Good day, everyone!  I have been struggling for free time recently, but I will be posting a review soon.

For now though, here is the current status of Hell/Dolls:

Current Chapter: 13 (Bloom and Wither)(still working title)

Pages: 242

Word Count: 90,308

As you can see, we’ve reached 90,000 words!!!

For clarification, adult fantasy novels are generally between 90,000 and 120,000 words, though I’ve seen many statistics that have higher and lower numbers.  These numbers, however, have been my goal since high school, so I’m going to say yay to this.

That being said, I’ve clearly dropped off a little since the last post, where I also remarked my drop in work.  As I said, I’ve had a lot less free time than I did in the summer, and to be honest, I’m not entirely sure why.

Let’s put that aside, however, and talk about some of the released chapters.

I touched on Chapters 0 and 1 when I did the last update diary, since they were released together.  I think today, I’ll focus solely on the next chapter, “The Unit and the Team”, which was my first time writing a combat scenario, even if it was mediocre.  Correction 12/27: This is not the chapter I was covering in this post, I apologize.

Before we get to that scene, I’d like to make a quick note.  This chapter was one of the last ones that were edited to be longer in its earlier stages.  These chapters started out with a brief note about the world; Chapter 2 started with a bit about slavery and safeguards, a little out of body for what the chapter was about, but relevant information for the future chapters.

Now then, Chapter 2: The Unit and the Team.  This chapter focuses on the introduction of the tactical unit’s headquarters, the mysterious third member, and the interactions between them.  This chapter was one that was hard for me to write; not because of the content, obviously, but because every time I’d enacted the story of Hell/Dolls, I’d glossed over the actual meeting of the players.

The original story started three years after the completion of the team, and each member had clear flaws like you’d see in a first-season anime or hero cartoon.  Everyone already knew each other, and the fighting was the main focus.

It wasn’t until my first iteration of the tabletop RPG that I started to really think about the how and why the team got together.  Even then, it was more like bullet points than actual cohesive story plot.

When I began writing this chapter, I had five or six years of mulling, planning, and worldbuilding than I ever thought to make when I first began Hell/Dolls.  I was more experienced from reading more fantasy stories, watching more series and movies with similar plots, and overall more mature.

I truly hope those that read and follow my path on the final release of Hell/Dolls find as much enjoyment in the story as I have, because this series is a project that I adore with all my heart.  I know I say that a lot, but it’s because it’s true.

Thank you for your support.  The next chapter should be done  (hopefully) before Christmas, assuming everything goes well.  We’ll have to wait and see.

-Marcosias Isif