Matia steps up to the driver's seat, settling with a sigh.
"See you next week," ${mat_they} @{mat_pl call|calls} as Savarel joins ${sav_them}.
*if ((mat_interest) and (mat_flirt > 0))
"Let's grab some quiet time after the meeting, yeah?"
There's an unmistakable flirtatious glint in ${mat_their} brown eyes as ${mat_they} @{mat_pl smile|smiles}.
*elseif mat_interest
"We can grab some quiet time after the meeting, yeah?"
Hard to tell whether there's any more meaning to it than that, but ${mat_their} grin looks genuine.
*else
"We can always chat after the meeting if you like."
Savarel winds down ${sav_their}
*if ((sav_interest) and (sav_flirt > 0))
window and gives you a warm look. "It'll be good to see you then," ${sav_they} ${sav_say} down to you. $!{sav_they} almost @{sav_pl look|looks} like ${sav_they} @{sav_pl want|wants} to say something else, but ${sav_they} @{sav_pl change|changes} ${sav_their} mind.
*elseif sav_interest
window. "It'll be nice to see you then," ${sav_they} ${sav_say} down to you. You're not sure if ${sav_theyre} about to say something else, but in the end ${sav_they} ${sav_do} not.
*else
window. "See you then," ${sav_they} ${sav_say} down to you.
Matia starts the truck with a rumble and reverses deftly out of the drive. As ${mat_they} @{mat_pl turn|turns}, ${mat_they}
*if mat_rel > mat_rel_mid
@{mat_pl lift|lifts} a hand to wave;
*if sav_rel > sav_rel_mid
Savarel does the same.
*else
Savarel nods to you.
*else
@{mat_pl nod|nods} to you;
*if sav_rel > sav_rel_mid
Savarel lifts a hand to wave.
*else
Savarel does the same.
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If you didn’t achieve anything, there will be nobody asking you for advice on the Halloween jam.
I have no connections, no presence on social media platforms as well…
It’s like giving up before even fighting the battle- come on, you can do better than that!
It’s very difficult to do so- I agree. It will take quite some time to distinguish between who is telling the truth and who isn’t. The disability thread that I have posted in, you may wish to take a look at it. My condition makes me more pressured into worrying about how others view me. This has gone on for years. And no, you are not a trash pile of garbage, an awful person. Your contribution is, no matter how small, valued here. Otherwise, you won’t be talking about such things.
If it helps me to destress by going into my own world, then of course it’s a hobby. Write whatever is in my head, as it will be an authentic piece of work, one that you can definitely say “This is part of me”.
There is one though, its something on managing an online fanbase by Autumn Chen, I think. I’ve heard it has its humorous points.
Edit: It’s called A Paradox Between Worlds, described as a Tumblr simulator. Sounds like the title of a future Legend of Zelda game for the Super Nintendo Switch.
Thank you for the reminder. It really means a lot to me when I know what my fellow teammates are doing.
Now for my snippet. This one is from Maverick Hunter: Elite Status Platinum Task Force. It partially reveals why the PC is initially viewed as a doormat (more on that in the Doormat PC thread). It marks the first of many upgrades that the PC will get. They are currently on a mission to deal with a client at the south pole.
The Capsule
“So you’ve come.”
The capsule sits alone, sealed in an abandoned portion of the tunnel beneath the snow. As you approach, the device comes to life. It lights up, and slides open. A life-size projection of Dr Light, your creator, appears. There’s no greeting, no hint of joy in the normally jovial face. Instead, the expression is stern, severe even, when it says the words, “So you’ve come”.
So you’ve come… just as I expected…
$(name), I gave you the ability to choose your own path in life, and I hoped the world would allow you to choose a peaceful one- to bring about peaceful days. But now it seems that you are destined to fight. Because I thought the world might need a new champion, I have hidden capsules like this one in various areas.
Enter the capsule, $(name).
If you do take this upgrade, you will become able to dash and boost your speed and your movement abilities will upgrade significantly.
If you seek out these capsules and use them you will be able to increase your powers beyond anything the world has ever known. There will be many difficult things ahead, but…do your best…$(name)…Good luck, $(name)!
*set got_leg_upgrade = true
You put on the boots, and start to jump. The jump turns into a run, then a dash. You can feel the speed flowing through you. The ground now becoming a blur under your feet, you continue onward.
*page_break
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Aw fuck, I love coming up with terrific ways for people to die too. TAT I’ve been holding myself back because my setting only allows a certain amount of cruelty. …Maybe I should write the halloween jam specifically to get rid of this urge.
Gonna look into this
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Snippet from my Halloween Jam project, coincidentally related to the posts above:
(Content warnings for blood and gore, body horror, and content that could be interpreted as self-harm and suicide.)
Read at your own risk
You hang it on the side wall of the kitchen, showing yourself in profile while you stand at the counter, and start preparations for dinner.
At some point you start chopping carrots, scraping the resulting disks from the cutting board into the pot. Chop. Scrape. Chop. Scrape. The you in the mirror mimicking your every move.
Until it doesn't.
You're at the end of the carrots, where your fingers were holding the last bits in place, but your knife lifts again. You try to turn your head to look into the mirror, but your reflection doesn't let you. You can only barely see the grin on its face as it lifts the knife over your fingers.
*fake_choice
#Let go of the knife.
You try to let go of the knife, but your fingers are cramped up around the handle.
#Stab the knife into the cutting board.
You try to dip the tip of the knife out of the way of your fingers, but your wrist refuses to rotate.
#Scream.
You try to open your mouth to scream, but your jaws are fused shut.
Your mirror image lowers their knife to the cutting board, and so do you. Chop. Straight through the nails of your three longest fingers. Chop. Through the joint of your top digits. Chop. There goes the top of your pinky finger too. Chop. Chop. Chop. There aren't even stumps left to cut off anymore, and there is blood everywhere.
Lift the cutting board with your intact hand. Drop the carrots and finger slices into the pot.
Pick up the knife again.
Press it to the inside of your wrist.
Slice it along the center of your arm.
You begin to fade.
The mirror grins.
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I’ll be honest, I decided to give writing my Halloween Jam story another shot. I love writing The Bureau. The Bureau is my baby. It’s turning out so well and it’s going to be a testament to myself that I can do what I put my mind to.
But writing Golden Eyes has got me so extremely excited. I can genuinely see myself staying up all night working on it because I feel like I’m doing something that has never really been done before, but I don’t want to give away the surprise, and this is essentially just a demo to try out this ‘mechanic’ I’ll call it for when I finally get deep into “The Fears of Leslie Thoughton”. Fun fact: the Halloween Jam is also the first ever time I’ll be using the *fake_choice command! Yay!
I understand now why people sometimes have two projects going at the same time. It can be so reinvigorating to write something that’s completely different than what you normally write!
Would you say it is a… Dark Urge? A Durge perhaps?
Sorry, I couldn’t resist…
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