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.

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

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