Update Diary: Hell/Dolls (April 16th, 2025)

Good evening!

I’m getting very excited as the day of release comes ever closer, so let’s take a gander at the stats of the story so far:

Current Chapter: 10 (Truths and Lies)

Pages: 115

Current Word Count: *54,554

Uh, something I may have forgotten to correct for was the non-story words for the word count (the title page I had set up and the Table of Contents for ease of editing), so I was posting about 50 words over what the actual story was at.  I will try to remember this for future posts, but for now, please accept my sincere apology for the minor numbers issue.

Based on what I said in my first few diaries, it looks like I’ll be releasing the prelude and first chapter sometime in June or July (fingers crossed, knock on wood, all that good stuff).

I do hope that those that have followed this story from its first announcement enjoy the story just as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Nothing much else I want to say on this, so please hold onto hope until my next post.

Thanks-

M. Isif

Update Diary: Hell/Dolls (March 19th, 2025)

Hello, everyone!  A quick update on how the development of my story is coming!

Current Chapter: 10 (Truths and Lies)

Pages: 112

Total Word Count: 53,591

We’re so close to releasing the first two chapters, I can almost taste it!  I’m running into some issues with pacing, but we’re slowly working our way to the end of the chapter.

I am still trying to schedule writing time around life events and review material, and I will do my damndest to keep with what I said in my last post; at least two reviews before the end of April.  Spoilers: one’s an Isekai and one’s about AI.  Can you guess what they are?

For now, please look forward to the release of the Prelude and Chapter One of Hell/Dolls!

Update Diary: Hell/Dolls (February 18, 2025)

A rather late update for the shortest month, but better late than never, as they always say!

Current Chapter: 9

Pages: 111

Total Word Count: 52,591

Before anyone goes crazy, I can explain.

Yes, I have added over 5,000 words since the last update.  5000-8000 words seems to be my range of chapter lengths, and based on that last update, I should either be nearing the end of Chapter 9 or starting on Chapter 10.  And if I hadn’t made a certain change, I would be on Chapter 10.

I ended up merging two chapters, since both were relatively short, and they seemed to flow into each other well enough with just a page break.  The chapters are now collectively Chapter 7, and Chapter 9 is currently in progress.  This may happen again if I feel the chapters are too short, but I’ll do my best to NOT make it a habit.

I don’t have much else to say at this point, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget to do my monthly update.

Thanks for getting ready to read!

-Marcosias

Short Update: Notice for my writing release accounts

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)

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.