Wow. It's been long. Far too long.
You all deserve an explanation from me.
Okay, the main deal behind my supposed inactivity for Eagle's Cross?
The answer is actually a lot, honestly.
As I write this update right now, I am in Venice, Italy with my family, staying there for the night before we head to Lake Como in Switzerland tomorrow.
And there's still more to come. I have my laptop with me, but the lack of wifi is a bit of an ass most of the time. No wifi = no chance to talk with Editor Toni over the finale, no talking with Editor Toni = not much properly written on my laptop.
(Speaking of her, I also met her IRL a few days back in SG. Yey!)
That reminds me - writing progress, draftings and possible release dates.
WRITING PROGRESS/POSSIBLE RELEASE DATES
Last update, I apologised and tried to make it a goal to release The Leap on 13th July, Cora's birthday. It's the 30th of June right now and there is still very little typed progress. Only up to a certain point in The Leap which I still consider as very early.
That doesn't mean there's little handwritten drafting progress either - I'm actually making the first drafts of the last part of the finale, Part Three/The End…? (I'm actually looking for another name for Part Three - send in whatever suggestions you got!)
But the thing is here, I made a goal and set date for a release I shouldn't have made, considering my present circumstances.
So I've decided on giving no dates out until I can certainly say that it will be released soon. I have a new release date in mind that I haven't even told Editor Toni yet, but I'm not going to announce it so that it will become another unattainable goal.
Actually, I have a couple backup dates too. But again, no announcement of those either.
So, writing progress overall? Slowed down to an extent, but still going. Release dates? Not announcing them until I know I can reach them properly.
DRAFTING
I did ramble on about drafting progress above, but I need to get this out the way.
For a bit of a while, I thought that I could write out the finished finale product of Eagle's Cross using the one first draft in my notebook.
Boi, was I wrong.
Re-reading it all over again has made me realise that yes, there needs to be a rewrite done. This means that most of The Leap, all of The Fall and possibly even all of Part Three will need a redraft so it can be cleaned up and make sense. And possibly add more suffering too but what do you know.
Anyway, I have a few minor things to announce before I sign this update off.
I'm going ahead with the art contest again, and yes, I have the prizes, theme, rules and closing date for all of that.
This art contest is all about Cora's Birthday or the One Year Anniversary of the Creation of Eagle's Cross.
The closing date, therefore, will be on 6th July, 9PM AEST, a week before Cora's birth date. That isn't much time.
Editor Toni and I will be judges of the comp (Sorry this is so late and sudden Amiga), and we'll accept anything for it, traditional or digital. Just as long as Cora and Emily, or one of the girls are in it. Have yourself or your OC hanging with them, have one of the crewmembers with them, hell, you can even redraw a favourite moment from the story so far!
However, there are a few don'ts to this all.
-Shipping isn't allowed
-Excessive gore/medium gore. I can take in a bunch of cuts and bruises, but anything above is too much. (However, if you can make pixel gore - if you do the near-start of chapter 13 - I'll probably love you forever.)
-no fetishes
-Nothing too NSFW - Editor Toni and I don't want to kinkshame you for this. Swearing ain't allowed either. Unless it's Tord swearing in Norwegian tbh.
With all this out the way, I can go on to the prizes!
Everyone who enters the comp will be in the draw to be referenced in the Finale, including those in 3rd, 2nd and 1st places. Names will be randomly selected with a randomiser.
3rd Place - Special thanks in the special thanks area after the story's done.
2nd Place - 3rd, + anything Eagle's Cross-related will be drawn by me for you - I don't mind if it's a poster or a moment from the story, I'll do it digitally. Just…no shipping or anything that I'll end up kinkshaming.
1st Place - 3rd + 2nd, and a very exclusive sneak peek at what Editor Toni and I have for the finale so far.
We'll be tracking the art with the tag #EaglesCrossArtFart on dA or tumblr and announce the winners of the comp on the 13th, although do keep in mind that some prizes will take a while to come in due to circumstances with me.
Okay, that's all I have to say.
Till the next time,
Panda Out.
EDIT: So apparently not many people are entering the comp, so I am going to extend the dates to those willing to join.
The new date for the comp to close is gonna 3 days before July ends - the 29th, AEST, still 9pm.
Add a week onto that and the announcement date will be the 5th August, Australian time.
(Oh hey - the new date's on a Friday - the usual update day back when I aCTUALLY HAD MOTIVATION)