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[exileseverafter]

Domain Stuff

So I'm probably going to let the exileseverafter wordpress domain expire since...honestly, it's been years, I'm not using it, and I have to cut expenses. I'm not sure at this point if I'll just keep AO3 as the home of Exiles or try cross-posting it to Royalroad at some point, though I'd really have to look into Royalroad's policies. (I'm also not sure it's the kind of story that fits Royalroad's demographics? Just like it wasn't quite a fit for Wattpad.)

Anyway, it's still up at AO3 and that's where I'll be putting any future chapters. AO3 isn't the best place to get engagement on original fiction and all, but I just really like their tagging systems.

[exileseverafter]

thumbelina ✨

[exileseverafter]

Flower 🪷

[exileseverafter]

The Author of Exiles Rereads All Of Exiles Published So Far

That's right, I did it. In preparation for Book 4, I started rereading something I started writing...like...ten years ago or something. And you know what? It's pretty good! Turns out I like my stuff!

Behind the cut are a lot of rambling thoughts on each book, along with anything I might have done differently. Mild spoilers, but mostly just authorial navel-gazing.

Book One thoughts: Hey, did you know that if you're making any kind of longform work you should consider taking notes on things like character hair/eye color and background details? And also, it's good to have a beta reader? Because I don't know if I had either at the time of book one! And there are sooo many little continuity errors I noticed! They aren't things you're likely to catch unless you're looking for them, but it makes me think I want to go back at some point and not rewrite book one entirely, but just edit it a little. Fix some errors. It's still solid, and I'm pretty sure me being the author is the only reason it kind of felt like that "Spot the Errors" episode of Garfield and Friends. (Side note: If you can find it on the web, please watch the Garfield and Friends episode "Mistakes Will Happen." It's one of the funniest things ever, with far too many jokes to catch in one viewing for something that predates the internet.)

Also, it turns out that if you try to read something by downloading it in PDF form off of AO3 and putting it on your phone via Kindle, it does unholy things to the formatting. So I do not recommend reading Exiles (or anything else) like that.

Errors aside, god, this was nostalgic. One reason I started this reread was to get back into the heads of the characters, and it all started coming back to me right away. I can go oh, there's where I figured out how this would end. That's when this first comes up. Neat! Also there are some genuine accidental foreshadowing bits that lead into book three, of all things.

Book Two thoughts: Wow, this is long. It's easily the longest of the three, and I'm not sure how well the pacing holds up in retrospect. I was very much writing as a "weekly serial" rather than a novel at this point, and it shows for better or worse. There are chapters where I can tell I was just trying to get something up. Did you know if you write something with regular updates, it's a good idea to have a backlog instead of just writing week to week?

That said, this is where I started to shake off the constraints of "everything must be rooted in some preexisting fairy tale" and I think that's for the best. I started pulling inspiration from 50s pulp sci fi, Little Shop of Horrors, what people in the 90s thought VR was going to be like, and buddy cop flicks. I was figuring out my gender at the time I introduced Rem Tera, and wanted a nonbinary character whose issues were not centered around what were Nonbinary Character Tropes at the time, i.e. 'figuring out nonbinary was a thing, explaining it to others, which bathroom to use, etc.'

I also like playing with scale in unusual ways, and one thing I wanted to lean into was how to create a threatening antagonist who was a few inches tall in a world where people came in giant size. It turns out the answer is 'give him some big monsters to command and scary levels of manipulative charisma.' Lord Germain, you are the worst but I am so proud of you.

Note: I think there may be a chapter missing from the original Jukepop posting. I'll try to go through and fix it soon.

Still also very happy with the final arc, even if the story does a bit of narrative water treading to get there. This book has the most 'quiet time' with the characters, and I think in the long run it helped me flesh out the relationships established in book one and the new ones forming in book two. Especially since book three is pretty story-heavy. Speaking of! Book Three thoughts: Wow, this is like post-timeskip One Piece where one thing just leads right into another. It's unsurprising, since a lot of the plot threads laid in books one and two really activate here. Libra and Valerian have a been a presence from the beginning and Blue was hinted at as far as the Moonflower Market. So yes, I was sitting on those for a while and happy to set them off here.

No Reflection is probably the most difficult original fic work I've written so far. To give you an example, I started it too soon after finishing Of Rot and Bloom and was stalled out for years afterwards. The good news is that like any creative project that isn't made of expiring materials, you can pick a story up at any time. One day I finally decided to ditch the chapter I was stuck on, write something else and start the ball rolling again.

And it worked! I finished it. More or less. There's something of a Nona the Ninth/Alecto the Ninth "book 3 and 4 are part of a piece" feeling to the end of Book Three, but I do try to end on at least a climactic element. There are just a lot more cliffhangers this time around.

Man, I'm mean to Basil in this book and this isn't even his book! Poor guy is gonna have it rough in Book Four.

ALSO, there are at least two missing chapters, and they're important ones that reveal major plot elements. In fact, one is right in the climax. I need to fix that ASAP. Presumably AO3 lets you insert chapters? I'll figure out how.

So, what does this mean for Book Four? It means it's definitely happening, though I don't want to say it's happening immediately. Maybe after the New Year. I have some chapters prewritten for Book Four I want to revise, and this time I'm making sure I have a healthy backlog and a plot outline worked out.

For everyone who's read any part of Exiles, thanks so much for supporting me thus far! I really appreciate it. Wouldn't be able to keep up this much enthusiasm without you. And if you're thinking of writing (or drawing, or animating) your own original thing, my advice is just to do it! Just jump in. Yeah, it won't be perfect, but you'll learn by doing, and an imperfect story that exists is always better than the idealized one trapped in your head.

[exileseverafter]

Could you draw a very VERY small cta?

Is this small enough?

[exileseverafter]

Hi!! this is completely random but a while ago when I finished exiles book 1 I made these memes, and I thought you might appreciate them (there's also one about the beginning of book 2)

[exileseverafter]

I will say, reading One Piece and now Basara are really helping me get back into the Exiles-writing mood. Of course, it's one thing to get into a writing mood and another to PLOT OUT A FINALE BOOK, which is why when I'm done with Basara I'm gonna do a reread of Exiles on my own.

This means I might occasionally post a scene with "writer's commentary" here, in order to keep motivating myself.

[exileseverafter]

Commissions are Open! DM me if you’d like one done for yourself!

[exileseverafter]

I have an ongoing fairy tale mashup with giants and tiny people as main characters!  The Exiles Ever After

GT STORIES MEGATHREAD

there are so few writers still operating in the g/t world, let’s make a thread of some stories! They can be yours or, if you don’t write, post old ones from dead accounts that you love!

Some of mine:

Apocalypse

Darkshot

[exileseverafter]

Status of...Stuff

Because sometimes you get in a retro mood, and sometimes you just want to look back at old projects you didn’t finish. (Yet.)

Keep reading

[exileseverafter]

Finally made a summary of the Jotunn race that I’m really proud of! I think I covered everything this time. I think :p

——————

Physiology

The largest of the terrestrial humanoid races, Jotunn stand at 15’ on average for the males and 14’ on average for the females. Jotunn themselves originate from northerly regions, however they have mingled with a variety of other giant folk over the centuries as well, leaving them with a myriad of naturally occurring skin tones, hair colors, features, and builds. In the present day they are nearly indistinguishable from some of the other giant folk aside from their greater height - at first glance.

Giant folk as a whole are far stronger than their human counterparts, and not simply for their size. Both their musculature and bone structure are far more dense proportionally, allowing them to take the brunt of high impacts with minimal damage and allowing them to give them out as well. A full grown giant - Jotunn or otherwise - is capable of cracking through stone with a single blow. This strength also increases with size, leaving Jotunn especially to be known as brutes.

All giants are also equipped with a larger, sharper set of canines, making their bites capable of great damage.

Etymology and Stereotype

The term “Jotunn” means “devourer”, and this is not without reason. Jotunn in particular have an incredible dietary fortitude, and in the past they used that to their advantage. Foods considered inedible by most races are still common in traditional Jotunn meals today, including wood, bark, tree roots, pine cones etc - almost any organic material from the northern regions. Some non-organic materials are edible for them too, including metals and mineral rich rock. In conjunction with this they have an incredible ability to withstand a multitude of poisons, just so long as those poisons are ingested. However, just like their other giant kin, if poison is somehow administered by other means they are far more susceptible to it than most races would be. But because of their ability to eat nearly anything - and because of their large size - they were labeled as gluttons, and soon afterwards were associated with similar traits such as greed.

To this day, and also because of the wealth they’ve found in their mountain mines, Jotunn are stereotyped as being ever hungry, ever wanting brutes which hoard gold and precious gems.

Culture

To those who admire their brutishness, Jotunn are considered to be “spirits of chaos” or even forces of nature made manifest, but that’s likely to do with their history of thriving in extreme climates and culture of physical strength. Quite literally, their culture praises those individuals who can stand their own in contests of physical might, and despite their days of war and conquest having all but ended they still take immense pride in being considered warriors. In general however, Jotunn culture is especially driven on principles of individuality and self-driven achievement, but it upholds a sense of honor in maintaining a strong level of loyalty to both blood bonds and chosen relationships as well.

Dominant Religion

In a culture that despises the traditional gods and what they stand for, they find only themselves and other ancient races to be worthy of council and requests for guidance. Because of this the giants practice a form of ancestor worship, primarily, and a form of animism, secondly, but both are intertwined; both being considered Pagan due to its wildly nonconformist beliefs.

In the giant kins’ belief, the Fates are the last to decide who lives and who dies, but these are not to be conflated with the Fates that other religions group in with their gods. The Fates of Jotunn Paganism are celestial spirits with the power to change the tides in the Sea of Chaos, of which every soul finds themselves journeying across as they live their lives. But while the Fates themselves are godlike, they do not have full control over souls themselves. That is up to the individual. Should the Fates attempt to overturn a soul’s journey, one may counsel the stars - the souls of their ancestors who came before them - and seek their aid in guidance. The very idea that any one or group of beings outside oneself has the power to determine the destiny of their own soul is considered heresy.

The giants do have temples, however. Places to commune with the ancestors and speak to them directly through prayer and whispered chants. Offerings are made annually and bi-annually to maintain the favor of their ancestors, and to appease the Fates in hopes for an easier future. The upkeep of the temples themselves are left in the hands of the High Priestesses; three women trained from a young age by their predecessors to be vessels on earth for the Fates. There are only ever three - one an adolescent, one middle aged, and one an old woman - and they live in the main temple, overseeing the maintenance of the others over long distance. Since the time of being appointed, a new High Priestess is blindfolded, never again meant to use her physical eyes. She fills the role of the adolescent Fate until the eldest dies, taking the role of the middle aged Fate when a new adolescent Fate is appointed, and eventually is appointed the elder Fate when the time similarly comes. While these vessels of the Fates are respected and esteemed, they also tend to be shunned and held at arms’ length by others, either for fear of them or for enmity from misfortunes. In general however, women are associated with having a closer tie to the Fates and the spiritual as a whole.

Politics

Similarly to their religion, most forms of giant kin government hold their elders in high esteem, too. Their Gerontocracies are led by elders elected into position, though said elders often are already of a wealthier, established status. Once elected, an elder is helped to move to the capital of their nation - if they’re not already living there - and are cared for for the rest of their term or lives; whichever is longer. Usually it is men that end up being elected, but it’s not uncommon for women to be either. If the government takes the form of an oligarchy, the elders must vote on major political decisions and come to an agreement. If the government appoints a single elder as a political leader, then their term is likely shorter than those of their oligarchical counterparts.

[exileseverafter]

I love how this came out! Look at the Misty cameo!! Everyone go commission @herebegiants​ now!

Commission from @exileseverafter of their sweet boi Ezra and Enlightened cat Misty! Go read their story, it’s awesome!

[exileseverafter]

Thank you so much for the shout out! 

I HAVE JUST BEEN MADE AWARE OF ANOTHER OG G/T STORY AND I MUST SHOUT ABOUT IT TO THE HEAVENS

For anyone else that didn't know this existed!! @exileseverafter! Go frickin read it!

[exileseverafter]

Commissions are open! I’ve got 3 slots available, but also a possible waitlist afterward as well, so if you don’t make it but you’re still interested, feel free to still message me!

[exileseverafter]

BTW, feel free to keep sending me those asks! I love them!

[exileseverafter]

Hi! Ik the ask game post was a while back, but maybe 38 with Ezra? (Or all the main 4!)

(Wow, tumblr messaging still works!) 38: What memory do they revisit the most often? (Ezra) There are a few: Basil first riding in to save Ezra and Marjorie from the wolves, his mother instructing him on how to gently and carefully crack an egg without shattering it in his hand, and looking up at the huge, disordered forest when he first stepped on the land. He never wants to forget how it is to feel small. He knows it well.

[exileseverafter]

I haven’t drawn mice or other rodents in ages… I should pick that up again: when you’re that tiny everything takes courage and anything can be an adventure~. 

Ironically, I remembered that when we got slaughtered by the Risen Shagaru Magala yesterday~. 

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