Category Archives: Story Updates

Short Update: Notice for my writing release accounts

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Good morning, everybody!

I wanted to take a few moments to alert anyone interested in reaming my content that I do have a couple of presences online already.

Primarily, I’d been using Fanfiction.net and FictionPress (they are general fiction sites that were easy to upload to in the past), but I also have a Wattpad account that I’ve uploaded three stories to (none of which are done).

I am writing this post specifically to point people in the direction of where Hell/Dolls will be released; I will update the blog whenever a new chapter comes out, but I don’t think I will be releasing it directly on here.  I’ve been toying with WordPress / Jetpack since I came back to this blog, and I’m fairly unfamiliar with the new layout, as you’ve probably seen.

In short, until I get a better handle on this blog’s makeup again, I think I’ll release it on the other sites, and post links in my writing diary.

For now, await an update on the blog for the first releases.  In the meantime, I have some short and unfinished stories available on each site:

FictionPress.com

FanFiction.net

WattPad

Also, don’t forget to support my ko-fi if you like my creations.

Thanks to all my readers for your support!

Love you all,

-Marcosias Isif

Update Diary: Hell/Dolls (January 19, 2025)

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Today, another update on the webnovel to-be!  I’ve been working very hard on progressing the novel in my free time, though it may mean that my reviews are starting to become harder to complete…

In any case, here’s the current stats on the story:

Current Chapter: 9

Pages: 102

Total Word Count: 47,222

I’ve also started using some apps to help me find problems with my story: specifically “tome” and “AutoCrit”.

I’ve been using tome sparingly, but it helps me clarify my goals for the story, character motivations, and basic flow.  To be honest, I’ve mainly been writing this stuff down and addressing inconsistencies with it.

AutoCrit, on the other hand, I’ve started using at the start of this year.  I upload the document, analyze it in various parts, and the program tells me what my plot points are for each chapter, inconsistencies, plot threads that remain unexplored, and character points that have been and need to be addressed.  There are things that AutoCrit gets wrong, and items that it doesn’t quite understand correctly, but overall it helps me identify problems with the story as I write (though when I upload incomplete chapters, it is annoying when it points out that threads I’m working on are not resolved).

Regarding the story itself, chapters 8 and 9 shift the focus from the main character, Vincent, to a couple of the supporting characters.  I might edit how these chapters flow by the time I release chapters 0 and 1, since it’s a little jarring as of now.  We’ll see.

I am PAINFULLY aware that I am late on this post, so apologies in advance.  I still have at least two reviews to complete for content this month, so stay tuned for those.

Update Diary: Hell/Dolls Update 12/31/24

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Good day to all!

Today, I’d like to provide a short update on my Hell/Dolls story, as it stands right now (though, truth be told, I started this article on the 23rd).

As it stands, here are the statistics I have:

Current Chapter: 8 (Talks and Whispers – tentative name)

Pages: 89

Total Word Count: 41,110

So, something some of you may have noticed is that the word count hasn’t gone up much despite entering a new chapter (the last update had 37,185 words, so barely over 4,000 words since the last update).  Part of this is that I went back some days and reconfigured some wording and events, but the other part of this is that I haven’t been able to work on this story as much as I would have liked.  Between a surprise guest in our household and holiday hours at work, the most I’ve been able to do is finish this chapter (a little abruptly), start the new chapter, and review what I’ve written and edit the errors out.

All in all, this is a short update telling you that I have indeed been working on the story despite my personal life.  I have been able to do some work on my reviews during the weekends, but my story has suffered a little due to this.

Update (12/30/24): So, this WAS supposed to come out this morning, but I forgot.  Instead, I’m sscheduling it for the ACTUAL end-of-the-year post.

I did want to address the decision I made regarding the novel’s release – I have decided to release the first four chapters (as well as the prelude) once I reach chapter 10, on FictionPress as I normally do.  My train of thought is that by the time I get to Chapter 10, the wording for the story should be finalized, or at the very least need miniscule changes.  I will also probably do an audio recording at some point, both for myself and for the readers.

What this basically means for the novelization is that it probably won’t be available on hardcopy, unfortunately – I think that releasing the story for free gives more access to people who want to read it, and it gives me less of a headache trying to find a publisher, dealing with fees, and other problems that come with publishing full-on books.

On the plus side, this means that once I feel a chapter is done, it will be available to read (and record).  I won’t (or, will try not to) edit any posted chapters, and I’ll probably start a ko-fi or pull up my Patreon for anyone who wants to support me monetarily.  Both links will come soon.

For now, keep an eye out for the first few releases!  I hope to have them ready by mid-2025.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

-Marcosias the Isif

Update Diary: Hell/Dolls (11/20/2024)

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Hello, everyone!

I decided that my first progress post should be dedicated to a project that’s been about 8 years in the making: Hell/Dolls.  This story is one I’ve held close to my chest, in part because I made the characters and world during high school, and I’ve been able to repolish the plot enough to build a coherent story.

Current Chapter: 7 (plus a prelude)

Pages: 80

Total Word Count: 37,185

In all honesty, the title should probably be reworked, but I’m both stubborn and lazy – too much to change it until the first story is done.

Here is a basic synopsis of the story:

Hell/Dolls takes place in the world of Kiria, a magic land ravaged by malevolent creatures called Baael.  In this story, Vincent Laverse is a former insurgent from a corrupt (and fake) military, and struggles to find a place of his own.  He learns of a missive that allows him to lead a group looking to protect the citizens of a city-state, and gains knowledge and skills alongside his new team.

I’ve been working on this particular iteration of the story for just under a year, though much of what is covered in this story is prequel to the original material I had created back in high school.  It is coming together slowly, but I think with the newly-designed parts and the corrections from my original ideas, this story is coming out just as I want it to.  I tend to listen to it as a Read-Aloud to catch grammatical mistakes that Word misses (yes, I know there are programs and apps out there to do this, but I still prefer Word).

A few more points I want to address, partly because this is my first big post in a looong time, and partly because I feel so passionate about this project.

First: Why is it called “Hell/Dolls”?  And why the slash?

The name Hell/Dolls actually came from a point late in the story, where a character calls his creations based off of the antagonistic creatures “The Hell Dolls” (the creatures in question are Baael; magic and ethereal beings that cause destruction).  This early in the story, however, the name is just a placeholder until that scene comes up… which probably won’t be for a while.  Regarding the slash between the two words, anyone who’s read my blog knows I love anime and manga; one common way of separating words in titles is a slash (another is an x).  In short, these naming points are just because it felt cool when I was younger, and I still really like the name.

Second: Are the chapters going to be available like Touhou, or is it going to be released all at once?

At the current time, I am still debating releasing the chapters for free, though I would like to at least release the first few to get readers engaged with the story.  Ideally, I want to release this story as a real novel when it’s completed, but I realize that a no-name artist popping up from the middle of the arctic desert probably won’t get much traction.  For now, I would like to release the first two chapters (including the prelude) for free when I feel comfortable with where they are.  More than likely, I’ll either drop them on FictionPress or another site… but again, I’m undecided for now.

Third: How long will it take to complete the current “book”?

Because I don’t have a set schedule for writing (I’m currently doing it in my free time, between work, joy-giving experiences, and family), there is no set period for when the book, or even the current chapter, will be done.  As of this moment, each chapter is running about 13 pages, and I usually do about half a page per session (sometimes up to 3 pages, sometimes as little as a single line).  This is not my ideal, and is probably not sustainable, but it is how I tend to work on bigger projects.  With the given pace I’ve been working at, including reviewing and extended breaks, I think I may be done with the first book’s main draft by this time next year – but don’t hold me to that.

Fourth: Will you be updating the progress like this every week / month / year?

I will probably focus on a monthly or half-month check-in on the progress, depending on how much I get done.  The updates probably won’t be as detailed or long-winded as this one, but I will do my best to keep to a schedule.  I would actually like to do an update every month on the 15th, but as I said earlier, my schedule for writing is sporadic at current.

If people start commenting on the blog with questions about the story, I may start doing an *actual* Q&A in these posts.  Until then, please expect regular updates on my progress.

That’s all for now,

Marcosias A. Isif