Lemons, Lemonade, and a Personal Project
Howdy, folks—I’m hard at work on One Last Contracted Book, but due to life complications, I will next be swerving into the Personal Project of My Heart for ~vacation.
Owing to a Circumstance I will not be discussing, I had to go on intermission (~leave of absence) from my master’s program at ThinkSpace Education until May 2025. I’m sad because studying music was the happiest I’d been in a decade; my husband said he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen me this happy. I’d wake up early eager to start, and I hate mornings normally! The Circumstance occurred as I was considering applying to the Orchestration program for the dual-path MFA (I’m already in the Professional Media Composition M.A. program). Fortunately, that’s not a decision I have to make immediately.
Right now, I have a couple lanes:
(a) wrapping up the third and last book of the Moonstorm trilogy (and a couple “short-term” work items);
(b) whatever fun/frivolous entertainment I have the energy for as stress relief;
(c) the Personal Project of My Heart.
The first two are self-explanatory. If I were wired differently, I’d get the book drafted and handed in, then watch lots of TV and play lots of games until I got edit notes back (either on Moonstorm #3 or on CODE AND CODEX). My curse is that “idle mode,” after a couple days, makes me MORE stressed than Picking a Work Goal (even if it’s “only” personal creative exploration) and digging into it. This has nothing to do with virtue or lack of virtue or late-stage capitalism; I like working on fun things! I like making things! Being forced to sit around not making things for an extended period of time is the fastest way to make me sad.
What’s the Personal Project, you might ask?
I’ve wanted for a while to make a small Ninefox Gambit reboot animated music video as a lead-in to a visual novel/tactics hybrid game. I don’t know if I’ll release it when it’s completed, although if you’ve peeked at the very-hiatus webcomic, you’ve seen preliminary character designs and a small part of the premise. I am still nailing down some of the number theory stuff for the combat/narrative engine (there’s an alternate non-math tactics route for the non-mathy folks), but the game loop is clear from a design standpoint.
I want to do this for myself—to make this version of the story just for myself, for my own pleasure, to explore strands I’ve wanted to bring together for a long time. To take a break from writing books on contract, while giving myself permission to do what feels right in the moment later on, after I’ve had some time to recuperate from the Circumstance. That might mean starting another book after a few months. It might mean holding off, or swerving in another direction if I need more recuperation time.
I have no idea whether a market exists for this Project, which is fine because I don’t care. This is a hobby rather than a business venture. I don’t expect to recoup the cost of tools, creation, my time. I’m the only one this Project needs to please. This is for me.
This is the convergence of multiple interests, some of them going back to early childhood:
comics
drawing/painting
animation (2D “tradigital” style)
game design
game development and implementation
mathematics
military history
music, orchestration, film/TV scoring
science fiction and fantasy
sound design
narrative generally
I am in a position where I can do this recreationally in the short term. I’ve been using RoughAnimator and TVPaint, am working on improving production/mixing in my DAW, and refuse to disclose the number of orchestral VSTs I have hanging around my SSDs. I’ve got multiple hardware options.
I’ve wanted to do this for years, and it was never the Right Time because there were bills to pay and another book contract around the corner. I’ve decided to make time while I have time.
(If you hate the idea of comic, visual novel/game, or animated anything, or reboot anything, that’s okitty! No one will be holding a nine-tailed fox to your head and forcing you to partake. It’s not like the books stop existing because I go off on an AU that no one else may ever see anyway.)
I have notes and sketches, prototype material in Ink (Inkle Studios), some books on Unity, some number theory and abstract algebra books to read or reread. It’s a relief to work on a Personal Project of My Heart where I don’t expect money, I don’t have a contract, I don’t have to care about external specifications or an external brief, I don’t have deadlines. Just myself and my heart and the Project.
I’ve gone the past several years writing one to two books a year. I’m not a fast writer and I have been maintaining this output despite wildly terrible health problems of my own that I’m not discussing either. I need a genuine vacation, so I’ll be taking one. After that—who knows?
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FAQ (Foxily Asked Questions)
What are you working on?
As aforementioned, I’m hard at work on CROWNWORLD (book #3 of the Moonstorm trilogy).
Also wrapping up the last couple comic scripts for DOOM’S DIVISION, a five-issue limited series from Marvel Comics! This has been a terrific experience and I hope I was able to do this South Korea-based super hero team justice! Minkyu Jung is the artist and the covers/variant covers (Creees Lee, Peach Momoko) are amazing. The first issue drops (I’m told) in March 2025.
And then, to relax…Ninefox animation game design visual novel nonsense. :)
What are you reading lately?
Fiction: Helen Kestrel’s shifter romance Pegasus Summer! ADHD billionaire pegasus shifter and a woman determined to make sure her younger brother gets his bear under control. Absolutely delightful. The first book is Stormwolf Summer.
Nonfiction: a bunch of orchestration and orchestral score study. I’ll spare y’all. :)
What are you listening to lately?
I’ve been listening to the movie soundtrack for Wicked. My fave right now is Ariana Grande’s performance of “Popular”!
What’s a game you’re playing lately?
Y’ALL. In videogames, I was sucked for a couple weeks into Balatro, an absolutely addictive poker-themed roguelike. (You don’t need to know poker.)
Then I went back to Fights in Tight Spaces after finally clearing the first tutorial (it’s been a year): the combination of deckbuilder and small-unit tactics (think X-COM for those who are brave enough to play games with scary aliens!) is so well-tuned. I can’t wait until I make it to the DLC. :)
In solo board games, I’ve been sucked into Sprawlopolis, one of several gifts from my sister. Small, elegant tile-placement: think Carcasonne, but solo mode and urban sprawl.
What are you watching lately?
I’m afraid that Arcane: League of Legends S2 did in fact end me. :) Opinions will always vary, but I loved S2 even more than S1, down to the ending, and I didn’t think that was possible.
2024 has been personally terrible for reasons completely unrelated to what is or isn’t happening in the USA where I live. Perhaps it’s selfish to seek a respite in a Personal Project of My Heart, with the support and encouragement of my family. But it’s what I have, and what I want to do, and even if I’m never able to continue my studies at ThinkSpace, I’ve relearned what it is to create something for the sheer joy of it. Whether or not anyone ever witnesses this personal work, perhaps that will be enough.
Meanwhile, a dream of foxes:
Yours in calendrical heresy,
YHL