Tris' Thoughts

I’ve been focusing my time a lot more on long-term career paths since around July. The steps to get to this point were admittedly hindered by many factors, indecision on my part being among them. Writing–and turning that writing into shows, movies, and games–has been my goal since before I was an adult but it’s very easy to feel unprepared and hesitant when there aren’t reassurances.

That First Novel

I self-published my first novel–Christelan Chronicles: Outcast Community–in September 2022 I began the story eight years prior. I remember the specific day being Thanksgiving of 2014. I was at my aunt and uncle’s in Lakewood, Colorado. The setting of “Christelan” had existed in my head many years before that but it was that day where I decided to try in earnest to draft a publishable novel. I wanted the story to be about the series’ icon–the Dracats, or Hisspers as they were formally called–but introduced in a low-stakes setting. So the story became how a lone Hissper came across a lone village and was befriended by a group of scholarly mages.

I made at least eight redrafts of the story between 2014 and 2022. And as much as I strived to make it as good as I could, I had preemptively accepted that my first novel would be, at the very least, rough. I made it harder on myself by self-publishing but I don’t regret doing so. Creative properties are co-opted by companies far too often today and often for political agendas. In the end, I didn’t make any real sales or get any real attention.

The Career Hunt

But another thing that happened in 2022 was my eventual college graduation. I spent too many years in college but I promise it wasn’t because I was a slacker or had terrible grades. Put simply, finding affordable systems that actually emphasized my creative writing pursuits was harder than one might think. But with college finally over, I could focus more time on my writing… when I wasn’t working of course.

None of my jobs related directly to my degree–or what was going to eventually become my degree–and that applies to my current job. But with plenty of funds saved up, I decided to bite the bullet and hire a career coach. That’s pushed me a lot toward more focused steps toward my goals.

My career hunt led to this very blog site. I used to post little rants and info-dumps in the early 2010s concerning cultural topics and entertainment media. So I decided I’d do something similar today by not just analyzing story-based content but posting my ideas: be it changes to existing properties or completely original content.

I’ve not posted anything about my game concept–Project: After-War–in a bit but not for lack of interest. I’ll certainly come back to it when enough comes to mind but at the moment, I have quite a bit on my plate.

Ritual

Ever since 2023, I’ve been working on the second Christelan novel: Ritual. It follows a community leader named “Avilastor Lestrolt” as he has to wrestle with the increasingly dubious morality of his community and the entity they worship as different catastrophes plague his people. I came up with the concept for this one sometime in 2021 and got a nice chunk of the early story summarized while I was in-between getting feedback from editors for Outcast Community. Then it was back to the grind with the first novel. But after multiple re-drafts of the summary outline with the aid of J. Flowers, I felt prepared enough to start making the novel draft. I’m currently working with an editor on the first five chapters of Ritual. I’ll be honest, out of all the work I have to do, this one is the least taxing, at least for now. So much of the story is clear in my head from the multiple rewrites so converting outline to novel format doesn’t take much time. And editing it afterward is hardly a problem.

What’s on My Plate Now

But given my established track record for book sales, I know I can’t rely on Ritual to rake in the dough, even if its quality far surpasses my first novel. I’ve been pursuing the game development scene in the last couple of months while also looking into project management and a few other industries. I’m no programmer though. I’m a storyteller. But even narrative designers are expected to know some coding. So I’ve been chipping away at the Unity engine through helpful tutorials whenever I can each week. I’m hoping to add Blender to the pile when I can. And should my project manager pursuits bare fruit, I need to get better familiar with Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint.

So right now, my life is a lot like it was during college if I’m honest. My career pursuit homework keeps me studying and honing skills for LinkedIn, my game design pursuits have me researching and learning game structures (as well as interacting with various game communities), I have my novel inching along, and all that while keeping my current job till I’m ready to transfer over.

Current Side Project

I try to find time for less immediate needs as well. I was inspired by a fellow creative who happens to be a close friend of mine. In one of my many story universes, I have a particular character who I’ve talked about frequently but never sat down and detailed the history of. So over the last week and a half, I’ve been chipping away at that. It’s over 30 pages of lore dump so far but it’s mostly there for documentation so I have my facts straight in future stories.

The character in question is a woman named “Voyra”. The story she’s introduced in begins with her imprisoned and being freed to join a super nation as one of its overseers. Voyra belongs to a volatile shapeshifting species with a dangerous reputation in the setting. But when she was born, she was discovered by a powerful shadow organization called the “Krik Torensen”. Voyra’s backstory covers how she was indoctrinated into the organization, having to struggle for their approval due to the dangers of her species. She deals with many ups and downs, repeatedly falling out of favor with the organization due to either her own hubris or antagonists within it. Her backstory reaches its climax when she finally gives up on gaining the organization’s approval and goes rogue only to be captured and imprisoned.

The backstory covers a lot of manipulation and sacrifice, both of morals and freedoms. While Voyra is not an evil person, she swings back and forth between victim and victimizer. She commits terrible acts out of loyalty to the Krik Torensen, many of which she regrets, believing that the organization’s ultimate goal will have made the crimes worth it all. Maybe some time in the future, I’ll elaborate more on it and other aspects of my other stories. Below is some artwork I made of Voyra after being freed from the Krik Torensen. The “Rhythm District” is the territory she is put in charge of as its designer and “Admin”. But that’s a whole other story.

After the Dust Settles

Suffice to say, a lot is happening right now. When life settles into place and I have a more financially supportable job, we’ll see what I have time to keep doing. I don’t want to leave this blog to collect cobwebs so here’s hoping.