Not a Chapter — Poll for Next Story and Constructive Criticism

Capture Target’s final chapter is now out on Subscribestar!

That means two things:  Public readers will get the end of the story in twenty chapters, and I need to figure out what to do next.

Capture Target was a lot of fun, and I think it went amazingly for a ‘first attempt’ at a web serial.  It’s over two hundred thousand words long, and it went very, very well.  But there are plenty of rough patches where it could be improved.

I could, in theory, rewrite it from the beginning.

But, uh.

N-no.

No, I won’t be doing that, because that sounds like hell to my ADHD brain.  And my editor is pretty severely burnt-out on Capture Target too.  It's not a promise that we'll never change our minds, but it's still best to set expectations accordingly.

Instead, it’s time to move on to something new!

What comes next will be more standard.  As in, it will be written in third person instead of experimental second person main-character-talking-to-you, it will most likely be fully non-pornographic, and I’m going to set things up on the backend to produce a higher quality of work.

As for why, well… My next story will be a serious attempt at turning this into a career that can make money.

Capture Target, as a proof of concept, worked wonderfully.  I wrote a flawed but functional and complete novel length story, and I have a better grasp on how to do things.

Now it’s time to produce something more professionally, to see if I can do that.

I’m not shying away from content like Capture Target forever, to be clear, I adored writing it.  I might come back for shorts or snippets, or I might do off-shoots of the main story in a similar style.  It worked really well for me, but it’s clear that Capture Target alone is not enough to make a living off of.

There, below, I've included... a poll and a half, that I would very, very much appreciate your votes on.  (For those without Scibblehub accounts, there's a duplicate poll on my Subscribestar that should work for you!)

The first part is story ideas.  Blurbs that will, almost certainly, be changed before I actually start writing, but the core concept will remain.  You can see the details below in the spoilers.

The second is facets of my writing and potential ways to change it.  For example, do you want longer chapters with less frequent releases?  Do you want shorter chapters with more frequent releases?  How important is the porn, and how important is the comedy?  This portion is not too detailed, mostly because I can't find a way to split the polls -- but I'd like your opinions anyway.

…That said, as a final note, I do not promise to obey what wins the polls.

I do, however, promise to keep it in mind.

This is an attempt for me to gather some constructive criticism; if there is anything you’d like to ask, or anything else you’d like to say beyond the polls, please feel free to do so in the comments below!

I’ll try to keep up with them as I figure out, with my editor, what my next big project will look like.

Thank you all so much for your readership through Capture Target, and I hope you enjoy my next story even more!

~~~Story Seeds~~~

Five Pinnacles

Five Pinnacles takes place in the Nadir; the endpoint of all worlds as they inevitably fall towards entropy.  By the time they reach that point, almost every civilization has collapsed under its own weight, unable to sustain itself… except for the Five Pinnacles.

Cultivators, magical girls, mech cyborgs, monster hunters and questors -- the only groups that have managed to not only survive in the Nadir, but thrive.

Unlike the climbers that abandon their morality in a desperate attempt to steal potential of those with more energy, the Pinnacles work together to keep the Nadir safe, each with their own unique method of empowering their citizens with new capabilities.

Five Pinnacles is a story about power growth and refusal to accept decay; about heroes and villains and ancient ruins that have robot ghosts haunting the corridors.  Adventure and action is around every corner, and the heroes can not only survive the danger, they thrive in it.

Expected Genres:  Action, Comedy, Drama, Gender Bender, Martial Arts, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Supernatural

Exceptions Department

The Celestial Court is going through its 1,187th expansion, and Earth is on its list of those granted the privilege and honor of joining the court of the Jade Emperor, He Who Rules the Heavens.

Shame it’s a shit deal.

One young woman was selected as their ‘champion’, the one who aids her species in their path to follow and empower the immortal Dao.  It is a rough job, full of harsh choices.  Individuals can not be saved.  Cities must be sacrificed.  And the Three Heroes of Humanity all went missing before a month had passed.

But that’s not important.

What is important is that the human champion has finally obtained a small, almost insignificant amount of spare dharma.  Dharma she can spend on anything she wants, without needing to sacrifice something else in turn.

She spins up a new clone of herself and sets it to manning the Exceptions Department, which has one goal:

Find the small problems.  Find the little people.  Find those that would otherwise be overlooked.

And find a better way.

No reinforcements, no dharma but what she can earn, she seeks to make a difference in steps instead of miles.

And sometimes, those steps are all that matters.

Exceptions Department was my first attempt at a web serial; it never got off the ground floor of a few first chapters, but the core of it is still one that I am fond of.

Despite the tragic circumstances, the story is about hope, with a good dose of ‘Humanity, Fuck Yeah’.  It’s about trying to do the right thing even when it’s stupid, about banding together against the darkness, and about sneaking under the nose of supervisors in order to do what’s good instead of what’s right.

It takes place from the perspective of a clone of the system designer and an AI helper-bot as they interact with a variety of groups and individuals in mini-arcs.  From a strange undead skeleton that shouldn’t be acting as it does, to saving the Hero of Insight from their own questions of self-worth, this litRPG adventure serial is about humanity forging its place in a new, hostile world.  And refusing to let things like ‘impossibilities’ hold them down.

Expected Genres:  Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Supernatural

Neotokyo:  Mayoral Election

Races through roads that drive through skyscrapers, martial artists that fight in backstreet allies, magical girls protecting the rooftops, gangsters in the mysterious underground filming reality TV… Neotokyo is a megacity like none other on Earth.  It’s a city that strange people gravitate towards, and one that makes them stranger still.  A city where the tale of a lifetime was just another Tuesday.  A city… that needs a new mayor.

Cain Able, third mayor of Neotokyo, can hold back his age no longer.  He requires a successor, one that can hold his city together and help it thrive like he has.

Unfortunately, he’s a crotchety old bastard that refuses anybody but the perfect heir.

Ryu Marine is not aware of this; they have more important issues to deal with.  His day job of competing against illegal street racers, forcing them off the road and protecting civilians in the process, has sped out of the year-long rut it was trapped in.  The common racers are showing up with modded cars and new weapons… but it only got personal when somebody decided to moonlight as his late older sister by stealing her car from his garage.

That’s not the only thing weird going on in the city.  The local children's card game has forbidden, dark cards showing up in booster packs.  The magical girls are struggling to fight against an infusion of new, enhanced voidspawn.  Martial artists are tempted by easy shortcuts and easy to perform fell ki techniques.

Ryu Marine has friends dealing with these problems and more, and he rapidly finds himself struggling against the dark side of his home.

…Now if only he could stop finding it so fun…

Neotokyo is an old, personal setting of mine.  There have been a ton of adventures there, and I know it very well.  It’s a land that runs on anime and hype, with personal excellence being the name of the game.

Ryu Marine is the protagonist, a young man who has friends in the many, disparate and disjointed factions of the city.  A simple car theft rapidly leads to greater mysteries and greater dangers -- and to deal with them, he will have to strengthen himself by delving into the secrets of every faction he can find.  Ki, magic, card games, superheroes, mutants, alien technology and more are all on the table, and as he picks them up he will need to decide what he’s willing to trade for it.  Whether that’s time and energy, or something more personal.

It’s a fun setting full of crazy and wacky adventures, with so much room to grow that I can’t even begin to say where the limits are.

But at the start of it all, we have Neotokyo.

A city where Ninja Pizza will always deliver in 30 minutes or less, and the local volcano is used as a landfill for dumping dead kaiju.

It’s a fun place, and there are more adventures to be told there than I’d have time to tell.

Which just means we’ll have to pick the cream of the crop, hm?

Editor's note: Calypso and I are immense anime fans, and this entire setting is a distilled, shameless love letter.  Accepting a posh aristocrat's challenge to a sword duel might mean that their personal musicians rush into place to start playing their liege's battle leitmotif and power them up!  And what are these rumors about a place where all wars and conflict have been replaced by a children's card game?  Neotokyo is a gloriously, proudly surreal place, and there's never a quiet moment in exploring it.

Expected Genres:  Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Gender Bender, Martial Arts, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Supernatural

Helldivers

Human tech has reached its plateau centuries ago -- and yet, Proteus, the location of the failed nanite experiment, can make miracles.

Those that dive onto its surface are forever changed by it, as the nanite swarm seeks to integrate and improve everything that it touches.  Delvers must evade the ever-evolving monsters on the surface, survive the mysterious Production Facilities, and stay far, far away from the Nanite Storms if they want to have any chance of making it back alive.

Sadly, these days, Helldivers are a dying breed.

Miraculous tech is worth a pretty penny -- but they can not be replicated.  They can not be understood.  And they rarely work off the planet's surface.  Combined with the disastrous Tower Expedition that resulted in less than a fifth of the population surviving, demolishing the burgeoning Delver’s Union leaving Proteus Station a shadow of its former self.

A few legends remain, undaunted, but humanity as a whole has decided it is better to focus elsewhere.

It’s onto this stage that Lucian enters.

A young man who feels like his every choice is not his own, dictated by the limits of who he is and by his talents both, he has long since accepted that the closest thing to a miracle is human kindness, generosity, and his own uncanny luck.

…Until he reaches Proteus, and it feels like coming home.

Finding himself in ways he never thought possible, he makes friends and legends in equal measure, bringing a fresh beam of light onto Proteus and the delvers that stand there.

It’s a shame that some find the light blinding.

Lucian will need to be careful -- for where there are miracles, there are monsters.

And why is something murdering flowers?

Helldivers is about magic.

Western magic, to be specific.  The Fae make deals where you must not grant them your name or thanks, and if you stray from the forest path then you’ll be lost forevermore -- but there is not a god for every mountain and a spirit for every river.

Proteus is the only planet in the universe that magic has regained a foothold in, and it has made the nanites there act very, very weirdly.  Most of humanity, still focused solely on the age of reason, struggles to comprehend what is going on.  Those that left?

They are Heroes.

And Demons.  And Dragons.  Angels and Centaurs and Fae.

They find Proteus, and become who they are truly are, forged by the dangers of the planet.

The land is dangerous… but, ultimately, one of opportunity for the brave, skilled, talented and lucky of humanity.

…But not all magic is kind.

In the shadows there is a cowardly evil that seeks to keep humanity from the forgotten treasures of magic.

Helldivers is about exploration, adventure, transformation and struggles against evil.  Becoming heroes and monsters both.  Embracing magic and seeing it change you and the world in equal measure.  Glory and cowardice and love and fear.  Draw a sword from a stone and burn the shadows away with fire, because magic has returned to humanity, and it won’t go back in the bottle any time soon.

Expected tags:  Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Gender Bender, Supernatural

Guide to Karmic Cultivation

Everybody in Cinxin’s home town, settled at the base of the Infinite Heights mountain sect, agrees that she would be a perfect child if it wasn’t for her critical flaw of ‘asking questions’.

Cinxin has always been a curious child.  Not faster, nor stronger, nor more popular than any of her peers, she has a singular talent:  Her insight.  Honed over years of refusing to let the answers and questions slip out of her mind and off of the page when she writes them down.

It’s through this talent that she spots Elder Meng, drawing his attention… and opening the door to the wonders of life as a Cultivator.

The setting for Guide to Karmic Cultivation started out as an ‘intro to xianxia’ for my editor, who I knew would love the setting and ideas within.  It rapidly evolved into something much, much bigger.

From Emperor Zhengzhong, latest in the line of Kaolong, to Sect Leader Kang, who is assuredly not the vanished Wildfire Bandit, it is full of fascinating characters and unique cultivation styles.  Every one of them are seeking their own path to the peak and beyond, distilling their essence and becoming ever-more-purely themselves.

I’ve noticed most stories with xianxia influences tend to rip out the mysticism.  Oh it’s still there, but the wonder is gone.  You can learn how to fly and meditate on top of clouds, but it’s all just raw power levels and Numbers Go Up.

Not so with Guide to Karmic Cultivation.

It’s an entire universe of magic.  Where karma puts its thumb on the scales of heroes versus villains, and fate is defied and embraced in equal measure.  Where sages barter with the spirit of a volcano for the secrets of mastering elemental fire, and monks strive to help the unquiet dead of an ancient battlefield pass on.  Where becoming a god means nothing more or less than having the strength and enlightenment to claim the title -- which, naturally, means an endless stream of challengers who think they're more worthy of it!

It’s a fun setting with a massive amount of lore put into it, and is very, very clearly inspired by not only xianxia, but also Journey into the West, fairy tales, and other mythology and folklore.

Also:  No magical system strictly governing how it works!

Just ancient lore refined over generations.

Editor's Note:  Writing fairy tale mysticism and mythological grandeur is a particular favorite of mine.  In my opinion, there's not enough stories of chivalrous knights going on quests to slay evil dragons and find holy grails, and other old tales of that nature.  I get the urge to try and always have some new and original twist, but the classics are worth something, and I'd enjoy the chance to do them justice in the execution.

Expected Tags:  Action, Drama, Fantasy, Martial Arts, Supernatural

Extra Note:  Drama does not mean serious!  The story is lighthearted!  It just takes itself more seriously.  …The characters might not, and rule of funny is king, but that’s different from a genre.