Update Diary: Hell/Dolls (May 15th, 2025)

Hello again everyone!  A new month, a new update on the progress of my story.  Summer this year is going to be busy, but I will keep updating my progress at least once a month.

Here are the stats for today:

Current Chapter: 9 (Truths and Lies)

Pages: 112

Current Word Count: 59,215

As y’all can see, I’m plugging away at the story at a breakneck pace compared to the last few months.  I did remember this time to omit the counting for the title page and Table of Contents, so these numbers are for the raw story.

I do have something I’d like to ask of anyone willing to answer:

Do you prefer stories with chapter titles, or just chapter numbers?

I personally like stories with chapter titles in case I take a long break from reading something – the names help me remember what is currently happening.  The current story for Hell/Dolls has chapter names (primarily to find story points easily when editing), but I know that a lot of mainstream YA novels don’t have them.

Once I start releasing the chapters, I’d like to consistently provide chapter names if the public prefers.  Ultimately it’s a personal choice, but I’d like to know what others think.

For now, please be patient for the release of the prelude and first chapter!  Thank you to all who read my ramblings and stories!

-Marcosias

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!

I didn’t forget!

Hello, all!  I promise I didn’t forget to do my updates, and the Hell/Dolls progress update will still be provided before the 20th!

To be honest, I have a couple of reviews that I want to release, I just need to buckle down and finish them.  There were a couple series that I ended up watching that deserve some attention, and I want to release at least two of them before the end of next month.

Life has been a little busier than I was expecting it to be these past 30 days – I won’t go into too much detail, but I’m dealing with a bigger workload than usual currently.  I hope to be able to explain this more clearly soon.

In other news, Monster Hunter Wilds released, and I’m enjoying it more than I expected… maybe a little too much.  I’ve managed to stay at about four hours per week for this game so it doesn’t impact my other duties (the blog, reviewing material, work, and my regularly-scheduled events), but I can’t express how much I want to play it more.

Maybe I’ll do a Game Review on it after I beat the story.  Maybe I’ll let players enjoy it on their own.  We’ll see.

For now, keep your heads up, and do your best!  I believe in you!

-Marcosias

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