State of the Scribe: June 2023 · 7:47pm Jun 1st, 2023
Hello Pones!
Can you believe we've made it halfway through the year already? Well, we have and here's a hearty mid-year cheer for you all! Let's delve right into the usual pone and word chatter before I ramble too much about non-pony stuff.
Right out of the gate, let's welcome the launching of a new story, Beyond the Veil of Sleep, over on Fimfiction. This one follows the tale of a thestral named Mira, set in the aftermath of Luna's banishment. Our winged hero embarks on a journey to master the magic of dreams with the goal to free Nightmare Moon. And why, you ask? So her dear princess can return to save their tribe, of course! Of course this story has been updating on Patron for... a long time. But now it's coming to Fimfiction, with an awesome cover Skydreams made.
Next story to talk about is Words of Power. This thing has been an amazing ride so far, with tons of great art in every chapter. Unfortunately, I've reached the end of my backlog of content, meaning that weekly updates are going to end. Going forward, I'll be writing longer chapters to try and make up some of the difference. Not slowing the pacing, that's dumb and lame--but taking the narrative further with each one, plot permitting. But since I write in advance, you may not notice the change for a little while.
Now about Don't Bug Me. We're progressing well. I can feel the climax of this story tingling in my fingers as I write. If everything goes according to plan, I think we can look forward to the thrilling conclusion come September. That should give you an idea of about how much remains ahead of us. Of course, narratives sometimes have a way of running away from me, and it could end up going far longer.
Let's not forget our two continuing sagas on Patreon, Deep Below and Spirits of Change. For those of you following the ink-based odyssey of humanity in Deep Below, you can find the ongoing adventure here: https://www.patreon.com/RealStarscribe/posts?filters%5Btag%5D=Deep%20Below&sort=published_at
As for our Pokemon tale, Spirits of Change, where humans have Pokemon daemons as external souls, you can follow the journey of Hayden here: https://www.patreon.com/RealStarscribe/posts?filters[tag]=Spirits%20of%20Change&sort=published_at
I promise both of these stories will get their full Epub/PDF releases once they're done and dusted. For Deep Below, I expect that will also be sometime in September. Not sure about Spirits of Change, the scope on that one is still pretty big.
I'm also happy to report that the Homebrew print run is completed and almost all books are on their way to you lovely ponies! There are just a handful of orders left that included some other books which weren't in my existing stock. The TLDR is that Indiegogo released the money to me only last week--but I had already used my personal funds to print my estimate of the print run, that way people would get their books before I went on vacation. My guess was off by just a few orders. Apologies to those readers, but know your orders will reach you too.
Now, on to some of your other favorites: Second String, the tale of earth's brave football warriors turned Equestrian liberators, can be explored here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-in-78044865
Meanwhile, Legio IX Hispania, our historical journey into the question of what if the lost Roman legion ended up in Equestria, unravels here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-legio-78027950
And yes, you've read it right, Hand of the Ancients is back and you can join the ride here: https://www.patreon.com/RealStarscribe/posts?filters[tag]=Hand%20of%20the%20Ancients&sort=published_at . I will probably also publish the chapters to fimfiction? Or maybe exclusively, since the story is already up? I'm not sure, monthy feels too slow.
I'll be on vacation much of this month, long deserved now that I've finally escaped educational confinement. This will not (or shouldn't, fingers crossed) impact publication this month or next. I write and edit everything in advance, so all the content you see here is already primed in my bot ready to post.
A huge thanks to my patrons who keep this possible. Without you, I would have to dig my heels firmly into writing other stuff. I'm sure that day will come--but hopefully not too soon.
My Discord, a hub of fun writing activities and lots of other pony-related shenanigans: https://discord.gg/J8hq6MX
For my patrons, to follow more updates and behind-the-scenes magic, hop over to: https://www.patreon.com/RealStarscribe
Want a copy of one of my books? You can see what I've printed and buy a copy here: https://starscribe.net/
-Starscribe
Awesome news and congrats! I got my books yesterday with a little note in one! It’s been amazing and I’ll be here for all the rest!
I feel you on that educational confinement. Just started going back to college myself and RIP my free time. Good on ya for making it to the finish line
Your particular shades of orange and green are identical to my colorblind spectrum. Could you make one darker than the other so they are easier to tell apart?
5731765
Dang, I'm sorry! I'll make sure the next month going forward is more colorblind friendly.
For this calendar, Sunday and Monday are in orange (free on patreon), while the other squares are all blue or green.
5731791
Best way is different shades. red/green or green/red (yes those are different, couldn't say how though) are the most common, but there's also blue/yellow colorblindness, and even black and white/greyscale. So a bright, a medium shade, and dark color would probably be a better way to do it.
5731801
Best way to make content friendly for the color blind is to also add some sort of shape difference. So this chart could have a symbol on the top left. Like circle for orange, cross for blue and square for green.
Not that you should avoid choosing distinct colors, of course.