Hm. Have no idea why you need mod approval! Strange WP :/
Hmm, let me try it this way.
(eta: Ah, I have to login separately I think!) (there we go)
Two weeks? Ebil, ebil person. Two weeks on a cliff hanger.
Oh well, I found you from mu so i’m used to it. *settles in to wait*
Hi Kat! I’d like to go weekly but am not sure what the normal update is for serial novels and am trying to make sure I leave enough lag so I can do some editing and evaluation along the way. I know webcomics usually go one to two times a week, but I’m afraid that kind of schedule will mean you guys catch up to my writing and I’ll have to put things on hold.
Since the next installment is short, I may put up part two of this chapter next Sunday and then the start of the next chapter on 11.28. 🙂 Depending on the comments received (if any) and how much I get done writing the next fourteen days, I may push for weekly installments through the holidays (and skip drawing)…. whaddya think? let me know! Thanks for the comment too. Glad someone found me through MU!
Most of the webcomics that update twice a week are small, though. The rest i’ve seen hae been ~once a week. If twice a week is what allows to get an archive up without buring out, then do twice a week. If you can push one week, do one. Buffers are good, they let you take a break and us not realize it. So, in other words, I’m not a writer, I can’t say shot about the schedual.
I’ll just have to wait paitently until the story gets off the ground.
Oops, sorry – I meant to ask you more about the web novels you’re following. I saw a few update quite a bit (few times a week) but their installments are short and I like to have more to an update, overall, so will probably stick closer to 1-2 weeks once I feel like I have a new rhythm established.
Out of curiosity, how do you find fics and all? This is a completely new sandbox (web novels, that is) for me and I’d love any advice on how to promote and network…
Ads, mostly. If I see the link in someones sig, I follow it, or if it’stalked about. Then again, I like to rea anything I can get my hands on, so…*shrug* In addition to MU and her other works, there’s addergoole (NOT spelled right,
i can’t spell) and tales of the gaurdian. Then there’s the mirror verse.
I’ll check those other sites out 🙂 It seems like it’s pretty hard to find serial works compared to webcomics… then again, most webcomics have opportunities to promote in conventions and other forums…
Hi, I found your serial novel through a Project Wonderful ad that just happened to be right next to my own ad! There aren’t too many of us serial novel writers out there, so I decided to check this out. 🙂
The story is really gripping. You’ve managed to take a fantasy-type world and make it really original with the fairy-tale aspects, as well as your own fantasy elements like the Unthings. I’m curious about the man in the prologue, but more so about what;s going to become of the red-garbed woman in the first chapter. She seems like a likeable sort and I hope she gets to safety unharmed!
Keep up the good work! I’m going to go check out your art gallery now. 🙂
I’m glad those ads work! I’m new to Project wonderful but have been noticing them on a lot of the webcomics I read and thought, oh hey, why not try it!
I’ve noticed, as you said, there are few novelists out there, or perhaps maybe few that are easily found or willing to write in public.
I’m kind of easing back into writing after a long hiatus, and thought this would be a good way to experiment.
And thank you for the feedback on the first part. I really hope I can meld a lot of weird things together and make it interesting. If anything, I hope the world becomes more interesting than the characters xD…
Hope you enjoy the art and come back next week for the next installment 🙂
I couldn’t help but notice you were discussing the frequency of web novel updates. I update mine once a week, it usually works very well and gives me time to finish illustrations to accompany the chapter. I don’t have much of a buffer, but readers take longer to read a chapter than to read a page of a webcomic, so you can probably even get away with 2-week updates!
One of the biggest concerns I have is not updating. I hate to make promises I can’t keep :). Adding illustrations regularly into the mix would definitely be complicated for me… I am a slowbie when it comes to painting, so unless I embrace a different style (more of an ink/sketch style), I don’t think I could manage the work that you do. Wow!
You make really good points about the relative length /content of a web serial novel vs. a comic, though so I’ll keep thinking through this.
Right now, though, I am leaning perhaps to a weekly update until January just to help get all three main characters established, although still trying to figure out how/where I’d break sections then. (I almost am afraid of having more Chapter ‘parts’ than necessary xD).
Thanks so much leaving a comment btw – I’m glad people are finding this site!
Don’t worry about parts. Adder breaks it up into ~three parts a chapter.
Haha, there are so many more commetns here than there are in other other just-starting serials.
I think it would drive people nuts if I broke things up into more than that though xD …
As for the comments, guess we can’t help being chatty >_> <_<
I also found this from an ad, so it is working. I enjoy seeing what people do with fairy tales, I’ve taken some interesting creative writing courses. I’m eager to see where you go from here! Bravo!
Ah – glad you saw it and also clicked through? Would you mind telling me where you saw it ? I’m curious as to whether most people clicking through are doing it more from the serial novel sites or the webcomics sites.
And thanks — I really hope I can keep people with me from this point forward 🙂
A page of a webcomic is, narratively, equivalent to maybe a couple-hundred words. Plus, depending on the skill of the artist, and the medium they’re using, it may only take an hour or two to produce. A day’s work may therefore be more than enough to produce a week’s worth of content, or even a month’s!
Writing, on the other hand…
But I’d recommend you at least post once a week, even if you have to split content up. If you lose the momentum, you’ll lose the readers. Some people have short attention spans, others simply forget. And have you ever tried reading a book and taking a two-week break after every chapter? While reading a variety of other stories too?
In an ideal world, you’d want to update several times a week, but that would require treating it as a full-time job, and probably making a liveable wage from it too XD
alright – think I’ll at least try to post once a week to get this started… Don’t think I can manage several times a week since my life is a bit nuts :)… as for making it a full-time job, yeah – very hard to think of people making a wage off this. Only the most successful webcomics manage to support their creators and it looks like writers don’t even have the traffic or avenues to market their work. (Pretty familiar with webcomics and those folks as I’ve seen a lot of them in various artist alleys at conventions th epast few years.)
I’m not sure how well/how long updates will be if I eat through my buffer… but I think I’m good for a few months if I can’t get to much writing :o)
Thanks for leaving the feedback – this is enormously helpful to myself and the other ladies I’ll be collaborating with in the future!
The possibility of a serial novel never occurred to me, but maybe because I initially thought it was anachronistic, like Dostoevsky, except online instead of in a paper. I might try this myself, but with Japanese lore. Twould be equally tricky though.
I found this site through an ad as well, I believe through an online graphic novel called Red String, which I think I ALSO found through an ad. Small world, huh?
Very cool, mind telling me what you were googling when you found the first site?
As for serialized fiction – the real attraction for me is to try to recapture some of the dynamic I had going with readers in fanfiction.net … I tend to write more diligently under pressure (and also sometimes a bit more creatively while under that pressure). Commercially, this is not a good venture, but I also think I owed some of the folks who have been following my drawings for some time a little bit more of an idea of what I was drawing from when I created my work 🙂
I can’t say for sure where I found Red String, it might’ve been through an ad at Keenspot, I follow a decent number there, but it might’ve been another webcomic.
Ah – I’ll have to look up Keenspot! Thanks!
Wow, I just love this! I do believe you’re going to become one of my new addictions. I don’t find many serial novels, and yours looks as if it has so much promise. It looks as if you’ve created a rich world for the story.
The funny thing is I found this the exact way that Muichiotsu did. So, the ad worked well.
Very cool, glad to find that out! I’m trying out both the Project Wondeful site and evaluating useful websites. This will help me concentrate some resources as time goes forward.
Please bear with me the next few weeks as I post things. Hopefully the updates meet your continuing expectations 🙂
Bleck, right clickinh is disabled. It doesn’t really stop copy-paste, and prevents me from opening in a new tab.
I’ve toggled some settings. Let me know if it lets you tab and such… it should now.
Thank you.
this story is making me want an everafter update, too.
you have drawn me in, hope to read more. Have you thought to put it on fanfiction.com, they have a fairytale section, it doesn’t have to be a fanfiction about a movie or novel.
Hello! Well, the good news is I have (thanks to Nanowrimo) quite a bit more to work with at this point, so will be updating pretty regularly for the next few months. 🙂
I wasn’t aware that fanfiction.net let you put in original fiction — glad you told me about the fairy tale section. I’ll check it out and possibly mirror a few sections up there … I used to post there quite a bit and would love to draw in my old readers 🙂
I found your story about red riding hood by casuality in the fanfiction.net site and I just love it. The Little Red Riding Hood story is my favorite fairytale of all and with the first chapter of your version of the story you just left me really excited
Ah, that’s good news. I just posted the ff.net version of this last night . Glad you found it there (it’s a rather buried category). I’m hoping some of my old readers also find me here…
Glad you enjoy it! Hope you come back next week for the next update 😀
Are you open to stylistic suggestions? If not, i’ll keep my mouth shut.
Anyway, red isn’t very genre savy, is she. xP. I’ve got the heebee jeebies from the exchange already. Then again, I get the heebee jeeies easily, too.
I’ll certainly consider comments about style/organization. (PRobably better to email me directly though so we don’t spam the bottom of the page 🙂 ) -> plumopera@gmail.com .
Regarding genre – oh, that’s a tricky one as this genre isn’t one “genre”, per se. (Rather, it’s kind of a mix of adventure/fantasy/romance/mystery/comedy) However, as for Elanore, so far … she’s probably the most centered and sensible of the main characters. I’m not done with her yet though *shakes her around*
I just sound this today. I’m quite happy to say I’m already caught up. I look forward to the next update. This is much nicer than reading one page of a webcomic at a time (even though I follow over a dozen).
Woowoo, yay for Deviantart! Thanks so much for reading it all. Hope you’ll hang in with me as we’ve just started and I still have a lot of “unpacking” to do for all of you :D.
I have a lot of webcomics that I enjoy as well actually myself. The format is great for conveying visuals and emotion…unfortunately, it’s not my particular strength overall, so sticking with something like this although a webcomic of a smaller short/self-contained story (related to this universe) might not be off the table in the future…
“There had been no one on the road for house;” It seems like this sentence is missing something like a “the” if this is truly the way you wanted it to read because perhaps her grandmother has an estate that is called house maybe you should capitalize it?
Ah, it was meant to read “hours.” thanks for catching that!
Well, I know they’re going to meet again. They have to otherwise it wouldn’t be much of a story. I’m curious to see how you get them back together.
Don’t worry . He wouldn’t be much of a main character if he just kept sitting inside his castle xD
He better not! We know next to nothing about him and I already find myself getting attached!
🙂 That’s music to my ears. As he is the titular figure upon which this website is named, do not fret. He is and always will be a primary figure, no matter what I end up doing in terms of this story and others xD
Actually, I’m rather attached to Him, Her, & Hastings. … She has spirit & “pluck”; He has that whole “dark broody unwilling hero” type thing going; & Hastings has that whole “loyal/faithful servant who knows far more about the master than the master might actually prefer” kinda thing going on. At least as far as I can tell at this very early stage in the game.
You are absolutely on target. I’m glad and freaked at the same time xD.
lol Sorry you are freaked, But I only wrote the easy reading of the characters, you have yet to show us the really indepth beings that they are. I am sure you have many surprises instore for us readers.
& Quick assessments of personalities is important in my line of work, as a Crisis services councelor. being able to judge if someone really will kill themself or another person very fast helps me decide how to best treat aid them. Every call is a case by case bassis. So I kinda cheated here, just a bit…
Does that make you feel any better??
No, no, overall I’m quite pleased but I think your comment was fairly precognitive and therefore I was wondering if I had hinted too broadly :> It gives me something to ponder 😉
I am terribly intrigued by the Count. You have me itching to know more about him, and the teaser on the front page for the next chapter has me squirming in anticipation.
Ah, that was not him in the teaser xD… hehehe. But do not fret. Next week will be a great update regarding the Count.
LOL. Maybe I should use that as my tagline instead. XD
I think it would market very well x)
Awww, even on a second reading I just can’t get over how adorable those two are. :3 The banter between Hastings and Giles amuses me too. XD
Giles is rather good. I think I need to find a way to bring him back sooner xD . E/E = a lot of fun to write. I love sibling-type dynamics, although …welll, won’t say more about that here >:3
I love the interaction between Elanore and Edmund. Hastings and Giles are funny too!
I’m curious to see how the Count feels about what he saw.
there will be a lot of him in the next 1-2 installments. As for the comedy, glad it didn’t fall completely flat either. x3
A lot of the Count or Edmund?
Both, but in what order, not saying. You’ll just have to check back on Sunday 🙂
Not a frame story!!! Can’t wait for the next update, love the story so far!
This frame may break xD.
hmm… stumbled across this story. interesting beginning. what’s your update schedule like? once a week?
Yep. Sunday night update.
Love all the detail. This is very well written. kinda grabs & holds on to a reader. Well done.
Max just got a bit more interesting with this backstory bit. ^^v It also helps explain why he’s a loner. Thanks!
He has a really messed up past… this being only the first part xD
Hmm, interesting. I wasn’t 100% sure how you were going to do the wolf bit, but I like how you’re doing this so far. I keep getting annoyed every time there isn’t a ‘next’ button at the bottom. Just when I’m engrossed again, the story cuts off.
The wolf is one of many more mythological figures in this series, but it will be some time before it’s clear who the others are (as I have yet to unfold the larger story that ties in with his past)…
Thanks for your patience over all with this format. Yeah – it’s hard to read just a bit at a time, but it’s the only way I can write and stay on top of things (aka “deadline”)… x)
Fairly sure insaw an ad on phoenix requiem. Love your work!
Yep, there is one there :). I put one up there partly because I like reading that site myself xD…
I absolutely cannot stop reading this serial story ^.^ its actually the first one I ever heard of/read. actually I’m still not quiet sure what it is, heh sorry about that. Anyway I wanted to say I love your colorful characters and how some of them are similar too people you meet in life or strange characters or beings like the unthings that you can only think about in wild nightmares! So keep up the amazing work and please don’t forget about the Count, I really want Elnore to met him again! :DD
Heh. I don’t know what to call this either, if it makes you feel better. I just know that I’m using the old model I used while posting/writing at fanfiction.net and more established writers now call this “serial novel”/”webfiction” or some other to-do :D.
I’ll be shifting back and forth between present/past quite a bit. Elanore is back next chapter, although when we last left her, she was alone with Edmund, so I guess Elanore + Count has to wait xD
Yes, it’s no fun waiting for the next bit of the story. But it is very engaging & therefore worth the wait IMO.
It’s interesting thinking about this — I think I’m used to waiting for serial content (since I read webcomics),b ut I wonder if this is hard for those folks who read voraciously to sort of jump in and out. It’s something I’ll have to think about for the next arc.
But in the meantime, I’ve been thinking that I might simply incentivize this process for folks by providing something that others who drop in later might not have access to. Any suggestions for content (art or text) are welcome… I’ll consider it!
I tend to be one of those voracious readers, but I find that if I just scan over the previous page a bit it usually reminds me right where the story was when I last left off. The storyline is unusual and engaging enough that I can pick it right up again pretty easily. Of course, that may be because I DO read so much. 😀
If you do think that your readers may have trouble with the update schedule, maybe a link to a “What’s happened so far” page might help. If you were to just add a bit to it each time you add a section it might even be fairly easy for you to keep up with. Not adding strain to yourself while helping others is always a bonus. 🙂
In any case, I’m thoroughly enjoying your story-telling and world-building, and am looking forward to seeing what happens next with this. Keep it up! 🙂
That’s an excellent idea that I’ll try to implement soon. With the complex shifts back and forth (and at least one more occurring a few chapters down the line) this sounds like a great way to help people reshift gears 🙂
Thanks so much for the comment and glad you are enjoying the story!
(I think Captcha plugin is only for paid WP accounts, or I don’t know where to find it.)
Good cliffhanger is good! ^^v
Hm. one difference is that I host my WP so it might let me get away with more.
Did you do a general search for “anti-spam” or “captcha” (lowercase)?
As for cliffhangers, that too is another ff.net staple which I love using xD
I keep free accounts, so I’m on the .com, not the .org, dashboard. Yes, I checked around and even signed up for reCaptcha. I tried to code it in, but I’m not to good at coding so got nowhere.
Let me try to see what I can install off the CW site. That might give me some insight into what is useable off the hosted WP blogs.
Well so much for keeping anything a secrete. lol
I also am greatly enjoying this story.
Yep exactly. Darn unpredictable man!
Methinks the count will be trading some nasty looks with Edmund!
>:)
>:)
>:)
I found your website through a link on the webcomic The Phoenix Requiem. I have to say that I really love this story so far, it’s really interesting and an awesome interpretation on the tale. I can’t wait to read more!
Thanks for letting me know how you got here! It’s sort of time to evaluate the advertising I do and it seems like Phoenix Requiem always bring in such friendly commentors :).
I’m glad you’re enjoying it thus far. I know it’s harder to be patient with a webserial, but thanks for hanging in there with me 🙂
There’s no pressure at all! I am writing a webnovel as well, but mine are by chapters, and they are updated far less. I’m lucky to update mine at least four or five times a year. 🙁 My chapters are normally at least 5 pages long, and seem to be getting longer lately.
I wish you the best with keeping up this update schedule, I’m quite envious of it really. lol. I’m glad you are getting such great feedback, it’s really difficult with webnovel/webseries, I don’t have that luck. But I don’t have the money at this time to pay for the ads.
I’m looking forward to your update! 🙂
If you can put in a little seed money into Project Wonderful (and take ads), you may be able to benefit from some very low cost and free advertising. (There are sometimes ads that cost very little per day. Unlike other services, they don’t charge by clickthroughs, so you can get thousands of hits for a few pennies a day or even for free.) Some of my collaborators are exploring that option. But ,we’re all still sort of figuring this out. (Newbies, we are!) It’s definitely interesting how small the comparative audience is for webfic compared to webcomics.
As for the frequency of updates — shorter installments came along with the decision to push hard for a weekly schedule. 🙂 There are some things that I probably wouldn’t do if I were putting up entire chapters, but I find I like the weekly accountability. (I like deadlines. And stress, apparently!)
Let me know if you want to talk more about the business of promotion offline. (That reminds me, I need to set up an email box xD )
Thanks for the advice, I’ll definitely look into it. I’m a noob as well. Although I’ve been putting up this story for about four years, I’ve only recently really been looking into trying some ways of using money-like getting a package website deal, and then maybe some advertising, but we’ll see how that goes. For my second draft of the story, I was thinking of making a weekly schedule up, and dividing the chapters into parts because they would be so long. It would probably help me with more readers, because then they wouldn’t be waiting ages at a time for an update.
And I would really love to e-mail you about the business promotion. I’ll look for the e-mail box and see if it gets put up. 🙂
There should now be a “contact” on the right side with a nice “Poke the Creator” mailto: link 😀
Incidentally, the host I use gave me a voucher for Google Adsense, but am just starting to look at that. It seems kind of expensive, so not sure it’ll be as beneficial as PW. We’ll see :/
Hehe, the wolf has beat them both to the Grandmother’s house. I like the slight variations you have made to this story. Your skill with words is impressive. You’ve already made me curious about so many things is such a short passage.
I’ve tried to stick close to the idea of the story but it will begin to slowly shift to a much larger “world” once I can get deeper into the Wolf’s past… I haven’t yet mixed in some of the other big heavyweights who bring their own twisted versions of their fairytales with them. 🙂 If only I could write faster xD… dang… I’m getting impatient to show you guys the other Big Two characters, the ones that the Wolf must face xD
I look forward to a three (four?)-way verbal sparring match between Grandmother and the others… XP
Hm. Hm. Hm. We’ll see >_>
oh my god! oh my god! please up date! im sooo excited to discover what happens next!!! 😀
😀 I will tomorrow late afternoon. Next installment is in queue, waiting another final pass through (when my brains are not so distracted with painting) before it gets posted :3
I like this side of our wolf.
Also, in the paragraph that begins:
“Indeed,” the Count continued… there is a typo. “you and update” should be “you an update” if I’m not mistaken.
Sorry. I have been told I’m OCD when it comes to grammar and spelling.
No problem. Thanks for catching that. Often spellcheck in Word misses things like this!
No program is perfect.
I really like this turn the story has taken. You really have me curious about the hunters and the Count’s reason for disliking them. And I can’t wait to see how Edmund responds. This rivalry should be most interesting.
Wow, thanks for the plug! ^^v I’ll do this kinda thing next time on the site.
No problem!
Your love for ice-blue-eyes is showing, LOL! ^^v That said, I like how le count is confused about his feelings and desperately trying to rationalize it to himself.
I do love my IceBlue types and most of my characters are rational beings, true . However, what is perceived now might feel different later once more is understood about the character. And, with a man or whatever the Wolf is who has lived a long time, his other experiences may make you think differently about him once we get deeper into his past 🙂
I absolutely love this story; it is usually the first place I check when I get online for some reading.
Seems I’m a bit OCD as well…
At the end of paragraph starting “Regarding Miss Redley-“, it says “I believe that may see them again in the future”. Should it say: “I believe she may see them again in the future”?
Hello and welcome! Thanks for catching that error! No need to apologize for doing so either. I am glad you guys are catching this stuff.
LOL this has all the ear marks of a really great tale in the makings; I love hoe the plot is thickening even as you keep humor flowing. So far, very well told.
Gosh, I hope as it deepens you guys don’t start throwing things at me 🙂
There are a lot of plots layering… I’ve gotten down about oh two layers, there’s probably two or three more that skim over these…
*waves* Hi, I’m new here!
I’ve just blown through the first 5chapters and I’m looking forward to reading more. 🙂 I love this story so far!
How often do you update?
Hello there! Sunday evenings only for now. Have my hands full with the art side and some other projects, so once a week is what I’ve committed to for the foreseeable future. I may update more than that at some point this year, but for now will let people know on Sundays if I plan to drop in something more than that.
Great, I’ll look for new stuff on Mondays, then! Thanks. 🙂
You know how to get people even more hooked. I was reading along, then Adele’s part at the end made me wish there was more (even more then usual).
My main complaint: No Count.
LOL at your complaint. You’re going to be throttling me for the next few weeks, I’m afraid. Everyone has their mysteries, because this is just the sort of world this is and they need their time to showcase them :]
Anyways, trust no one! (Or something like that xD)
Nice mushy chapter is nice and mushy, and gives us good insight into Edmund, and a better insight into a developing triangle. Keep up the good work!
Thanks. More insight into Edmund will be coming shortly (along with a LOT more explanation of present continuity)
Found this story from a Project Wonderful ad, not sure what webcomic I was reading at the time.
I find this story compelling and your ability to weave in aspects from the familiar Red Riding Hood stories masterful (my favorite part so far as been the Count’s trek to the grandmother’s house before Elanore can get there). It’s like finding little Easter eggs along the way.
Everyone has this air of mysteriousness about them, as if everything they do has some ulterior motive we don’t yet know, and I love it. The greatest sadness for me is stumbling upon this so early in its development; it’s hard to wait between chapters for something I would put everything else on hold to read beginning to end. “Fractured” fairy tales are some of my favorites.
There are spacing issues and typos apparent in almost every installment that can cause stumbling blocks for a reader. As a fellow writer, trust me, I understand that you can read something over and over and OVER again and still miss the one thing that *everyone else* seems to notice. My suggestion would be to have someone else read the story out loud. This will help prevent hiccups like “but they were kind as they put a washed his body and put a sweet smelling salve on…” (ch4C).
I hope this suggestion isn’t overstepping my bounds as a reader, and I look forward to future updates ^_^
Hi KermitsGirl!
I would love to find a beta who could work along with this current posting schedule. Because of the change to weekly posting it’s made it hard to use my long-time proofers (some of whom are also in the collective). (I’m doing massive edits Friday/Saturday before posting.)
For now, I appreciate you guys catching some of these problems until I can find someone who can edit /flag these before these get posted . If anyone actually is willing to beta and is serious about this, I will be happy to talk to them about how to set them up as a reviewer. I would love your collective help…. WordPress is okay, but sometimes the interface makes it hard to catch spacing problems, but not typos. (WordPress sometimes hides the weird line spaces on the editor. I’ll have to see if this is something due to the transfer from Word to WordPress.)
Thanks for leaving a comment regarding one of the “goofs.” I’ll go back and look at that now! And don’t worry about pointing these things out. I appreciate it!
(*phew* Thanks for not being offended!)
Ah, yes, WordPress. I’ve heard from others that they have trouble with spacing issues.
I’m more than willing to do a quick read-through for you whenever you need it. I edit professionally in an executive setting (memos, letters, etc.), so I love working on fiction in my free time; it keeps me from going crazy!
If that’s something that interests you, I’ll send you an email and we can work out the details 🙂
Okay – will do! Right now have some other stuff going on and this week’s update is off-cycle. I’ll try to see if I can get ahead for the next chapter as of this weekend so something can be shared with you with enough turnaround time…. will contact you offline later this week.
Poor confused nice Ed. Liking the poor chap and his troubles. More please!
🙂 That point about Elanore’s mom will /should get addressed in a few chapters. (Not all little mysteries will go unresolved forever.)
I suspect I need to make a geographical map too, if I knew how to. ^^;; Although I do have sketches somewhere.
A lot of maps can be good even as cleaned up sketches. If you have something on paper/scanned, you can send it to me and I’ll see if I can make a simple one for you when I have time next month!
A nice way of introducing us to the kind of person Ed is. This is sooo getting better & better by the moment.
I’m curious to see why people feel the way they do about the Count.
Being reclusive, he hasn’t given much of a basis for others to really evaluate him. Human nature tends to then kick in — the suspicious will think him suspicious, and the kind will be more trusting 🙂 .
So sorry about the nailing to the wall!
I love the stained glass behind the snow queen lady. ^^v
Oh, I think it was a good question to ask. I just wanted to motivate people to read the interview :D.
Still not sure about the background on the image. I had thought about doing it all wood like the Wolf /Red background, but I kind of like the swan to be obvious…
Only one important thing happened, but it does give good insight into Edmund, contrasting him to the way the Count is a little quiet and contemplative himself.
Edmund and the Count indeed are very different in temperments (or so it seems), but are very similar in many other regards. (How’s that for a puzzling vague statement? xD)
I will say something though. While there was only one “discovery” in Edmund’s research thus far, the Guild itself is quite important to what will come.
Only one discovery? I disagree!
We learned there were Elvin encampments in the area that few others make reference to in their writings. We learned that the old guildmaster was very interesting in their leaving and the reasons behind it. He also stated this quite close to the statements about animals and people migrating with the lunar orbits, perhaps hinting that the elves have also migrated – and might possibly return. We learned that he distinguished between the Elvin encampments and the “elves that saw the Unthings.” Also, because of where this was mentioned, it seems to me that these elves might have come after the others had left.
We also learned that the current guildmaster seems very uncomfortable with talk of “fairy things” and might have, at one point, been willing to destroy information pertaining to said things.
Of course, I could very well just be reading too much into it.
***
You switched between guildsmaster and guildmaster a few times – I wasn’t sure if there was a reason behind it, or if it was a slip of the keys.
Chuckling. The guildmaster stuff was driving CSK and I crazy this week. The main concern was capitalization vs. not capitalization. I’ll have to go back through and take out the plural form . Thanks for spotting that.
As far as the elves — you’re thinking in the right suspicious frame of mind which I like to encourage xD. A little more and then a lot more about the last group of elves to inhabit the area is forthcoming in CHapters 7 and 9.
Edmund may have only made “one important discovery” But that’s only if he discounts discovering that the records keeper has saved the elven texts & is willing to disemble in order to allow others to gain knowledge. In my book that’s two dicoveries.
Why did the elves leave, & what connection does that long ago leaving have with the current Guildmaster??
Or am I now being overly suspicious now??
Actually the current guildmaster is quite far removed from the time of the elves departure.
Why they left isn’t necessarily dramatic, but will be eventually explained but not in great detail. I’d like to spin the story of the elves off into a second work/possibly a third. The society that they have is pretty complicated and probably has confounded the humans in this world for some time.
Ok, He’s far removed from the leaving of the elves. Does that mean that his family is too. Ancestors can be tricky things to have after all. Where does his seeming hatred of all things “uncanny” or “frivolous” come from??
I’m betting there is a story of some kind there.
Hm. This will be answered, but not for a while. While the theme of family lineage is important, I will say that it isn’t much so with this specific guildmaster. He is far from being anything like the first guildmembers who actually were probably more enlightened men than what we have in “current time.”
Whoa, adding me to promo, thanks. ^^v All the best to the bookmarks!
Well, free doesn’t have to be easy! I wanted to do something that required a little bit of activity xD
We’ll see how it goes. I mean FREE stuff is always good, right? 😀
You probably have it somewhere on here, but I can not find your tumblr. I would absolutely LOVE to follow you if you don’t mind, haha! I have been reading for a while, but I’ve never seen it.
Beautiful bookmarks by the way 🙂
Yeah – it’s actually no longer direct linked on the side because there were already so many other links to prioritize. You can find the tumblr from the linked in image on this post, or http://plumgirl.tumblr.com/ .
I’ll take the comment also as a “hmm good idea” to the idea of doing sketch giveaways. Thanks for posting!
Ahahaha first comment XD Love this series 🙂 keep up the good work!
Yay! Win for first! xD
Hello Sam! Glad to see I’m not the only one NOT watching the Superbowl !
Bahahaha reading > superbowl, any day!
I’ll be waiting for the next installment 😀
*sits down, doesn’t move*
D: You can’t sit a whole week. Bathroom and food, you know… kind of important! (But glad you’re enjoying it!)
I’m not watching either! lol
been reading a while now my first time commenting though :3 I really love this so far 😀 <3
Oh good. I hear we’re not missing much. I’ve been getting updates from everyone else on twitter who is. xD
And WELCOME to the COMMENTORS HALL OF FAME (heh).
I’m sorry, but my favorite part was the stuff about the pie delivery. (LOL!)
Haha! Well, I enjoyed writing it. Hastings probably is one of my favorite characters for being deliciously sniffly and snarky.
I love Hastings and Giles too. XD They make me grin every time they show up!
They really want to show up more often, but they have a tendency to hijack the narrative. I really do like writing characters in some sort of comedic sparring that results in temper tantrums though.
Oh, the wild swans! That’s my favorite fairy tale… can’t wait to see how you weave that one in. :B
Ah ha! You recognized it! I wasn’t sure if anyone would catch this reference, as the numbers vary according to the versions one is familiar with!
Sorry just found this and playing catch up. If you love the wild swans you might like Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Mullier. The entire book is a retelling of the tale by the sister that wove the shirts.
oh, welcome and thanks for the story rec. I do have a fondness for that story and will look the story up 🙂
I just quite literally tripped over this wonderful story. Please, for the love of plot, keep sharing it with us. I write with friends and as such, have to ask (and hopefully I’m not overstepping a boundary somewhere) if readers are able (allowed) to point out spelling errors? I’ve run into a couple and am curious to know if I’ll get my hands smacked for saying something.
No – these kinds of edits/comments are pretty helpful to me. (This last part was so late that I didn’t get to run it by my beta-readers at all and I’m pretty sure I may have missed something.) Please feel free to flag what you see. Folks have been either pointing them out at the bottom of the page implicated or emailing… whatever’s easier!
Glad you are enjoying the story, though! I appreciate the comments as well . If it’s not too much to ask — do you recall how you came across the story? I just dropped a new campaign out there on Project Wonderful and am curious to see where people are coming from. Thanks!
I think it was a link from a comic I already read, though I can’t remember which comic it was
ah, that’s okay! If you do end up remember though, let me know 🙂 thanks!
Elves – Golden ships- out of the west?? Coming dangerously close to stepping into Lord of The Rings territory aren’t you??
& why do I get the feeling that that pie was laced with wolfbane or helbore??
Good lord. I have no intention of bringing Tolkien into this or trying to borrow from his concept around elves. I do recognize though that by throwing in elves, the questions/comparisons are going to happen regardless as most modern fantasy version of elves can not help be compared to what he put together.
Some elves have a story as to how they arrived, but I have to warn you all that stories are sometimes only stories and that these origin stories will vary by region or by ‘ethnic group’ (e.g., wood vs. minstrels vs. fire vs. ice elves vs. ? elves). Be careful in accepting what people “say” in this series as truth until it’s really verified by say someone who is more likely to be an authority. That may be an elf, or someone who has lived longer than most of them.
As a geographical note, the Northernlands are bound by water on three sides. All races had to come to this place either by sea or from the South. I haven’t yet drawn out the larger map that starts to show you the larger world, but keep in mind that the Northlands is a convergence point or meeting grounds between man and elves .
Oh – the pie was not laced with anything bad :). No psychotropic drugs or poisons. The Count is just having a bad flashback xD
I’m new!!!
But I have read all I can so far, and I am loving this comic! I can’t wait for more!! I especially love the characters, I can’t even choose which character I like best. But I will say Hastings and Giles are hilarious!
I’ve got to say you’ve got me very very interested in this story!
Write on!! (Or type on, whichever comes first)
Hi there, comment ninja! I’m glad you are enjoying the story and even Hastings’ sarcasm (and Giles’ obvious pranks). Thanks for delurking! Comments like yours help encourage me to make each weekly deadline 😀
liking this a lot. Hopped over from Girl Genius, I think, but maybe Finders Keepers. There’s a really different kind of fairy tale story I’m following over at . Some of your readers may like that, too. Not sure where it is going but is set up as a memoir by Cinderella’s misunderstood step-mother.
Bahaha, first comment again! (not sure why it matters. Oh well.)
He doesn’t seem like a Max, does he? 😀 Although I guess he’s little right now… makes sense
Haha! yay first!
I think of it this way – sometimes what people call you indicates your relative position to you. In this case, all of his elders have probably called him Max since he was a kid. Although he’s 21, he’s still a “cub” in their eyes xD
Oooooo…. Things should prove extremely interesting. Swan Queen makes me think of Swan Lake.
Yeah – the paintings I did a long time ago reflect something like that from an aesthetic point of view (as her headdress in the first painting I ever did was totally a bathing cap/ballet cap thing.) That said, character-wise, I think of several other fairytale inspirations. I think the major one will be very obvious in a month.
I agree, he doesn’t feel like a Max. Max’es don’t turn into Aoshi-types, LOL!
^_^ You can make anyone a monster if you do enough things to them along the way. Not that I’m saying I plan to, but ^____________^
Hi,
I recently found this, also through a Project Wonderful ad, but I can’t remember where. Phoenix Requiem, possibly.
I’m very much enjoying this, and while I haven’t gotten quite to the end (there’s still a ‘next’ link), I can see from the dates of the posts that I’m getting there. 🙂
As you say you appreciate the typo catching, I’ve got one: Near the end of Elanore and Edmund’s conversation, she says: “Neither you and I….” — while it might be overlooked as an odd speech pattern, ‘and’ should probably be ‘nor’.
I look forward to more!
Ah! Phoenix Requiem is one of my regular contributors as far as regular readers go. I’m very happy with this trend as I really enjoy the webcomic a lot and am pleased that the audiences seem to carryover fairly well.
Thanks for pointing it out the edit. I’ll correct it in my master copy and the online copy later today!
Sorry … found another typo. 🙂
Second to last paragraph: “… man mean to go …” ‘mean’ should be ‘meant’, I believe.
And yes, the research is exciting stuff. I’m interested in finding out what he might find in the elven texts. If they don’t get discovered that he has them (now who’s suspicious…)
Still more to go, I still have a ‘next’. But, running out, soon, I think.
Cool, thanks for pointing that out 🙂
And yeah, the texts will get developed/revealed as we go forward. I have, in mind, that by the time we get through various arcs that I might be able to compile/put together a faux elf text of sorts with their various stories! And yeah – you’re getting close to caught up xD
I like the narrator’s voice, whoever he is. ^^ And the picture from the previous entry suddenly makes sense. (sorry I’m not very good at helpful comments right now…)
Ah, don’t feel pressured to comment as of now. I think once the three parts are complete, it will make more sense to comment on the story. Right now, I just want to catch mistakes if possible. (Like, for example, I kept getting Branwen’s name wrong for some reason -_-….)
I think I saw a picture for this on your dA account.
Yup! there are several! 🙂
I’m sorry, I keep finding these little typos. 🙂
“… was one that had been old to him …”
I believe this should be:
“… was one that had been told to him …”
Also:
“… Max has a limited understand of the world…”
Should be:
“… Max has a limited understanding of the world…”
And, I’m guessing that this Swan Queen … is the covered portrait?
I’ll have just a couple more, I think, and then I’ll have to wait like everyone else. I’m really enjoying the story!
My bad, it is the last, until tonight/tomorrow!
I can’t wait for the next installment! I just found this story today and had to read it all. Your writing is absolutely delightful!
Thanks! Glad you are enjoying it so far. I’m posting the second half of a related short story in a few hours… hope that will tide you over until next Sunday :>
I love Toryn’s observation! I love your depiction of wolves so far even more. I guess I get that from my dad reading David Edding’s Belgariad series to me at an early age.
I’m a fan of the wolf.
Oh – I do think wolves are often treated poorly in a lot of European fairy tales unlike in other mythologies and stories. I am not familiar with the stories you refer to, but will go check it out. I am always looking for fantasy recommendations 🙂
Impressive how Max is calmly taking in all this. ^^ Keep up the good work!
Max is pretty good/passive at this point. Things will change, of course, later 🙂
Ah, down to waiting, breathless, every week, for a new installment. 🙂
This installment wasn’t a disappointment – wolves watching out for the group?! How marvelous!
It’ll be a long week ’til next time. 🙂
Ah! I’m posting an update for the short story tonight, so hope that will help. It should be an interesting read for those who are now caught up with this chapter x)
I really wish I could write like this, more block text, less dialogue. ^^;; You go, snow queen!
You can do it! It just comes down to mapping your dialogue first, then starting to fill around it.
Wonderful story and internal dialogue/monologue!
Thanks@!
Oh, am I in heaven right now, or what?
My setting: Leaning back in a reclining chair next to the pool, listening to nothing but the waves rolling on the beach to my left, watching whales breach in the distant water, staying pleasantly cool beneath the leaves of a large tree, Pina colada sitting next to me, laptop on my legs while I read fantasy stories….. I am pretty much the happiest person ever ^^
But anywayssss…. I was genuinely surprised to find out that the girl was a unicorn, too! Not a lot of books offer very convincing or interesting surprises like that 😛 I really enjoyed this installment.
I’m jealous of this post, if only because I have been stuck inside the past week doing work and other boring stuff :). I’m glad this story was able to surprise you!
I’ve been really enjoying your writing. I hope to see more soon!
Hi and welcome to the site 🙂
The final installment should go up next Wednesday so you won’t be kept in suspense long 🙂
personally I like seeing the wolves as good guys, I just felt that there was always much more to that story. I also love the details in the story! Great job, I always have trouble picturing the scenes in my favorite stories. I love this version of this story by the way!
Hello there! Glad you’re enjoying the revelations and also this take on the fairy tale world 🙂
Hello!
Personally, I love this story. The characters are interesting, and the plot is a page-turner.
I just have one request: Can you move the story along a bit faster? I want to get back to the current story, and all this background information is starting to bore me.
This chapter should be wrapping up in a week or two. The plot points are important, however, for the future chapters so please bear with me another week or so. Thanks!
Oh wow, that is kind of terrifying to think about.
It is, but I find large blobs kind of cool too. If only because at one point in my life I was a fan of the horror genre xD
Call me cruel, but I want a picture of that last moment. ^^;;
Also, are the buttons to our sites on the sidebar really gone?
Ugh. The whole wordpress upgrade and my tweaking the sidebars messed stuff up. It’s back now.
As for that last moment, yeah, if I had a bit more time, it would make more a nice crazy picture…. just too much going on now with life, so drawing has to be put off.
(I tend to get what little traffic I get from you, you see, so I am grateful for your buttons, thanks.)
Which button is yours? 🙂
Wow. I can’t believe school work got me so busy that I missed this earlier.
I love the mention of the Swan Queen. I wasn’t expecting the swans to be black.
Oops. Misread
Yeah – I thought you guys might enjoy this cameo. It is kind of a nice “shout out” for those who have been keeping up xD. I also think it gives folks something to think about moving forward. She is highly important later on!
great story, that scar on her forehead is what made me wonder if she was a unicorn. I have read other stories of unicorns who have human bodies. What I loved here are all the details and the fantasy settings. Very well told in my opinion. Thanks for sharing it.
I’m really enjoying your story. Thank you for the innovative world and 3D characters!
You’re welcome! I’m glad this is entertaining 🙂
A fantastic short story! So sad it had to end, but at least it was a brilliant one!
Thank you – I’m glad you really enjoyed it :). It’s been a fun thing to try out, as I’ve been trying to see how I can start weaving in more tales into this particular “fairy-tale-verse.” Keep your eyes posted for an epub or ebook version to share with others.
It all felt so awwwwww. And I’m glad the Snow Queen is getting good rep in this story, in contrast to so many others.
Eeeee! 😛 Slime pit of death. It’s the fantasy version of the Blob, run!!
But seriously. Great chapter, haha. I’m finding myself increasingly intrigued by the wolves, they seem mysterious yet somehow strangely likable at the same time ^^ I can’t wait to find out their role in this world 😛 and with Max of course!
Yah, it’s a blob that looks kind of dark and weird 😀 Glad you enjoyed the chapter!
This story was well worth the wait. I look forward to more of them. This story has made me even more interested in seeing the meeting with the Swan Queen in the main story.
Cool stuff. Nice work:) I like your take on the “wolf” 🙂 Our webcomic also has new takes on the fairy tale classics. Good luck!
^^ yay!
You win the first-comment no-prize! *dance*
No-prize? O_o can I at least get a huggg?
Oh sure, Giles will hug youuuuu.
Awww, poor chap. Anybody will turn angsty-er after that.
But good stuff. ^^v
I hate to say it, but it gets worse. But as folks would like regular continuity stuff, I’ll save that next horrific episode for a while yet ^____^
Poor Maximilian. Am I the only female present who wants to give him a hug?
Haha, well if you are, you can go for it o_o
Nope! ^^v
I wanna give him a hug too =( poor guy…
Finally caught up with the story!!! XD This is SOOO beautifully written!!! Can’t wait for an update ^.^
Thank you! I haven’t done too many forays into public writing (other than an obscure fanfic run and blogging), so I’m happy that people enjoy what I’ve been throwing at them xD. Update is tomorrow late afternoon/early evening, so keep your eye out for it! 😀
And yes, hugs are needed. Poor guy 🙁
I was really pleased to see the Swan Queen. I got the strong impression in the story that she watches over and protects (to an extent) those beings that we’d consider unnatural in our modern day world (unicorns, etc).
I was pleased that you had a balance between the sense of justice and the sense of forgiveness. It’s a quality that should be seen more often in characters such as her.
You’re right in that regard, but it’s a small piece of her larger role in the world. I have in mind that she is one of the strongest females in this world, although in the fairy tale sense, she also has her own story that needs to be played out. She, too, is a bit unnatural. While there are plenty of “ordinary” people in this world setting, she is a definite anomaly.
I got that impression. She certainly seems to be immortal, for lack of a better word. As in she lives a LONG time.
Yes, you are correct on that. The timeframe for this story versus the current Tales shows that she has indeed been alive for quite a long time 😀
So maybe all us ladies should line up and start giving Maximillion A whole lot of nice long hugs, and see how he deals with that… 🙂
To be honest, I’m not sure what would happen to all of you if you did. You can try but… I’m not volunteering to help xD
Oh my goodness, I’m so glad to have stumbled upon your work today! 😀
I love what you’ve done with the familiar story, and also your inclusions of other fairy tales, folklore, etc etc. And I think you’ve done a great job in keeping up the mystery and suspense of the story as a whole, and of each character and how they relate to one another.
Oh man, I have so many questions, suspicions, inklings….
What did Elanore’s mom give to her? And did she attract the Unthing? If so, why???
It was mentioned that Edmund was adopted, and I’m guessing there may be a special revealing of his past/origin?
And why is Maximilian able to stay young for so long??? Is he related to the wolf-wind beings in some way?
Did Elanore’s mom encounter Max when she was younger (I gathered that she passed on her red cloak to Elanore), and perhaps their encounter sort-of reflects the original “Red Riding Hood” tale? (Grandma Winchester mentioned things happening again, or something like that)…Gahh! I’m just so excited xD
I’m really looking forward to coming back for the updates every week =) Oh, and I also LOVE your artwork creations for this story! I think I pretty much gush over Max every time ^.^
p.s. Sorry for the long comment! I’m a keener for my first time post >.<
Hi! welcome to the story xD. Glad you found your way here, although I’m very curious as to how. (Please do tell if you remember 🙂 )
So I don’t usually answer questions directly, but your enthusiasm is pretty catching so I will give you some hints.
Elanore’s gift will be discussed in Chapter 9. The other questions about her remain to be sorted out.
Edmund is adopted. And yes, you have stumbled on to something important that will be a lot clearer when I get done with this story. Which… might be a while xD
Maximilian’s reasons for his longevity hopefully will become clearer as we go back to his past and move back to present continuity. He is, whether he likes it or not, supposed to be doing something. What that is, well, we all must find out together with him :). There is a hint about that somewhere else, but one of the other readers is going to have to cue you in (she discovered something elsewhere xD ). The wolves will appear again in the future.
And while I won’t explain Elanore’s mom quite yet, you have picked up something important . Some of this will resurface in Chapter 9 as we return to Elanore as she waits for the outcome of Chapter 8. xD (I kid partially, but she literally is waiting at the moment.)
I do apologize as I won’t be uploading this Sunday due to convention stuff I need to tackle and some restructuring I was doing on the next chapter. But I do plan to come back at you guys starting the following Sunday. Also – if you have time, I recommend reading the other story on this site. I think it will put some more layers on to your various hypotheses 😀
There is only one emoticon fit for this part of the story:
:O
xD
:V
:B
I just discovered this site today from clicking on something accidentally over at dream*scar. I’m so happy I did so! This story has me absolutely HOOKED and I can’t wait to read what comes next. Keep up the great work! 🙂
Allooo! Very glad you accidentally clicked xD and also glad you’re enjoying stuff. I’ll be off this week (at a convention) but raring to go next Sunday :).
I’m not a regular commentor but I have been following your story for awhile. I even did a bit of fanart http://shaharw.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d39k0xq .
I loved your short unicorn story and can’t wait to see how the Big Bad Wolf proceeds.
Wow! That’s cool that you did a fanart 😀 Drop me a line on DA. I have some sketches I did this weekend that I will be “trading” maybe with other artists soon!
I never realized how wolves were considered the villain in some fairytales until after reading this story and some of the comments here. I find them to be interesting, powerful and beautiful creatures 🙂
You should give the Belgariad series a read. Its really good.
Yeah – Western tales tend to villainize them. I’d say of all the folkloric traditions the American Indian tales are the most respectful to them. Asian tales tend to vary a bit, but that is simply due to their presence not being as common in certain areas.
Currently I’m reading five or six books xD so I will have to table the series fora while. I’m determined to finish these other books first!
Ol’ Maximillian’s getting plenty of offers for hugs, but none for poor Eldnar? 🙁
You only realized how traumatic it must have been for him once he sheds tears. There, there elf-man. You’re alright. Rejoice at the fact you’re alive *hug*
Thought I’d also add that I have forgotten how I came across this site — though the most likely possibility is from the numerous web-comics I’ve read — one them which included a link to your story. So glad I did. It’s been a while since I’ve read anything with words and using your imagination to make the world in a story come to life in your mind 🙂
Yeah – Ridnar and Eldnar are particularly traumatized. Max isn’t quite in need of hugs….. yet. (And even then, I don’t think he likes being glomped. He doesn’t like surprises either. And hmm… maybe it’s a bad idea to give him a very hard stick to swing at people.)
Glad that you decided to follow through on whatever link you saw. I did advertise on various webcomics that I read myself (and enjoy). It was a bit of a gamble, but I think people have been very kind to humor a non-webcomic format thus far :). I know it does require some shifting on part of the viewer/reader, but am glad people are willing to do it with me :D.
BTW- welcome to the site. Thanks so much for leaving your comments!
I had suspected when the hunter thought that the two unicorns could look like siblings, but thought nothing of it. Once it got to the part where they spoke in the same language only then were my suspicions confirmed – that and the scar on her forehead.
C: I’m glad you had noticed that. It was a bit of a cue not only to her true nature (as visually she has the same coloring), but the actual intent xD.
I came from Red String! (If it matters.) And I’m glad I did! I’m such a sucker for a good story and you tell a fine one my friend!
Ah ha! welcome then! Have not heard much from the Red String crowd since the beginning, so wasn’t quite sure if there are any readers lurking here from there. Glad to hear it though!
I just checked out the “red string” comic and saw the link immediately.
And for Eldnar, *hug*.
aww, that’s very kind of you. Hugs are much needed over in Elf-land, especially since I won’t be returning to it for a few chapters 🙂
Ooooh. this is getting gooooood!
Can’t wait for the next chapter!
next piece next Sunday 🙂 Welcome to the site!
Ehhhh? O_o Whats going on? ^^
The Count got grumpy after I forced him to relive his past? 😀
You and I both, no presence on the Webfiction Guide. But I’m too shy to directly ask for it. ^^;;
I don’t really know that the WFG gets looked at much as far as listings, but I would perhaps like a review from a reader as opposed to the only review by an editor who looked at this site and immediately classified this story as a fairy-tale story based on a short visit to the site. However, if it doesn’t happen, not worrying about it as long as people share likes through social media. I still get a few facebook referrals that pan out to a thoughtful visit to the material…
Taking bets for the coming fight… Place your bets people
My bets are tied, though, I like them both. ^^;
Elanore wins over them both hands down 😉
Fight! Fight! Fight!
this is getting better with every update!!! can’t wait for the next one!!!
LOL. So many bloodthirsty females. Who thinks we like only romance? rofl -> myself
I’m a girl who frequently finds herself liking male-oriented series, who finds the girly stuff very girly. ^^v
Yeah, I’m a shonen manga genre reader (and a former superhero comic book junkie who thought Lobdell/Bachalo Generation X was the BEST marvel series in the X-book family), so I totally get what you’re saying. Still, I do like girly stuff — teas, dresses, cute things and really handsome men xD.
The website is saying user registration is currently not allowed…
Otherwise you would see a review from me!
So sorry~
Ah, that’s interesting… I think the sister site got hacked two weeks ago. Maybe he hasn’t put it back. Thank you for trying though!
doo do do do do i’m lovin’ it. Don’t ask why that popped into my head. I have no idea. But I am truly enjoying the story. Especially now that we get to have all that pent up testosterone out and about. lol Good times will ensue…I hope. 🙂 And a bit of a fist fight in the snow would be quite alright by me.
(McDonald’s jingle in the middle of a comment? hahaha!)
Hm. I suppose resolving this with some tea and cookies isn’t going to work. hehe. Good to know, though. I’m going to revise what I have with this feedback in mind.
Hi I just came over from Tales of MU. I noticed the following sentence that seems to be worded awkwardly.
The snows we thought would keep her away for sometime.
You may wish to reword this to say: We thought the snows would keep her away longer.
Hm. I see what you mean. Thanks for the suggestion. I may take it in a slightly different direction. I still like the cadence of “for some time” but will move the words about to reduce some of the confusion. (And forgot to say this, but hi and welcome!)
Ohhhhh this is getting good 😀
I don’t want to wait for the next chapter though D:
I put my bets on Wolfram though, he’s my favorite XD
XD You have to wait because I’m still revising the next part!
Wolfram seems to have more fans. Poor Edmund. Now he really wants to become a vampire xDDD.
(BTW, hello and welcome to the official pool of “Those who comment”! )
Thankyou~ I’ve been following the story for some time but it never occured to me to leave a comment. But I’ve fallen in love with this story XD truely.
Oh. Dear god. If he becomes a sparkely vampire… I’ll.. I’ll… I’ll cry. Thats what I’ll do XD *now has the idea for an unfortunate event happening involving tar and glitter*
Wolfram is Daaaaaaaark and Mysteriouuuuuusssssss~~~ *insert sexy music here* What girl doesn’t like that XD?
Aww, I’m glad to hear that. And no sparkly vampires. But I might give him a haircut xD
(I’m not sure I like dancing Wolfram. No. Scary image xD)
I recently found this series and I must say I find it rather delightful. I usually never comment but when something seems off I feel I must say something. In the 14th paragraph you put Edward instead of Edmund, for a moment I was exceedingly confused and wondered when the character Edward had come on the scene only to realize it was supposed to be Edmund. I dare say, I don’t think Edmund would want to be confused for a glittery vampire.
LOL. That isn’t just awkward, it was a downright error. (And now I’m going to be stabbed by Edmund for it. *bleeds*)
Thanks for pointing that out! At least one good thing came out of the sleep-deprived update — and that’s wheedling you into posting xD.
(And glad you are enjoying the story.)
Funny you should mention the sparkly vampire, as you should see this. Ahaha. Poor guy. So unloved.
And if you do happen to remember, how did you find me? I would love to know!
ROFL! Poor Edmund! I actually stumbled upon it when I was looking at Toilet Genie, the page hadn’t loaded properly and I accidentally clicked on an unloaded part of the page which happened to be for your story! At first I was like “Shoot! I didn’t mean to do that!” But then I started looking at the page properly and got sucked in and started reading and became thoroughly enthralled and fascinated by the story, and now I am hooked! Can’t wait to see what happens next, I still can’t decide who I like more, Edmund or Wolfram, because both have characteristics I like. Wolfram for his mysterious and somewhat bold behavior, and Edmund for his honesty and obvious care and his clutzy moments are so endearing. Finding your images about the characters and the little teasing moment I find nice because it adds more to the characters with those candid moments. :3
Ah – Yeah – Toilet Genie is one of my favorite reads (and a place I advertise as a result). Glad though I could suck you in. It’s hard to transition folks from webcomic to written format. These days a lot of folks aren’t really as involved in online reading unless it’s for fanfic.
I’m glad Edmund and Wolfram are coming across as different men, albeit Edmund is way younger than Wolfram xD. As for the images , glad someone else is enjoying them other than me. hehehe. I like to think of them not only as blowing off some steam (as this story still is largely more serious than what I draw obviously), but also a good way to sort of cement what I think the characters are about.
Anyways :3 back atcha.
I know what you mean. It isn’t too hard for me given that I have tried (and failed miserably) to write a few stories of my own. One of them got about 57 pages typed out before I scraped the whole thing. I transitioned to reading almost entirely books to reading manga, to reading web comics. Finding a medium that is very much like a book but updates on a regular basis is very nice because I find that having a rather large book and having gotten to certain points I find it rather daunting to want to trudge forward. Especially so when you know something horrible is going to happen. Having the daily updates leaves you riveted on the edge of your seat waiting for that next update to see what is to come. Lol, but I need to stop spamming your poor comment box and I hope that people enjoy this as much as I do <3
I’ve definitely been there before. I trashed a few of my stories about at that point (50-80 pages) and others I managed to wrestle through after doing a few odd things. Writing online is a great way to force yourself to do it, especially if you can get a few readers encouraging you to keep going. Or at least if they can encourage you enough past that uphill battle where you are trying hard to establish their voices, their motivations, and the plot that keeps them moving.
As far as what I consume, I have found that I do read a large bit of manga these days, but asyou’ve noted, some of it’s the immediacy of the format and sometimes it’s just because I’m such a visual person I really enjoy drawings. That said, I read manga more for action/comedy/romance or slice of life stories. Those tend to be more fun to follow in the graphic format for me.
Glad you are hanging in here with the format. It never occurred to me that people would find this to be novel. Guess what’s old (fanfiction.net model) is new again!
And no worries about spamming the comments. I love hearing from you guys. Knowing that you’re all waiting for the next part is what makes me get up on weekends and force myself to write and edit xD
That pimp hat cracks me up every time I look at it!
ALSO: THAT HAIR. He should totally do a shampoo commercial or something. 😀
It’s like a bad commercial. But I enjoy it so much
Yay update!! I was so last sunday when I remembered there was no update.. I love this story. I’ve never seen another site that does this although my friends and I have been attempting something similar..(and failing xc ).
aww. I hope not to have to do that much… but every once in a while life stuff happens :).
Glad you continue to enjoy the story. Roundrobins or working with other writers can be hard if you guys have a lot of characters and plot elements to juggle. I did a bunch of roundrobin fanwork with writing friends a few years ago, and we did comedic stuff that didn’t require a huge plot so that we could simply have fun writing characters doing silly things. But I also did RP stuff and that could be very tricky since you have to really work well with another writer – have the same objectives and philosophy towards writing. I don’t think writing together is always that easy, but hopefully at least you’re having fun!
I think I asked you this before – are you guys posting stuff anywhere? Like livejournal or fanfiction/mediaminer.net ? Sometimes the pressure of putting it in public makes people buckle down in their writing.
You really do deserve more comments than you’re currently getting, so I guess I’ll try to start commenting some. XD I got directed here from the webcomic Phoenix Requiem a few weeks back, and have been avidly following your updates ever since. I think I’m going to be jumpy around mentions of water in your stories for some time to come after the last couple updates. I had visions of Edmund’s horse being gobbled up by unthings as he was going to let it have a drink just now.
Hellooooo! Actually, while webcomic authors are used to tons of comments, I’ve been told that webfic is relatively quiet in comparison. Considering I also used to write extremely odd fandom pairings, I’m used to toiling in complete anonymonity xD.
That said, I think you are right to be nervous for Edmund. I think getting whacked on the head (or almost whacked) is far better than accidentally walking into something. You’re on to something 🙂
What? Why would the Count do that? I don’t doubt he has a good reason though.
🙂 You’ll find out tomorrow!
Ah, yes, I was busy worrying about the water and forgot to worry about the bridge shadows last chapter. Wolfram’s past could certainly explain why he’d get a bit irrational at the sight of someone walking into an Unthing. The guildmaster is getting steadily more creepy and sinister. Don’t think he’s being a busybody for the sake of gossip. (Though that would be rather funny, come to think of it…) XD
Indeed, Wolfram has quite a bit of baggage and perhaps a few skeletons rattling around in his boudoir. O:-) As for the guildmaster being the town gossip, … nah… that job needs to be reserved for some other folks 😉
That was certainly interesting! Can’t wait for the next bit, Edmund is turning out to be smarter than I though. ^-^
Ah yes – he’s a smart enough person with things like fighting. But when it comes to Elanore, he’s a total idiot xD.
Lol’d when Edmund smacked the Count.
Heh. I chuckled when I wrote it. It’s like watching a beautiful dance and then someone whips out a cream pie and smacks someone with it. 😀
Ohmygosh he totally should have done that! XD haha
haha! I’ll work in a cream pie somewhere into this story, yet!
Thank you so much for the punches thrown! They were beautifully timed and fit in with the fighting. In fact, the fight scene is one of the better ones I’ve seen in internet writing. Well done.
And thank you for making Edmund as smart as I hoped he’d be. 🙂
Ah yes – our heroes have to be quite equal in some ways or Elanore will leave them in the dust xD. (And as it turns out, Edmund is becoming quite a detective, much to my surprise.)
Glad you enjoyed the scene 🙂
I hate having to wait a week for updates! Still Excellent!
heh. Sorry – Too compulsive and cautious to bump up the pace. But I’m glad you’re still enjoying it 🙂
Lovely post. I loved reading the fighting scene. It can be rather difficult to make a nice fluid illustration of the dance of battle through words. The only thing that could have enhanced the battle (if you don’t mine me saying) would be to add some more details. Such as adding details like “The crack of the aged wood as it connected in a furious blow against the metal blade, the clashing of the combatants eyes as they sparked with the heat of battle.” Or even “Suddenly, the water exploded between them as The Count leaped at Edmund, his cloak billowing about him, the droplets glowing in the receding light, his face set in a dark glare at his opponent.” I think it would give the scene a bit more imagery and add just a little more to make you feel as if you are right there in the midst of it all. It’s only my opinion, but back when I wrote I tended to lack details and adding more made my friends enjoy it a lot more. (I was lucky and my friend was a good critic and editor) 🙂
Thank you for the suggestion – and the concrete example! (It’s helpful to have that illustration to consider what you’re saying.) Fight scenes as well as love scenes are things that admittedly I hate so having some feedback on how others approach them is indeed interesting.
I used to have to worst time with them too. I used to be very flat with my descriptions so they ended up being bloody boring and no one wanted to read it. Not even me when I read back through it! In order to improve it I would think of something really really boring to write about and try to describe it in as much detail possible. I even wrote about someone drinking and that is something very boring to write about unless you put a lot of detail into it. It takes a while but if you think about bringing in all the senses to a scene, what you can feel, see, smell, taste, and hear you can end up writing a few pages about something that mundane. Of course putting in too much detail you can bore the readers to death. Finding the balance is tricky, but well worth it in the end I think. I love your writing though. <3
Yeah – I think the key is deciding what senses to appeal to xD. And then there’s the inner monologue, which for me, is far more interesting than sometimes what’s going on outside.
Well done. I have recently stumbled upon this unique piece of work and I can happily say I’m thoroughly hooked. I look forward to the next update.
thank you! If you do recall how you stumbled here (and don’t mind posting), please let me know. And welcome to the legion of the “no-longer anonymous readers” 😀
I think I might have come across this site by a picture of yours on Deviantart. I happen to be a fan of good art and you are no exception. 🙂
Ah awesome! Glad to know someone is coming in through that site… What’s your DA handle?
Lovely, lovely, lovely! I had my Life catch up with me recently, so I just read several of the updates all at once. (And the artwork is wonderful – are the bookmarks still available? I’m probably way late, c’est la vie!)
As other posters have mentioned, I enjoy this style of presentation – it’s reminiscent of the early days of cinema, with the serials, which was meant to bring people back every week. I’m just grateful that it’s still here, even if I have to skip a week (or three). (Er, I’m not quite that old — and I don’t sparkle!)
Keep up the good work, and I’ll hopefully be back next week for more.
WElcome back! I do have another bookmark left, so drop me a note as the original post requested. Glad that you’re hanging in there with the format. I do wish I had this story done and all (because then I’d be riding that ebook momentum), but with life as it is this is the best method to go about writing out the things that have been rattling in my head the last few years :).
It’s funny you bring up some of the old serial formats. For me, this is more like how I used to work during my fanfiction days about 7-10 years ago. Granted, it’s a little more high stakes (as I actually made a weekly deadline for myself), but it’s good incentive to keep going.
Thanks for leaving a comment. I do appreciate them! It let’s me know people are out there reading and that I better not slack off. *dies*
I have to agree…. the more details during any scene that is pivitol the better…. Not only to make us feel like we are right there watching it… but to show case that it is pivitol ….. a fight scene or a love scene without the details is like birthday cake without ice cream, or sushi without soy sause…. good but not the best they can be…
Great story though…. I’m enjoying it so much….
Guild master kinda wants Edmund Out of the way doesn’t he?? No way he didn’t know about the agreement that keeps the guild out of certain places…. I’m just saying….. ya know??
It’s interesting how people like certain stylistic things. I definitely was more concerned about balancing words/actions/ and then sentence length to sort of get a “sound” out of the scene . (For me, I think cadence is such an overriding factor that I tend to stay away from it as when I start describing, I get a little bit long-winded. That said, I’m going to mull this for the next one and figure out how to accomplish some things that were suggested but remain brief xD.
As for Edmund… yes, I do think our guildmaster has another agenda. Granted, everyone in the town of Winchester seems to have their own agendas . heh. heh. heh.
Be careful not to get too caught up in description though. A fight scene needs to flow, and not like a river in winter. Bringing details in is important, but if there are too many people only get caught up in those. It’s alright to make readers use their imaginations to fill in some of the details. Middle ground is hard to find, but worth it. Keep up the good work.
Yeah – will keep that in mind too :). I definitely tend not to be as visual sometimes in writing because I like internal monologues more. (To be honest, I’m also not as visual as people think . While I draw and am visual in that regard, I’m more likely to focus on other people and their expressions and feelings rather than what they’re wearing or holding. It’s a perception issue on my part that sometimes plays out when I write.)
I stumbled upon your website by clicking a link on a webcomic I am reading. I absolutely love the story. I am a huge fan of historical romances and fantasy fiction and this just seems to have it all. Great work, I can’t wait for the next update!
Helloooooo there then! I’m glad you are finding this right up your alley. What webcomic were you reading, btw? I would love to know which ones so I can mark down potential places to advertise. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and see you next update 🙂
Got my stickers and book mark last night. Thanks so much!
ah, you’re welcome! 😀
Beautiful writing! I just read it all today after stumbling across your link from The Dreamland Chronicles. I love the character development; it’s so suspenseful and intriguing. I can’t wait to read more!
I’m glad someone surfed on over from TDC to say hello :D. Thanks for leaving a comment as well. I’m glad you’re enjoying the story 🙂
How do I keep managing to miss the updates on the first day?! Curse my school work!
I loved this chapter. The fight between Edmund and the Count was amusing.
If it helps, you might want to use the RSS feature? Otherwise it’ll update on Sundays with intermittent art posts on other days 🙂
Speaking of which, I will have another update in the next hour posted 🙂
Is it really a cold? Or did the Count do something to him?
Ahh, good question… it will be answered shortly :>
Your vagueness both frustrates and intrigues me…
aww. It will get sorted out two chapters from now. Some of the questions you guys have are very much the same questions that others have too 🙂
Wait did I miss a chapter somewhere? Where did my fight go? ^^;;
I guess you found it 🙂
There we go, that’s the chapter I forgot to read. ^^v Good stuff, and over too soon, the fight was. ^^
Hm. Interesting that everyone seems to like action. That is something I will have to think about down the line. I do tend to prefer more Austenian type devices, so there will be more character study/slice of life for a while yet.
Ah, poor Edmund, all muddled up and out of commission. Looking forward to next chapter!
thanks! Yeah, *kicks Edmund a bit more to make sure he stays asleep for a while*
Evil chuckles…. I think I sense where this might be going, but I shall say nothing… If I’m right it could spoil things for everyone…. myself included….
LOL. Good good. You’ll have to tell me later how much you guessed. You might not be able to resolve it next chapter but the one right afterwards. I promised we will have a bit more time with Elanore next chapter…
I wish I could. I’ve always wanted to visit some of the US cons, but I can’t see myself flying there anytime soon as I still have the monthly payments for my car and a ticket to the US is terribly expensive here — current pay at work is not helping much either, but I love what I do so I can’t really complain xD (I live in Brunei in case you’re wondering). Hope you’ll run into some of your readers and have fun 🙂
Yeah, that would be cool to find a reader or two in the mix, but we’ll see! I think the last convention was a fluke … more due to it being local and having cross-traffic from my Deviantart site.
That’s pretty cool that you’re reading this in Brunei :D. Most readers appear to be highly concentrated in the U.S., with some folks in Canada. Haven’t had too many folks outside N.America pop up…
I find it odd that Edmund got cold so quickly. I doubt that it was only the water. It could either be the time he touched the statue or the time he held the Count’s stick. Hmm…sounds like something magicky going on :/
And impressive fighting by Edmund back at the creek. I had half-expected Max to win (oh, I bet he’d whack me with his stick for the nickname XD ), but then that would’ve been too easy — unless he held back?
I think the fight’s outcome actually is not as significant as people are taking it to be.
Edmund is a hunter and battles with creatures regularly. (We don’t know the extent of this training but only know he’s been away many summers further north.) His ability to read the flow of battle and defend himself should be heightened. He’s young. He’s active. And he has competition from guildmembers to keep these skills up.
Wolfram… perhaps people expect his age and presumed experience to give him the clear advantage, but one has to keep in mind that his goal may not have been to beat the crap out of Edmund (or kill him) but to deal with a pest . The level of experience he has as a fighter also hasn’t been established by me . Still haven’t finished fleshing out his past for all of you, but what we know about him needs to be assessed carefully. (Mind you, his training early on was as a ranger, not a hunter — which means slightly different things. Where he goes from the point we left him the past may surprise some folks and reshape what they expect out of him in the present after I drop that next large chapter in.)
But back to the fight– Philosophically speaking, I’m not sure that Edmund really “won” . (What is “winning” anyways if you walk away ill, and your opponent is unharmed and ready to come at you again another day? 😀 😀 :D)
At best, he pushed back and became aware of a misunderstanding that existed and precipitated the attack. At best, he walked away, although I’m not sure that he left unscathed.
That said, regarding Edmund and his getting cold quickly– yes – it is odd.
This was an excellent chapter, I love the suspense that is left making you wonder about many different things and leave you plenty to mull over until the next chapter comes to illuminate the possible reasoning for things. It is rather odd that Edmund got so ill after the instance with the Lion and that only seemed to be heightened by his battle with Wolfram. Although there is so much more than his sudden illness to think of: Why was Wolfram out there in the first place? Why has the Guild Leader kept Edmund in the dark about the agreement to stay off Wolfram’s land? What does the Guild Leader have against Eleanor’s Grandmother? What kind of reaction can we expect from the Guild Leader meeting Eleanor? What kind of sickness could have taken Edmund like that? What did the Guild Leader give Edmund to make him sleep?
More so than what is happening with Edmund or Wolfram I want to know more about this Guild Leader fellow… and I have a small guess that he might be the next male to fall prey to Eleanor’s good looks. We shall see, we shall see.
ah ha. I dare not answer your questions here, as some things will be answered in Chapter 9 and 10 :> . Glad you are enjoying this though. I think the next two chapters will be less about questions/answers than more focusing on the interactions of various personages. (It wasn’t necessarily my intent to go that way, but Elanore is a very chatty girl and I can’t make her stop talking. xD)
Sigh! The last one! Now I will have to wait.
This is a very good story. It has drawn me in and leaves me wanting more.
Thank you! I’m glad you are enjoying it.
My apologies – I realize how short it is in rereading it again this morning xD, but believe me when I say it takes a week to obsess over things that I do not quite know if I want to commit to paper.
Yay new post! That’s interesting to get more exact details on the local population.
Ha – Not sure if the exact details are important, but Elanore certainly needs to figure out what’s going on… or at least be clued in a little more to who is there and why.
Now I’m wondering when the wolf will come over to the grandmother’s house….and have apple pie. ^^v
Haha. xD Nooooope.
Don’t think of me as nit picking, but apples are ripe in the fall – not the spring.
Nah that’s okay. She should have been talking about fruit — both traded and locally acquired. I think I edited it to remove that allusion, but if you see something else, let me know. Thanks!
Yay! A friendly cliff hanger…. I really enjoy them a lot…. it allows my mind to speculate in all sorts of happy ways….
Ah, yeah – just need to make sure you guys feel a lack of completion just mild enough to come back next week, and yet not kill me 😀
The suspense is unbearable!
You always do this to us!
xD It’s a suspense story. I can’t help it! 😀
WHAT DOES THE STONE DO????????
That question will now torture me indefinitely.
Thanks.
I love the sound of sarcasm in the evening ^^
Im starting to miss the Count already. Is that weird? 🙂
haha, not surprised at all. I’ll give you guys a treat this week to make up for his absence.
Picture?
I’ll try, but it won’t be like the pinup :3
Not indefinitely :). It will be a few chapters yet, but you’ll see one answer from someone else.
However, there are two broad hints out there already about stones and their properties — one is in a previous chapter and this one (Evelyn used it), and the second you can see in one of the drawings.
GAH. Stone mysterious stone. And Elanore’s mother, gave up the hood? I want to know more D:
Yup. Taking note of your interests and such. The stone is key, the hood… maybe less so at the moment, but more will come out 🙂
This is probably the biggest hint today, but the red hood comes with a particular lifestyle that Elanore’s mother could not choose.
How dare you give such a tantalizing hint, haha, I can’t wait for more.
Eventually Elanore will also have to decide what to do about the hood herself, but not for some time 😉
Finally caught up! The story so far is excellent, I love retellings of fairy tales. This one is interesting because it combines several and has a very unique view on them. (Whaddya mean the wolf isn’t a wolf!)
Too many mysteries though. Which is good (because it makes me want to read more) and bad (because it makes me want to know now). (I like to complain about stuff I like. Don’t take it the wrong way.) So… I’m guessing “hood” is a reference to… witchcraft? Somehow that’s the feeling I got.
I’m looking forward to reading more! I’m going to check out the other… wenches… do you enjoy using that word to describe yourselves?
Welcome to the madness! Glad you are enjoying so far. If you recall, how long did it take you to catch up? I’m trying to understand the experience for readers that are generally new, so I have some idea as to how to handle meta-summaries (likely to come in after Chapter 10).
Not all mysteries will linger. The personal ones will be resolved as the opportunities present themselves (or as I force the opportunities on the characters hehe), but the political ones will take much longer to sort themselves out. I’ll try to find an appropriate balance on what to hold and what to let go of as I really don’t want to keep too many of these on deck. (I have a little book I have to keep now to track some of these questions, and believe me, it is difficult to keep adding to this list without taking stuff off 🙂 ).
As for the wenches title – it was something the creator of Suzy’s Box came up with. She’s pretty funny… and the name provoked such an interesting response that I guess we’re keeping it xD
Sorry, I didn’t really keep track of how long it took me to read… I think it took a couples of weeks overall, but I didn’t read every single night either…
That doesn’t help much, does it?
No, it’s helpful to know how someone tends to experience the story. There tends to be a lot of curiousity about readers of serial fiction and their preferred reading habits. Some really like to read everything at once (and for those authors who are publishing a complete work serially, it’s for these audiences they will gamble on putting an ebook out at the same time for purchase). However, there are some people (undefined number) that seem to be okay with the pacing (because it’s hard to digest a lot of stuff at once or they don’t have the time). My asking is really to see what happens when new folks walk in. The folks who have been here since the beginning are pretty much forced to just put up with me week to week (at one point I was even considering biweekly), but others coming in now have a choice.
Anyways, that’s a bunch of rambling totally not related to the writing, but the platform. Thanks for answering the question! I’m sure others (besides myself)will find this response interesting 🙂
D: I want to know what the stooooooone doooooooooooooes *feels five again*
No but seriously, exellent chapter 😀 It must have been hard raising Evlyn as a child, kinda like Elanore
Oh and one more thing… TYPO D:
“Even with no one here to replace you at yourr post….” Yeah sorry *grammar nerd*
No problem. Thanks for catching that typo!
As for the stone, yup, someone else remembers something important about another stone. Another good observation 😉
Above person is not alone in beginning to miss the count. ^^
He’s just stomping around, not doing anything interesting. That said, I’ll probably doodle something for him to keep the fangirls happy xD
Ahh it seems that another stone very much like the Count used to ward off the Unthings has reached the surface, and in the hands of young Elanor. Still nothing to quench the thirst of my ravenous curiosity about the Guild Master. I am eager to know more about just what the hood is about but it seems rather trivial, except for the fact that they have mentioned several times that her mother used to wear it, and that the Count had once tried to court her mother. (I believe they had left a small bit of bread crumbs to lead us to that conclusion.) That would explain his need and want to chase her and why he took such interest into her. Curiouser, and curiouser….
Close, but should mention the Count has -not- encountered any other Winchester denizen. He has avoided the townspeople at all costs.
So we have a stone of Light Bringing, and a stone of Direction Finding?? Would that be the best way to describe them so far?? Or should I go far more simplistical and call them stones of protection and leave it go at that??
Hmm. No. It’s not that mechanistic. There are specific and unique properties to the types of stones they hold, but I can’t comment fully on the stone that Wolfram holds yet. The explanation is forthcoming, but on hold because I’ve pushed the continuation of the past timeline story with Wolfram off until after the next two chapters conclude.
Elanore’s stone is /has not been used fully or according to its design and is not the same in property as Wolfram’s stone. More insight will come to light (no pun intended) slowly through the eyes of other characters and as Elanore begins to learn things about it.
New reader, loving the stories!! I finished them in two days, but then, I’m a rather fast reader. 🙂 I can’t wait for more!!!
*wave* That is pretty fast! Glad you’re enjoying them 🙂
Sorry that I’ve been absent for a while. Let me say that your new chapter is refreshingly homey. You write a scene between a grandmother and her granddaughter well. Anyone who’s spent time with their grandma as an adult knows the polite clash of wills that occurred here. Well done.
I would like to have a bit more of the family ties explained. I understand how everyone is related, but I think there is a valid point in taking time to explore how Eleanor feels and relates towards her mother and father. She obviously interacts well with her grandmother, despite the interval between visits. Just me putting my oar in. Ignore as you will.
Thank you for the update! It is, per usual, quite an enjoyable read.
Mmmm. I think that’s an interesting sort of comment. I’ll have to think about how it may be appropriate to bring those kinds of reflections in. There aren’t any general issues to expand on as o, yet, although some more information on Evelyn is forthcoming next week and then somewhere again in the next chapter. (It’s roughly almost done, but the length is pretty crazy and so with editing, it may be another few weeks before another thing sort of unfolds itself and makes you guys all nuts xD ).
If there is something to say though about adult “battles” — most of them often are more like the ones you see in this chapter. As you have noted, people generally have strong opinions about other people and what they should do, be, act, think, etc. In that sense, I think I”m more Jane Austen right now than traditional fantasy xD. Anyways, glad you’re back…. no worries about commenting week to week though. As long as I know you guys are lurking, I keep dutifully typing at my machine xD.
This is probably the most comments I’ve ever seen on a page. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in my reaction of wanting to flail around while waiting for more answers.
Yeah – ignoring mine, this is the most from readers after the testosterone battle a few weeks ago 🙂 As for flailing, FLAILLLLLLLLLL 😀
A lucky thing for me to be a new reader and to find your story just before an update.
I find it to be quite well done so far. It is quite refreshing to see an author who’s learning the characters as they arrive in type. Makes the learning curve for a new reader not seem quite so steep when spending a few hours clicking through the updates.
Hello there and thanks for the comment! Based on what you mentioned, are you currently reading other stories or viewing webcomics? Also did you read this in one or more sittings?
Reading other comics/stories? Oh gods yes, probably too many of them at once to keep track of what’s going on. I read a few, catch up on the archives, find another.. a vicious cycle, truly.
It took just one setting, I found your story around 6am today and posted my comment just after finishing.
LOL. With so many things to read, indeed – see why you’d be up to 6am. Very interesting though. I’d be interested to know what you are reading and viewing. Recommendations are always appreciated.
Woo, First!!
Had to be done..
A wonderful chapter and lovely cliffhanger to get me through the week.
Now that’s a first – someone who seems to enjoy cliffhangers :).
pirates. spies. tales. This story has everything!!! I’m really excited for next week….
Not quite everything. There will be no ninjas :>
No ninjas! Shocking! 😉
I’ll try to restrain my grief and hope for cowboys instead.
LOL. Well, at least I had unicorns (vaguely referenced). What else are we missing 🙂
Sure there are ninjas, there are always ninjas, we just don’t see them.
Ah true. In that case, there are thousands of leet ninjas already in the story xD
Gahh…. excellent chapter, with a nice cliff hanger ending!! I didn’t even notice, what’s your update schedule? Soon, I hope!!!
(Waiting for creampuffs…) I update the text on Sundays (at least so far xD) at 5pm EST. If there are any miscellaneous art/announcements, those go up on Wednesdays :).
The sudden POV shift (from Elanore to her grandma) was a little disorienting. But I did love that the guildmaster was described as….. pretty much like Aoshi (facepalm), by Elanore. ^^;;
Yeah – I did break pattern here. I’ll think about the shift (grandma->elanore->grandma ) later.
Guildmaster isn’t an Aoshi type though o_o. I wouldn’t give him that much credit!
Actually, I enjoy a good cliff hanger too. and this is a great one… imo
But the guild master wanted Elanore’s mother for his own, and didn’t succeed in his quest and now is a bitter and nasty…. Not very original… oh great puppetmaster…. so new sins on this very old theme are being looked for…. Or I will start tossing Egg Creams at you…. 😉
Cream puffs! Not egg creams 🙂
You are an evil man. Cliffhangers right before a good story in a story. Damn you Puppet Master!!
A very sweet moment to warm the chill in the air, 35 outside here as we speak… spring in Texas.. I love it…
good gracious, when Texas is chillier than over here, that’s just weird.
As for the moment. hrmhrhrmrmrhrmrhrm *whistles*
YOU GO ED! ^^v
lol.
haha! At least someone’s rooting for him. v
lol seconded.
at this point I don’t have a favorite. but Ed sure does. 😛
x) Yes, yes, I think so, although Elanore does not xD
It feels like there’s some kind of weird parallel between Elanore and her mommy…I’m pulling for The Count!!
I hope not, but we’ll have to see what plays out :[
Facebook for sure
Hm. I’m wondering if it’s used enough by regular readers to merit setting up some kind of fun mini contest through there. Will think on this some more. Thanks for leaving feedback! 🙂
Very interesting chapter, thanks for the update! As for your question, personally I have both Twitter and Facebook, but I actually watch Twitter more.
Hmm. Thanks for the feedback. You seem to be one of the rare ones 🙂
(sulks for lack of more stuff from Ed….)
*pat pat* Don’t worry.
I’m on Facebook, but not that much.
Yeah – discovering this may be true for lots of folks! Do you use any social networks and what and how much?
I took a couple or so weeks off to let you get ahead of me so I’d have a little bit to catch up with. I’m thoroughly enjoying this story.
Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome ! 🙂
Thank you for having more of Edmund! I’m afraid that I’m a bit of a more practical and down to earth person, so I enjoy his personality. But, as to the story, I’m enjoying seeing how you develop her relationships with people as she reenters this town as an adult. Having done a lot of travel myself, it is difficult to return to a childhood home and try to reconnect with people, even if you were close. Because, after all, you have all been changed by your different experiences. Thank you for addressing this in your story, even if it’s not intentional.
I love the bits with his mum. She has the perfect reactions, especially the biscuit!
I’m glad there is more Edmund appreciation <3.
Glad though that you're finding these small conversations interesting. I do realize that exploring interactions can be hard for those who prefer straight out action-fantasy stories, but I love characters so will meander a bit here and there. Thanks for your patience and glad you are finding something to relate to in this chapter 🙂
I use facespace if you feel like using that 😀
Aka: Facebook
Hmm. Not a lot of regulars seem to, so will wait and see if I can find some other ways to do some fun treasure hunts …
Wait… TREASURE HUNT!? *feels eight years old again* ohhhh we have to get this to wooooooooooork 😀
It seems like folks are spread out in different places so I may try it again later with a slightly better incentive than bookmarks. I’ll wait, however, for all of you to finish up with your studies for the semester first 🙂
Interesting character and relationship you’ve set up regarding Edmund. He feels like a proxy for us, the readers, but his own feelings toward Elanore and the role he’ll likely play as one leg of a love triangle leave enough ambiguity to make him complex.
No facebook or Twitter, but it feels inevitable that I will someday. Privacy concerns be darned…
I hear you — I myself guard my FB pretty zealously, but did want to think about interacting with people through that mechanism if a good portion of the regular readers use that. I’ve found that one or two people recommending the story (through ‘likes’ or sharing it) does help refer people this way. And with so much of the regular population using FB to help them find content it’s not something I can ignore.
Thanks though for venturing out of your private shell to leave a comment! Edmund definitely is a sensible, thoughtful person who probably is the most like the reader, as you noted. He has no special knowledge like the reader, and to some extent has become the “detective” in this story xD. At least for now… 🙂
This is a lovely way to wind down before my last AP test tomorrow ^^ But now I’m all full of questions. haha 😛
Oh gosh, I hope you do well on the test. Or I’m going to get blamed xD. Hm – I guess my efforts to answer questions always bring more questions hehehe. Although hopefully the questions are the same that the characters want to know, which given their nature, means eventually they’ll find out the answers 🙂
The plot thickens…and just about everyone has become far more interesting. Except that biscuit. It needs a bigger role in all this. 😛
The biscuit unfortunately was destroyed, so it can’t do much. Except crumble 😀
I really enjoy this story. and love the sparks that are flaring up with Edmund, and Elanore, I can see why the count is reacting the way he does; even if he doesn’t understand it himself yet.
I use Face Book, and am happy to “like” you there.
Haha, glad that someone else enjoys Ed/Elanore moments. I really like playing with them overall.
I haven’t decided whether to bother with a direct FB fan page or not. I think the way things are distributed right now people seem not to be all that into it over there. (Rather I may have to use the FB fan page for my friends who otherwise don’t watch sites outside FB and alert them to updates on other websites.)
I just started reading this, and love it so far!
For the record since you asked, I follow both facebook and twitter, but facebook more often.
That’s great! Thank you for dropping me a comment and letting me know that you’re out there. I’m thinking about how to use Facebook to improve some of the communication and also help share the story with others. If you have ideas or anything , let me know.
If you also happen to recall how you found this story, could you let me know? I want to know how/where to focus my ads and such. THanks!
I think most of the sites I follow on Facebook use it as a way to connect with fans and tell them about updates.
I found the link to your site off of the web comic Red String.
ah good to know. thanks!
I don’t think I can wait two weeks! But I also think it would be better for the story if you did, otherwise it would probably be broken in odd places. I vote heavy installment!
IT’s alright, will do a post this week and then break only a week if all goes well 🙂
Another red-hooded one, perhaps? Mm, maybe maybe. I keep changing my mind on whether I’d prefer a short update quicker or a longer one later. Which way would the story read better?
Hm. The answer to who/what is behind Elanore will have to wait. I will post this week,although I would have probably liked to have waited xD.
lovely, as always, perfectly balancing warm fuzzies with ominous cloaked figures.
I don’t know how i’ll survive two weeks without an update, but it seems like the best way to go!
I do have a tendency to react to smushy scenes with “DUN DUN DUN” moments. I can’t help it! (And yes, decided to go ahead and update Sunday.)
Short break! I couldn’t bear to wait!!
DUN DUN DUN.
I don’t really have a preferance for the update schedual. Whatever you prefer, I guess.
That sound effect is now stuck in my head. DUN DUN DUN
Love Elanore again misreading Edmund and assuming she looks a fool for demanding to be treated as a woman and then acting like a child. I think the entire town will understand what’s going on before she does… meanwhile, is that a wolf escorting Little Red? We’ll see when you’re ready. No rush.
Yes, Elanore is still sometimes very much a girl. And a blockhead xD. No comment on the last portion of your question as I will answer it Sunday. (Decided to just go ahead and start and let you all stew one week with questions xD)
The only thing I can say is…. I envy your readership. ^^;;
Yes, they keep me honest and posting. And here I was thinking I was going to let everyone sit in a cliffhanger for two weeks, but I’ll do my best to just keep it one now. I just need to make the next week and a half very productive so I can keep a little bit more space between where I’m writing and what is being posted (and having time to do more than a cursory edit on my drafts).
Stalker!
I don’t know if the hooded figure will appreciate being called that xD
OMG I’m dying to know what happens next!
Uhoh. You’re going to kill me on Sunday xD
Short break, also. But do what you’re comfortable with!
just one word…….
Ooooooooo!!!!
Hmmmmm.
I’ve been following this story for quite sometime already and wasn’t able to leave a comment til now… sorry about that, I forgot my manners when it’s the least I can do to show how much I love and was enjoying this story… I love Edmund for his character and I love the Count for his mystery.
I like how the ‘biscuit’ scene made a funny and refreshing break from the monotony of the conversations, not that I don’t like those exchange cause I find them important in the flow of character and plot development, but it is a wise way to keep to refreshing the readers interest to the story… Thanks for such great story that’s truly worth my time reading…
Ah yes, and without that biscuit who knows what might have happened? 😀
Thank you for leaving me a comment, I do appreciate hearing from the lurking folks out there… and particularly those from abroad 😀
I am actually a follower of some of your fics at fanfiction.net and had always admired the style of your writing, so here I am on a new thread of yours….
that’s great to know! It had been so long I did anything on ff.net that I worried about posting the links to this site from there. I’m glad you are reading 🙂
I’m a new reader; I was linked here from a banner on another site. This is fantastic! It’s a little like the graphic novel Fables, in the concept of retelling fairy stories, and in the talent behind the project. You are really deft with what you reveal when, and it’s completely fascinating and engaging and frustrating, and I just want to know what happens! 🙂
Anyway, looking forward to the next update 🙂
Ah ha! I only recently became aware of Fables because of Mark Buckingham, who used to ink my favorite penciler from eons past (Chris Bachalo). It’s definitely an honor to be put in that same category although I guess if that’s the superhero fairytale world, mine is kind of a … well, I guess we’ll see xD. I still like to insist that I’m doing a Jane Austen version of fairytale/fantasy. If you do recall what site you saw the banner at and could let me know, that’d be great. I have consolidated advertising but keep a few random campaigns going through Project Wonderful and am always wondering how people get here. Glad you’re enjoying the story thus far!
PS – just updated :3
I was at Wapsi Square, I think, when I saw your banner. 🙂 And I do think this is a much more literary approach, which appeals to my little writer heart. 🙂
I’m off to read the next part!
ah ha! I’ll look that site up. Thanks!
Oooooh it’s getting so good! I’m really glad for this insightful post =) It makes me like The Count (and Giles) much more.
More explaining forthcoming on these two I think…. slowly, but surely!
Wolfram is back, and more amazing than ever…this is the start of an excellent week!!
glad you enjoyed it! BUt don’t compliment him too openly, he’ll get too proud and not do what he needs to xD
Thanks so much for the update! Interesting to learn there are still elves around fairly locally – if that was clarified before I’d missed it. What a lonely life for the Count, watching generation after generation of servants pass by. I hope there’s more like Hastings who really care about him.
They are around on the peninsula, but aren’t closeby… not sure if you ever looked at the map, but they have moved far beyond the current roads on the map.
And yes, the Count is pretty isolated. Giles and Hastings are the only constant now, compared to what he had before in the past.
Oooh! I love it when you get back to the Count! He’s such an interesting character–and what happened to Giles?
Waiting with baited breath 🙂
🙂 No fear, Giles shall appear!
(I swear, I envy your readership (sigh).)
I keep wondering why you don’t call him Max, though. ^^
max just doesn’t sound epic enough for this guy…think about it, the coolest literary guys ever were counts!
Count Max? 🙂 My brain can’t handle the juxtaposition haha
LOL. Max perhaps in alternate universe or when he’s really young and pinchable, but some people really do not otherwise like their names shortened!
Just started reading and I love it all so far.
I’m glad! It’s good to know that people are out there enjoying it . As I said before, knowing readers are out there keeps me going!
Love it 🙂
thank you!
Ahh for some reason my brain decided to tell me that you update on Wednesdays O_o I got the chapter late! Who is it that updates on Wednesdays…
So many stories, so little time!!
But it’s great so far – or still, I should say, as we’re a little farther in now – and I’m glad to be reading more of the Count’s affected musings ^^
LOL. Wednesdays is Suzy’s Box. The other two stories shifted to Thursdays and Fridays. I also sometimes update art stuff on Wednesdays… if you use any RSS alert features or want an email alert, you can use the “Subscribe” feature up top. I’ve changed it so that folks who don’t use Google Reader or some kind of subscription based web browser can simply get an email.
Hopefully this chapter will unravel things a bit more.
I like this chapter…. the relationship between the master and manservant was elaborated more… somehow this chapter made me empathize with the Count’s loneliness all those years living while things around him changed and passed. I felt like something pricked my heart just reading between the lines of his musings while he was at the watchtower looking out on everything. With that said, I’m very much looking forward for the next update…
I agree! It is nice that we can now empathize with the Count on some level. His background helps explain him, but it’s been difficult to connect with him as a character (besides the fact that of course he’s dark and mysterious and no woman can really resist that combo).
It also gives depth to some of the minor characters, which is just as important as having well rounded main characters. After all, a world is made up of everyone, not just the people that we know personally.
Thanks and well done.
Yeah – the balance of what to show and tell and what not to is hard to think through while writing this serially. IT’s one of those things that when I finish I’d like to think through and rebalance…(there are other things that need balancing in the long-form compiled format too, but I’ll deal with those later after I finish and think through the work as a whole).
I’m glad though that you’re both enjoying the additional exposition or insight into his character!
SO EXCITED for the next update 🙂
whew. And it will be forthcoming as planned. Wasn’t quite sure but things are slowly settling…
Another wonderful addition to the story. Looking forward to more from the Count and all others.
cool 🙂 thanks!
Wolfram: *I’m too sexy for my cape, too sexy for my cape…*
Bonus insight from Elanore: He’s so gorgeous….*inner flail*
Ok, I don’t think either of these characters are like this. But Wolfram looks so self-confident and just a bit like he’s leering, so this is what went through my head. I hope the post just makes you chuckle. Please don’t take it seriously. The art is well done, and I’m not trying to smear the artist in any way.
He does look like he’s a little vain. xD
And no offense taken. (I’m the artist too xP)
Count wolfram: “Your jealously is amusing, huntsman.”
I can’t help but think the count would be amused and smirk at Edmund’s discomfort at them being so close. XD I feel like we are seeing them from Edmund’s eyes, he more menancing and her more fragile.
What an insightful comment! I do think Edmund might completely agree with your statements xD
I actually had two different reactions to what the Count might be thinking here, dependent on whose point of view this is perceived through.
If Edmund were viewing this scene, the Count might be thinking: “Even with the ears out, she still like me better, hunter.”
If an Unthing were viewing this scene, however, the Count might think: “Now, like we practiced; focus, breathe, and attack.”
Those were my thoughts on it, anyhow.
Both excellent thoughts :). Perhaps prescient xD
I liked how Mr. Wolfman grinned at the end of Suzy’s comic. ^^v
Me too! Although to be honest, the Wolf is absolutely fine. He has enough fangirls. IT’s Edmund I worry about!
“Little Red Riding Hood, you sure are looking good. You’re everything a Big Bad Wolf could want. *Howl*”
I found an odd one attached to a Tex Avery naughtly Little Red Riding Hood short. Thought it was pretty funny. Thanks for this link though! Much better sound quality 🙂
No. I think of that song almost every time I read this. And then I grin a little bit when something that happens either matches the song perfectly, or relates to it in some way. I love it even more now that I know it’s unintentional!
this has been one of the best parts of the past two weeks. I never knew Giles was so nifty. probably one of the funnest updates in a while. 😀
Giles has always been a sassy man. I enjoy writing him. I also enjoy what I have planned for him xD.
Glad you enjoyed this update… starting to finally dig down and peel away at everyone!
Hahahaha. I’m inclined to rather like Giles a lot more now.
Everyone likes snarky people, apparently 🙂
Agreed, Giles was quite interesting here. And Ed is being rather weird again, aye? ^^v
Ed would insist he’s doing nothing weird. This is occurring the same day or so as Ed/Elanore interactions so he’s probably somewhere between sleep, the kitchen, and getting his hair hacked at the moment.
What would a giant house be without secret passages? Is Wolfram Batman now?
I digress…
Giles is quite like able now, nothing screams ‘family’ like someone sicking bears on people.
Nah. Maybe his grandfather was. :p
Actually the passageways above ground aren’t really all that new or secret. Elanore was dragged through part of it earlier. What the study leads to, I guess is open for speculation.
And yeah – Giles is probably the kind of cousin or uncle one wishes they had, except when they really do sic bears on people D:
Ok, I’m officially a Giles fan. I hoped we’d get back to him just because he seemed so snarky, but you far surpassed my hopes. Yeah for family joining together in hopeless circumstances!
My only negative comment here is that it does feel a bit batman-ish to have the secret room, etc. However, given the time period this is written in it makes perfect sense.
The study isn’t really secret, but the cave and other things underneath are. As for being Batman, well, thankfully no need for costumes in this universe. Unless they’re weird.
Below ground, well – the analogy to Batman’s caves might take folks down an unintended rabbit hole — if anything the caves and tunnels are there for a rather mundane reason, but will be explained later. But there aren’t any superhero gadgets down there. I promise.
Ah, more on the Guild and on Edmund. Very good.
Loved the bit about taking the elven books home for his mother.
Ah ha! Yes, I am looking forward to unpacking these a bit more in upcoming chapters. Thanks for letting me know this kind of stuff floats your boat 🙂
Hmm…
I think it might be like this…
Count: “Don’t be shy, Elanore. Come closer…I won’t bite.”
Or on a more serious note if they were out practicing: “Don’t tell me you’re scared already, Miss Redley.”
“Why, don’t you look good enough to eat?”
(also) Elanore: “My! What big ears you have, Count!”
Count: “The better to hear you, my dear!”
Slightly more than one line. But I love the picture.
Blehhh i hate being so curious 😛 I have to know what happens next!!
haha, glad to hear that. At least there will be someone back here next week x)
Oh snap, there are other Wolfram cousins who can do other nifty things! But what’s this about giles’s bloodline being purer than the Count’s? Nobody is awesomer than him!
lol that’s what I was thinking!
Wolfram’s mom and dad have a backhistory that I want to write later. It’s largely through her line that his bloodline became somewhat exotic.
I don’t know who I like better anymore, Giles or the Count. The Count was winning, but Giles is getting more and more interesting…
I can’t wait for the next bit!
Giles likes all of you back. Especially the women xD
Now I want to meet more of the Wolfram family.
If all goes as they plan, you guys will see more of them. Exactly when/how/why well… we’ll see!
An excellent chapter, as always 😀
I’m really curious to see what happens XD
GAHH Why do you do this to us? 😛
… Plus to see the look on Edmund’s face when he learns that the Count has taken an interest in Elanore 😀
Oh, he already saw the Count pull something much earlier… so the thought is already there in his mind. Edmund will have his own problems to deal with shortly 🙂
I agree with Marcus. Bring on more of the Wolfram Family!!!
As for Giles acting as message bearer… that should prove to be interesting to see.
Giles definitely has the potential to cause trouble, but sometimes he’s all talk or easily thwarted :). We’ll see.
Le Count going all tsundere and such, so cute. ^^v
Your comment has made him sulk in a corner. (Anything but cute Dx)
I am really enjoying your work so far, but I wonder how does one have impossibly brown hair?
heh. I think it’s more of a statement that the hair was not golden-brown, red-brown, but plain jane brown with no highlights, no pretensions at being anything but middling xD.
But I will think on that some more . When I get to compilation and editing I may decide to use a different way to describe it…
Just a heads up you’ve got a bit of a continuity error: you kinda made a big point in the early chapters to note how the snow covered Eleanor’s footprints, but then in this chapter they are still visible enough for the Guildmaster to see she was running. That really stuck out as odd to me.
Hi Zephyr – I’ll have to go and look how I explain this … Giles initially left town before the snows picked up. He left shortly after carrying Elanore and Hastings to town. Although I don’t explain it specifically – the sequence of inspection was
Count (up to bridge only) early morning, Giles (actually on and off the road beyond the bridge) (later morning), Edmund and the Guildmaster (later afternoon).
I’ll have to look at exactly to what degree I stated that the tracks were covered in the very first evening/morning of events (the Count’s assessment specifically), but hopefully in answering it addresses some of the confusion. The timing of chapters sometimes is not strictly chronological which I think does create some confusion.
Welcome btw to “the dark side of the commenting crew” and thanks for pointing this out.
Is “E.S.” supposed to mean something, out of story? I notice that you make a number of references to stories (such as the Swan Queen). I’ve been beating my head against the wall trying to figure it out. I don’t even need to know who “E.S.” is, just is it significant?
Yes, it is a set of initials that belongs to the author of the tome that Wolfram and his grandfather referenced. It won’t be explained here in this arc. I am planning to cover it in the immediate arc that follows this one (that will talk more largely about the Swan Queen). The other story references are (currently) notes on paper to other short or novella length works I want to write. The “Sleeping Prince” reference is another unfinished work . THanks for asking!
Ok, my brain basically works like a tv about 90% of the time. So when the Count starts talking about how he was doing his best “Giles impression”, I choked on my water. It was the funniest thing that had been in my head all week! And that is saying something because I work with 2nd graders.
Oh, and I’m officially in love with Giles. 🙂
I’m enjoying the imagery of water spewing everywhere. (I too, have taught little kids, so I find things like this kind of funny. Okay, I digress.)
Glad everyone is liking Giles. I like him. Except sometimes when I think he is a little too full of his manly self. -_-
If this was an actual book, I’d buy it in a heartbeat, but there’s something special about waiting that makes me appreciate each chapter.
And I love Giles! I imagine him looking like the Dread Pirate Roberts (without the mask), making all the women swoon shamelessly.
WESSSSSLLLLEEEEYYY. (I, too, love “The Princess Bride”!) In fact, Giles has the lovely beard and blonde looks of DPR. Very much so. (He’s kind of Errol Flynn in a way as well.)
I’m glad you are enjoying that much! Thank you for the compliment. Hopefully someday I’ll actually be able to turn the stuff from this corner of the web into a book and then a few more books :). But like you, it’s just kind of fun unpacking this slowly. Just as you guys kind of have fun with the “what is going to happen this week” question, I’m having a lot of fun with exploring some of the characters in a more leisurely way.
I just found your site and wanted to let you know how much I’m enjoying the story. I look forward to your updates and seeing how it progresses.
thank you! Glad to always hear from new readers and always appreciate when they delurk :).
This is how small town rumors get started..
Yes. Particularly by bored old ladies >_>
Ah yes, the culture change within a country. haha
Also, must agree that I can’t wait for the gossip to begin.
I guess everyone likes a little bit of excitement. 🙂
I suspect it wasn’t intentional, but seeing a Mrs. Reyes in the area made me wonder if you have Pinoys or Latinos in this story. ^^;
Old ladies are universal in all cultures. ^_^
Ahh The Rumors and gossip this is going to start are going to be epic. Hehehehe
Yes, yes…. so many stories to confuse everyone!
Wow! The Count is being quite social, albeit in a roundabout kind of way. Still, it’s a start to him being even more awesome!
Speaking of awesome people, who is this northern lady? Any woman who can make Giles back off is a woman I want to hear more of!
Yes, with a little help from the less isolated and more socially inclined, I might add. The lady will definitely become an annoying presence as far as Giles is concerned… (in fact, one might argue she exists just to frustrate him.)
Good lord that’s my kinda girl!
Ooooh, a date! And the pretty ice lady is showing up! ^^v
Hmm. Yes, she’s rather frosty and weird… And yup, Elanore and the Count will reunite more or less next chapter. (Of course, there is the matter of the grandmother also crashing the party…)
No idea who the mystery lady is but I like her already.
Oh I do too, as bitchy as she is so far. 🙂
Have I mentioned lately how much I am enjoying this story?? 😀 🙂 😉
Aw shucks! I’m glad you are! I really do appreciate how quickly some of you jump in and let me know you’ve finished each installment! Keeps me pushing forward each week to work out the next one xD
You’ve misused the word “doffing”. See the dictionary. I think “donning” is the word you want, but check the dictionary for that also. IIRC, doffing clothing is taking it off, not putting it on.
Otherwise, a good episode, as usual.
Eek, yeah – it’s donning (on) and doffing (off). Will fix. Thanks for pointing that out…
I absolutely love this series! My favorite so far has to be the count 😛 He’s such a weirdo I kinda wanna punch him in the face but ya know 😛 He’s too cute to!
Somehow “loveable… weirdo” makes me think of Gonzo. I’m not sure why, but it does x_x. Glad you are enjoying the series!
ahHAH!!! Eet Eez eh-LAIFF!!! *mad cackling*
Ok, Wolfy; how you gonna ‘splain this one?
>_> <_<
Hahaha that comment made my night…! 😛
Eeeeeeeee……! 😀
I’m going to assume this has something to do with the Count? 😛
What is this talking statue madness? Oh well, at least the Count is the leading man once again!
I have to make up for the lack of pirates and ninjas with talking statues 🙂
That was an unexpected but fun ending. I can picture the horse deciding it’s had enough right about now. XD
Haha, glad it amused. I just got a bit worried that you’d all be throwing things at me for this one.
Well at least the statue was polite and grateful? ^^v
I thought he was a bit needy, myself xD
A very nice twist. I almost wonder if the count will be as surprised.
<_< >_>
YEAH! I’m so excited that the statues get to play a part in all this. It’s also good to see that the Count can indeed interact with human beings in a semi-normal fashion.
Thank you for the update.
🙂 It’s nice to put to rest yet another little mystery I’ve been carrying around for oh, a dozen chapters. It leaves me room to make new ones xD
great ending! clearly that ‘simple’ horse had a better understanding of a situation than she did 🙂 Can’t wait to see what happens next.
Also, since this is the first time I’ve commented – really enjoying the story, and happy to have stumbled upon it.
Animals are quite smart, indeed! Welcome to the site and thanks for delurking 🙂
Excellent chapter, as always.
I really enjoyed the twist ending and I can’t wait for the next chapter XD
…. for some reason I feel like a fangirl….
*pat pat* I’ve been a fangirl of a few series myself, so don’t feel so bad. Glad you like the end of this installment. Hopefully this lion will behave so I can get the next one under control. (He keeps talking like an annoying cat.)
For some reason I lost the book mark to this website. I remembered it and had to come back. I love what I’ve seen thus for and look forward to catching up the rest of the way.
The next link doesn’t work on this page.
Ah – did you ever think about using Google Reader to keep track of updates? (Noticed you’re gmail so thought I’d suggest it.) Thanks for pointing out the non-working link! It was pointing back to this same page… yikes… and it’s been that way for weeks!
I finally catch up and this is the cliffhanger I find! Maddening!
Hehe. You should know by now that’s how it always works 😉
I’m loving this story!! it’s keeping me up late at night reading when i should be in bed sleeping lol!! It’s a shiny object to me lol..cuz well shiny objects are distractions 😉 i love it! ^_^
Keep up the awesome work! I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
I’m so happy to hear that I’m keeping people up at night xD. No truly, glad that someone really is enjoying reading this.
As for shiny stuff, I hear you. I like shiny stuff too…
Thanks for delurking and letting me know you’re here. Hope now that you’re caught up you can sleep more o_o
I just started readin and alredy i love the story! （＾∇＾）ven den måde wen does the sits get an updat? (please tell me if that is right Word or not)
Hello! It updates Sunday on EST/EDT. Generally it goes up around 5pm local time. (That I think is 22:00 GMT.)
Last week I was traveling so the schedule was off.
Thanks for reading. How’d you find the site btw? 🙂
thankyou
is learnig english and readin online seemed easeir to me becaus i can rite to the writers, is gettin good at reading but riting and spellin gets me really
what does btw mean?
“BTW” is a short acronym for “by the way.” You’re doing pretty well so far. Where are you writing from?
~LOL !!!~ GIGGLE!!!!~ SNORT !!!!~ LOL !!!~ I was wondering when the statues were gonna
show more of who/what they are. They have been mention far to often to be mere
decorations. Not to mention the fact that a few of their brothern guard the bridge to the town.
Love it though, well played dearest Puppetmaster.
Ha! Thank you, oh suspicious one 🙂
Hey, I wanted to start a site of my own similar to this, but I’m not sure. I need to know a few things first.
1. Does this cost money?
2. How could I get it started?
3. Any tips you could give?
Hosting a site on your own definitely has its costs. There’s the domain registration and hosting fees that get involved. Because I already had a webhost (for other projects I’ve acquired through the years and at red-bird.org), carving this one out actually only involved the cost of registering a new domain name. (WordPress is supported software on my host and is otherwise free, so no cost for using this to manage my content.)
That said, for people wanting to do serial fics, I’d recommend looking at wordpress’ free system for hosting. It won’t have all the features that a full install of the WordPress package has, but it will do okay. If you’d like to see what people are doing with the free WordPress installs, take a look at the other Creative Wenches sites (see right). You can register a unique name for your WordPress hosted site. Be aware though that those sites have maintenance and can be slow at peak hours. Plan accordingly.
There is also a new podcast out there you might want to check out called “Webfiction World” at the Webcast Beacon Network (see link). Take a listen, and then if you have more questions feel free to ask me.
Before you begin though, spend some time working on different concepts and testing them out. Not all ideas are equally interesting to a public that is reading less (at least print media) and has a plethora of content to choose from. If you are looking for public comment, you have to pick differently than if you are fine with writing and generating no feedback. (For example, writing a slice of life scientists might not work very well. Unless they were crazy and on drugs.)
Also, make sure to have a good buffer to work with. Get a lot of updates in draft first. This will help you establish continuity and flow for your characters and your style.
Hope this helps.
*de lurks and throws a fluffy bunny at the Puppet Master* I’ve been reading for a while now and this is one of the most frustrating cliff hangers yet! *pouts*
Oh, fluffy bunnies! (And this is supposed to frighten me? :B *pets fluffy bunnies*) … Cliffhangers appear to be good ways to get readers to reveal themselves. Unfortunately they’re not unavoidable because of the whole serial/writing as I go sort of thing, but hopefully the rewards (along the way) are worth it. Thanks for the fluffy bunny, oh delurked one! 😀
Yay, first! *avoids various thrown things* Sorry!!
I had almost hoped he would have let her wake up another of the lions. Imagine all the cute fan art that would have lead to with them moving about.
I don’t know if they could have controlled them all that much. These lions are a lot like cats, and we know how herding cats works xD.
But yes, the image you suggest is pretty amusing. Gives me some ideas for crack art for the future!
Gotta love that sassy lion!
the enigma that is the Wolfram family, though is even more interesting. Was mama Wolfram hiding something from visitors, or am i just a tad delusional?
It’s more than likely it was Wolfram, not mama :).
But she did have her secrets… not likely something to expound on in this story arc.
You know how you can look at a photograph and think, “This must have been taken around 1980” just from looking at clothes and hair fashions.
While things are moving faster these days than they did back then, I am pretty sure paintings of Lady Wolfram would have shown their age to the closest century at least. This would make for awkward questions.
Also, yay for lion. Wants one. Wants one BADLY.
Yes, that is a very good point…
It feels like these updates are getting more and more eventful 😛 I definitely approve! And it’s fantastic to see so many new faces joining the comment list O_o congratulations, by the way 😉 wonderful chapter as usual
Ah, it’s nice to shake out those delurkers xD. Although it’s also good to hear from long-time readers. I always worry that I’ve lost them somewhere along the way as things get more and more “eventful” (or as I like to say, weird).
XD Elanore and the guys she hangs out with, breaking the rules of decorum left and right.
Yes, we enjoy it, even if Elanore doesn’t. Poor thing… (heh. heh. heh.)
OHEMGEE those character pieces, OHEMGEE!
Heh. I think the Lion might’ve become my favorite character with how he spoke about the Count.
He’s rather cheeky, I think. But hopefully in a loveable, childlike way.
Yes, there is a childlike aspect to him. I want to give him a hug.
Poor kitty. Bad wolfy! ^^v
I also wanted the two cats alive and wreaking havoc (and messing on the roof while making a lot of purring noises!)
The Count is far more sensible than the audience xD.
Came across this randomly and I love it. =)
I love the lion. And the way Max just taps the lion on the noise was funny. XD
Yes, animals hate that ! 😀 Hello and welcome to the club of delurkers, btw. Glad you discovered the story and are enjoying it. 🙂
I usually lurk and don’t write because frequently I have nothing more to add to comments already posted ;). But I do love this story. 🙂 I only wish you updated it more frequently, the suspense is killing me. 😀 I hope Wolfram gives Elanore (or at least the audience) more information in the next update.
Oh I believe Wolfram will have to do more than just be his usual silent self if Elanore is to eventually give him what he wants. 🙂
It’s alright to not comment. I’m okay with people simply going “AUUUUGH” if that’s about all they feel they can add. xD As for the pace, yeah – I wish I had a good month to just sit down without interruption and finish writing. We’ll see.If I manage to get some time this fall and build up a considerable backlog, I may adjust length or frequency.
(And btw, thanks for delurking anyway!)
I want the stone lion for my pet, and I DON’T EVEN LIKE CATS! But, pretty much that would be one great, smarmy pet. 🙂
Also looking forward, as so many others are, to seeing what Wolfram will tell us next, or not tell us as the case may be.
It’s good to see the ol’ butler humaning (I know it’s not a word) up a bit and thawing out toward Elanore.
Can’t wait to see what you have for us next.
Oh! And do we get the door explained? Because I was really looking forward to that moment of magic and intrigue and then poof the butler walks in! argh!
Actually I’d like one too. Particularly one I can turn back to stone if it’s being a little snarky xD.
A little bit more is coming on the lions and the door within this chapter (and more)… otherwise I feel Elanore is going to punch out Wolfram. 😀
(And the word you’re looking for is ‘humanizing’ I think… and yes, he’s definitely a needed intercessor. Wolfram, as much as he is interesting, is sometimes a social idiot xD.)
Came across the link to your website at another and I have to say I really like your story. It is very intriguing and pulls the reader in making them want more and go to the next page. I’m very excited to see what happens next, btw I like the lion as well.
Thank you! I”m glad to have dragged you in and pulled you along 🙂
I think the lion has replaced Giles as “most popular character”. He’s likely to return quite soon!
Amazing!
thank you!
Oooh, interesting! ^^v
And I’m glad the dinner date sort-of went well.
It’s more of a lunch date (if a date at all), but as for it going well… I think that remains to be seen. Haha.
Very nice, a good riddle makes for a fun addition to any story.
There are quite a bunch of them :] One might say that every time I throw a script/poem in here that I have my reasons.
There’s more to this riddle than what meets the eye . . . I wish I could figure it out but I’m baffled by the witch of the sea bit.
I can’t solve mysteries without introducing other ones to chew over it seems :).
I’m so glad that some of the riddle is starting to be explained and we’re getting some headway on the actual storyline. As much as I love delving into characters, I was getting a bit concerned that we were getting lost in them. Thank you for the excellent update. You had just the right balance of character interaction and story development.
Thanks!
DAMN!!! I have a full week to endure before the next chapter. 😀
🙂 I’m glad to say that it will only be a week too. Too much stuff this week…lost lots of time in drafting, but think I’m going to make it!
Aaand there go the slash/fic writers.
A wonderful update, so many things for us to ponder during the week.
Thanks! Incidentally, I’m not sure we have the same definition of “slash fic” xD.
I have witnessed the insanity, and found it lulz worthy.
I was kind of amused and perturbed, myself. Ken dolls kind of creep me out Dx
*Waves at the USS Elanore/Wolfram that is sailing off next to the USS Elanore/Edmund and wonders what the next ship to set sail will be*
Edmund and the Count? xD
(I jest.)
Slashy jokes aside, le Count’s actions makes me think he has not-so-moral intentions for the immediate future. ^^;
Who knows with that man!
That made my day INFINITELY better. Thank you.
(I loved the Count’s costume. And ears. Mostly the ears.)
hehe. For some reason people seem to really like ears. I have no idea why. Glad you enjoyed it. I think CSKay is taking requests if anyone is interested. I suppose, though, that’s only for a limited time as I believe her niece wants her doll back xD
Oh No!! At the moment the dear count is far to intent on getting her to accept the concept of the magics of Cauldron, Wand, Word, Will, and Stone; to be quite ready and try and “corrupt” her with the magics of kisses, caresses, silken sheets, & corsets undone.
at least that’s how I am reading things so far.
Still I wonder what wonders he has plans to show her now.?
LOL. I like that you’re dissenting with the other comments. It makes me feel relieved that there are several ways to look at the situation.
@Puppetmaster, don’t think of it as the “dark side” of commenting. It’s a credit to your storytelling that people keep such close track of the story line. There are few gifts a person can have that are better than being a good storyteller. 🙂
I think everyone here actually has been great. (The comments are good feedback and catches, particularly with language that I should have used far more carefully.) That said, I’ve been concerned about some things I see occurring at other stories/comics.You’re right. It’s good that people love something enough to keep close tabs, but I also wonder if people realize that there’s an art to commenting too 🙂 Anyways, hello delurker! Welcome to the story 😀
So many new mysteries.. I love it.
Yes, and have seemingly wrapped up your question about the Book itself and its purpose. Granted, this is all according to the Count!
Oooooooo Nice way to end the chapter. Not with a cliff hanger as is all to common; but with a mystery that we are all anxious to have revealed to us. Nice Work.
Can I also assume that you are leading us not so subtly into a love triangle for our sweet Elanore??
Nope. I do not think that the feelings between the three are the same.
Lovely, as always!
I wonder how the village (especially Edmund) will react to all this.
Let the gossip and wild speculation commence!!! 😀
Ah, I do think Elanore has learned her lesson quite well from the messy gossip with Edmund. We’ll see how this sorts out,… xD (*just keeps mouth shut*)
I liked the Count demeanor in the chapter ^_^ he seemed a lot more… taunting. Playful, rather than dark, but still pretty dark 😛 The double eclipse is interesting, too!!
I’m not so sure I like him at the moment. He seems to be awfully snakelike to me!
OOOOOh! So exciteing!
🙂 Glad you are enjoying it! Hopefully next week people don’t snooze when we switch settings :p
Wow, the Count is a fast learner. Are we sure that Giles didn’t have our dear Wolfram follow him and spy on any of his encounters with ladies? Because, seriously, the Count has gone from unnervingly stiff to sexy. Just a bit of a shock so suddenly, but….I think I like it.
Anyways, to talk about the actual writing, well done indeed. We now have a mystery, but we know what we’re in for in the days ahead.
Thank you as always for your writing.
Interestingly, some of the other comments I’ve received don’t find the Count sexy at all, but slightly creepy xD. I guess one person’s cake is another’s poison.
And yeah – the Count (if he is reliable) has indicated what he thinks is going to happen. Of course, whether that is really what happens I guess we’ll have to see!
I have to say he seems to be lusting just a tiny bit, since he seems a little jealous of Elanore and Edmund’s relationship. And because he is mysteriously tall dark and handsom, I’d say a bit sexy
Chuckling. Yes, he seems like he’s ready to swallow her up in some manner or fashion, agreed. As for the sexy part… dunno! Everyone has their tastes…
Stay in bed a few more days, Ed! You shouldn’t be walking around! ^^;
I think he would kill the author if I forced him to do so 😀
I like Ilva even more now.
Haha,… she’s rather interesting. I can’t wait for her to mess with a few other people…
Something tells me that Ilva might have some connection to the ‘witch of the sea’ from the poem on the Count’s map. She doesn’t seem as kind as she’s playing off being, but her conversation with Edmund is certainly intriguing. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.
Thanks! Ilva is a meddlesome lady, but as for who/what she is that will remain to be clarified. (But it will be in this story arc …)
Glad you’re enjoying it. I’m not quite sure Edmund liked his conversation with her however…
And she does it again ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for another chapter with
lively conversation and characters.
And, sigh, I must admit that much like Nigel not being able to decide who his favorite dancer on So U Think U Can Dance is this season, I am yet again switching back to our lovely Edmund as my favourite. He’s just so……down to earth that I can’t help it.
And as for Ilva, for some reason I see her being a very interesting character in the chapters to come. Can’t wait to learn more about our newest addition. 🙂
ahaha, I love Nigel and I love that show. I rarely know or care about the end of the voting because I just enjoy the dancing and the growth of the dancers. Anyways, tangent aside– glad Edmund is getting some respect x]. As for Ilva – yes, she will be around. A lot 🙂
Very powerful lead in to whatever comes next. And yes, I can easily see that this is a lead in, not an actual “bite” as it were of the story. I like that Edmund is rather deep and thoughtful rather than brash and hasty, while still being kind and caring of others. More people should be like he is.
First comment! (づ ￣ ³￣)づ
Yes – Edmund is such an old soul :)… and yeah, far more centered than his current peers at the moment!
I love this chapter! Thank you for showing us that the Guildmaster is more than
meets the eye. Yeah for a modicum of sympathy!
I’m going to agree with Amy that Edmund is delightfully rational and intelligent.
Thank you for having such lovely 3d characters.
Oh, and before I forget, I’m so excited that Edmund is more than meets the eye! I can’t wait to hear more of his back story.
I’m glad you are enjoying it so far! It’s been a quiet chapter (in terms of comments) so I’m very curious about what people think about Edmund.
And (づ ￣ ³￣)づ to you too . (xD I love these faces. I’m going to (づ ￣ ³￣)づ everyone who posts a comment! )
Huh, well, I’m even more curious now about what exactly happened with Elanore’s mother and the Guildmaster. I think if Elanore really is going to come asking the Guildmaster about it then it’s a good thing Edmund gave him a heads-up. And I agree with everyone else, Edmund really did handle the situation very well.
Mmm. I think I’m on the same fence as Edmund in that I hope Elanore will not talk to the man. That doesn’t mean she won’t xD.
(Edit: Ahaha, forgot this (づ ￣ ³￣)づ )
I love that you give details to fulfill the story. I never would have thought to ask, “Why was Edmund adopted?” but in hindsight, I feel kind of stupid for not thinking of the question. So thanks for answering it (kind of). I want mooooore!
(づ ￣ ³￣)づ
Well now you know my modus operandi. Granted, not every little thing is always worth retaining and I have occasionally tossed in a few red herrings when I write, but this one with Edmund was/is something I’ve been waiting to hatch 🙂
Has this Wilheim fellow even met Elanore? She’s way too nice to deserve all this from him.:(
Edmund’s childhood, though, is far more interesting than the story of Elanore’s mommy. I’m desperately awaiting more details about it!
He saw her only but very briefly to bring a message to her when Edmund fell ill. And yes – the man has his prejudices based on his past experiences. As Edmund noted (and was surprised to observe) the man still harbors strong emotions/feelings about Elanore’s mother and that clouds his feelings towards all the Winchester ladies.
And yeah, Edmund is the quiet sleeper. ehehhehe. I’ve been sort of waiting to begin playing this one out… I like to leave little mines here and there for later excavation 😉
And Elanore wants to give you a (づ ￣ ³￣)づ for defending her xD. Okay, maybe not exactly with that goofy of a face, but you get the gist of it!
“Edmund is the quiet sleeper” ~snort~ Please Edmund just like The Count is a still pond that there for must run VERY DEEP. Such an understatement on your part dear puppet master is only to be laughed at.
^__^
Um….Ed? Are you sure you really want to know what you want to know? ^^v
Good tension-filled conversation. Poor Ed (as always).
No. He doesn’t xD
And yeah… I think … wow, I think he’s kind of lost right now. I’m trying to poke him into the next part and he is just stymied.
(づ ￣ ³￣)づ (づ ￣ ³￣)づ (づ ￣ ³￣)づ (づ ￣ ³￣)づ (づ ￣ ³￣)づ
A wonderful update for the story. Glad to see the guild master is another complex character for the story to explore.
Thanks – initially that really wasn’t the plan, but the more I delved into what should happen later, the more I realized that he needed a little bit more meat than “big burly dude with a chip on his shoulder” 🙂
Edit: (づ ￣ ³￣)づ
I’m starting to like the Guildmaster a lot more. Poor guy. I just want to give him a hug. Haha. He probably wouldn’t appreciate that though. =)
You’re absolutely right. The man is very proud… sympathy, well… likely doesn’t work on him!
first reaction: In which Giles goes bear wrestling!
… oh wait. XD
Also, I totally would not have caught the Father “Lorrence” reference if you hadn’t mentioned it on Twitter. Heh.
Haha. Shhh.
And the “bear” is really pissed right now. xD
i just wish everyone would get along…but that, sadly, would make for the dullest story ever.
And, of course, one cannot forget the awesomeness that is Giles. He seems to have some interesting hobbies other than running errands for the Count and hitting on the ladies. Who is this guy, anyway?
Giles is apparently a poor superhero stuck in a vehicle that does not suit his awesome crazy behavior/powers xD. (Or maybe a quasi-Victorian equivalent of Errol Flynn reborn as a ninja.)
In all seriousness, Giles is … well, it’s coming. I’d say he has quite a secret that some of you may suspect or not at this point. I will be doing some more hinting when he and Edmund reappear soon.
Calendars! Something that can really show off your art. Maybe even with some of your favourite quotes from both stories in there. Yeaaaah!
That’s a good idea. I think at this point, I’d have to generate some new art though to go with full-fledged calendars first though. Somehow I don’t have quite enough pieces to make the kind of calendar that I”d like. (And I’m kind of anal when it comes to product creation, unlike when I just draw xD)
Will think through this some more! Thanks for the input!
Poor stone lion, I’m sure he just would have scared the stuffing out of Edmond.
LOL YES.
The celphone charms seemed really cute and useful?
It’s been hard to sell charms lately due to the shift to smartphones that do not seem to have holes for them D:.
I’ve turned them into keyrings and other things, but am not investing in more until I finish selling off both the Red Riding Hood run and my other random characters.
Good to know that someone in this village has some common sense-the pries. Also, so happy that Giles has made a reappearance. He is my favourite minor-character by far.
Yeah, Giles seems to have had some difficulties, hence his absence for just a short while.
And yeah – the Friar is a good guy, although hm… well he knows more than he has revealed.
Ooooooh, good arrangement is GOOOOD! ^^v
Glad this works. This chapter has been an editing nightmare… part of the reason why I want a week off to regroup 🙂
Impressive. Will be in pins and needles for the next two weeks.
glad you enjoyed it. Pins and needles aren’t comfortable. Make sure to have some ale or brew if you’re going to be stuck there Dx
it has been so long since i read these! i really like what you have done so far 🙂
thank you!
Absolutely loved it, as always. For some reason, the doodle you have with the Count, with his little ears and that mischievous smile of his, standing behind Elanore kept popping into my head as I read. This chapter had such a wonderful bit of interplay between Elanore and the Count, it will make their future interactions, and the interactions between each of them and Edmund, even more delicious to read.
Ahhh. I don’t know if he’s really all that nice or impish — to some degree this draft brought /pulled him back from going to the length he had wanted to go to ensure Elanore’s compliance. I really had to dampen his ruthlessness or a lot of bad things would have happened xD
(I do have to say that what I doodle tends to be a lot more humorous or out of character than what I write. I always felt if I had the chops to do this as a comic that the entire tone would have been far lighter and fluffier. )
Silly Count, of course she has boundaries. She is a Young woman and you are a mysterious stranger. Women are supposed to have boundaries around men, Dark, brouding, Mysterious men…. they are tripply expected to have boundaries. lol
EXACTLY. He’s lucky she didn’t beat the crap out of him.
This looks to be the start of an even more interesting relationship, especially since the Count gives so little away. I’m sure Elanore will keep him in line, though:).
I believe so. I don’t think he really has her all that well manipulated at all! xD
“you punched me!” Oh, Giles, thank you for making my day, even if you did get punched.
Elanore’s situation is freaking me out a bit, though. Does the approaching of the unthings mean the Count is going to get even more possessive/harsh? It kinda seems that way.
Poor Giles. He has wandered into the wrong vehicle for heroics. Instead… he’s here for our amusement 🙂
As for your other question, it’s quite possible — the Count is very unpredictable. That said, what Elanore allows is another matter entirely 🙂
It was worth the two week wait for this one, well done.
aw, thanks!
I always knew Edmund had it in him. My two favourite characters together at last.
And Count has officially reached a creep factor that I’m not sure can be undone. While I can get on board with the whole I’m not good with people thing so I’m awkward and make some social faux pas, I’m not ok with the “be right at any cost” thing. That is obsession, and we all know where that leads…..phantom of the opera (ala noose).
I think the Count really has to learn a lot of things, such as the consequences and short-sightedness of his current lifestyle and thinking. He is a “wolf” after all, and possessiveness/protectiveness I see as something that as part of the ‘pack mentality’ that wolves tend to have. It can be good/bad depending on how it’s executed or (as others may say) what the end result is. In any case, I do think he has moved in a direction that is polarizing although hopefully will sort of make sense when his past is fully unfolded towards the end of this arc and beginning of the next.
As for Edmund … Giles and Elanore should have an interesting effect upon him and his development. I don’t know if they’re going to drive him slowly mad or what, but we’ll see. x)
Oooh! Loving the story and can’t wait for more!
glad you’re enjoying it! 😀 NICE NAME! xD
First off, love the story.
Second off, the count is beginning to remind me a lot of Jareth from the Labyrinth, particularly fanfic versions of him. PS, this is not a bad thing in my book 🙂
Thank you! (And thanks for delurking 🙂 )
This is going to sound sacrilegious but I have not seen Labyrinth all the way through. I just remember David Bowie with fantastic hair … I need to go watch again. I miss crazy David Bowie xD
Oh my goodness I thought the same thing! Except I hope the Count doesn’t start wearing tights any time soon…
You guys are scaring me xD. I’m seriously going to have to try to track down a copy of this movie now xDDD
Miss Puppetmaster, I do not think it is mentioned enough how incredibly awesome you are.
haha! why thank you. I’m going to go off and preen for about five minutes, and then get back to working like mad on all my projects xD BTW – how did you find this story? I forgot to ask you during your first comment… it helps me to hear so I know how to spend my coffee money turned ‘advertising dollars’. Thanks!
Sorry not commenting much, but liking unraveling count, keep up the good work.
No worries – real life first! Hope all is well!
Thanks for the chapter!
sure 🙂 Glad someone has read the update!
We do read then. Some times it takes a day or two.
🙂 Delurker! (Good to know. Thanks!)
Good update. Thank you as always for the well written piece. It’s fun to have things written from Edmund’s perspective, just because he doesn’t know the whole story.
It is sort of an odd situation to have the viewer see more things than perhaps the characters do. I wonder sometimes if that can backfire, but we’ll see how it goes. Poor Edmund — I hope at some point he actually becomes the person with all the answers as opposed to the other way around 🙂
life held me captive for a few days…I’m glad my eagerness to check this site paid off though…
Great chapter.
Totally understand :). Life is being pretty mean to me too. I’m having a hard time keeping up the schedule, but still trying until I can get through these next few weeks!
GAH! I can’t decide who I like better! The Count or Edmund! I think the Count is winning 🙂 By the way, Giles is awesome.
You can like them both equally, although Giles would like it to be known that if you have trouble choosing a favorite, he’s definitely the one you should pick instead of those two other boogers xD
I love your story so far! I can’t wait to see what happens next.
thank you! Glad you are enjoying it. Just posted the next part, so not too long to wait 🙂
Elanore is certainly not a woman to be messed with!! Excellent chapter, I only wish they came out more often than once a week.
Yes, she’s rather difficult when grumpy :).
I do wish I could update more but I have found that I like having the full week to massage the text and tinker with the characters… I’m afraid if I changed the frequency you guys would not like what came out (ie., stream of consciousness dialogue). If more time makes itself available, I think it’s more likely I’ll lengthen the weekly installments than post more often.
Oh, I understand, but that doesn’t stop a bookworm like me from wishing that the story came out every single day, haha…
xD I take that as a compliment. But I do think you would not wish it if I really did that …
Well, of course I’d wish you enough creativity, time, and money to do a good job on it by updating every day. Just like I wish today’s update would go up!! *pokeprod*
aww. In my note last week I said it’s moving to Mondays as of “next month” or October… I have the next installment prepped but did one edit tonight and need to do another read through tomorrow when I’m not a zombie from the convention. Don’t stay up! It won’t be up on the site until late tomorrow night…
I’m concerned about a little multiplying issue here. If the blue-green moon eclipses every 11 years, how could a double eclipse ever happen in a 105 year period if this is not a multiple of 11?
Maybe you meant double eclipse every 110 years?
Urk. Went back to my notes (in another journal) and it was supposed to be 21 years, not 11. I’ll have to check to see how this error has propagated in the text (as I may not have referred back to the original journal). Thanks for pointing that out. The eclipse of one is not particularly important to the story, so for now will remove it.
Ah, yes, healers. They take charge at the most important moments. ^^v
I have had the pleasure of working around a lot of “healers” in real life and they are, when it counts, very good at what they do. But they also can be quite tough too haha!
Strong as the fighters are those healers always have their way, don’t they?
Well, when it’s within their domain of course. 🙂
GAH! Okay I had a whole comment written out and then my browser just ate it!
Anyways, it went something along the lines of I like how here there is the air of Elanore liking the Count and yet acknowledging how much bigger he is than them in terms of pieces to the game while poor Edmund is simultaneously feeling closer to and more confused with Elanore. I am also getting Labyrinth/Lord of the Rings vibes (a la Aragorn/Arwen)
Elanore has rather complicated feelings towards a lot of people … perhaps she’s better at working than relationships xD. And… dude, I really need to see Labyrinth!
Yes. Yes you do need to see the Labyrinth. It’s an awesome movie. =D
I definitely have this on my list to get now ….
Nifty storie line I like this thread verry mutch! 😉
glad you enjoyed it! Sorry for such a late response! I lost this comment 😮
So much wonderful! Poor Edmund… he’s in such an uncomfortable and confusing spot right now. I can’t wait to see how the Count-Eleanor-Edmund friction continues!
I always look forward to these updates so much!
aw thanks! Always glad to hear from new folks and get a sense of where readers are /what they enjoy. I do expect/anticipate more messy relational angst forthcoming, although maybe not in the way people expected xD
I hope that is “Her Cat” coming home. A large stone cat would make a large thumping at the back door when it wants to come in and sit by the fire.
aww. Now that would be so cute. But if the cat were smart, it’d stay away until Giles was long gone. That man seems to loathe that thing!
I discovered your lovely story through a link on the Girl Genius web comic page. I’ve spent the last 2 weekends catching up and now that I have, I’m a little heart broken that I don’t have pages and pages to still look forward to. I particularly like Giles and can’t wait to find out *what* he truly is. I’m really enjoying the story and the gradual revelation of the characters. Wonderful!
Ahhh! I’m glad to hear that the little banner ad sucked at least one person in x3. Yes – it’s hard to read things serially…I know a lot of folks prefer to chug through works at their own pace. It’s something I’ll need to keep in mind when I begin developing Book 2 :). But thanks for being patient regardless. Someday maybe I’ll be able to write full-time but I suspect that’s a pipe dream 🙂
I have been reading this for a while and absolutely love the series.
By the way, is this bird going to suddenly cry “Nevermore!”?
LOL. I was thinking about Edgar Allen Poe while drafting this week’s installment. Glad you are enjoying it and thanks for delurking.
Oh man I absolutely love this story! I get so excited every Sunday, lurking and waiting for the next installment… Elanore and Edmund are so cute! I have this theory that Edmund is part elf and so is Elanore… I am looking forward to next week ^_^
Aww. It makes me happy to hear folks actually waiting for each update :). Hope you caught the bit about the updates changing to Monday for now. Last year I had a bit of a problem with the holidays and juggling Sundays… and so am going to try to keep it to Monday nights.
Elanore and Ed are definitely open-ended as to their past heritage, although I think Elanore’s is a little more cleanly outlined than Ed’s. (Of course, a lot of what they know is still based on what other people say. *evil grin*)
Thanks for also delurking btw. If you recall how you found this site, let me know! I’m always curious about how people found this site!
Actually I do. I believe it was a project wonderful ad that was in another serial I’m reading called “The Dragon Wars Saga.” Same author also is working on “The Haventon Chronicles” which is currently linked in your sidebar. ^_^ I always find it funny when you guys end up having advertisements for each other since I read you both.
Actually there are very few serials in the PW chain. Most of the advertisers appear to be webcomic projects … I definitely target my advertising to other serials if possible, as it’s much easier to convince someone already used to reading novellas online to try mine than convincing a webcomic reader to try serial fiction 🙂
I love it when I read updates. =) It makes my week happy.
I read over some comments and saw that you like to know how people find your comic. I believe I stumbled across your deviantArt gallery somehow. Prolly one of my random searches for Red Riding Hood stuff. =)
Ahhh. Yeah – My red riding hood art has been up there a while and it took me years to get to fleshing this out as a piece of fiction instead. Initially this was going to be more like a comic or something but I have no particular skill for paneling and feel more comfortable with putting worldbuilding through text.
I”ll have an update later today I think ( a day early) !
I’m really liking how the story is going so far. The plot flows seamlessly from one scene to the next, the characters and I’ve been pretty much hooked since the firs chapter (though I haven’t commented until now because…I couldn’t stop reading lol ^^; )
Oh, so the Count has decided to pay her Grandmother a visit? The atmosphere in the room is bound to be thick with tension, especially with him and Edmund in the same room…
For you and your family.
that is to say…. Prayers for you and your family…. Hope that all goes as well as possible.
I agree, the shift in POV was a bit confusing, but hey, switching it up never heard anybody, especially when there’s a cliffhanger dangling at the end. Well done!
Yeah -that’s something I will think about when I eventually reedit this for an ebook version.
My thoughts are with you. :virtual hugs:
Stay safe okay?
I hope everything is okay. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.
Hopes and prayers for you and your family. Be safe.
Me thinks you have a typo: Slowly, he felt the hairs on heck stand.
Other than that, excellent writing. I have enjoyed your story and have been having fun guessing where it will lead. Please keep up the good work.
Thanks for catching that. Corrected!
Best of wishes for you and yours. Hope all is well.
Hi guys. Thanks for your well wishes. Things went okay and I’m back in town and will start prepping the next update. Hope to have it up next Monday for all of you, just in time for Halloween!
Welcome back.
Another wonderful chapter, well worth the wait.
thanks Marcus! I appreciate your note as well… so encouraged by all of you guys while I was away.
Wow. I just found this yesterday, and I’ve been on a reading binge since. This is amazing work, and I’ll eagerly be waiting for more.
Thank you! I”m glad to hear that you’re enjoying it. Do you remember how/where you ran across it? I’d love to know… Wattpad? Erstwhile tales? 😀
I have always known of that story as the Children of Lir. When I originally found it it did have 7 children, but most iterations I have found since have more like 4. It’s one of my favorites!
Oh my – I just looked that up and realized that Lloyd Alexander ( a childhood favorite of mine) also used the name “LLyr”… he’s a huge Arthurian nut too, so my guess is he may have picked up the same name …
Also looked up the rendition you mention. I love the names 🙂
Thank you for the new chapter! Some things revealed leading to many more questions.
By the way, I found this off of the Phoenix Requiem.
ah, good to know! Phoenix Requiem proved to be a good place to hook in readers 🙂
I read Pheonix Requiem, but I actually found this through Dominic Deegan. Been hooked for awhile now 🙂
I think you’re the first or second person to say that’s how you navigated in. It was one of the more peculiar experiments in advertising I ran. Deegan is such a long epic and mostly humorous fantasy story, so didn’t know if there would be any crossover. GOod to know though that I found at least one person!
Glad you’re enjoying it 🙂
Yeah, Deegan has definitely had a long run! And it’s been really neat to watch the artwork evolve over the years.
But if you’re looking for the common thread, it’s probably the knack for good storytelling 🙂
I haven’t been able to catch up — I mean it’s that long! xD
It’s surprising to me how he’s kept the four panel format all these years. I can imagine it was hard for people in teh early days to not get impatient with the storytelling. I definitely have the benefit of the humongous buffer to sift through the storylines.
Anyways glad you find some common threads. Deegan has way more humor… I’m definitely interested in writing funny/strange/weird, but laugh out loud funny isn’t my strength xD
Oooh, I’ve caught up. I absolutely love this story and am deriving great pleasure from
trying to put all of the puzzle pieces together as well as finding all of the references to fairy tales that you weave beautifully into your story.
Since I’ve seen you ask many people lately I will jump the gun and tell you that I have seen a link to this story in many places over quite a length of time. It has been sitting in my “to read” pile for quite a while and I finally got around to picking it up. I can’t remember all of the places I have seen a link to your story, but the most recent one is probably on Erstwhile.
Ahhh, yes, there are a few more references to fairy tales and mythology in here already. Some are more obvious, i.e., The Wild Swans, and some are very much tad in cheek (Beowulf, Shakespeare, and a few other Grimm Tales among them, along with some Mother Goose stuff xD).
If you caught this on Erstwhile, my guess is that you saw the ad on RedString… I used to run one there pretty consistently but switched when I saw that Erstwhile was updating 🙂
Hello, sgl. I have been reading and enjoying your webnovel for a while now. I am very much impressed with your worldbuilding and character development. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
P.S. My email is ryuuseiu.x[@]gmail.com.
I love that we got to see the swan queen and her brothers. Especially since I have always loved their story. I had a vhs when I was little that had the Swan Queen, Spirit in a Bottle, Little Red Riding Hood, and one other fairy tale that I can’t remember on it. I watched that thing and I would usually fast forward to the Swan Queen and Spirit in a Bottle because I loved seeing the non standard fairy tales. I have unfortunately lost the tape. T_T I am glad that you utilize the story so much. It is nice to find people who know it since most of my friends have never heard of it and even my parents couldn’t remember me having this vhs.
Wow – I didn’t know someone had animated that. I’d love to see someone actually pick up these projects and flesh them out as high-quality releases for families. On a random note, since you’re a fairy tale enthusiast, oneo f the animation studios in Japan ran Snow Queen (not Swan Queen) last year or the year before . YOu might be able to still find the subtitled versions online… it was a pretty faithful (and sometimes slow) rendition …
Hey, I love the story, I have been enjoying it for the last year, great characters.
I have been reading your webnovel for awhile but once I caught up wasn’t able to wait a week for another installment. So with that said what does a girl do? 🙂 She waits a couple weeks between readings and gets drawn anew into your interesting process and world everytime.
Your addresses actually are in the db once you post (so it knows to leave you be the next time)… so no need to post your actual email address at all .Sorry about the confusion there folks. Thanks!
Ohhh! 🙂 I had to read through some of the comments to get that you were calling ME a Delurker. I will try and comment more often but I only speak/type 🙂 when I can be beneficial.
xD There are quite a few of you in this post… it makes me happy to know that there are REAL people out there behind all the random traffic hits and such (and not spammers :D).
No worries about commenting though all the time. Just seeing new faces was a very cool surprise 😀
I’ve finally caught up with the story. Due to work and moving continents I’ve been off for a while, but wow I feel a bit light-headed there’s so much going on. Thank you again for such a fun romp through this world.
ahhh, Yeah, so many spinning plates to track, I’m afraid 😀
Glad you are back though! Hope you are doing okay with this move!
Lovely drawings. Pretty sire I’m not a bot, that’s just how I dance. 😛
lmao
PROOF.
COMMENT! I want one! *squee.
I’m intrigued to see how the lion’s play a part in the future.
Oooh…Wilhelm seems unwilling to admit there is magic in the world, so I wonder what explanation he will come up with for stone lions running amok. 😀
I am also becoming more curious as to who Elanore’s father is.
Yes. The lion isn’t there at the moment though, so perhaps he will not have to think of it quite yet…
So the count is finally looking into the whole Red Cape thing. I would love to see him explore this idea more deeply. There are SOoo many implications behind this. I also look forward to learning more about the mysterious female watcher of the lake. As always I love this story.
I don’t know that he will. He’s rather fixated on his alternative theory at the moment as to the whole weird thing for him with ELanore.
As for the watcher of the lake, she actually has been referenced both in this story and in the short story I wrote a few months ago. (It was not really meant to be so obscure as to who she is, so perhaps one of the other kind readers might provide their analysis as to who/what she specifically is. She IS a major player in the next book I have planned.)
I also can’t wait to see what further part the lions will play in the Future of this story. Why do I keep hoping that one of them bonds with our heroine??
Secretly they possess the souls of fuzzy kittens so you absolutely know that they will appear again and take over the entire story xD.
(Actually one or more appear in short order)
Great story so far, looking forward to reading some more.
Ah ha! another delurker. Thanks!
OH, now I remember…. oooo this should get very very good. can’t wait. 🙂
🙂 Yep. Alerted and curious… unfortunately she may not be the only one now turning an eye towards the town.
I want one of the lions to attach to the heroine and follow her around and give her rides and such… I think it would be funny if it rolled aver and begged for a tummy rub XD
LOL. He just might. He’s that kind of oversized vain cat!!!
A shame Elenore can’t benefit from current cooking classes. Start with simple things, boiling water.. making toast..
I think she has no idea what is bad or good. She’s able to cook… it’s just that she tends to approach things probably more like an apothecary and therefore seems to fail to understand the art of tasting as you go :)…
Or… she just has bad taste thanks to growing up with a mother who isn’t that good at cooking either xD
Noooo! Edmund, you were asking some of the questions we want answers to! Why did you give up so easily?! D:
I love this story. I am very interested in who the lady Edmund is dreaming about is.
Giles is not being cooperative. Edmund will find out eventually what is going on, but he may have to try a few different ways to get at that information.
As for the lady… well, she’s not a figment of his imagination. I think and I hope that by the time we finish this story that she and a few other characters will be more clearly linked together to give us all a better picture of who Edmund really is 🙂
I can see is the Count and Elanore over a boiling cauldron…. With Edmund looking on in jealousy….
So the Count had definitely got my attention… Can I keep him???
Wait, so you can see them cooking in oil and Edmund is jealous? xD
The Count … there’s a line apparently that formed a long time ago for his body and his soul. You’d have to fight off some elves and assorted humanoids for him xD
I feel bad for Elanore in the fact that everyone doubts her or pushes her. The Count wants her for her powers, her mother sends her off for her grandmother, and the town gossips about her. Plus, the Guild-master judges her as her mother. Poor dear.
I really don’t like the Guild-master for some reason…
He’s kind of a jerk in many respects. He definitely has a temper too!
I like the Edward/Giles dynamic. Dialogue was refreshingly light and hilarious XD
Giles brings out the best and worst in people. He is that too loud uncle that every family has XD
Woohoo! I found it, all my favourites suddenly vanished and I forgot the name of this! 🙂
Love it, love the story, love it all together! 🙂
glad you found it again :).
Woo, breakfast table banter, and pancakes… mmmm.. pancakes..
Pancakes always sound better in fiction than in real life. I can’t stand them unless they’re cooked crispy and soft at the same time with real butter and really good maple syrup, alongside a side of bacon. But that has nothing to do with the story xD
To tell the truth, I never comment on my web comics, though I really probably should…
I can’t pass up the opportunity to not only win some of your art, but to chat with the author!
DELURKING ACHIEVED!
xD
Glad you are enjoying the story! Hopefully have more art to giveaway next month (as I travel for Thanksgiving, I’ll probably have more time to doodle…)
As for a chat, sure, ask away!
And I feel guilty, but I haven’t read the novel in a while. *^* Evil last semester of school, keeping me deadly busy, no time for enjoy my favorite things. As horrible as it seems, I can’t wait to start work, so I have time to do nice things, like sleep and read things that require me to remember plots.
LOL. I hear you… and understand. I don’t miss school for that reason!
I love grandmother Winchester, she is so cool, wise, and no nonsense. 🙂
Yup. Old age has to have its perks!
I love Giles. 🙂 I think I’m beginning to get a crush on him.
He’s a lovable guy, or so he’d say while he preens a bit at your compliment. (He is extremely funny to write. He just says whatever the hell he feels like! xD)
Elenore meeting the lion again is just begging to be sketched, shame I have trouble with stick figures..
hah! I’ll consider that a request. I hope to open up some free time in December to do a few b/w and toned drawings… I’ll consider other requests for characters or suggestions for scenes, so everyone leave ’em here 😀
I really like your multilayered character development. Each one is interesting. Although it’s hard to have to wait for each installment to find out more! Thanks for the story.
Yeah – I wish I could write faster, but time is a precious, rare commodity these days! Glad though you are still enjoying reading 🙂
Hi,I’ve been reading this for a while and I’ve finally caught up with the story. It’s an amazing story with brilliant characters.(I’ve deciced that Count is my favorite XD) But now I have to wait for the next update. D:
Aw, thanks for delurking and providing that gracious comment. I’m glad you are enjoying the story. (Granted, I feel a lot of pressure to keep you all happy xD. )
Next update will be Monday if all goes well. It’s been a bizarre week for me post-Thanksgiving, so it may be shorter than anticipated, but it will be there Monday!
yay! thanks so much! I’m super excited to see what the sketches/art looks like. 😀 is there anything else you need from me?
Nope! It was posted yesterday and hopefully should get to you this week. If it doesn’t, let me know… I’m paranoid about USPS….
The story is wonderful. This is the earliest chapter I can comment on, but I must inform you soon before I burst of excitement. I am absolutely immersed in your characters and your writing. This is one of the first serial web-novels I have ran across and I have become seriously enchanted. I hope to see more of your writings soon and thank you for the unique take on the tale of the Big Bad Wolf!
Ahhh glad you are enjoying the story :). Can I ask how you wandered in and found the story?
I happened upon it from a web comic called Emerald Winter that I follow.
Oh yeah! I follow that and the author’s other comic, Lavender Legend. I’m sad that EW hasn’t updated in a while though… interested to see how it develops.
Ah my 2 favourite men in the same scene together. What could possibly go wrong? Obviously, nothing! I loved this scene and how they both brought out some honesty in the other. Thank you, and I hope to see more of these two interacting in the future.
Ah my 2 favourite men in the same scene together. What could possibly go wrong? Obviously, nothing! I loved this scene and how they both brought out some honesty in the other. Thank you, and I hope to see more of these two interacting in the future. Is the lady he’s seeing in his dreams (Edmund I mean) the strange visitor he had in the shop? Or someone else entirely? Very intriguing.
Giles is essentially honest when he is left to operate on his own. Blunt and charmingly obnoxious sometimes, but a generally good guy to have in your corner. It helps that he is a bit older and wiser than Edmund… although not as wise as he sometimes believes himself to be. (heh.)
Your last question is a good one. We shall see 🙂
Go granny go! She is awesome. I see where Elanore gets her spine.
Yup. Elanore is more like her grandparents than her mother :]
However, at times she is a bit ADD like her mother xD
Just started reading last week. It’s really good.
Glad you are enjoying it. If you recall, can I ask how you found this story? Thanks!
I saw an ad at the side of one of the webcomics I read. Might have been twokinds, but I can’t remember for sure.
Ah, that’s alright! If it was random surfing, then that’s cool — I have a few ads that are just targeted at random types of sites. There were/are a bunch of folks who came in through similar type webcomics so I was wondering about that… it’s always helpful for me to understand how people arrive here so that I can continue to hunt readers effectively 😉
*cheers* *dances* *twirls*
Hm. Have no idea why you need mod approval! Strange WP :/
Hmm, let me try it this way.
(eta: Ah, I have to login separately I think!) (there we go)
Two weeks? Ebil, ebil person. Two weeks on a cliff hanger.
Oh well, I found you from mu so i’m used to it. *settles in to wait*
Hi Kat! I’d like to go weekly but am not sure what the normal update is for serial novels and am trying to make sure I leave enough lag so I can do some editing and evaluation along the way. I know webcomics usually go one to two times a week, but I’m afraid that kind of schedule will mean you guys catch up to my writing and I’ll have to put things on hold.
Since the next installment is short, I may put up part two of this chapter next Sunday and then the start of the next chapter on 11.28. 🙂 Depending on the comments received (if any) and how much I get done writing the next fourteen days, I may push for weekly installments through the holidays (and skip drawing)…. whaddya think? let me know! Thanks for the comment too. Glad someone found me through MU!
Most of the webcomics that update twice a week are small, though. The rest i’ve seen hae been ~once a week. If twice a week is what allows to get an archive up without buring out, then do twice a week. If you can push one week, do one. Buffers are good, they let you take a break and us not realize it. So, in other words, I’m not a writer, I can’t say shot about the schedual.
I’ll just have to wait paitently until the story gets off the ground.
Oops, sorry – I meant to ask you more about the web novels you’re following. I saw a few update quite a bit (few times a week) but their installments are short and I like to have more to an update, overall, so will probably stick closer to 1-2 weeks once I feel like I have a new rhythm established.
Out of curiosity, how do you find fics and all? This is a completely new sandbox (web novels, that is) for me and I’d love any advice on how to promote and network…
Ads, mostly. If I see the link in someones sig, I follow it, or if it’stalked about. Then again, I like to rea anything I can get my hands on, so…*shrug* In addition to MU and her other works, there’s addergoole (NOT spelled right,
i can’t spell) and tales of the gaurdian. Then there’s the mirror verse.
I’ll check those other sites out 🙂 It seems like it’s pretty hard to find serial works compared to webcomics… then again, most webcomics have opportunities to promote in conventions and other forums…
Hi, I found your serial novel through a Project Wonderful ad that just happened to be right next to my own ad! There aren’t too many of us serial novel writers out there, so I decided to check this out. 🙂
The story is really gripping. You’ve managed to take a fantasy-type world and make it really original with the fairy-tale aspects, as well as your own fantasy elements like the Unthings. I’m curious about the man in the prologue, but more so about what;s going to become of the red-garbed woman in the first chapter. She seems like a likeable sort and I hope she gets to safety unharmed!
Keep up the good work! I’m going to go check out your art gallery now. 🙂
I’m glad those ads work! I’m new to Project wonderful but have been noticing them on a lot of the webcomics I read and thought, oh hey, why not try it!
I’ve noticed, as you said, there are few novelists out there, or perhaps maybe few that are easily found or willing to write in public.
I’m kind of easing back into writing after a long hiatus, and thought this would be a good way to experiment.
And thank you for the feedback on the first part. I really hope I can meld a lot of weird things together and make it interesting. If anything, I hope the world becomes more interesting than the characters xD…
Hope you enjoy the art and come back next week for the next installment 🙂
I couldn’t help but notice you were discussing the frequency of web novel updates. I update mine once a week, it usually works very well and gives me time to finish illustrations to accompany the chapter. I don’t have much of a buffer, but readers take longer to read a chapter than to read a page of a webcomic, so you can probably even get away with 2-week updates!
One of the biggest concerns I have is not updating. I hate to make promises I can’t keep :). Adding illustrations regularly into the mix would definitely be complicated for me… I am a slowbie when it comes to painting, so unless I embrace a different style (more of an ink/sketch style), I don’t think I could manage the work that you do. Wow!
You make really good points about the relative length /content of a web serial novel vs. a comic, though so I’ll keep thinking through this.
Right now, though, I am leaning perhaps to a weekly update until January just to help get all three main characters established, although still trying to figure out how/where I’d break sections then. (I almost am afraid of having more Chapter ‘parts’ than necessary xD).
Thanks so much leaving a comment btw – I’m glad people are finding this site!
Don’t worry about parts. Adder breaks it up into ~three parts a chapter.
Haha, there are so many more commetns here than there are in other other just-starting serials.
I think it would drive people nuts if I broke things up into more than that though xD …
As for the comments, guess we can’t help being chatty >_> <_<
I also found this from an ad, so it is working. I enjoy seeing what people do with fairy tales, I’ve taken some interesting creative writing courses. I’m eager to see where you go from here! Bravo!
Ah – glad you saw it and also clicked through? Would you mind telling me where you saw it ? I’m curious as to whether most people clicking through are doing it more from the serial novel sites or the webcomics sites.
And thanks — I really hope I can keep people with me from this point forward 🙂
A page of a webcomic is, narratively, equivalent to maybe a couple-hundred words. Plus, depending on the skill of the artist, and the medium they’re using, it may only take an hour or two to produce. A day’s work may therefore be more than enough to produce a week’s worth of content, or even a month’s!
Writing, on the other hand…
But I’d recommend you at least post once a week, even if you have to split content up. If you lose the momentum, you’ll lose the readers. Some people have short attention spans, others simply forget. And have you ever tried reading a book and taking a two-week break after every chapter? While reading a variety of other stories too?
In an ideal world, you’d want to update several times a week, but that would require treating it as a full-time job, and probably making a liveable wage from it too XD
alright – think I’ll at least try to post once a week to get this started… Don’t think I can manage several times a week since my life is a bit nuts :)… as for making it a full-time job, yeah – very hard to think of people making a wage off this. Only the most successful webcomics manage to support their creators and it looks like writers don’t even have the traffic or avenues to market their work. (Pretty familiar with webcomics and those folks as I’ve seen a lot of them in various artist alleys at conventions th epast few years.)
I’m not sure how well/how long updates will be if I eat through my buffer… but I think I’m good for a few months if I can’t get to much writing :o)
Thanks for leaving the feedback – this is enormously helpful to myself and the other ladies I’ll be collaborating with in the future!
The possibility of a serial novel never occurred to me, but maybe because I initially thought it was anachronistic, like Dostoevsky, except online instead of in a paper. I might try this myself, but with Japanese lore. Twould be equally tricky though.
I found this site through an ad as well, I believe through an online graphic novel called Red String, which I think I ALSO found through an ad. Small world, huh?
Very cool, mind telling me what you were googling when you found the first site?
As for serialized fiction – the real attraction for me is to try to recapture some of the dynamic I had going with readers in fanfiction.net … I tend to write more diligently under pressure (and also sometimes a bit more creatively while under that pressure). Commercially, this is not a good venture, but I also think I owed some of the folks who have been following my drawings for some time a little bit more of an idea of what I was drawing from when I created my work 🙂
I can’t say for sure where I found Red String, it might’ve been through an ad at Keenspot, I follow a decent number there, but it might’ve been another webcomic.
Ah – I’ll have to look up Keenspot! Thanks!
Wow, I just love this! I do believe you’re going to become one of my new addictions. I don’t find many serial novels, and yours looks as if it has so much promise. It looks as if you’ve created a rich world for the story.
The funny thing is I found this the exact way that Muichiotsu did. So, the ad worked well.
Very cool, glad to find that out! I’m trying out both the Project Wondeful site and evaluating useful websites. This will help me concentrate some resources as time goes forward.
Please bear with me the next few weeks as I post things. Hopefully the updates meet your continuing expectations 🙂
Bleck, right clickinh is disabled. It doesn’t really stop copy-paste, and prevents me from opening in a new tab.
I’ve toggled some settings. Let me know if it lets you tab and such… it should now.
Thank you.
this story is making me want an everafter update, too.
you have drawn me in, hope to read more. Have you thought to put it on fanfiction.com, they have a fairytale section, it doesn’t have to be a fanfiction about a movie or novel.
Hello! Well, the good news is I have (thanks to Nanowrimo) quite a bit more to work with at this point, so will be updating pretty regularly for the next few months. 🙂
I wasn’t aware that fanfiction.net let you put in original fiction — glad you told me about the fairy tale section. I’ll check it out and possibly mirror a few sections up there … I used to post there quite a bit and would love to draw in my old readers 🙂
I found your story about red riding hood by casuality in the fanfiction.net site and I just love it. The Little Red Riding Hood story is my favorite fairytale of all and with the first chapter of your version of the story you just left me really excited
Ah, that’s good news. I just posted the ff.net version of this last night . Glad you found it there (it’s a rather buried category). I’m hoping some of my old readers also find me here…
Glad you enjoy it! Hope you come back next week for the next update 😀
Are you open to stylistic suggestions? If not, i’ll keep my mouth shut.
Anyway, red isn’t very genre savy, is she. xP. I’ve got the heebee jeebies from the exchange already. Then again, I get the heebee jeeies easily, too.
I’ll certainly consider comments about style/organization. (PRobably better to email me directly though so we don’t spam the bottom of the page 🙂 ) -> plumopera@gmail.com .
Regarding genre – oh, that’s a tricky one as this genre isn’t one “genre”, per se. (Rather, it’s kind of a mix of adventure/fantasy/romance/mystery/comedy) However, as for Elanore, so far … she’s probably the most centered and sensible of the main characters. I’m not done with her yet though *shakes her around*
I just sound this today. I’m quite happy to say I’m already caught up. I look forward to the next update. This is much nicer than reading one page of a webcomic at a time (even though I follow over a dozen).
Woowoo, yay for Deviantart! Thanks so much for reading it all. Hope you’ll hang in with me as we’ve just started and I still have a lot of “unpacking” to do for all of you :D.
I have a lot of webcomics that I enjoy as well actually myself. The format is great for conveying visuals and emotion…unfortunately, it’s not my particular strength overall, so sticking with something like this although a webcomic of a smaller short/self-contained story (related to this universe) might not be off the table in the future…
“There had been no one on the road for house;” It seems like this sentence is missing something like a “the” if this is truly the way you wanted it to read because perhaps her grandmother has an estate that is called house maybe you should capitalize it?
Ah, it was meant to read “hours.” thanks for catching that!
Well, I know they’re going to meet again. They have to otherwise it wouldn’t be much of a story. I’m curious to see how you get them back together.
Don’t worry . He wouldn’t be much of a main character if he just kept sitting inside his castle xD
He better not! We know next to nothing about him and I already find myself getting attached!
🙂 That’s music to my ears. As he is the titular figure upon which this website is named, do not fret. He is and always will be a primary figure, no matter what I end up doing in terms of this story and others xD
Actually, I’m rather attached to Him, Her, & Hastings. … She has spirit & “pluck”; He has that whole “dark broody unwilling hero” type thing going; & Hastings has that whole “loyal/faithful servant who knows far more about the master than the master might actually prefer” kinda thing going on. At least as far as I can tell at this very early stage in the game.
You are absolutely on target. I’m glad and freaked at the same time xD.
lol Sorry you are freaked, But I only wrote the easy reading of the characters, you have yet to show us the really indepth beings that they are. I am sure you have many surprises instore for us readers.
& Quick assessments of personalities is important in my line of work, as a Crisis services councelor. being able to judge if someone really will kill themself or another person very fast helps me decide how to best treat aid them. Every call is a case by case bassis. So I kinda cheated here, just a bit…
Does that make you feel any better??
No, no, overall I’m quite pleased but I think your comment was fairly precognitive and therefore I was wondering if I had hinted too broadly :> It gives me something to ponder 😉
I am terribly intrigued by the Count. You have me itching to know more about him, and the teaser on the front page for the next chapter has me squirming in anticipation.
Ah, that was not him in the teaser xD… hehehe. But do not fret. Next week will be a great update regarding the Count.
LOL. Maybe I should use that as my tagline instead. XD
I think it would market very well x)
Awww, even on a second reading I just can’t get over how adorable those two are. :3 The banter between Hastings and Giles amuses me too. XD
Giles is rather good. I think I need to find a way to bring him back sooner xD . E/E = a lot of fun to write. I love sibling-type dynamics, although …welll, won’t say more about that here >:3
I love the interaction between Elanore and Edmund. Hastings and Giles are funny too!
I’m curious to see how the Count feels about what he saw.
there will be a lot of him in the next 1-2 installments. As for the comedy, glad it didn’t fall completely flat either. x3
A lot of the Count or Edmund?
Both, but in what order, not saying. You’ll just have to check back on Sunday 🙂
Not a frame story!!! Can’t wait for the next update, love the story so far!
This frame may break xD.
hmm… stumbled across this story. interesting beginning. what’s your update schedule like? once a week?
Yep. Sunday night update.
Love all the detail. This is very well written. kinda grabs & holds on to a reader. Well done.
Max just got a bit more interesting with this backstory bit. ^^v It also helps explain why he’s a loner. Thanks!
He has a really messed up past… this being only the first part xD
Hmm, interesting. I wasn’t 100% sure how you were going to do the wolf bit, but I like how you’re doing this so far. I keep getting annoyed every time there isn’t a ‘next’ button at the bottom. Just when I’m engrossed again, the story cuts off.
The wolf is one of many more mythological figures in this series, but it will be some time before it’s clear who the others are (as I have yet to unfold the larger story that ties in with his past)…
Thanks for your patience over all with this format. Yeah – it’s hard to read just a bit at a time, but it’s the only way I can write and stay on top of things (aka “deadline”)… x)
Fairly sure insaw an ad on phoenix requiem. Love your work!
Yep, there is one there :). I put one up there partly because I like reading that site myself xD…
I absolutely cannot stop reading this serial story ^.^ its actually the first one I ever heard of/read. actually I’m still not quiet sure what it is, heh sorry about that. Anyway I wanted to say I love your colorful characters and how some of them are similar too people you meet in life or strange characters or beings like the unthings that you can only think about in wild nightmares! So keep up the amazing work and please don’t forget about the Count, I really want Elnore to met him again! :DD
Heh. I don’t know what to call this either, if it makes you feel better. I just know that I’m using the old model I used while posting/writing at fanfiction.net and more established writers now call this “serial novel”/”webfiction” or some other to-do :D.
I’ll be shifting back and forth between present/past quite a bit. Elanore is back next chapter, although when we last left her, she was alone with Edmund, so I guess Elanore + Count has to wait xD
Yes, it’s no fun waiting for the next bit of the story. But it is very engaging & therefore worth the wait IMO.
It’s interesting thinking about this — I think I’m used to waiting for serial content (since I read webcomics),b ut I wonder if this is hard for those folks who read voraciously to sort of jump in and out. It’s something I’ll have to think about for the next arc.
But in the meantime, I’ve been thinking that I might simply incentivize this process for folks by providing something that others who drop in later might not have access to. Any suggestions for content (art or text) are welcome… I’ll consider it!
I tend to be one of those voracious readers, but I find that if I just scan over the previous page a bit it usually reminds me right where the story was when I last left off. The storyline is unusual and engaging enough that I can pick it right up again pretty easily. Of course, that may be because I DO read so much. 😀
If you do think that your readers may have trouble with the update schedule, maybe a link to a “What’s happened so far” page might help. If you were to just add a bit to it each time you add a section it might even be fairly easy for you to keep up with. Not adding strain to yourself while helping others is always a bonus. 🙂
In any case, I’m thoroughly enjoying your story-telling and world-building, and am looking forward to seeing what happens next with this. Keep it up! 🙂
That’s an excellent idea that I’ll try to implement soon. With the complex shifts back and forth (and at least one more occurring a few chapters down the line) this sounds like a great way to help people reshift gears 🙂
Thanks so much for the comment and glad you are enjoying the story!
Pingback: Chapter 5, About Elanore | Tales of the Big Bad Wolf
I do really appreciate this story, good job
thanks! 🙂
(I think Captcha plugin is only for paid WP accounts, or I don’t know where to find it.)
Good cliffhanger is good! ^^v
Hm. one difference is that I host my WP so it might let me get away with more.
Did you do a general search for “anti-spam” or “captcha” (lowercase)?
As for cliffhangers, that too is another ff.net staple which I love using xD
I keep free accounts, so I’m on the .com, not the .org, dashboard. Yes, I checked around and even signed up for reCaptcha. I tried to code it in, but I’m not to good at coding so got nowhere.
Let me try to see what I can install off the CW site. That might give me some insight into what is useable off the hosted WP blogs.
Well so much for keeping anything a secrete. lol
I also am greatly enjoying this story.
Yep exactly. Darn unpredictable man!
Methinks the count will be trading some nasty looks with Edmund!
>:)
>:)
>:)
I found your website through a link on the webcomic The Phoenix Requiem. I have to say that I really love this story so far, it’s really interesting and an awesome interpretation on the tale. I can’t wait to read more!
Thanks for letting me know how you got here! It’s sort of time to evaluate the advertising I do and it seems like Phoenix Requiem always bring in such friendly commentors :).
I’m glad you’re enjoying it thus far. I know it’s harder to be patient with a webserial, but thanks for hanging in there with me 🙂
There’s no pressure at all! I am writing a webnovel as well, but mine are by chapters, and they are updated far less. I’m lucky to update mine at least four or five times a year. 🙁 My chapters are normally at least 5 pages long, and seem to be getting longer lately.
I wish you the best with keeping up this update schedule, I’m quite envious of it really. lol. I’m glad you are getting such great feedback, it’s really difficult with webnovel/webseries, I don’t have that luck. But I don’t have the money at this time to pay for the ads.
I’m looking forward to your update! 🙂
If you can put in a little seed money into Project Wonderful (and take ads), you may be able to benefit from some very low cost and free advertising. (There are sometimes ads that cost very little per day. Unlike other services, they don’t charge by clickthroughs, so you can get thousands of hits for a few pennies a day or even for free.) Some of my collaborators are exploring that option. But ,we’re all still sort of figuring this out. (Newbies, we are!) It’s definitely interesting how small the comparative audience is for webfic compared to webcomics.
As for the frequency of updates — shorter installments came along with the decision to push hard for a weekly schedule. 🙂 There are some things that I probably wouldn’t do if I were putting up entire chapters, but I find I like the weekly accountability. (I like deadlines. And stress, apparently!)
Let me know if you want to talk more about the business of promotion offline. (That reminds me, I need to set up an email box xD )
Thanks for the advice, I’ll definitely look into it. I’m a noob as well. Although I’ve been putting up this story for about four years, I’ve only recently really been looking into trying some ways of using money-like getting a package website deal, and then maybe some advertising, but we’ll see how that goes. For my second draft of the story, I was thinking of making a weekly schedule up, and dividing the chapters into parts because they would be so long. It would probably help me with more readers, because then they wouldn’t be waiting ages at a time for an update.
And I would really love to e-mail you about the business promotion. I’ll look for the e-mail box and see if it gets put up. 🙂
There should now be a “contact” on the right side with a nice “Poke the Creator” mailto: link 😀
Incidentally, the host I use gave me a voucher for Google Adsense, but am just starting to look at that. It seems kind of expensive, so not sure it’ll be as beneficial as PW. We’ll see :/
Hehe, the wolf has beat them both to the Grandmother’s house. I like the slight variations you have made to this story. Your skill with words is impressive. You’ve already made me curious about so many things is such a short passage.
I’ve tried to stick close to the idea of the story but it will begin to slowly shift to a much larger “world” once I can get deeper into the Wolf’s past… I haven’t yet mixed in some of the other big heavyweights who bring their own twisted versions of their fairytales with them. 🙂 If only I could write faster xD… dang… I’m getting impatient to show you guys the other Big Two characters, the ones that the Wolf must face xD
I look forward to a three (four?)-way verbal sparring match between Grandmother and the others… XP
Hm. Hm. Hm. We’ll see >_>
oh my god! oh my god! please up date! im sooo excited to discover what happens next!!! 😀
😀 I will tomorrow late afternoon. Next installment is in queue, waiting another final pass through (when my brains are not so distracted with painting) before it gets posted :3
I like this side of our wolf.
Also, in the paragraph that begins:
“Indeed,” the Count continued… there is a typo. “you and update” should be “you an update” if I’m not mistaken.
Sorry. I have been told I’m OCD when it comes to grammar and spelling.
No problem. Thanks for catching that. Often spellcheck in Word misses things like this!
No program is perfect.
I really like this turn the story has taken. You really have me curious about the hunters and the Count’s reason for disliking them. And I can’t wait to see how Edmund responds. This rivalry should be most interesting.
Wow, thanks for the plug! ^^v I’ll do this kinda thing next time on the site.
No problem!
Your love for ice-blue-eyes is showing, LOL! ^^v That said, I like how le count is confused about his feelings and desperately trying to rationalize it to himself.
I do love my IceBlue types and most of my characters are rational beings, true . However, what is perceived now might feel different later once more is understood about the character. And, with a man or whatever the Wolf is who has lived a long time, his other experiences may make you think differently about him once we get deeper into his past 🙂
I absolutely love this story; it is usually the first place I check when I get online for some reading.
Seems I’m a bit OCD as well…
At the end of paragraph starting “Regarding Miss Redley-“, it says “I believe that may see them again in the future”. Should it say: “I believe she may see them again in the future”?
Hello and welcome! Thanks for catching that error! No need to apologize for doing so either. I am glad you guys are catching this stuff.
LOL this has all the ear marks of a really great tale in the makings; I love hoe the plot is thickening even as you keep humor flowing. So far, very well told.
Gosh, I hope as it deepens you guys don’t start throwing things at me 🙂
There are a lot of plots layering… I’ve gotten down about oh two layers, there’s probably two or three more that skim over these…
*waves* Hi, I’m new here!
I’ve just blown through the first 5chapters and I’m looking forward to reading more. 🙂 I love this story so far!
How often do you update?
Hello there! Sunday evenings only for now. Have my hands full with the art side and some other projects, so once a week is what I’ve committed to for the foreseeable future. I may update more than that at some point this year, but for now will let people know on Sundays if I plan to drop in something more than that.
Great, I’ll look for new stuff on Mondays, then! Thanks. 🙂
You know how to get people even more hooked. I was reading along, then Adele’s part at the end made me wish there was more (even more then usual).
My main complaint: No Count.
LOL at your complaint. You’re going to be throttling me for the next few weeks, I’m afraid. Everyone has their mysteries, because this is just the sort of world this is and they need their time to showcase them :]
Anyways, trust no one! (Or something like that xD)
Nice mushy chapter is nice and mushy, and gives us good insight into Edmund, and a better insight into a developing triangle. Keep up the good work!
Thanks. More insight into Edmund will be coming shortly (along with a LOT more explanation of present continuity)
Found this story from a Project Wonderful ad, not sure what webcomic I was reading at the time.
I find this story compelling and your ability to weave in aspects from the familiar Red Riding Hood stories masterful (my favorite part so far as been the Count’s trek to the grandmother’s house before Elanore can get there). It’s like finding little Easter eggs along the way.
Everyone has this air of mysteriousness about them, as if everything they do has some ulterior motive we don’t yet know, and I love it. The greatest sadness for me is stumbling upon this so early in its development; it’s hard to wait between chapters for something I would put everything else on hold to read beginning to end. “Fractured” fairy tales are some of my favorites.
There are spacing issues and typos apparent in almost every installment that can cause stumbling blocks for a reader. As a fellow writer, trust me, I understand that you can read something over and over and OVER again and still miss the one thing that *everyone else* seems to notice. My suggestion would be to have someone else read the story out loud. This will help prevent hiccups like “but they were kind as they put a washed his body and put a sweet smelling salve on…” (ch4C).
I hope this suggestion isn’t overstepping my bounds as a reader, and I look forward to future updates ^_^
Hi KermitsGirl!
I would love to find a beta who could work along with this current posting schedule. Because of the change to weekly posting it’s made it hard to use my long-time proofers (some of whom are also in the collective). (I’m doing massive edits Friday/Saturday before posting.)
For now, I appreciate you guys catching some of these problems until I can find someone who can edit /flag these before these get posted . If anyone actually is willing to beta and is serious about this, I will be happy to talk to them about how to set them up as a reviewer. I would love your collective help…. WordPress is okay, but sometimes the interface makes it hard to catch spacing problems, but not typos. (WordPress sometimes hides the weird line spaces on the editor. I’ll have to see if this is something due to the transfer from Word to WordPress.)
Thanks for leaving a comment regarding one of the “goofs.” I’ll go back and look at that now! And don’t worry about pointing these things out. I appreciate it!
(*phew* Thanks for not being offended!)
Ah, yes, WordPress. I’ve heard from others that they have trouble with spacing issues.
I’m more than willing to do a quick read-through for you whenever you need it. I edit professionally in an executive setting (memos, letters, etc.), so I love working on fiction in my free time; it keeps me from going crazy!
If that’s something that interests you, I’ll send you an email and we can work out the details 🙂
Okay – will do! Right now have some other stuff going on and this week’s update is off-cycle. I’ll try to see if I can get ahead for the next chapter as of this weekend so something can be shared with you with enough turnaround time…. will contact you offline later this week.
Elanore’s mom refused who? (suspicious, intrigued)
Poor confused nice Ed. Liking the poor chap and his troubles. More please!
🙂 That point about Elanore’s mom will /should get addressed in a few chapters. (Not all little mysteries will go unresolved forever.)
I suspect I need to make a geographical map too, if I knew how to. ^^;; Although I do have sketches somewhere.
A lot of maps can be good even as cleaned up sketches. If you have something on paper/scanned, you can send it to me and I’ll see if I can make a simple one for you when I have time next month!
A nice way of introducing us to the kind of person Ed is. This is sooo getting better & better by the moment.
I’m curious to see why people feel the way they do about the Count.
Being reclusive, he hasn’t given much of a basis for others to really evaluate him. Human nature tends to then kick in — the suspicious will think him suspicious, and the kind will be more trusting 🙂 .
So sorry about the nailing to the wall!
I love the stained glass behind the snow queen lady. ^^v
Oh, I think it was a good question to ask. I just wanted to motivate people to read the interview :D.
Still not sure about the background on the image. I had thought about doing it all wood like the Wolf /Red background, but I kind of like the swan to be obvious…
Only one important thing happened, but it does give good insight into Edmund, contrasting him to the way the Count is a little quiet and contemplative himself.
Edmund and the Count indeed are very different in temperments (or so it seems), but are very similar in many other regards. (How’s that for a puzzling vague statement? xD)
I will say something though. While there was only one “discovery” in Edmund’s research thus far, the Guild itself is quite important to what will come.
Only one discovery? I disagree!
We learned there were Elvin encampments in the area that few others make reference to in their writings. We learned that the old guildmaster was very interesting in their leaving and the reasons behind it. He also stated this quite close to the statements about animals and people migrating with the lunar orbits, perhaps hinting that the elves have also migrated – and might possibly return. We learned that he distinguished between the Elvin encampments and the “elves that saw the Unthings.” Also, because of where this was mentioned, it seems to me that these elves might have come after the others had left.
We also learned that the current guildmaster seems very uncomfortable with talk of “fairy things” and might have, at one point, been willing to destroy information pertaining to said things.
Of course, I could very well just be reading too much into it.
***
You switched between guildsmaster and guildmaster a few times – I wasn’t sure if there was a reason behind it, or if it was a slip of the keys.
Chuckling. The guildmaster stuff was driving CSK and I crazy this week. The main concern was capitalization vs. not capitalization. I’ll have to go back through and take out the plural form . Thanks for spotting that.
As far as the elves — you’re thinking in the right suspicious frame of mind which I like to encourage xD. A little more and then a lot more about the last group of elves to inhabit the area is forthcoming in CHapters 7 and 9.
Edmund may have only made “one important discovery” But that’s only if he discounts discovering that the records keeper has saved the elven texts & is willing to disemble in order to allow others to gain knowledge. In my book that’s two dicoveries.
Why did the elves leave, & what connection does that long ago leaving have with the current Guildmaster??
Or am I now being overly suspicious now??
Actually the current guildmaster is quite far removed from the time of the elves departure.
Why they left isn’t necessarily dramatic, but will be eventually explained but not in great detail. I’d like to spin the story of the elves off into a second work/possibly a third. The society that they have is pretty complicated and probably has confounded the humans in this world for some time.
Ok, He’s far removed from the leaving of the elves. Does that mean that his family is too. Ancestors can be tricky things to have after all. Where does his seeming hatred of all things “uncanny” or “frivolous” come from??
I’m betting there is a story of some kind there.
Hm. This will be answered, but not for a while. While the theme of family lineage is important, I will say that it isn’t much so with this specific guildmaster. He is far from being anything like the first guildmembers who actually were probably more enlightened men than what we have in “current time.”
Whoa, adding me to promo, thanks. ^^v All the best to the bookmarks!
Well, free doesn’t have to be easy! I wanted to do something that required a little bit of activity xD
We’ll see how it goes. I mean FREE stuff is always good, right? 😀
You probably have it somewhere on here, but I can not find your tumblr. I would absolutely LOVE to follow you if you don’t mind, haha! I have been reading for a while, but I’ve never seen it.
Beautiful bookmarks by the way 🙂
Yeah – it’s actually no longer direct linked on the side because there were already so many other links to prioritize. You can find the tumblr from the linked in image on this post, or http://plumgirl.tumblr.com/ .
I’ll take the comment also as a “hmm good idea” to the idea of doing sketch giveaways. Thanks for posting!
Ahahaha first comment XD Love this series 🙂 keep up the good work!
Yay! Win for first! xD
Hello Sam! Glad to see I’m not the only one NOT watching the Superbowl !
Bahahaha reading > superbowl, any day!
I’ll be waiting for the next installment 😀
*sits down, doesn’t move*
D: You can’t sit a whole week. Bathroom and food, you know… kind of important! (But glad you’re enjoying it!)
I’m not watching either! lol
been reading a while now my first time commenting though :3 I really love this so far 😀 <3
Oh good. I hear we’re not missing much. I’ve been getting updates from everyone else on twitter who is. xD
And WELCOME to the COMMENTORS HALL OF FAME (heh).
I’m sorry, but my favorite part was the stuff about the pie delivery. (LOL!)
Haha! Well, I enjoyed writing it. Hastings probably is one of my favorite characters for being deliciously sniffly and snarky.
I love Hastings and Giles too. XD They make me grin every time they show up!
They really want to show up more often, but they have a tendency to hijack the narrative. I really do like writing characters in some sort of comedic sparring that results in temper tantrums though.
Oh, the wild swans! That’s my favorite fairy tale… can’t wait to see how you weave that one in. :B
Ah ha! You recognized it! I wasn’t sure if anyone would catch this reference, as the numbers vary according to the versions one is familiar with!
Sorry just found this and playing catch up. If you love the wild swans you might like Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Mullier. The entire book is a retelling of the tale by the sister that wove the shirts.
oh, welcome and thanks for the story rec. I do have a fondness for that story and will look the story up 🙂
I just quite literally tripped over this wonderful story. Please, for the love of plot, keep sharing it with us. I write with friends and as such, have to ask (and hopefully I’m not overstepping a boundary somewhere) if readers are able (allowed) to point out spelling errors? I’ve run into a couple and am curious to know if I’ll get my hands smacked for saying something.
No – these kinds of edits/comments are pretty helpful to me. (This last part was so late that I didn’t get to run it by my beta-readers at all and I’m pretty sure I may have missed something.) Please feel free to flag what you see. Folks have been either pointing them out at the bottom of the page implicated or emailing… whatever’s easier!
Glad you are enjoying the story, though! I appreciate the comments as well . If it’s not too much to ask — do you recall how you came across the story? I just dropped a new campaign out there on Project Wonderful and am curious to see where people are coming from. Thanks!
I think it was a link from a comic I already read, though I can’t remember which comic it was
ah, that’s okay! If you do end up remember though, let me know 🙂 thanks!
Elves – Golden ships- out of the west?? Coming dangerously close to stepping into Lord of The Rings territory aren’t you??
& why do I get the feeling that that pie was laced with wolfbane or helbore??
Good lord. I have no intention of bringing Tolkien into this or trying to borrow from his concept around elves. I do recognize though that by throwing in elves, the questions/comparisons are going to happen regardless as most modern fantasy version of elves can not help be compared to what he put together.
Some elves have a story as to how they arrived, but I have to warn you all that stories are sometimes only stories and that these origin stories will vary by region or by ‘ethnic group’ (e.g., wood vs. minstrels vs. fire vs. ice elves vs. ? elves). Be careful in accepting what people “say” in this series as truth until it’s really verified by say someone who is more likely to be an authority. That may be an elf, or someone who has lived longer than most of them.
As a geographical note, the Northernlands are bound by water on three sides. All races had to come to this place either by sea or from the South. I haven’t yet drawn out the larger map that starts to show you the larger world, but keep in mind that the Northlands is a convergence point or meeting grounds between man and elves .
Oh – the pie was not laced with anything bad :). No psychotropic drugs or poisons. The Count is just having a bad flashback xD
I’m new!!!
But I have read all I can so far, and I am loving this comic! I can’t wait for more!! I especially love the characters, I can’t even choose which character I like best. But I will say Hastings and Giles are hilarious!
I’ve got to say you’ve got me very very interested in this story!
Write on!! (Or type on, whichever comes first)
Hi there, comment ninja! I’m glad you are enjoying the story and even Hastings’ sarcasm (and Giles’ obvious pranks). Thanks for delurking! Comments like yours help encourage me to make each weekly deadline 😀
liking this a lot. Hopped over from Girl Genius, I think, but maybe Finders Keepers. There’s a really different kind of fairy tale story I’m following over at. Some of your readers may like that, too. Not sure where it is going but is set up as a memoir by Cinderella’s misunderstood step-mother.
Bahaha, first comment again! (not sure why it matters. Oh well.)
He doesn’t seem like a Max, does he? 😀 Although I guess he’s little right now… makes sense
Haha! yay first!
I think of it this way – sometimes what people call you indicates your relative position to you. In this case, all of his elders have probably called him Max since he was a kid. Although he’s 21, he’s still a “cub” in their eyes xD
Oooooo…. Things should prove extremely interesting. Swan Queen makes me think of Swan Lake.
Yeah – the paintings I did a long time ago reflect something like that from an aesthetic point of view (as her headdress in the first painting I ever did was totally a bathing cap/ballet cap thing.) That said, character-wise, I think of several other fairytale inspirations. I think the major one will be very obvious in a month.
I agree, he doesn’t feel like a Max. Max’es don’t turn into Aoshi-types, LOL!
^_^ You can make anyone a monster if you do enough things to them along the way. Not that I’m saying I plan to, but ^____________^
Hi,
I recently found this, also through a Project Wonderful ad, but I can’t remember where. Phoenix Requiem, possibly.
I’m very much enjoying this, and while I haven’t gotten quite to the end (there’s still a ‘next’ link), I can see from the dates of the posts that I’m getting there. 🙂
As you say you appreciate the typo catching, I’ve got one: Near the end of Elanore and Edmund’s conversation, she says: “Neither you and I….” — while it might be overlooked as an odd speech pattern, ‘and’ should probably be ‘nor’.
I look forward to more!
Ah! Phoenix Requiem is one of my regular contributors as far as regular readers go. I’m very happy with this trend as I really enjoy the webcomic a lot and am pleased that the audiences seem to carryover fairly well.
Thanks for pointing it out the edit. I’ll correct it in my master copy and the online copy later today!
Sorry … found another typo. 🙂
Second to last paragraph: “… man mean to go …” ‘mean’ should be ‘meant’, I believe.
And yes, the research is exciting stuff. I’m interested in finding out what he might find in the elven texts. If they don’t get discovered that he has them (now who’s suspicious…)
Still more to go, I still have a ‘next’. But, running out, soon, I think.
Cool, thanks for pointing that out 🙂
And yeah, the texts will get developed/revealed as we go forward. I have, in mind, that by the time we get through various arcs that I might be able to compile/put together a faux elf text of sorts with their various stories! And yeah – you’re getting close to caught up xD
I like the narrator’s voice, whoever he is. ^^ And the picture from the previous entry suddenly makes sense. (sorry I’m not very good at helpful comments right now…)
Ah, don’t feel pressured to comment as of now. I think once the three parts are complete, it will make more sense to comment on the story. Right now, I just want to catch mistakes if possible. (Like, for example, I kept getting Branwen’s name wrong for some reason -_-….)
I think I saw a picture for this on your dA account.
Yup! there are several! 🙂
I’m sorry, I keep finding these little typos. 🙂
“… was one that had been old to him …”
I believe this should be:
“… was one that had been told to him …”
Also:
“… Max has a limited understand of the world…”
Should be:
“… Max has a limited understanding of the world…”
And, I’m guessing that this Swan Queen … is the covered portrait?
I’ll have just a couple more, I think, and then I’ll have to wait like everyone else. I’m really enjoying the story!
My bad, it is the last, until tonight/tomorrow!
I can’t wait for the next installment! I just found this story today and had to read it all. Your writing is absolutely delightful!
Thanks! Glad you are enjoying it so far. I’m posting the second half of a related short story in a few hours… hope that will tide you over until next Sunday :>
I love Toryn’s observation! I love your depiction of wolves so far even more. I guess I get that from my dad reading David Edding’s Belgariad series to me at an early age.
I’m a fan of the wolf.
Oh – I do think wolves are often treated poorly in a lot of European fairy tales unlike in other mythologies and stories. I am not familiar with the stories you refer to, but will go check it out. I am always looking for fantasy recommendations 🙂
Impressive how Max is calmly taking in all this. ^^ Keep up the good work!
Max is pretty good/passive at this point. Things will change, of course, later 🙂
Ah, down to waiting, breathless, every week, for a new installment. 🙂
This installment wasn’t a disappointment – wolves watching out for the group?! How marvelous!
It’ll be a long week ’til next time. 🙂
Ah! I’m posting an update for the short story tonight, so hope that will help. It should be an interesting read for those who are now caught up with this chapter x)
I really wish I could write like this, more block text, less dialogue. ^^;; You go, snow queen!
You can do it! It just comes down to mapping your dialogue first, then starting to fill around it.
Wonderful story and internal dialogue/monologue!
Thanks@!
Oh, am I in heaven right now, or what?
My setting: Leaning back in a reclining chair next to the pool, listening to nothing but the waves rolling on the beach to my left, watching whales breach in the distant water, staying pleasantly cool beneath the leaves of a large tree, Pina colada sitting next to me, laptop on my legs while I read fantasy stories….. I am pretty much the happiest person ever ^^
But anywayssss…. I was genuinely surprised to find out that the girl was a unicorn, too! Not a lot of books offer very convincing or interesting surprises like that 😛 I really enjoyed this installment.
I’m jealous of this post, if only because I have been stuck inside the past week doing work and other boring stuff :). I’m glad this story was able to surprise you!
I’ve been really enjoying your writing. I hope to see more soon!
Hi and welcome to the site 🙂
The final installment should go up next Wednesday so you won’t be kept in suspense long 🙂
personally I like seeing the wolves as good guys, I just felt that there was always much more to that story. I also love the details in the story! Great job, I always have trouble picturing the scenes in my favorite stories. I love this version of this story by the way!
Hello there! Glad you’re enjoying the revelations and also this take on the fairy tale world 🙂
Hello!
Personally, I love this story. The characters are interesting, and the plot is a page-turner.
I just have one request: Can you move the story along a bit faster? I want to get back to the current story, and all this background information is starting to bore me.
This chapter should be wrapping up in a week or two. The plot points are important, however, for the future chapters so please bear with me another week or so. Thanks!
Oh wow, that is kind of terrifying to think about.
It is, but I find large blobs kind of cool too. If only because at one point in my life I was a fan of the horror genre xD
Call me cruel, but I want a picture of that last moment. ^^;;
Also, are the buttons to our sites on the sidebar really gone?
Ugh. The whole wordpress upgrade and my tweaking the sidebars messed stuff up. It’s back now.
As for that last moment, yeah, if I had a bit more time, it would make more a nice crazy picture…. just too much going on now with life, so drawing has to be put off.
(I tend to get what little traffic I get from you, you see, so I am grateful for your buttons, thanks.)
Which button is yours? 🙂
Wow. I can’t believe school work got me so busy that I missed this earlier.
I love the mention of the Swan Queen. I wasn’t expecting the swans to be black.
Oops. Misread
Yeah – I thought you guys might enjoy this cameo. It is kind of a nice “shout out” for those who have been keeping up xD. I also think it gives folks something to think about moving forward. She is highly important later on!
great story, that scar on her forehead is what made me wonder if she was a unicorn. I have read other stories of unicorns who have human bodies. What I loved here are all the details and the fantasy settings. Very well told in my opinion. Thanks for sharing it.
I’m really enjoying your story. Thank you for the innovative world and 3D characters!
You’re welcome! I’m glad this is entertaining 🙂
A fantastic short story! So sad it had to end, but at least it was a brilliant one!
Thank you – I’m glad you really enjoyed it :). It’s been a fun thing to try out, as I’ve been trying to see how I can start weaving in more tales into this particular “fairy-tale-verse.” Keep your eyes posted for an epub or ebook version to share with others.
It all felt so awwwwww. And I’m glad the Snow Queen is getting good rep in this story, in contrast to so many others.
Eeeee! 😛 Slime pit of death. It’s the fantasy version of the Blob, run!!
But seriously. Great chapter, haha. I’m finding myself increasingly intrigued by the wolves, they seem mysterious yet somehow strangely likable at the same time ^^ I can’t wait to find out their role in this world 😛 and with Max of course!
Yah, it’s a blob that looks kind of dark and weird 😀 Glad you enjoyed the chapter!
This story was well worth the wait. I look forward to more of them. This story has made me even more interested in seeing the meeting with the Swan Queen in the main story.
Cool stuff. Nice work:) I like your take on the “wolf” 🙂 Our webcomic also has new takes on the fairy tale classics. Good luck!
^^ yay!
You win the first-comment no-prize! *dance*
No-prize? O_o can I at least get a huggg?
Oh sure, Giles will hug youuuuu.
Awww, poor chap. Anybody will turn angsty-er after that.
But good stuff. ^^v
I hate to say it, but it gets worse. But as folks would like regular continuity stuff, I’ll save that next horrific episode for a while yet ^____^
Poor Maximilian. Am I the only female present who wants to give him a hug?
Haha, well if you are, you can go for it o_o
Nope! ^^v
I wanna give him a hug too =( poor guy…
Finally caught up with the story!!! XD This is SOOO beautifully written!!! Can’t wait for an update ^.^
Thank you! I haven’t done too many forays into public writing (other than an obscure fanfic run and blogging), so I’m happy that people enjoy what I’ve been throwing at them xD. Update is tomorrow late afternoon/early evening, so keep your eye out for it! 😀
And yes, hugs are needed. Poor guy 🙁
I was really pleased to see the Swan Queen. I got the strong impression in the story that she watches over and protects (to an extent) those beings that we’d consider unnatural in our modern day world (unicorns, etc).
I was pleased that you had a balance between the sense of justice and the sense of forgiveness. It’s a quality that should be seen more often in characters such as her.
You’re right in that regard, but it’s a small piece of her larger role in the world. I have in mind that she is one of the strongest females in this world, although in the fairy tale sense, she also has her own story that needs to be played out. She, too, is a bit unnatural. While there are plenty of “ordinary” people in this world setting, she is a definite anomaly.
I got that impression. She certainly seems to be immortal, for lack of a better word. As in she lives a LONG time.
Yes, you are correct on that. The timeframe for this story versus the current Tales shows that she has indeed been alive for quite a long time 😀
So maybe all us ladies should line up and start giving Maximillion A whole lot of nice long hugs, and see how he deals with that… 🙂
To be honest, I’m not sure what would happen to all of you if you did. You can try but… I’m not volunteering to help xD
Oh my goodness, I’m so glad to have stumbled upon your work today! 😀
I love what you’ve done with the familiar story, and also your inclusions of other fairy tales, folklore, etc etc. And I think you’ve done a great job in keeping up the mystery and suspense of the story as a whole, and of each character and how they relate to one another.
Oh man, I have so many questions, suspicions, inklings….
What did Elanore’s mom give to her? And did she attract the Unthing? If so, why???
It was mentioned that Edmund was adopted, and I’m guessing there may be a special revealing of his past/origin?
And why is Maximilian able to stay young for so long??? Is he related to the wolf-wind beings in some way?
Did Elanore’s mom encounter Max when she was younger (I gathered that she passed on her red cloak to Elanore), and perhaps their encounter sort-of reflects the original “Red Riding Hood” tale? (Grandma Winchester mentioned things happening again, or something like that)…Gahh! I’m just so excited xD
I’m really looking forward to coming back for the updates every week =) Oh, and I also LOVE your artwork creations for this story! I think I pretty much gush over Max every time ^.^
p.s. Sorry for the long comment! I’m a keener for my first time post >.<
Hi! welcome to the story xD. Glad you found your way here, although I’m very curious as to how. (Please do tell if you remember 🙂 )
So I don’t usually answer questions directly, but your enthusiasm is pretty catching so I will give you some hints.
Elanore’s gift will be discussed in Chapter 9. The other questions about her remain to be sorted out.
Edmund is adopted. And yes, you have stumbled on to something important that will be a lot clearer when I get done with this story. Which… might be a while xD
Maximilian’s reasons for his longevity hopefully will become clearer as we go back to his past and move back to present continuity. He is, whether he likes it or not, supposed to be doing something. What that is, well, we all must find out together with him :). There is a hint about that somewhere else, but one of the other readers is going to have to cue you in (she discovered something elsewhere xD ). The wolves will appear again in the future.
And while I won’t explain Elanore’s mom quite yet, you have picked up something important . Some of this will resurface in Chapter 9 as we return to Elanore as she waits for the outcome of Chapter 8. xD (I kid partially, but she literally is waiting at the moment.)
I do apologize as I won’t be uploading this Sunday due to convention stuff I need to tackle and some restructuring I was doing on the next chapter. But I do plan to come back at you guys starting the following Sunday. Also – if you have time, I recommend reading the other story on this site. I think it will put some more layers on to your various hypotheses 😀
There is only one emoticon fit for this part of the story:
:O
xD
:V
:B
I just discovered this site today from clicking on something accidentally over at dream*scar. I’m so happy I did so! This story has me absolutely HOOKED and I can’t wait to read what comes next. Keep up the great work! 🙂
Allooo! Very glad you accidentally clicked xD and also glad you’re enjoying stuff. I’ll be off this week (at a convention) but raring to go next Sunday :).
I’m not a regular commentor but I have been following your story for awhile. I even did a bit of fanart http://shaharw.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d39k0xq .
I loved your short unicorn story and can’t wait to see how the Big Bad Wolf proceeds.
Wow! That’s cool that you did a fanart 😀 Drop me a line on DA. I have some sketches I did this weekend that I will be “trading” maybe with other artists soon!
I never realized how wolves were considered the villain in some fairytales until after reading this story and some of the comments here. I find them to be interesting, powerful and beautiful creatures 🙂
You should give the Belgariad series a read. Its really good.
Yeah – Western tales tend to villainize them. I’d say of all the folkloric traditions the American Indian tales are the most respectful to them. Asian tales tend to vary a bit, but that is simply due to their presence not being as common in certain areas.
Currently I’m reading five or six books xD so I will have to table the series fora while. I’m determined to finish these other books first!
Ol’ Maximillian’s getting plenty of offers for hugs, but none for poor Eldnar? 🙁
You only realized how traumatic it must have been for him once he sheds tears. There, there elf-man. You’re alright. Rejoice at the fact you’re alive *hug*
Thought I’d also add that I have forgotten how I came across this site — though the most likely possibility is from the numerous web-comics I’ve read — one them which included a link to your story. So glad I did. It’s been a while since I’ve read anything with words and using your imagination to make the world in a story come to life in your mind 🙂
Yeah – Ridnar and Eldnar are particularly traumatized. Max isn’t quite in need of hugs….. yet. (And even then, I don’t think he likes being glomped. He doesn’t like surprises either. And hmm… maybe it’s a bad idea to give him a very hard stick to swing at people.)
Glad that you decided to follow through on whatever link you saw. I did advertise on various webcomics that I read myself (and enjoy). It was a bit of a gamble, but I think people have been very kind to humor a non-webcomic format thus far :). I know it does require some shifting on part of the viewer/reader, but am glad people are willing to do it with me :D.
BTW- welcome to the site. Thanks so much for leaving your comments!
I had suspected when the hunter thought that the two unicorns could look like siblings, but thought nothing of it. Once it got to the part where they spoke in the same language only then were my suspicions confirmed – that and the scar on her forehead.
C: I’m glad you had noticed that. It was a bit of a cue not only to her true nature (as visually she has the same coloring), but the actual intent xD.
I came from Red String! (If it matters.) And I’m glad I did! I’m such a sucker for a good story and you tell a fine one my friend!
Ah ha! welcome then! Have not heard much from the Red String crowd since the beginning, so wasn’t quite sure if there are any readers lurking here from there. Glad to hear it though!
I just checked out the “red string” comic and saw the link immediately.
And for Eldnar, *hug*.
aww, that’s very kind of you. Hugs are much needed over in Elf-land, especially since I won’t be returning to it for a few chapters 🙂
Ooooh. this is getting gooooood!
Can’t wait for the next chapter!
next piece next Sunday 🙂 Welcome to the site!
Ehhhh? O_o Whats going on? ^^
The Count got grumpy after I forced him to relive his past? 😀
hahaha you jerk ^^
xD -> More evidence of how much I torture the Count.
You and I both, no presence on the Webfiction Guide. But I’m too shy to directly ask for it. ^^;;
I don’t really know that the WFG gets looked at much as far as listings, but I would perhaps like a review from a reader as opposed to the only review by an editor who looked at this site and immediately classified this story as a fairy-tale story based on a short visit to the site. However, if it doesn’t happen, not worrying about it as long as people share likes through social media. I still get a few facebook referrals that pan out to a thoughtful visit to the material…
Taking bets for the coming fight… Place your bets people
My bets are tied, though, I like them both. ^^;
Elanore wins over them both hands down 😉
Fight! Fight! Fight!
this is getting better with every update!!! can’t wait for the next one!!!
LOL. So many bloodthirsty females. Who thinks we like only romance? rofl -> myself
I’m a girl who frequently finds herself liking male-oriented series, who finds the girly stuff very girly. ^^v
Yeah, I’m a shonen manga genre reader (and a former superhero comic book junkie who thought Lobdell/Bachalo Generation X was the BEST marvel series in the X-book family), so I totally get what you’re saying. Still, I do like girly stuff — teas, dresses, cute things and really handsome men xD.
The website is saying user registration is currently not allowed…
Otherwise you would see a review from me!
So sorry~
Ah, that’s interesting… I think the sister site got hacked two weeks ago. Maybe he hasn’t put it back. Thank you for trying though!
doo do do do do i’m lovin’ it. Don’t ask why that popped into my head. I have no idea. But I am truly enjoying the story. Especially now that we get to have all that pent up testosterone out and about. lol Good times will ensue…I hope. 🙂 And a bit of a fist fight in the snow would be quite alright by me.
(McDonald’s jingle in the middle of a comment? hahaha!)
Hm. I suppose resolving this with some tea and cookies isn’t going to work. hehe. Good to know, though. I’m going to revise what I have with this feedback in mind.
Hi I just came over from Tales of MU. I noticed the following sentence that seems to be worded awkwardly.
The snows we thought would keep her away for sometime.
You may wish to reword this to say: We thought the snows would keep her away longer.
Hm. I see what you mean. Thanks for the suggestion. I may take it in a slightly different direction. I still like the cadence of “for some time” but will move the words about to reduce some of the confusion. (And forgot to say this, but hi and welcome!)
Ohhhhh this is getting good 😀
I don’t want to wait for the next chapter though D:
I put my bets on Wolfram though, he’s my favorite XD
XD You have to wait because I’m still revising the next part!
Wolfram seems to have more fans. Poor Edmund. Now he really wants to become a vampire xDDD.
(BTW, hello and welcome to the official pool of “Those who comment”! )
Thankyou~ I’ve been following the story for some time but it never occured to me to leave a comment. But I’ve fallen in love with this story XD truely.
Oh. Dear god. If he becomes a sparkely vampire… I’ll.. I’ll… I’ll cry. Thats what I’ll do XD *now has the idea for an unfortunate event happening involving tar and glitter*
Wolfram is Daaaaaaaark and Mysteriouuuuuusssssss~~~ *insert sexy music here* What girl doesn’t like that XD?
Aww, I’m glad to hear that. And no sparkly vampires. But I might give him a haircut xD
(I’m not sure I like dancing Wolfram. No. Scary image xD)
I recently found this series and I must say I find it rather delightful. I usually never comment but when something seems off I feel I must say something. In the 14th paragraph you put Edward instead of Edmund, for a moment I was exceedingly confused and wondered when the character Edward had come on the scene only to realize it was supposed to be Edmund. I dare say, I don’t think Edmund would want to be confused for a glittery vampire.
LOL. That isn’t just awkward, it was a downright error. (And now I’m going to be stabbed by Edmund for it. *bleeds*)
Thanks for pointing that out! At least one good thing came out of the sleep-deprived update — and that’s wheedling you into posting xD.
(And glad you are enjoying the story.)
Funny you should mention the sparkly vampire, as you should see this. Ahaha. Poor guy. So unloved.
And if you do happen to remember, how did you find me? I would love to know!
ROFL! Poor Edmund! I actually stumbled upon it when I was looking at Toilet Genie, the page hadn’t loaded properly and I accidentally clicked on an unloaded part of the page which happened to be for your story! At first I was like “Shoot! I didn’t mean to do that!” But then I started looking at the page properly and got sucked in and started reading and became thoroughly enthralled and fascinated by the story, and now I am hooked! Can’t wait to see what happens next, I still can’t decide who I like more, Edmund or Wolfram, because both have characteristics I like. Wolfram for his mysterious and somewhat bold behavior, and Edmund for his honesty and obvious care and his clutzy moments are so endearing. Finding your images about the characters and the little teasing moment I find nice because it adds more to the characters with those candid moments. :3
Ah – Yeah – Toilet Genie is one of my favorite reads (and a place I advertise as a result). Glad though I could suck you in. It’s hard to transition folks from webcomic to written format. These days a lot of folks aren’t really as involved in online reading unless it’s for fanfic.
I’m glad Edmund and Wolfram are coming across as different men, albeit Edmund is way younger than Wolfram xD. As for the images , glad someone else is enjoying them other than me. hehehe. I like to think of them not only as blowing off some steam (as this story still is largely more serious than what I draw obviously), but also a good way to sort of cement what I think the characters are about.
Anyways :3 back atcha.
I know what you mean. It isn’t too hard for me given that I have tried (and failed miserably) to write a few stories of my own. One of them got about 57 pages typed out before I scraped the whole thing. I transitioned to reading almost entirely books to reading manga, to reading web comics. Finding a medium that is very much like a book but updates on a regular basis is very nice because I find that having a rather large book and having gotten to certain points I find it rather daunting to want to trudge forward. Especially so when you know something horrible is going to happen. Having the daily updates leaves you riveted on the edge of your seat waiting for that next update to see what is to come. Lol, but I need to stop spamming your poor comment box and I hope that people enjoy this as much as I do <3
I’ve definitely been there before. I trashed a few of my stories about at that point (50-80 pages) and others I managed to wrestle through after doing a few odd things. Writing online is a great way to force yourself to do it, especially if you can get a few readers encouraging you to keep going. Or at least if they can encourage you enough past that uphill battle where you are trying hard to establish their voices, their motivations, and the plot that keeps them moving.
As far as what I consume, I have found that I do read a large bit of manga these days, but asyou’ve noted, some of it’s the immediacy of the format and sometimes it’s just because I’m such a visual person I really enjoy drawings. That said, I read manga more for action/comedy/romance or slice of life stories. Those tend to be more fun to follow in the graphic format for me.
Glad you are hanging in here with the format. It never occurred to me that people would find this to be novel. Guess what’s old (fanfiction.net model) is new again!
And no worries about spamming the comments. I love hearing from you guys. Knowing that you’re all waiting for the next part is what makes me get up on weekends and force myself to write and edit xD
That pimp hat cracks me up every time I look at it!
ALSO: THAT HAIR. He should totally do a shampoo commercial or something. 😀
It’s like a bad commercial. But I enjoy it so much
Yay update!! I was so last sunday when I remembered there was no update.. I love this story. I’ve never seen another site that does this although my friends and I have been attempting something similar..(and failing xc ).
aww. I hope not to have to do that much… but every once in a while life stuff happens :).
Glad you continue to enjoy the story. Roundrobins or working with other writers can be hard if you guys have a lot of characters and plot elements to juggle. I did a bunch of roundrobin fanwork with writing friends a few years ago, and we did comedic stuff that didn’t require a huge plot so that we could simply have fun writing characters doing silly things. But I also did RP stuff and that could be very tricky since you have to really work well with another writer – have the same objectives and philosophy towards writing. I don’t think writing together is always that easy, but hopefully at least you’re having fun!
I think I asked you this before – are you guys posting stuff anywhere? Like livejournal or fanfiction/mediaminer.net ? Sometimes the pressure of putting it in public makes people buckle down in their writing.
You really do deserve more comments than you’re currently getting, so I guess I’ll try to start commenting some. XD I got directed here from the webcomic Phoenix Requiem a few weeks back, and have been avidly following your updates ever since. I think I’m going to be jumpy around mentions of water in your stories for some time to come after the last couple updates. I had visions of Edmund’s horse being gobbled up by unthings as he was going to let it have a drink just now.
Hellooooo! Actually, while webcomic authors are used to tons of comments, I’ve been told that webfic is relatively quiet in comparison. Considering I also used to write extremely odd fandom pairings, I’m used to toiling in complete anonymonity xD.
That said, I think you are right to be nervous for Edmund. I think getting whacked on the head (or almost whacked) is far better than accidentally walking into something. You’re on to something 🙂
What? Why would the Count do that? I don’t doubt he has a good reason though.
🙂 You’ll find out tomorrow!
Ah, yes, I was busy worrying about the water and forgot to worry about the bridge shadows last chapter. Wolfram’s past could certainly explain why he’d get a bit irrational at the sight of someone walking into an Unthing. The guildmaster is getting steadily more creepy and sinister. Don’t think he’s being a busybody for the sake of gossip. (Though that would be rather funny, come to think of it…) XD
Indeed, Wolfram has quite a bit of baggage and perhaps a few skeletons rattling around in his boudoir. O:-) As for the guildmaster being the town gossip, … nah… that job needs to be reserved for some other folks 😉
That was certainly interesting! Can’t wait for the next bit, Edmund is turning out to be smarter than I though. ^-^
Ah yes – he’s a smart enough person with things like fighting. But when it comes to Elanore, he’s a total idiot xD.
Lol’d when Edmund smacked the Count.
Heh. I chuckled when I wrote it. It’s like watching a beautiful dance and then someone whips out a cream pie and smacks someone with it. 😀
Ohmygosh he totally should have done that! XD haha
haha! I’ll work in a cream pie somewhere into this story, yet!
Thank you so much for the punches thrown! They were beautifully timed and fit in with the fighting. In fact, the fight scene is one of the better ones I’ve seen in internet writing. Well done.
And thank you for making Edmund as smart as I hoped he’d be. 🙂
Ah yes – our heroes have to be quite equal in some ways or Elanore will leave them in the dust xD. (And as it turns out, Edmund is becoming quite a detective, much to my surprise.)
Glad you enjoyed the scene 🙂
I hate having to wait a week for updates! Still Excellent!
heh. Sorry – Too compulsive and cautious to bump up the pace. But I’m glad you’re still enjoying it 🙂
Lovely post. I loved reading the fighting scene. It can be rather difficult to make a nice fluid illustration of the dance of battle through words. The only thing that could have enhanced the battle (if you don’t mine me saying) would be to add some more details. Such as adding details like “The crack of the aged wood as it connected in a furious blow against the metal blade, the clashing of the combatants eyes as they sparked with the heat of battle.” Or even “Suddenly, the water exploded between them as The Count leaped at Edmund, his cloak billowing about him, the droplets glowing in the receding light, his face set in a dark glare at his opponent.” I think it would give the scene a bit more imagery and add just a little more to make you feel as if you are right there in the midst of it all. It’s only my opinion, but back when I wrote I tended to lack details and adding more made my friends enjoy it a lot more. (I was lucky and my friend was a good critic and editor) 🙂
Thank you for the suggestion – and the concrete example! (It’s helpful to have that illustration to consider what you’re saying.) Fight scenes as well as love scenes are things that admittedly I hate so having some feedback on how others approach them is indeed interesting.
I used to have to worst time with them too. I used to be very flat with my descriptions so they ended up being bloody boring and no one wanted to read it. Not even me when I read back through it! In order to improve it I would think of something really really boring to write about and try to describe it in as much detail possible. I even wrote about someone drinking and that is something very boring to write about unless you put a lot of detail into it. It takes a while but if you think about bringing in all the senses to a scene, what you can feel, see, smell, taste, and hear you can end up writing a few pages about something that mundane. Of course putting in too much detail you can bore the readers to death. Finding the balance is tricky, but well worth it in the end I think. I love your writing though. <3
Yeah – I think the key is deciding what senses to appeal to xD. And then there’s the inner monologue, which for me, is far more interesting than sometimes what’s going on outside.
Well done. I have recently stumbled upon this unique piece of work and I can happily say I’m thoroughly hooked. I look forward to the next update.
thank you! If you do recall how you stumbled here (and don’t mind posting), please let me know. And welcome to the legion of the “no-longer anonymous readers” 😀
I think I might have come across this site by a picture of yours on Deviantart. I happen to be a fan of good art and you are no exception. 🙂
Ah awesome! Glad to know someone is coming in through that site… What’s your DA handle?
Lovely, lovely, lovely! I had my Life catch up with me recently, so I just read several of the updates all at once. (And the artwork is wonderful – are the bookmarks still available? I’m probably way late, c’est la vie!)
As other posters have mentioned, I enjoy this style of presentation – it’s reminiscent of the early days of cinema, with the serials, which was meant to bring people back every week. I’m just grateful that it’s still here, even if I have to skip a week (or three). (Er, I’m not quite that old — and I don’t sparkle!)
Keep up the good work, and I’ll hopefully be back next week for more.
WElcome back! I do have another bookmark left, so drop me a note as the original post requested. Glad that you’re hanging in there with the format. I do wish I had this story done and all (because then I’d be riding that ebook momentum), but with life as it is this is the best method to go about writing out the things that have been rattling in my head the last few years :).
It’s funny you bring up some of the old serial formats. For me, this is more like how I used to work during my fanfiction days about 7-10 years ago. Granted, it’s a little more high stakes (as I actually made a weekly deadline for myself), but it’s good incentive to keep going.
Thanks for leaving a comment. I do appreciate them! It let’s me know people are out there reading and that I better not slack off. *dies*
I have to agree…. the more details during any scene that is pivitol the better…. Not only to make us feel like we are right there watching it… but to show case that it is pivitol ….. a fight scene or a love scene without the details is like birthday cake without ice cream, or sushi without soy sause…. good but not the best they can be…
Great story though…. I’m enjoying it so much….
Guild master kinda wants Edmund Out of the way doesn’t he?? No way he didn’t know about the agreement that keeps the guild out of certain places…. I’m just saying….. ya know??
It’s interesting how people like certain stylistic things. I definitely was more concerned about balancing words/actions/ and then sentence length to sort of get a “sound” out of the scene . (For me, I think cadence is such an overriding factor that I tend to stay away from it as when I start describing, I get a little bit long-winded. That said, I’m going to mull this for the next one and figure out how to accomplish some things that were suggested but remain brief xD.
As for Edmund… yes, I do think our guildmaster has another agenda. Granted, everyone in the town of Winchester seems to have their own agendas . heh. heh. heh.
Be careful not to get too caught up in description though. A fight scene needs to flow, and not like a river in winter. Bringing details in is important, but if there are too many people only get caught up in those. It’s alright to make readers use their imaginations to fill in some of the details. Middle ground is hard to find, but worth it. Keep up the good work.
Yeah – will keep that in mind too :). I definitely tend not to be as visual sometimes in writing because I like internal monologues more. (To be honest, I’m also not as visual as people think . While I draw and am visual in that regard, I’m more likely to focus on other people and their expressions and feelings rather than what they’re wearing or holding. It’s a perception issue on my part that sometimes plays out when I write.)
I stumbled upon your website by clicking a link on a webcomic I am reading. I absolutely love the story. I am a huge fan of historical romances and fantasy fiction and this just seems to have it all. Great work, I can’t wait for the next update!
Helloooooo there then! I’m glad you are finding this right up your alley. What webcomic were you reading, btw? I would love to know which ones so I can mark down potential places to advertise. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and see you next update 🙂
Got my stickers and book mark last night. Thanks so much!
ah, you’re welcome! 😀
Beautiful writing! I just read it all today after stumbling across your link from The Dreamland Chronicles. I love the character development; it’s so suspenseful and intriguing. I can’t wait to read more!
I’m glad someone surfed on over from TDC to say hello :D. Thanks for leaving a comment as well. I’m glad you’re enjoying the story 🙂
How do I keep managing to miss the updates on the first day?! Curse my school work!
I loved this chapter. The fight between Edmund and the Count was amusing.
If it helps, you might want to use the RSS feature? Otherwise it’ll update on Sundays with intermittent art posts on other days 🙂
Speaking of which, I will have another update in the next hour posted 🙂
Is it really a cold? Or did the Count do something to him?
Ahh, good question… it will be answered shortly :>
Your vagueness both frustrates and intrigues me…
aww. It will get sorted out two chapters from now. Some of the questions you guys have are very much the same questions that others have too 🙂
Wait did I miss a chapter somewhere? Where did my fight go? ^^;;
I guess you found it 🙂
There we go, that’s the chapter I forgot to read. ^^v Good stuff, and over too soon, the fight was. ^^
Hm. Interesting that everyone seems to like action. That is something I will have to think about down the line. I do tend to prefer more Austenian type devices, so there will be more character study/slice of life for a while yet.
Ah, poor Edmund, all muddled up and out of commission. Looking forward to next chapter!
thanks! Yeah, *kicks Edmund a bit more to make sure he stays asleep for a while*
Evil chuckles…. I think I sense where this might be going, but I shall say nothing… If I’m right it could spoil things for everyone…. myself included….
LOL. Good good. You’ll have to tell me later how much you guessed. You might not be able to resolve it next chapter but the one right afterwards. I promised we will have a bit more time with Elanore next chapter…
I wish I could. I’ve always wanted to visit some of the US cons, but I can’t see myself flying there anytime soon as I still have the monthly payments for my car and a ticket to the US is terribly expensive here — current pay at work is not helping much either, but I love what I do so I can’t really complain xD (I live in Brunei in case you’re wondering). Hope you’ll run into some of your readers and have fun 🙂
Yeah, that would be cool to find a reader or two in the mix, but we’ll see! I think the last convention was a fluke … more due to it being local and having cross-traffic from my Deviantart site.
That’s pretty cool that you’re reading this in Brunei :D. Most readers appear to be highly concentrated in the U.S., with some folks in Canada. Haven’t had too many folks outside N.America pop up…
I find it odd that Edmund got cold so quickly. I doubt that it was only the water. It could either be the time he touched the statue or the time he held the Count’s stick. Hmm…sounds like something magicky going on :/
And impressive fighting by Edmund back at the creek. I had half-expected Max to win (oh, I bet he’d whack me with his stick for the nickname XD ), but then that would’ve been too easy — unless he held back?
I think the fight’s outcome actually is not as significant as people are taking it to be.
Edmund is a hunter and battles with creatures regularly. (We don’t know the extent of this training but only know he’s been away many summers further north.) His ability to read the flow of battle and defend himself should be heightened. He’s young. He’s active. And he has competition from guildmembers to keep these skills up.
Wolfram… perhaps people expect his age and presumed experience to give him the clear advantage, but one has to keep in mind that his goal may not have been to beat the crap out of Edmund (or kill him) but to deal with a pest . The level of experience he has as a fighter also hasn’t been established by me . Still haven’t finished fleshing out his past for all of you, but what we know about him needs to be assessed carefully. (Mind you, his training early on was as a ranger, not a hunter — which means slightly different things. Where he goes from the point we left him the past may surprise some folks and reshape what they expect out of him in the present after I drop that next large chapter in.)
But back to the fight– Philosophically speaking, I’m not sure that Edmund really “won” . (What is “winning” anyways if you walk away ill, and your opponent is unharmed and ready to come at you again another day? 😀 😀 :D)
At best, he pushed back and became aware of a misunderstanding that existed and precipitated the attack. At best, he walked away, although I’m not sure that he left unscathed.
That said, regarding Edmund and his getting cold quickly– yes – it is odd.
This was an excellent chapter, I love the suspense that is left making you wonder about many different things and leave you plenty to mull over until the next chapter comes to illuminate the possible reasoning for things. It is rather odd that Edmund got so ill after the instance with the Lion and that only seemed to be heightened by his battle with Wolfram. Although there is so much more than his sudden illness to think of: Why was Wolfram out there in the first place? Why has the Guild Leader kept Edmund in the dark about the agreement to stay off Wolfram’s land? What does the Guild Leader have against Eleanor’s Grandmother? What kind of reaction can we expect from the Guild Leader meeting Eleanor? What kind of sickness could have taken Edmund like that? What did the Guild Leader give Edmund to make him sleep?
More so than what is happening with Edmund or Wolfram I want to know more about this Guild Leader fellow… and I have a small guess that he might be the next male to fall prey to Eleanor’s good looks. We shall see, we shall see.
ah ha. I dare not answer your questions here, as some things will be answered in Chapter 9 and 10 :> . Glad you are enjoying this though. I think the next two chapters will be less about questions/answers than more focusing on the interactions of various personages. (It wasn’t necessarily my intent to go that way, but Elanore is a very chatty girl and I can’t make her stop talking. xD)
Sigh! The last one! Now I will have to wait.
This is a very good story. It has drawn me in and leaves me wanting more.
Thank you! I’m glad you are enjoying it.
My apologies – I realize how short it is in rereading it again this morning xD, but believe me when I say it takes a week to obsess over things that I do not quite know if I want to commit to paper.
Yay new post! That’s interesting to get more exact details on the local population.
Ha – Not sure if the exact details are important, but Elanore certainly needs to figure out what’s going on… or at least be clued in a little more to who is there and why.
Now I’m wondering when the wolf will come over to the grandmother’s house….and have apple pie. ^^v
Haha. xD Nooooope.
Don’t think of me as nit picking, but apples are ripe in the fall – not the spring.
Nah that’s okay. She should have been talking about fruit — both traded and locally acquired. I think I edited it to remove that allusion, but if you see something else, let me know. Thanks!
Yay! A friendly cliff hanger…. I really enjoy them a lot…. it allows my mind to speculate in all sorts of happy ways….
Ah, yeah – just need to make sure you guys feel a lack of completion just mild enough to come back next week, and yet not kill me 😀
The suspense is unbearable!
You always do this to us!
xD It’s a suspense story. I can’t help it! 😀
WHAT DOES THE STONE DO????????
That question will now torture me indefinitely.
Thanks.
I love the sound of sarcasm in the evening ^^
Im starting to miss the Count already. Is that weird? 🙂
haha, not surprised at all. I’ll give you guys a treat this week to make up for his absence.
Picture?
I’ll try, but it won’t be like the pinup :3
Not indefinitely :). It will be a few chapters yet, but you’ll see one answer from someone else.
However, there are two broad hints out there already about stones and their properties — one is in a previous chapter and this one (Evelyn used it), and the second you can see in one of the drawings.
GAH. Stone mysterious stone. And Elanore’s mother, gave up the hood? I want to know more D:
Yup. Taking note of your interests and such. The stone is key, the hood… maybe less so at the moment, but more will come out 🙂
This is probably the biggest hint today, but the red hood comes with a particular lifestyle that Elanore’s mother could not choose.
How dare you give such a tantalizing hint, haha, I can’t wait for more.
Eventually Elanore will also have to decide what to do about the hood herself, but not for some time 😉
Finally caught up! The story so far is excellent, I love retellings of fairy tales. This one is interesting because it combines several and has a very unique view on them. (Whaddya mean the wolf isn’t a wolf!)
Too many mysteries though. Which is good (because it makes me want to read more) and bad (because it makes me want to know now). (I like to complain about stuff I like. Don’t take it the wrong way.) So… I’m guessing “hood” is a reference to… witchcraft? Somehow that’s the feeling I got.
I’m looking forward to reading more! I’m going to check out the other… wenches… do you enjoy using that word to describe yourselves?
Welcome to the madness! Glad you are enjoying so far. If you recall, how long did it take you to catch up? I’m trying to understand the experience for readers that are generally new, so I have some idea as to how to handle meta-summaries (likely to come in after Chapter 10).
Not all mysteries will linger. The personal ones will be resolved as the opportunities present themselves (or as I force the opportunities on the characters hehe), but the political ones will take much longer to sort themselves out. I’ll try to find an appropriate balance on what to hold and what to let go of as I really don’t want to keep too many of these on deck. (I have a little book I have to keep now to track some of these questions, and believe me, it is difficult to keep adding to this list without taking stuff off 🙂 ).
As for the wenches title – it was something the creator of Suzy’s Box came up with. She’s pretty funny… and the name provoked such an interesting response that I guess we’re keeping it xD
Sorry, I didn’t really keep track of how long it took me to read… I think it took a couples of weeks overall, but I didn’t read every single night either…
That doesn’t help much, does it?
No, it’s helpful to know how someone tends to experience the story. There tends to be a lot of curiousity about readers of serial fiction and their preferred reading habits. Some really like to read everything at once (and for those authors who are publishing a complete work serially, it’s for these audiences they will gamble on putting an ebook out at the same time for purchase). However, there are some people (undefined number) that seem to be okay with the pacing (because it’s hard to digest a lot of stuff at once or they don’t have the time). My asking is really to see what happens when new folks walk in. The folks who have been here since the beginning are pretty much forced to just put up with me week to week (at one point I was even considering biweekly), but others coming in now have a choice.
Anyways, that’s a bunch of rambling totally not related to the writing, but the platform. Thanks for answering the question! I’m sure others (besides myself)will find this response interesting 🙂
D: I want to know what the stooooooone doooooooooooooes *feels five again*
No but seriously, exellent chapter 😀 It must have been hard raising Evlyn as a child, kinda like Elanore
Oh and one more thing… TYPO D:
“Even with no one here to replace you at yourr post….” Yeah sorry *grammar nerd*
No problem. Thanks for catching that typo!
As for the stone, yup, someone else remembers something important about another stone. Another good observation 😉
Above person is not alone in beginning to miss the count. ^^
He’s just stomping around, not doing anything interesting. That said, I’ll probably doodle something for him to keep the fangirls happy xD
Ahh it seems that another stone very much like the Count used to ward off the Unthings has reached the surface, and in the hands of young Elanor. Still nothing to quench the thirst of my ravenous curiosity about the Guild Master. I am eager to know more about just what the hood is about but it seems rather trivial, except for the fact that they have mentioned several times that her mother used to wear it, and that the Count had once tried to court her mother. (I believe they had left a small bit of bread crumbs to lead us to that conclusion.) That would explain his need and want to chase her and why he took such interest into her. Curiouser, and curiouser….
Close, but should mention the Count has -not- encountered any other Winchester denizen. He has avoided the townspeople at all costs.
So we have a stone of Light Bringing, and a stone of Direction Finding?? Would that be the best way to describe them so far?? Or should I go far more simplistical and call them stones of protection and leave it go at that??
Hmm. No. It’s not that mechanistic. There are specific and unique properties to the types of stones they hold, but I can’t comment fully on the stone that Wolfram holds yet. The explanation is forthcoming, but on hold because I’ve pushed the continuation of the past timeline story with Wolfram off until after the next two chapters conclude.
Elanore’s stone is /has not been used fully or according to its design and is not the same in property as Wolfram’s stone. More insight will come to light (no pun intended) slowly through the eyes of other characters and as Elanore begins to learn things about it.
New reader, loving the stories!! I finished them in two days, but then, I’m a rather fast reader. 🙂 I can’t wait for more!!!
*wave* That is pretty fast! Glad you’re enjoying them 🙂
Sorry that I’ve been absent for a while. Let me say that your new chapter is refreshingly homey. You write a scene between a grandmother and her granddaughter well. Anyone who’s spent time with their grandma as an adult knows the polite clash of wills that occurred here. Well done.
I would like to have a bit more of the family ties explained. I understand how everyone is related, but I think there is a valid point in taking time to explore how Eleanor feels and relates towards her mother and father. She obviously interacts well with her grandmother, despite the interval between visits. Just me putting my oar in. Ignore as you will.
Thank you for the update! It is, per usual, quite an enjoyable read.
Mmmm. I think that’s an interesting sort of comment. I’ll have to think about how it may be appropriate to bring those kinds of reflections in. There aren’t any general issues to expand on as o, yet, although some more information on Evelyn is forthcoming next week and then somewhere again in the next chapter. (It’s roughly almost done, but the length is pretty crazy and so with editing, it may be another few weeks before another thing sort of unfolds itself and makes you guys all nuts xD ).
If there is something to say though about adult “battles” — most of them often are more like the ones you see in this chapter. As you have noted, people generally have strong opinions about other people and what they should do, be, act, think, etc. In that sense, I think I”m more Jane Austen right now than traditional fantasy xD. Anyways, glad you’re back…. no worries about commenting week to week though. As long as I know you guys are lurking, I keep dutifully typing at my machine xD.
This is probably the most comments I’ve ever seen on a page. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in my reaction of wanting to flail around while waiting for more answers.
Yeah – ignoring mine, this is the most from readers after the testosterone battle a few weeks ago 🙂 As for flailing, FLAILLLLLLLLLL 😀
A lucky thing for me to be a new reader and to find your story just before an update.
I find it to be quite well done so far. It is quite refreshing to see an author who’s learning the characters as they arrive in type. Makes the learning curve for a new reader not seem quite so steep when spending a few hours clicking through the updates.
Hello there and thanks for the comment! Based on what you mentioned, are you currently reading other stories or viewing webcomics? Also did you read this in one or more sittings?
Reading other comics/stories? Oh gods yes, probably too many of them at once to keep track of what’s going on. I read a few, catch up on the archives, find another.. a vicious cycle, truly.
It took just one setting, I found your story around 6am today and posted my comment just after finishing.
LOL. With so many things to read, indeed – see why you’d be up to 6am. Very interesting though. I’d be interested to know what you are reading and viewing. Recommendations are always appreciated.
Woo, First!!
Had to be done..
A wonderful chapter and lovely cliffhanger to get me through the week.
Now that’s a first – someone who seems to enjoy cliffhangers :).
pirates. spies. tales. This story has everything!!! I’m really excited for next week….
Not quite everything. There will be no ninjas :>
No ninjas! Shocking! 😉
I’ll try to restrain my grief and hope for cowboys instead.
LOL. Well, at least I had unicorns (vaguely referenced). What else are we missing 🙂
Sure there are ninjas, there are always ninjas, we just don’t see them.
Ah true. In that case, there are thousands of leet ninjas already in the story xD
Gahh…. excellent chapter, with a nice cliff hanger ending!! I didn’t even notice, what’s your update schedule? Soon, I hope!!!
(Waiting for creampuffs…) I update the text on Sundays (at least so far xD) at 5pm EST. If there are any miscellaneous art/announcements, those go up on Wednesdays :).
The sudden POV shift (from Elanore to her grandma) was a little disorienting. But I did love that the guildmaster was described as….. pretty much like Aoshi (facepalm), by Elanore. ^^;;
Yeah – I did break pattern here. I’ll think about the shift (grandma->elanore->grandma ) later.
Guildmaster isn’t an Aoshi type though o_o. I wouldn’t give him that much credit!
Actually, I enjoy a good cliff hanger too. and this is a great one… imo
But the guild master wanted Elanore’s mother for his own, and didn’t succeed in his quest and now is a bitter and nasty…. Not very original… oh great puppetmaster…. so new sins on this very old theme are being looked for…. Or I will start tossing Egg Creams at you…. 😉
Cream puffs! Not egg creams 🙂
You are an evil man. Cliffhangers right before a good story in a story. Damn you Puppet Master!!
A very sweet moment to warm the chill in the air, 35 outside here as we speak… spring in Texas.. I love it…
good gracious, when Texas is chillier than over here, that’s just weird.
As for the moment. hrmhrhrmrmrhrmrhrm *whistles*
YOU GO ED! ^^v
lol.
haha! At least someone’s rooting for him. v
lol seconded.
at this point I don’t have a favorite. but Ed sure does. 😛
x) Yes, yes, I think so, although Elanore does not xD
It feels like there’s some kind of weird parallel between Elanore and her mommy…I’m pulling for The Count!!
I hope not, but we’ll have to see what plays out :[
Facebook for sure
Hm. I’m wondering if it’s used enough by regular readers to merit setting up some kind of fun mini contest through there. Will think on this some more. Thanks for leaving feedback! 🙂
Very interesting chapter, thanks for the update! As for your question, personally I have both Twitter and Facebook, but I actually watch Twitter more.
Hmm. Thanks for the feedback. You seem to be one of the rare ones 🙂
(sulks for lack of more stuff from Ed….)
*pat pat* Don’t worry.
I’m on Facebook, but not that much.
Yeah – discovering this may be true for lots of folks! Do you use any social networks and what and how much?
I took a couple or so weeks off to let you get ahead of me so I’d have a little bit to catch up with. I’m thoroughly enjoying this story.
Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome ! 🙂
Thank you for having more of Edmund! I’m afraid that I’m a bit of a more practical and down to earth person, so I enjoy his personality. But, as to the story, I’m enjoying seeing how you develop her relationships with people as she reenters this town as an adult. Having done a lot of travel myself, it is difficult to return to a childhood home and try to reconnect with people, even if you were close. Because, after all, you have all been changed by your different experiences. Thank you for addressing this in your story, even if it’s not intentional.
I love the bits with his mum. She has the perfect reactions, especially the biscuit!
I’m glad there is more Edmund appreciation <3.
Glad though that you're finding these small conversations interesting. I do realize that exploring interactions can be hard for those who prefer straight out action-fantasy stories, but I love characters so will meander a bit here and there. Thanks for your patience and glad you are finding something to relate to in this chapter 🙂
I use facespace if you feel like using that 😀
Aka: Facebook
Hmm. Not a lot of regulars seem to, so will wait and see if I can find some other ways to do some fun treasure hunts …
Wait… TREASURE HUNT!? *feels eight years old again* ohhhh we have to get this to wooooooooooork 😀
It seems like folks are spread out in different places so I may try it again later with a slightly better incentive than bookmarks. I’ll wait, however, for all of you to finish up with your studies for the semester first 🙂
Interesting character and relationship you’ve set up regarding Edmund. He feels like a proxy for us, the readers, but his own feelings toward Elanore and the role he’ll likely play as one leg of a love triangle leave enough ambiguity to make him complex.
No facebook or Twitter, but it feels inevitable that I will someday. Privacy concerns be darned…
I hear you — I myself guard my FB pretty zealously, but did want to think about interacting with people through that mechanism if a good portion of the regular readers use that. I’ve found that one or two people recommending the story (through ‘likes’ or sharing it) does help refer people this way. And with so much of the regular population using FB to help them find content it’s not something I can ignore.
Thanks though for venturing out of your private shell to leave a comment! Edmund definitely is a sensible, thoughtful person who probably is the most like the reader, as you noted. He has no special knowledge like the reader, and to some extent has become the “detective” in this story xD. At least for now… 🙂
This is a lovely way to wind down before my last AP test tomorrow ^^ But now I’m all full of questions. haha 😛
Oh gosh, I hope you do well on the test. Or I’m going to get blamed xD. Hm – I guess my efforts to answer questions always bring more questions hehehe. Although hopefully the questions are the same that the characters want to know, which given their nature, means eventually they’ll find out the answers 🙂
The plot thickens…and just about everyone has become far more interesting. Except that biscuit. It needs a bigger role in all this. 😛
The biscuit unfortunately was destroyed, so it can’t do much. Except crumble 😀
I really enjoy this story. and love the sparks that are flaring up with Edmund, and Elanore, I can see why the count is reacting the way he does; even if he doesn’t understand it himself yet.
I use Face Book, and am happy to “like” you there.
Haha, glad that someone else enjoys Ed/Elanore moments. I really like playing with them overall.
I haven’t decided whether to bother with a direct FB fan page or not. I think the way things are distributed right now people seem not to be all that into it over there. (Rather I may have to use the FB fan page for my friends who otherwise don’t watch sites outside FB and alert them to updates on other websites.)
I just started reading this, and love it so far!
For the record since you asked, I follow both facebook and twitter, but facebook more often.
That’s great! Thank you for dropping me a comment and letting me know that you’re out there. I’m thinking about how to use Facebook to improve some of the communication and also help share the story with others. If you have ideas or anything , let me know.
If you also happen to recall how you found this story, could you let me know? I want to know how/where to focus my ads and such. THanks!
I think most of the sites I follow on Facebook use it as a way to connect with fans and tell them about updates.
I found the link to your site off of the web comic Red String.
ah good to know. thanks!
I don’t think I can wait two weeks! But I also think it would be better for the story if you did, otherwise it would probably be broken in odd places. I vote heavy installment!
IT’s alright, will do a post this week and then break only a week if all goes well 🙂
Another red-hooded one, perhaps? Mm, maybe maybe. I keep changing my mind on whether I’d prefer a short update quicker or a longer one later. Which way would the story read better?
Hm. The answer to who/what is behind Elanore will have to wait. I will post this week,although I would have probably liked to have waited xD.
lovely, as always, perfectly balancing warm fuzzies with ominous cloaked figures.
I don’t know how i’ll survive two weeks without an update, but it seems like the best way to go!
I do have a tendency to react to smushy scenes with “DUN DUN DUN” moments. I can’t help it! (And yes, decided to go ahead and update Sunday.)
Short break! I couldn’t bear to wait!!
DUN DUN DUN.
I don’t really have a preferance for the update schedual. Whatever you prefer, I guess.
That sound effect is now stuck in my head. DUN DUN DUN
Love Elanore again misreading Edmund and assuming she looks a fool for demanding to be treated as a woman and then acting like a child. I think the entire town will understand what’s going on before she does… meanwhile, is that a wolf escorting Little Red? We’ll see when you’re ready. No rush.
Yes, Elanore is still sometimes very much a girl. And a blockhead xD. No comment on the last portion of your question as I will answer it Sunday. (Decided to just go ahead and start and let you all stew one week with questions xD)
The only thing I can say is…. I envy your readership. ^^;;
Yes, they keep me honest and posting. And here I was thinking I was going to let everyone sit in a cliffhanger for two weeks, but I’ll do my best to just keep it one now. I just need to make the next week and a half very productive so I can keep a little bit more space between where I’m writing and what is being posted (and having time to do more than a cursory edit on my drafts).
Stalker!
I don’t know if the hooded figure will appreciate being called that xD
OMG I’m dying to know what happens next!
Uhoh. You’re going to kill me on Sunday xD
Short break, also. But do what you’re comfortable with!
just one word…….
Ooooooooo!!!!
Hmmmmm.
I’ve been following this story for quite sometime already and wasn’t able to leave a comment til now… sorry about that, I forgot my manners when it’s the least I can do to show how much I love and was enjoying this story… I love Edmund for his character and I love the Count for his mystery.
I like how the ‘biscuit’ scene made a funny and refreshing break from the monotony of the conversations, not that I don’t like those exchange cause I find them important in the flow of character and plot development, but it is a wise way to keep to refreshing the readers interest to the story… Thanks for such great story that’s truly worth my time reading…
Ah yes, and without that biscuit who knows what might have happened? 😀
Thank you for leaving me a comment, I do appreciate hearing from the lurking folks out there… and particularly those from abroad 😀
I am actually a follower of some of your fics at fanfiction.net and had always admired the style of your writing, so here I am on a new thread of yours….
that’s great to know! It had been so long I did anything on ff.net that I worried about posting the links to this site from there. I’m glad you are reading 🙂
I’m a new reader; I was linked here from a banner on another site. This is fantastic! It’s a little like the graphic novel Fables, in the concept of retelling fairy stories, and in the talent behind the project. You are really deft with what you reveal when, and it’s completely fascinating and engaging and frustrating, and I just want to know what happens! 🙂
Anyway, looking forward to the next update 🙂
Ah ha! I only recently became aware of Fables because of Mark Buckingham, who used to ink my favorite penciler from eons past (Chris Bachalo). It’s definitely an honor to be put in that same category although I guess if that’s the superhero fairytale world, mine is kind of a … well, I guess we’ll see xD. I still like to insist that I’m doing a Jane Austen version of fairytale/fantasy. If you do recall what site you saw the banner at and could let me know, that’d be great. I have consolidated advertising but keep a few random campaigns going through Project Wonderful and am always wondering how people get here. Glad you’re enjoying the story thus far!
PS – just updated :3
I was at Wapsi Square, I think, when I saw your banner. 🙂 And I do think this is a much more literary approach, which appeals to my little writer heart. 🙂
I’m off to read the next part!
ah ha! I’ll look that site up. Thanks!
Oooooh it’s getting so good! I’m really glad for this insightful post =) It makes me like The Count (and Giles) much more.
More explaining forthcoming on these two I think…. slowly, but surely!
Wolfram is back, and more amazing than ever…this is the start of an excellent week!!
glad you enjoyed it! BUt don’t compliment him too openly, he’ll get too proud and not do what he needs to xD
Thanks so much for the update! Interesting to learn there are still elves around fairly locally – if that was clarified before I’d missed it. What a lonely life for the Count, watching generation after generation of servants pass by. I hope there’s more like Hastings who really care about him.
They are around on the peninsula, but aren’t closeby… not sure if you ever looked at the map, but they have moved far beyond the current roads on the map.
And yes, the Count is pretty isolated. Giles and Hastings are the only constant now, compared to what he had before in the past.
Oooh! I love it when you get back to the Count! He’s such an interesting character–and what happened to Giles?
Waiting with baited breath 🙂
🙂 No fear, Giles shall appear!
(I swear, I envy your readership (sigh).)
I keep wondering why you don’t call him Max, though. ^^
max just doesn’t sound epic enough for this guy…think about it, the coolest literary guys ever were counts!
Count Max? 🙂 My brain can’t handle the juxtaposition haha
LOL. Max perhaps in alternate universe or when he’s really young and pinchable, but some people really do not otherwise like their names shortened!
Just started reading and I love it all so far.
I’m glad! It’s good to know that people are out there enjoying it . As I said before, knowing readers are out there keeps me going!
Love it 🙂
thank you!
Ahh for some reason my brain decided to tell me that you update on Wednesdays O_o I got the chapter late! Who is it that updates on Wednesdays…
So many stories, so little time!!
But it’s great so far – or still, I should say, as we’re a little farther in now – and I’m glad to be reading more of the Count’s affected musings ^^
LOL. Wednesdays is Suzy’s Box. The other two stories shifted to Thursdays and Fridays. I also sometimes update art stuff on Wednesdays… if you use any RSS alert features or want an email alert, you can use the “Subscribe” feature up top. I’ve changed it so that folks who don’t use Google Reader or some kind of subscription based web browser can simply get an email.
Hopefully this chapter will unravel things a bit more.
I like this chapter…. the relationship between the master and manservant was elaborated more… somehow this chapter made me empathize with the Count’s loneliness all those years living while things around him changed and passed. I felt like something pricked my heart just reading between the lines of his musings while he was at the watchtower looking out on everything. With that said, I’m very much looking forward for the next update…
I agree! It is nice that we can now empathize with the Count on some level. His background helps explain him, but it’s been difficult to connect with him as a character (besides the fact that of course he’s dark and mysterious and no woman can really resist that combo).
It also gives depth to some of the minor characters, which is just as important as having well rounded main characters. After all, a world is made up of everyone, not just the people that we know personally.
Thanks and well done.
Yeah – the balance of what to show and tell and what not to is hard to think through while writing this serially. IT’s one of those things that when I finish I’d like to think through and rebalance…(there are other things that need balancing in the long-form compiled format too, but I’ll deal with those later after I finish and think through the work as a whole).
I’m glad though that you’re both enjoying the additional exposition or insight into his character!
SO EXCITED for the next update 🙂
whew. And it will be forthcoming as planned. Wasn’t quite sure but things are slowly settling…
Another wonderful addition to the story. Looking forward to more from the Count and all others.
cool 🙂 thanks!
Wolfram: *I’m too sexy for my cape, too sexy for my cape…*
Bonus insight from Elanore: He’s so gorgeous….*inner flail*
Ok, I don’t think either of these characters are like this. But Wolfram looks so self-confident and just a bit like he’s leering, so this is what went through my head. I hope the post just makes you chuckle. Please don’t take it seriously. The art is well done, and I’m not trying to smear the artist in any way.
He does look like he’s a little vain. xD
And no offense taken. (I’m the artist too xP)
Count wolfram: “Your jealously is amusing, huntsman.”
I can’t help but think the count would be amused and smirk at Edmund’s discomfort at them being so close. XD I feel like we are seeing them from Edmund’s eyes, he more menancing and her more fragile.
What an insightful comment! I do think Edmund might completely agree with your statements xD
I actually had two different reactions to what the Count might be thinking here, dependent on whose point of view this is perceived through.
If Edmund were viewing this scene, the Count might be thinking: “Even with the ears out, she still like me better, hunter.”
If an Unthing were viewing this scene, however, the Count might think: “Now, like we practiced; focus, breathe, and attack.”
Those were my thoughts on it, anyhow.
Both excellent thoughts :). Perhaps prescient xD
I liked how Mr. Wolfman grinned at the end of Suzy’s comic. ^^v
Me too! Although to be honest, the Wolf is absolutely fine. He has enough fangirls. IT’s Edmund I worry about!
“Little Red Riding Hood, you sure are looking good. You’re everything a Big Bad Wolf could want. *Howl*”
Am I the only one who knows that song? 😛
I’ll have to look it up 😀
Here’s one recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FA85RO89HA
I found an odd one attached to a Tex Avery naughtly Little Red Riding Hood short. Thought it was pretty funny. Thanks for this link though! Much better sound quality 🙂
No. I think of that song almost every time I read this. And then I grin a little bit when something that happens either matches the song perfectly, or relates to it in some way. I love it even more now that I know it’s unintentional!
this has been one of the best parts of the past two weeks. I never knew Giles was so nifty. probably one of the funnest updates in a while. 😀
Giles has always been a sassy man. I enjoy writing him. I also enjoy what I have planned for him xD.
Glad you enjoyed this update… starting to finally dig down and peel away at everyone!
Hahahaha. I’m inclined to rather like Giles a lot more now.
Everyone likes snarky people, apparently 🙂
Agreed, Giles was quite interesting here. And Ed is being rather weird again, aye? ^^v
Ed would insist he’s doing nothing weird. This is occurring the same day or so as Ed/Elanore interactions so he’s probably somewhere between sleep, the kitchen, and getting his hair hacked at the moment.
What would a giant house be without secret passages? Is Wolfram Batman now?
I digress…
Giles is quite like able now, nothing screams ‘family’ like someone sicking bears on people.
Nah. Maybe his grandfather was. :p
Actually the passageways above ground aren’t really all that new or secret. Elanore was dragged through part of it earlier. What the study leads to, I guess is open for speculation.
And yeah – Giles is probably the kind of cousin or uncle one wishes they had, except when they really do sic bears on people D:
Ok, I’m officially a Giles fan. I hoped we’d get back to him just because he seemed so snarky, but you far surpassed my hopes. Yeah for family joining together in hopeless circumstances!
My only negative comment here is that it does feel a bit batman-ish to have the secret room, etc. However, given the time period this is written in it makes perfect sense.
The study isn’t really secret, but the cave and other things underneath are. As for being Batman, well, thankfully no need for costumes in this universe. Unless they’re weird.
Below ground, well – the analogy to Batman’s caves might take folks down an unintended rabbit hole — if anything the caves and tunnels are there for a rather mundane reason, but will be explained later. But there aren’t any superhero gadgets down there. I promise.
Ah, more on the Guild and on Edmund. Very good.
Loved the bit about taking the elven books home for his mother.
Ah ha! Yes, I am looking forward to unpacking these a bit more in upcoming chapters. Thanks for letting me know this kind of stuff floats your boat 🙂
Hmm…
I think it might be like this…
Count: “Don’t be shy, Elanore. Come closer…I won’t bite.”
Or on a more serious note if they were out practicing: “Don’t tell me you’re scared already, Miss Redley.”
“Why, don’t you look good enough to eat?”
(also) Elanore: “My! What big ears you have, Count!”
Count: “The better to hear you, my dear!”
Slightly more than one line. But I love the picture.
Blehhh i hate being so curious 😛 I have to know what happens next!!
haha, glad to hear that. At least there will be someone back here next week x)
Oh snap, there are other Wolfram cousins who can do other nifty things! But what’s this about giles’s bloodline being purer than the Count’s? Nobody is awesomer than him!
lol that’s what I was thinking!
Wolfram’s mom and dad have a backhistory that I want to write later. It’s largely through her line that his bloodline became somewhat exotic.
I don’t know who I like better anymore, Giles or the Count. The Count was winning, but Giles is getting more and more interesting…
I can’t wait for the next bit!
Giles likes all of you back. Especially the women xD
Now I want to meet more of the Wolfram family.
If all goes as they plan, you guys will see more of them. Exactly when/how/why well… we’ll see!
An excellent chapter, as always 😀
I’m really curious to see what happens XD
GAHH Why do you do this to us? 😛
… Plus to see the look on Edmund’s face when he learns that the Count has taken an interest in Elanore 😀
Oh, he already saw the Count pull something much earlier… so the thought is already there in his mind. Edmund will have his own problems to deal with shortly 🙂
I agree with Marcus. Bring on more of the Wolfram Family!!!
As for Giles acting as message bearer… that should prove to be interesting to see.
Giles definitely has the potential to cause trouble, but sometimes he’s all talk or easily thwarted :). We’ll see.
Le Count going all tsundere and such, so cute. ^^v
Your comment has made him sulk in a corner. (Anything but cute Dx)
I am really enjoying your work so far, but I wonder how does one have impossibly brown hair?
heh. I think it’s more of a statement that the hair was not golden-brown, red-brown, but plain jane brown with no highlights, no pretensions at being anything but middling xD.
But I will think on that some more . When I get to compilation and editing I may decide to use a different way to describe it…
Just a heads up you’ve got a bit of a continuity error: you kinda made a big point in the early chapters to note how the snow covered Eleanor’s footprints, but then in this chapter they are still visible enough for the Guildmaster to see she was running. That really stuck out as odd to me.
Hi Zephyr – I’ll have to go and look how I explain this … Giles initially left town before the snows picked up. He left shortly after carrying Elanore and Hastings to town. Although I don’t explain it specifically – the sequence of inspection was
Count (up to bridge only) early morning, Giles (actually on and off the road beyond the bridge) (later morning), Edmund and the Guildmaster (later afternoon).
I’ll have to look at exactly to what degree I stated that the tracks were covered in the very first evening/morning of events (the Count’s assessment specifically), but hopefully in answering it addresses some of the confusion. The timing of chapters sometimes is not strictly chronological which I think does create some confusion.
Welcome btw to “the dark side of the commenting crew” and thanks for pointing this out.
Is “E.S.” supposed to mean something, out of story? I notice that you make a number of references to stories (such as the Swan Queen). I’ve been beating my head against the wall trying to figure it out. I don’t even need to know who “E.S.” is, just is it significant?
Yes, it is a set of initials that belongs to the author of the tome that Wolfram and his grandfather referenced. It won’t be explained here in this arc. I am planning to cover it in the immediate arc that follows this one (that will talk more largely about the Swan Queen). The other story references are (currently) notes on paper to other short or novella length works I want to write. The “Sleeping Prince” reference is another unfinished work . THanks for asking!
Ok, my brain basically works like a tv about 90% of the time. So when the Count starts talking about how he was doing his best “Giles impression”, I choked on my water. It was the funniest thing that had been in my head all week! And that is saying something because I work with 2nd graders.
Oh, and I’m officially in love with Giles. 🙂
I’m enjoying the imagery of water spewing everywhere. (I too, have taught little kids, so I find things like this kind of funny. Okay, I digress.)
Glad everyone is liking Giles. I like him. Except sometimes when I think he is a little too full of his manly self. -_-
If this was an actual book, I’d buy it in a heartbeat, but there’s something special about waiting that makes me appreciate each chapter.
And I love Giles! I imagine him looking like the Dread Pirate Roberts (without the mask), making all the women swoon shamelessly.
WESSSSSLLLLEEEEYYY. (I, too, love “The Princess Bride”!) In fact, Giles has the lovely beard and blonde looks of DPR. Very much so. (He’s kind of Errol Flynn in a way as well.)
I’m glad you are enjoying that much! Thank you for the compliment. Hopefully someday I’ll actually be able to turn the stuff from this corner of the web into a book and then a few more books :). But like you, it’s just kind of fun unpacking this slowly. Just as you guys kind of have fun with the “what is going to happen this week” question, I’m having a lot of fun with exploring some of the characters in a more leisurely way.
I just found your site and wanted to let you know how much I’m enjoying the story. I look forward to your updates and seeing how it progresses.
thank you! Glad to always hear from new readers and always appreciate when they delurk :).
This is how small town rumors get started..
Yes. Particularly by bored old ladies >_>
Ah yes, the culture change within a country. haha
Also, must agree that I can’t wait for the gossip to begin.
I guess everyone likes a little bit of excitement. 🙂
I suspect it wasn’t intentional, but seeing a Mrs. Reyes in the area made me wonder if you have Pinoys or Latinos in this story. ^^;
Old ladies are universal in all cultures. ^_^
Ahh The Rumors and gossip this is going to start are going to be epic. Hehehehe
Yes, yes…. so many stories to confuse everyone!
Wow! The Count is being quite social, albeit in a roundabout kind of way. Still, it’s a start to him being even more awesome!
Speaking of awesome people, who is this northern lady? Any woman who can make Giles back off is a woman I want to hear more of!
Yes, with a little help from the less isolated and more socially inclined, I might add. The lady will definitely become an annoying presence as far as Giles is concerned… (in fact, one might argue she exists just to frustrate him.)
Good lord that’s my kinda girl!
Ooooh, a date! And the pretty ice lady is showing up! ^^v
Hmm. Yes, she’s rather frosty and weird… And yup, Elanore and the Count will reunite more or less next chapter. (Of course, there is the matter of the grandmother also crashing the party…)
No idea who the mystery lady is but I like her already.
Oh I do too, as bitchy as she is so far. 🙂
Have I mentioned lately how much I am enjoying this story?? 😀 🙂 😉
Aw shucks! I’m glad you are! I really do appreciate how quickly some of you jump in and let me know you’ve finished each installment! Keeps me pushing forward each week to work out the next one xD
You’ve misused the word “doffing”. See the dictionary. I think “donning” is the word you want, but check the dictionary for that also. IIRC, doffing clothing is taking it off, not putting it on.
Otherwise, a good episode, as usual.
Eek, yeah – it’s donning (on) and doffing (off). Will fix. Thanks for pointing that out…
I absolutely love this series! My favorite so far has to be the count 😛 He’s such a weirdo I kinda wanna punch him in the face but ya know 😛 He’s too cute to!
Somehow “loveable… weirdo” makes me think of Gonzo. I’m not sure why, but it does x_x. Glad you are enjoying the series!
ahHAH!!! Eet Eez eh-LAIFF!!! *mad cackling*
Ok, Wolfy; how you gonna ‘splain this one?
>_> <_<
Hahaha that comment made my night…! 😛
Eeeeeeeee……! 😀
I’m going to assume this has something to do with the Count? 😛
What is this talking statue madness? Oh well, at least the Count is the leading man once again!
I have to make up for the lack of pirates and ninjas with talking statues 🙂
That was an unexpected but fun ending. I can picture the horse deciding it’s had enough right about now. XD
Haha, glad it amused. I just got a bit worried that you’d all be throwing things at me for this one.
Well at least the statue was polite and grateful? ^^v
I thought he was a bit needy, myself xD
A very nice twist. I almost wonder if the count will be as surprised.
<_< >_>
YEAH! I’m so excited that the statues get to play a part in all this. It’s also good to see that the Count can indeed interact with human beings in a semi-normal fashion.
Thank you for the update.
🙂 It’s nice to put to rest yet another little mystery I’ve been carrying around for oh, a dozen chapters. It leaves me room to make new ones xD
great ending! clearly that ‘simple’ horse had a better understanding of a situation than she did 🙂 Can’t wait to see what happens next.
Also, since this is the first time I’ve commented – really enjoying the story, and happy to have stumbled upon it.
Animals are quite smart, indeed! Welcome to the site and thanks for delurking 🙂
Excellent chapter, as always.
I really enjoyed the twist ending and I can’t wait for the next chapter XD
…. for some reason I feel like a fangirl….
*pat pat* I’ve been a fangirl of a few series myself, so don’t feel so bad. Glad you like the end of this installment. Hopefully this lion will behave so I can get the next one under control. (He keeps talking like an annoying cat.)
For some reason I lost the book mark to this website. I remembered it and had to come back. I love what I’ve seen thus for and look forward to catching up the rest of the way.
The next link doesn’t work on this page.
Ah – did you ever think about using Google Reader to keep track of updates? (Noticed you’re gmail so thought I’d suggest it.) Thanks for pointing out the non-working link! It was pointing back to this same page… yikes… and it’s been that way for weeks!
I finally catch up and this is the cliffhanger I find! Maddening!
Hehe. You should know by now that’s how it always works 😉
I’m loving this story!! it’s keeping me up late at night reading when i should be in bed sleeping lol!! It’s a shiny object to me lol..cuz well shiny objects are distractions 😉 i love it! ^_^
Keep up the awesome work! I can’t wait to find out what happens next!
I’m so happy to hear that I’m keeping people up at night xD. No truly, glad that someone really is enjoying reading this.
As for shiny stuff, I hear you. I like shiny stuff too…
Thanks for delurking and letting me know you’re here. Hope now that you’re caught up you can sleep more o_o
I just started readin and alredy i love the story! （＾∇＾）ven den måde wen does the sits get an updat? (please tell me if that is right Word or not)
Hello! It updates Sunday on EST/EDT. Generally it goes up around 5pm local time. (That I think is 22:00 GMT.)
Last week I was traveling so the schedule was off.
Thanks for reading. How’d you find the site btw? 🙂
thankyou
is learnig english and readin online seemed easeir to me becaus i can rite to the writers, is gettin good at reading but riting and spellin gets me really
what does btw mean?
“BTW” is a short acronym for “by the way.” You’re doing pretty well so far. Where are you writing from?
~LOL !!!~ GIGGLE!!!!~ SNORT !!!!~ LOL !!!~ I was wondering when the statues were gonna
show more of who/what they are. They have been mention far to often to be mere
decorations. Not to mention the fact that a few of their brothern guard the bridge to the town.
Love it though, well played dearest Puppetmaster.
Ha! Thank you, oh suspicious one 🙂
Hey, I wanted to start a site of my own similar to this, but I’m not sure. I need to know a few things first.
1. Does this cost money?
2. How could I get it started?
3. Any tips you could give?
Hosting a site on your own definitely has its costs. There’s the domain registration and hosting fees that get involved. Because I already had a webhost (for other projects I’ve acquired through the years and at red-bird.org), carving this one out actually only involved the cost of registering a new domain name. (WordPress is supported software on my host and is otherwise free, so no cost for using this to manage my content.)
That said, for people wanting to do serial fics, I’d recommend looking at wordpress’ free system for hosting. It won’t have all the features that a full install of the WordPress package has, but it will do okay. If you’d like to see what people are doing with the free WordPress installs, take a look at the other Creative Wenches sites (see right). You can register a unique name for your WordPress hosted site. Be aware though that those sites have maintenance and can be slow at peak hours. Plan accordingly.
There is also a new podcast out there you might want to check out called “Webfiction World” at the Webcast Beacon Network (see link). Take a listen, and then if you have more questions feel free to ask me.
Before you begin though, spend some time working on different concepts and testing them out. Not all ideas are equally interesting to a public that is reading less (at least print media) and has a plethora of content to choose from. If you are looking for public comment, you have to pick differently than if you are fine with writing and generating no feedback. (For example, writing a slice of life scientists might not work very well. Unless they were crazy and on drugs.)
Also, make sure to have a good buffer to work with. Get a lot of updates in draft first. This will help you establish continuity and flow for your characters and your style.
Hope this helps.
*de lurks and throws a fluffy bunny at the Puppet Master* I’ve been reading for a while now and this is one of the most frustrating cliff hangers yet! *pouts*
Oh, fluffy bunnies! (And this is supposed to frighten me? :B *pets fluffy bunnies*) … Cliffhangers appear to be good ways to get readers to reveal themselves. Unfortunately they’re not unavoidable because of the whole serial/writing as I go sort of thing, but hopefully the rewards (along the way) are worth it. Thanks for the fluffy bunny, oh delurked one! 😀
Yay, first! *avoids various thrown things* Sorry!!
I had almost hoped he would have let her wake up another of the lions. Imagine all the cute fan art that would have lead to with them moving about.
I don’t know if they could have controlled them all that much. These lions are a lot like cats, and we know how herding cats works xD.
But yes, the image you suggest is pretty amusing. Gives me some ideas for crack art for the future!
Gotta love that sassy lion!
the enigma that is the Wolfram family, though is even more interesting. Was mama Wolfram hiding something from visitors, or am i just a tad delusional?
It’s more than likely it was Wolfram, not mama :).
But she did have her secrets… not likely something to expound on in this story arc.
You know how you can look at a photograph and think, “This must have been taken around 1980” just from looking at clothes and hair fashions.
While things are moving faster these days than they did back then, I am pretty sure paintings of Lady Wolfram would have shown their age to the closest century at least. This would make for awkward questions.
Also, yay for lion. Wants one. Wants one BADLY.
Yes, that is a very good point…
It feels like these updates are getting more and more eventful 😛 I definitely approve! And it’s fantastic to see so many new faces joining the comment list O_o congratulations, by the way 😉 wonderful chapter as usual
Ah, it’s nice to shake out those delurkers xD. Although it’s also good to hear from long-time readers. I always worry that I’ve lost them somewhere along the way as things get more and more “eventful” (or as I like to say, weird).
XD Elanore and the guys she hangs out with, breaking the rules of decorum left and right.
Yes, we enjoy it, even if Elanore doesn’t. Poor thing… (heh. heh. heh.)
OHEMGEE those character pieces, OHEMGEE!
Heh. I think the Lion might’ve become my favorite character with how he spoke about the Count.
He’s rather cheeky, I think. But hopefully in a loveable, childlike way.
Yes, there is a childlike aspect to him. I want to give him a hug.
Poor kitty. Bad wolfy! ^^v
I also wanted the two cats alive and wreaking havoc (and messing on the roof while making a lot of purring noises!)
The Count is far more sensible than the audience xD.
Came across this randomly and I love it. =)
I love the lion. And the way Max just taps the lion on the noise was funny. XD
Yes, animals hate that ! 😀 Hello and welcome to the club of delurkers, btw. Glad you discovered the story and are enjoying it. 🙂
I usually lurk and don’t write because frequently I have nothing more to add to comments already posted ;). But I do love this story. 🙂 I only wish you updated it more frequently, the suspense is killing me. 😀 I hope Wolfram gives Elanore (or at least the audience) more information in the next update.
Oh I believe Wolfram will have to do more than just be his usual silent self if Elanore is to eventually give him what he wants. 🙂
It’s alright to not comment. I’m okay with people simply going “AUUUUGH” if that’s about all they feel they can add. xD As for the pace, yeah – I wish I had a good month to just sit down without interruption and finish writing. We’ll see.If I manage to get some time this fall and build up a considerable backlog, I may adjust length or frequency.
(And btw, thanks for delurking anyway!)
I want the stone lion for my pet, and I DON’T EVEN LIKE CATS! But, pretty much that would be one great, smarmy pet. 🙂
Also looking forward, as so many others are, to seeing what Wolfram will tell us next, or not tell us as the case may be.
It’s good to see the ol’ butler humaning (I know it’s not a word) up a bit and thawing out toward Elanore.
Can’t wait to see what you have for us next.
Oh! And do we get the door explained? Because I was really looking forward to that moment of magic and intrigue and then poof the butler walks in! argh!
Actually I’d like one too. Particularly one I can turn back to stone if it’s being a little snarky xD.
A little bit more is coming on the lions and the door within this chapter (and more)… otherwise I feel Elanore is going to punch out Wolfram. 😀
(And the word you’re looking for is ‘humanizing’ I think… and yes, he’s definitely a needed intercessor. Wolfram, as much as he is interesting, is sometimes a social idiot xD.)
Came across the link to your website at another and I have to say I really like your story. It is very intriguing and pulls the reader in making them want more and go to the next page. I’m very excited to see what happens next, btw I like the lion as well.
Thank you! I”m glad to have dragged you in and pulled you along 🙂
I think the lion has replaced Giles as “most popular character”. He’s likely to return quite soon!
Amazing!
thank you!
Oooh, interesting! ^^v
And I’m glad the dinner date sort-of went well.
It’s more of a lunch date (if a date at all), but as for it going well… I think that remains to be seen. Haha.
Very nice, a good riddle makes for a fun addition to any story.
There are quite a bunch of them :] One might say that every time I throw a script/poem in here that I have my reasons.
There’s more to this riddle than what meets the eye . . . I wish I could figure it out but I’m baffled by the witch of the sea bit.
I can’t solve mysteries without introducing other ones to chew over it seems :).
I’m so glad that some of the riddle is starting to be explained and we’re getting some headway on the actual storyline. As much as I love delving into characters, I was getting a bit concerned that we were getting lost in them. Thank you for the excellent update. You had just the right balance of character interaction and story development.
Thanks!
DAMN!!! I have a full week to endure before the next chapter. 😀
🙂 I’m glad to say that it will only be a week too. Too much stuff this week…lost lots of time in drafting, but think I’m going to make it!
Aaand there go the slash/fic writers.
A wonderful update, so many things for us to ponder during the week.
Thanks! Incidentally, I’m not sure we have the same definition of “slash fic” xD.
I have witnessed the insanity, and found it lulz worthy.
I was kind of amused and perturbed, myself. Ken dolls kind of creep me out Dx
*Waves at the USS Elanore/Wolfram that is sailing off next to the USS Elanore/Edmund and wonders what the next ship to set sail will be*
Edmund and the Count? xD
(I jest.)
Slashy jokes aside, le Count’s actions makes me think he has not-so-moral intentions for the immediate future. ^^;
Who knows with that man!
That made my day INFINITELY better. Thank you.
(I loved the Count’s costume. And ears. Mostly the ears.)
hehe. For some reason people seem to really like ears. I have no idea why. Glad you enjoyed it. I think CSKay is taking requests if anyone is interested. I suppose, though, that’s only for a limited time as I believe her niece wants her doll back xD
Oh No!! At the moment the dear count is far to intent on getting her to accept the concept of the magics of Cauldron, Wand, Word, Will, and Stone; to be quite ready and try and “corrupt” her with the magics of kisses, caresses, silken sheets, & corsets undone.
at least that’s how I am reading things so far.
Still I wonder what wonders he has plans to show her now.?
LOL. I like that you’re dissenting with the other comments. It makes me feel relieved that there are several ways to look at the situation.
@Puppetmaster, don’t think of it as the “dark side” of commenting. It’s a credit to your storytelling that people keep such close track of the story line. There are few gifts a person can have that are better than being a good storyteller. 🙂
I think everyone here actually has been great. (The comments are good feedback and catches, particularly with language that I should have used far more carefully.) That said, I’ve been concerned about some things I see occurring at other stories/comics.You’re right. It’s good that people love something enough to keep close tabs, but I also wonder if people realize that there’s an art to commenting too 🙂 Anyways, hello delurker! Welcome to the story 😀
So many new mysteries.. I love it.
Yes, and have seemingly wrapped up your question about the Book itself and its purpose. Granted, this is all according to the Count!
Oooooooo Nice way to end the chapter. Not with a cliff hanger as is all to common; but with a mystery that we are all anxious to have revealed to us. Nice Work.
Can I also assume that you are leading us not so subtly into a love triangle for our sweet Elanore??
Nope. I do not think that the feelings between the three are the same.
Lovely, as always!
I wonder how the village (especially Edmund) will react to all this.
Let the gossip and wild speculation commence!!! 😀
Ah, I do think Elanore has learned her lesson quite well from the messy gossip with Edmund. We’ll see how this sorts out,… xD (*just keeps mouth shut*)
I liked the Count demeanor in the chapter ^_^ he seemed a lot more… taunting. Playful, rather than dark, but still pretty dark 😛 The double eclipse is interesting, too!!
I’m not so sure I like him at the moment. He seems to be awfully snakelike to me!
OOOOOh! So exciteing!
🙂 Glad you are enjoying it! Hopefully next week people don’t snooze when we switch settings :p
Wow, the Count is a fast learner. Are we sure that Giles didn’t have our dear Wolfram follow him and spy on any of his encounters with ladies? Because, seriously, the Count has gone from unnervingly stiff to sexy. Just a bit of a shock so suddenly, but….I think I like it.
Anyways, to talk about the actual writing, well done indeed. We now have a mystery, but we know what we’re in for in the days ahead.
Thank you as always for your writing.
Interestingly, some of the other comments I’ve received don’t find the Count sexy at all, but slightly creepy xD. I guess one person’s cake is another’s poison.
And yeah – the Count (if he is reliable) has indicated what he thinks is going to happen. Of course, whether that is really what happens I guess we’ll have to see!
I have to say he seems to be lusting just a tiny bit, since he seems a little jealous of Elanore and Edmund’s relationship. And because he is mysteriously tall dark and handsom, I’d say a bit sexy
Chuckling. Yes, he seems like he’s ready to swallow her up in some manner or fashion, agreed. As for the sexy part… dunno! Everyone has their tastes…
Stay in bed a few more days, Ed! You shouldn’t be walking around! ^^;
I think he would kill the author if I forced him to do so 😀
I like Ilva even more now.
Haha,… she’s rather interesting. I can’t wait for her to mess with a few other people…
Something tells me that Ilva might have some connection to the ‘witch of the sea’ from the poem on the Count’s map. She doesn’t seem as kind as she’s playing off being, but her conversation with Edmund is certainly intriguing. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.
Thanks! Ilva is a meddlesome lady, but as for who/what she is that will remain to be clarified. (But it will be in this story arc …)
Glad you’re enjoying it. I’m not quite sure Edmund liked his conversation with her however…
And she does it again ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for another chapter with
lively conversation and characters.
And, sigh, I must admit that much like Nigel not being able to decide who his favorite dancer on So U Think U Can Dance is this season, I am yet again switching back to our lovely Edmund as my favourite. He’s just so……down to earth that I can’t help it.
And as for Ilva, for some reason I see her being a very interesting character in the chapters to come. Can’t wait to learn more about our newest addition. 🙂
ahaha, I love Nigel and I love that show. I rarely know or care about the end of the voting because I just enjoy the dancing and the growth of the dancers. Anyways, tangent aside– glad Edmund is getting some respect x]. As for Ilva – yes, she will be around. A lot 🙂
Very powerful lead in to whatever comes next. And yes, I can easily see that this is a lead in, not an actual “bite” as it were of the story. I like that Edmund is rather deep and thoughtful rather than brash and hasty, while still being kind and caring of others. More people should be like he is.
First comment! (づ ￣ ³￣)づ
Yes – Edmund is such an old soul :)… and yeah, far more centered than his current peers at the moment!
I love this chapter! Thank you for showing us that the Guildmaster is more than
meets the eye. Yeah for a modicum of sympathy!
I’m going to agree with Amy that Edmund is delightfully rational and intelligent.
Thank you for having such lovely 3d characters.
Oh, and before I forget, I’m so excited that Edmund is more than meets the eye! I can’t wait to hear more of his back story.
I’m glad you are enjoying it so far! It’s been a quiet chapter (in terms of comments) so I’m very curious about what people think about Edmund.
And (づ ￣ ³￣)づ to you too . (xD I love these faces. I’m going to (づ ￣ ³￣)づ everyone who posts a comment! )
Huh, well, I’m even more curious now about what exactly happened with Elanore’s mother and the Guildmaster. I think if Elanore really is going to come asking the Guildmaster about it then it’s a good thing Edmund gave him a heads-up. And I agree with everyone else, Edmund really did handle the situation very well.
Mmm. I think I’m on the same fence as Edmund in that I hope Elanore will not talk to the man. That doesn’t mean she won’t xD.
(Edit: Ahaha, forgot this (づ ￣ ³￣)づ )
I love that you give details to fulfill the story. I never would have thought to ask, “Why was Edmund adopted?” but in hindsight, I feel kind of stupid for not thinking of the question. So thanks for answering it (kind of). I want mooooore!
(づ ￣ ³￣)づ
Well now you know my modus operandi. Granted, not every little thing is always worth retaining and I have occasionally tossed in a few red herrings when I write, but this one with Edmund was/is something I’ve been waiting to hatch 🙂
Has this Wilheim fellow even met Elanore? She’s way too nice to deserve all this from him.:(
Edmund’s childhood, though, is far more interesting than the story of Elanore’s mommy. I’m desperately awaiting more details about it!
He saw her only but very briefly to bring a message to her when Edmund fell ill. And yes – the man has his prejudices based on his past experiences. As Edmund noted (and was surprised to observe) the man still harbors strong emotions/feelings about Elanore’s mother and that clouds his feelings towards all the Winchester ladies.
And yeah, Edmund is the quiet sleeper. ehehhehe. I’ve been sort of waiting to begin playing this one out… I like to leave little mines here and there for later excavation 😉
And Elanore wants to give you a (づ ￣ ³￣)づ for defending her xD. Okay, maybe not exactly with that goofy of a face, but you get the gist of it!
“Edmund is the quiet sleeper” ~snort~ Please Edmund just like The Count is a still pond that there for must run VERY DEEP. Such an understatement on your part dear puppet master is only to be laughed at.
^__^
Um….Ed? Are you sure you really want to know what you want to know? ^^v
Good tension-filled conversation. Poor Ed (as always).
No. He doesn’t xD
And yeah… I think … wow, I think he’s kind of lost right now. I’m trying to poke him into the next part and he is just stymied.
(づ ￣ ³￣)づ (づ ￣ ³￣)づ (づ ￣ ³￣)づ (づ ￣ ³￣)づ (づ ￣ ³￣)づ
A wonderful update for the story. Glad to see the guild master is another complex character for the story to explore.
Thanks – initially that really wasn’t the plan, but the more I delved into what should happen later, the more I realized that he needed a little bit more meat than “big burly dude with a chip on his shoulder” 🙂
Edit: (づ ￣ ³￣)づ
I’m starting to like the Guildmaster a lot more. Poor guy. I just want to give him a hug. Haha. He probably wouldn’t appreciate that though. =)
You’re absolutely right. The man is very proud… sympathy, well… likely doesn’t work on him!
Pingback: WeSeWriMo and Writing Marathons | The Webcast Beacon Network
first reaction: In which Giles goes bear wrestling!
… oh wait. XD
Also, I totally would not have caught the Father “Lorrence” reference if you hadn’t mentioned it on Twitter. Heh.
Haha. Shhh.
And the “bear” is really pissed right now. xD
i just wish everyone would get along…but that, sadly, would make for the dullest story ever.
And, of course, one cannot forget the awesomeness that is Giles. He seems to have some interesting hobbies other than running errands for the Count and hitting on the ladies. Who is this guy, anyway?
Giles is apparently a poor superhero stuck in a vehicle that does not suit his awesome crazy behavior/powers xD. (Or maybe a quasi-Victorian equivalent of Errol Flynn reborn as a ninja.)
In all seriousness, Giles is … well, it’s coming. I’d say he has quite a secret that some of you may suspect or not at this point. I will be doing some more hinting when he and Edmund reappear soon.
Calendars! Something that can really show off your art. Maybe even with some of your favourite quotes from both stories in there. Yeaaaah!
That’s a good idea. I think at this point, I’d have to generate some new art though to go with full-fledged calendars first though. Somehow I don’t have quite enough pieces to make the kind of calendar that I”d like. (And I’m kind of anal when it comes to product creation, unlike when I just draw xD)
Will think through this some more! Thanks for the input!
Poor stone lion, I’m sure he just would have scared the stuffing out of Edmond.
LOL YES.
The celphone charms seemed really cute and useful?
It’s been hard to sell charms lately due to the shift to smartphones that do not seem to have holes for them D:.
I’ve turned them into keyrings and other things, but am not investing in more until I finish selling off both the Red Riding Hood run and my other random characters.
Good to know that someone in this village has some common sense-the pries. Also, so happy that Giles has made a reappearance. He is my favourite minor-character by far.
Yeah, Giles seems to have had some difficulties, hence his absence for just a short while.
And yeah – the Friar is a good guy, although hm… well he knows more than he has revealed.
Ooooooh, good arrangement is GOOOOD! ^^v
Glad this works. This chapter has been an editing nightmare… part of the reason why I want a week off to regroup 🙂
Impressive. Will be in pins and needles for the next two weeks.
glad you enjoyed it. Pins and needles aren’t comfortable. Make sure to have some ale or brew if you’re going to be stuck there Dx
it has been so long since i read these! i really like what you have done so far 🙂
thank you!
Absolutely loved it, as always. For some reason, the doodle you have with the Count, with his little ears and that mischievous smile of his, standing behind Elanore kept popping into my head as I read. This chapter had such a wonderful bit of interplay between Elanore and the Count, it will make their future interactions, and the interactions between each of them and Edmund, even more delicious to read.
Ahhh. I don’t know if he’s really all that nice or impish — to some degree this draft brought /pulled him back from going to the length he had wanted to go to ensure Elanore’s compliance. I really had to dampen his ruthlessness or a lot of bad things would have happened xD
(I do have to say that what I doodle tends to be a lot more humorous or out of character than what I write. I always felt if I had the chops to do this as a comic that the entire tone would have been far lighter and fluffier. )
Silly Count, of course she has boundaries. She is a Young woman and you are a mysterious stranger. Women are supposed to have boundaries around men, Dark, brouding, Mysterious men…. they are tripply expected to have boundaries. lol
EXACTLY. He’s lucky she didn’t beat the crap out of him.
This looks to be the start of an even more interesting relationship, especially since the Count gives so little away. I’m sure Elanore will keep him in line, though:).
I believe so. I don’t think he really has her all that well manipulated at all! xD
“you punched me!” Oh, Giles, thank you for making my day, even if you did get punched.
Elanore’s situation is freaking me out a bit, though. Does the approaching of the unthings mean the Count is going to get even more possessive/harsh? It kinda seems that way.
Poor Giles. He has wandered into the wrong vehicle for heroics. Instead… he’s here for our amusement 🙂
As for your other question, it’s quite possible — the Count is very unpredictable. That said, what Elanore allows is another matter entirely 🙂
It was worth the two week wait for this one, well done.
aw, thanks!
I always knew Edmund had it in him. My two favourite characters together at last.
And Count has officially reached a creep factor that I’m not sure can be undone. While I can get on board with the whole I’m not good with people thing so I’m awkward and make some social faux pas, I’m not ok with the “be right at any cost” thing. That is obsession, and we all know where that leads…..phantom of the opera (ala noose).
I think the Count really has to learn a lot of things, such as the consequences and short-sightedness of his current lifestyle and thinking. He is a “wolf” after all, and possessiveness/protectiveness I see as something that as part of the ‘pack mentality’ that wolves tend to have. It can be good/bad depending on how it’s executed or (as others may say) what the end result is. In any case, I do think he has moved in a direction that is polarizing although hopefully will sort of make sense when his past is fully unfolded towards the end of this arc and beginning of the next.
As for Edmund … Giles and Elanore should have an interesting effect upon him and his development. I don’t know if they’re going to drive him slowly mad or what, but we’ll see. x)
Oooh! Loving the story and can’t wait for more!
glad you’re enjoying it! 😀 NICE NAME! xD
First off, love the story.
Second off, the count is beginning to remind me a lot of Jareth from the Labyrinth, particularly fanfic versions of him. PS, this is not a bad thing in my book 🙂
Thank you! (And thanks for delurking 🙂 )
This is going to sound sacrilegious but I have not seen Labyrinth all the way through. I just remember David Bowie with fantastic hair … I need to go watch again. I miss crazy David Bowie xD
Oh my goodness I thought the same thing! Except I hope the Count doesn’t start wearing tights any time soon…
You guys are scaring me xD. I’m seriously going to have to try to track down a copy of this movie now xDDD
Miss Puppetmaster, I do not think it is mentioned enough how incredibly awesome you are.
haha! why thank you. I’m going to go off and preen for about five minutes, and then get back to working like mad on all my projects xD BTW – how did you find this story? I forgot to ask you during your first comment… it helps me to hear so I know how to spend my coffee money turned ‘advertising dollars’. Thanks!
Sorry not commenting much, but liking unraveling count, keep up the good work.
No worries – real life first! Hope all is well!
Thanks for the chapter!
sure 🙂 Glad someone has read the update!
We do read then. Some times it takes a day or two.
🙂 Delurker! (Good to know. Thanks!)
Good update. Thank you as always for the well written piece. It’s fun to have things written from Edmund’s perspective, just because he doesn’t know the whole story.
It is sort of an odd situation to have the viewer see more things than perhaps the characters do. I wonder sometimes if that can backfire, but we’ll see how it goes. Poor Edmund — I hope at some point he actually becomes the person with all the answers as opposed to the other way around 🙂
life held me captive for a few days…I’m glad my eagerness to check this site paid off though…
Great chapter.
Totally understand :). Life is being pretty mean to me too. I’m having a hard time keeping up the schedule, but still trying until I can get through these next few weeks!
GAH! I can’t decide who I like better! The Count or Edmund! I think the Count is winning 🙂 By the way, Giles is awesome.
You can like them both equally, although Giles would like it to be known that if you have trouble choosing a favorite, he’s definitely the one you should pick instead of those two other boogers xD
I love your story so far! I can’t wait to see what happens next.
thank you! Glad you are enjoying it. Just posted the next part, so not too long to wait 🙂
Elanore is certainly not a woman to be messed with!! Excellent chapter, I only wish they came out more often than once a week.
Yes, she’s rather difficult when grumpy :).
I do wish I could update more but I have found that I like having the full week to massage the text and tinker with the characters… I’m afraid if I changed the frequency you guys would not like what came out (ie., stream of consciousness dialogue). If more time makes itself available, I think it’s more likely I’ll lengthen the weekly installments than post more often.
Oh, I understand, but that doesn’t stop a bookworm like me from wishing that the story came out every single day, haha…
xD I take that as a compliment. But I do think you would not wish it if I really did that …
Well, of course I’d wish you enough creativity, time, and money to do a good job on it by updating every day. Just like I wish today’s update would go up!! *pokeprod*
aww. In my note last week I said it’s moving to Mondays as of “next month” or October… I have the next installment prepped but did one edit tonight and need to do another read through tomorrow when I’m not a zombie from the convention. Don’t stay up! It won’t be up on the site until late tomorrow night…
I’m concerned about a little multiplying issue here. If the blue-green moon eclipses every 11 years, how could a double eclipse ever happen in a 105 year period if this is not a multiple of 11?
Maybe you meant double eclipse every 110 years?
Urk. Went back to my notes (in another journal) and it was supposed to be 21 years, not 11. I’ll have to check to see how this error has propagated in the text (as I may not have referred back to the original journal). Thanks for pointing that out. The eclipse of one is not particularly important to the story, so for now will remove it.
Ah, yes, healers. They take charge at the most important moments. ^^v
I have had the pleasure of working around a lot of “healers” in real life and they are, when it counts, very good at what they do. But they also can be quite tough too haha!
Strong as the fighters are those healers always have their way, don’t they?
Well, when it’s within their domain of course. 🙂
GAH! Okay I had a whole comment written out and then my browser just ate it!
Anyways, it went something along the lines of I like how here there is the air of Elanore liking the Count and yet acknowledging how much bigger he is than them in terms of pieces to the game while poor Edmund is simultaneously feeling closer to and more confused with Elanore. I am also getting Labyrinth/Lord of the Rings vibes (a la Aragorn/Arwen)
Elanore has rather complicated feelings towards a lot of people … perhaps she’s better at working than relationships xD. And… dude, I really need to see Labyrinth!
Yes. Yes you do need to see the Labyrinth. It’s an awesome movie. =D
I definitely have this on my list to get now ….
Nifty storie line I like this thread verry mutch! 😉
glad you enjoyed it! Sorry for such a late response! I lost this comment 😮
So much wonderful! Poor Edmund… he’s in such an uncomfortable and confusing spot right now. I can’t wait to see how the Count-Eleanor-Edmund friction continues!
I always look forward to these updates so much!
aw thanks! Always glad to hear from new folks and get a sense of where readers are /what they enjoy. I do expect/anticipate more messy relational angst forthcoming, although maybe not in the way people expected xD
I hope that is “Her Cat” coming home. A large stone cat would make a large thumping at the back door when it wants to come in and sit by the fire.
aww. Now that would be so cute. But if the cat were smart, it’d stay away until Giles was long gone. That man seems to loathe that thing!
I discovered your lovely story through a link on the Girl Genius web comic page. I’ve spent the last 2 weekends catching up and now that I have, I’m a little heart broken that I don’t have pages and pages to still look forward to. I particularly like Giles and can’t wait to find out *what* he truly is. I’m really enjoying the story and the gradual revelation of the characters. Wonderful!
Ahhh! I’m glad to hear that the little banner ad sucked at least one person in x3. Yes – it’s hard to read things serially…I know a lot of folks prefer to chug through works at their own pace. It’s something I’ll need to keep in mind when I begin developing Book 2 :). But thanks for being patient regardless. Someday maybe I’ll be able to write full-time but I suspect that’s a pipe dream 🙂
I have been reading this for a while and absolutely love the series.
By the way, is this bird going to suddenly cry “Nevermore!”?
LOL. I was thinking about Edgar Allen Poe while drafting this week’s installment. Glad you are enjoying it and thanks for delurking.
Oh man I absolutely love this story! I get so excited every Sunday, lurking and waiting for the next installment… Elanore and Edmund are so cute! I have this theory that Edmund is part elf and so is Elanore… I am looking forward to next week ^_^
Aww. It makes me happy to hear folks actually waiting for each update :). Hope you caught the bit about the updates changing to Monday for now. Last year I had a bit of a problem with the holidays and juggling Sundays… and so am going to try to keep it to Monday nights.
Elanore and Ed are definitely open-ended as to their past heritage, although I think Elanore’s is a little more cleanly outlined than Ed’s. (Of course, a lot of what they know is still based on what other people say. *evil grin*)
Thanks for also delurking btw. If you recall how you found this site, let me know! I’m always curious about how people found this site!
Actually I do. I believe it was a project wonderful ad that was in another serial I’m reading called “The Dragon Wars Saga.” Same author also is working on “The Haventon Chronicles” which is currently linked in your sidebar. ^_^ I always find it funny when you guys end up having advertisements for each other since I read you both.
Actually there are very few serials in the PW chain. Most of the advertisers appear to be webcomic projects … I definitely target my advertising to other serials if possible, as it’s much easier to convince someone already used to reading novellas online to try mine than convincing a webcomic reader to try serial fiction 🙂
I love it when I read updates. =) It makes my week happy.
I read over some comments and saw that you like to know how people find your comic. I believe I stumbled across your deviantArt gallery somehow. Prolly one of my random searches for Red Riding Hood stuff. =)
Ahhh. Yeah – My red riding hood art has been up there a while and it took me years to get to fleshing this out as a piece of fiction instead. Initially this was going to be more like a comic or something but I have no particular skill for paneling and feel more comfortable with putting worldbuilding through text.
I”ll have an update later today I think ( a day early) !
I’m really liking how the story is going so far. The plot flows seamlessly from one scene to the next, the characters and I’ve been pretty much hooked since the firs chapter (though I haven’t commented until now because…I couldn’t stop reading lol ^^; )
Oh, so the Count has decided to pay her Grandmother a visit? The atmosphere in the room is bound to be thick with tension, especially with him and Edmund in the same room…
For you and your family.
that is to say…. Prayers for you and your family…. Hope that all goes as well as possible.
I agree, the shift in POV was a bit confusing, but hey, switching it up never heard anybody, especially when there’s a cliffhanger dangling at the end. Well done!
Yeah -that’s something I will think about when I eventually reedit this for an ebook version.
My thoughts are with you. :virtual hugs:
Stay safe okay?
I hope everything is okay. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.
Hopes and prayers for you and your family. Be safe.
Me thinks you have a typo: Slowly, he felt the hairs on heck stand.
Other than that, excellent writing. I have enjoyed your story and have been having fun guessing where it will lead. Please keep up the good work.
Thanks for catching that. Corrected!
Best of wishes for you and yours. Hope all is well.
Hi guys. Thanks for your well wishes. Things went okay and I’m back in town and will start prepping the next update. Hope to have it up next Monday for all of you, just in time for Halloween!
Welcome back.
Another wonderful chapter, well worth the wait.
thanks Marcus! I appreciate your note as well… so encouraged by all of you guys while I was away.
Wow. I just found this yesterday, and I’ve been on a reading binge since. This is amazing work, and I’ll eagerly be waiting for more.
Thank you! I”m glad to hear that you’re enjoying it. Do you remember how/where you ran across it? I’d love to know… Wattpad? Erstwhile tales? 😀
I have always known of that story as the Children of Lir. When I originally found it it did have 7 children, but most iterations I have found since have more like 4. It’s one of my favorites!
Oh my – I just looked that up and realized that Lloyd Alexander ( a childhood favorite of mine) also used the name “LLyr”… he’s a huge Arthurian nut too, so my guess is he may have picked up the same name …
Also looked up the rendition you mention. I love the names 🙂
Thank you for the new chapter! Some things revealed leading to many more questions.
By the way, I found this off of the Phoenix Requiem.
ah, good to know! Phoenix Requiem proved to be a good place to hook in readers 🙂
I read Pheonix Requiem, but I actually found this through Dominic Deegan. Been hooked for awhile now 🙂
I think you’re the first or second person to say that’s how you navigated in. It was one of the more peculiar experiments in advertising I ran. Deegan is such a long epic and mostly humorous fantasy story, so didn’t know if there would be any crossover. GOod to know though that I found at least one person!
Glad you’re enjoying it 🙂
Yeah, Deegan has definitely had a long run! And it’s been really neat to watch the artwork evolve over the years.
But if you’re looking for the common thread, it’s probably the knack for good storytelling 🙂
I haven’t been able to catch up — I mean it’s that long! xD
It’s surprising to me how he’s kept the four panel format all these years. I can imagine it was hard for people in teh early days to not get impatient with the storytelling. I definitely have the benefit of the humongous buffer to sift through the storylines.
Anyways glad you find some common threads. Deegan has way more humor… I’m definitely interested in writing funny/strange/weird, but laugh out loud funny isn’t my strength xD
Oooh, I’ve caught up. I absolutely love this story and am deriving great pleasure from
trying to put all of the puzzle pieces together as well as finding all of the references to fairy tales that you weave beautifully into your story.
Since I’ve seen you ask many people lately I will jump the gun and tell you that I have seen a link to this story in many places over quite a length of time. It has been sitting in my “to read” pile for quite a while and I finally got around to picking it up. I can’t remember all of the places I have seen a link to your story, but the most recent one is probably on Erstwhile.
Ahhh, yes, there are a few more references to fairy tales and mythology in here already. Some are more obvious, i.e., The Wild Swans, and some are very much tad in cheek (Beowulf, Shakespeare, and a few other Grimm Tales among them, along with some Mother Goose stuff xD).
If you caught this on Erstwhile, my guess is that you saw the ad on RedString… I used to run one there pretty consistently but switched when I saw that Erstwhile was updating 🙂
Hello, sgl. I have been reading and enjoying your webnovel for a while now. I am very much impressed with your worldbuilding and character development. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
P.S. My email is ryuuseiu.x[@]gmail.com.
I love that we got to see the swan queen and her brothers. Especially since I have always loved their story. I had a vhs when I was little that had the Swan Queen, Spirit in a Bottle, Little Red Riding Hood, and one other fairy tale that I can’t remember on it. I watched that thing and I would usually fast forward to the Swan Queen and Spirit in a Bottle because I loved seeing the non standard fairy tales. I have unfortunately lost the tape. T_T I am glad that you utilize the story so much. It is nice to find people who know it since most of my friends have never heard of it and even my parents couldn’t remember me having this vhs.
Wow – I didn’t know someone had animated that. I’d love to see someone actually pick up these projects and flesh them out as high-quality releases for families. On a random note, since you’re a fairy tale enthusiast, oneo f the animation studios in Japan ran Snow Queen (not Swan Queen) last year or the year before . YOu might be able to still find the subtitled versions online… it was a pretty faithful (and sometimes slow) rendition …
Hey, I love the story, I have been enjoying it for the last year, great characters.
jdotc_4_me@yahoo.com
I have been reading your webnovel for awhile but once I caught up wasn’t able to wait a week for another installment. So with that said what does a girl do? 🙂 She waits a couple weeks between readings and gets drawn anew into your interesting process and world everytime.
p.s. my email address is faleshia@yahoo.com
🙂 Delurker!
Your addresses actually are in the db once you post (so it knows to leave you be the next time)… so no need to post your actual email address at all .Sorry about the confusion there folks. Thanks!
Ohhh! 🙂 I had to read through some of the comments to get that you were calling ME a Delurker. I will try and comment more often but I only speak/type 🙂 when I can be beneficial.
xD There are quite a few of you in this post… it makes me happy to know that there are REAL people out there behind all the random traffic hits and such (and not spammers :D).
No worries about commenting though all the time. Just seeing new faces was a very cool surprise 😀
I’ve finally caught up with the story. Due to work and moving continents I’ve been off for a while, but wow I feel a bit light-headed there’s so much going on. Thank you again for such a fun romp through this world.
ahhh, Yeah, so many spinning plates to track, I’m afraid 😀
Glad you are back though! Hope you are doing okay with this move!
Lovely drawings. Pretty sire I’m not a bot, that’s just how I dance. 😛
lmao
PROOF.
COMMENT! I want one! *squee.
I’m intrigued to see how the lion’s play a part in the future.
Oooh…Wilhelm seems unwilling to admit there is magic in the world, so I wonder what explanation he will come up with for stone lions running amok. 😀
I am also becoming more curious as to who Elanore’s father is.
Yes. The lion isn’t there at the moment though, so perhaps he will not have to think of it quite yet…
So the count is finally looking into the whole Red Cape thing. I would love to see him explore this idea more deeply. There are SOoo many implications behind this. I also look forward to learning more about the mysterious female watcher of the lake. As always I love this story.
I don’t know that he will. He’s rather fixated on his alternative theory at the moment as to the whole weird thing for him with ELanore.
As for the watcher of the lake, she actually has been referenced both in this story and in the short story I wrote a few months ago. (It was not really meant to be so obscure as to who she is, so perhaps one of the other kind readers might provide their analysis as to who/what she specifically is. She IS a major player in the next book I have planned.)
I also can’t wait to see what further part the lions will play in the Future of this story. Why do I keep hoping that one of them bonds with our heroine??
Secretly they possess the souls of fuzzy kittens so you absolutely know that they will appear again and take over the entire story xD.
(Actually one or more appear in short order)
Great story so far, looking forward to reading some more.
Ah ha! another delurker. Thanks!
OH, now I remember…. oooo this should get very very good. can’t wait. 🙂
🙂 Yep. Alerted and curious… unfortunately she may not be the only one now turning an eye towards the town.
I want one of the lions to attach to the heroine and follow her around and give her rides and such… I think it would be funny if it rolled aver and begged for a tummy rub XD
LOL. He just might. He’s that kind of oversized vain cat!!!
A shame Elenore can’t benefit from current cooking classes. Start with simple things, boiling water.. making toast..
I think she has no idea what is bad or good. She’s able to cook… it’s just that she tends to approach things probably more like an apothecary and therefore seems to fail to understand the art of tasting as you go :)…
Or… she just has bad taste thanks to growing up with a mother who isn’t that good at cooking either xD
Noooo! Edmund, you were asking some of the questions we want answers to! Why did you give up so easily?! D:
I love this story. I am very interested in who the lady Edmund is dreaming about is.
Giles is not being cooperative. Edmund will find out eventually what is going on, but he may have to try a few different ways to get at that information.
As for the lady… well, she’s not a figment of his imagination. I think and I hope that by the time we finish this story that she and a few other characters will be more clearly linked together to give us all a better picture of who Edmund really is 🙂
I can see is the Count and Elanore over a boiling cauldron…. With Edmund looking on in jealousy….
So the Count had definitely got my attention… Can I keep him???
Wait, so you can see them cooking in oil and Edmund is jealous? xD
The Count … there’s a line apparently that formed a long time ago for his body and his soul. You’d have to fight off some elves and assorted humanoids for him xD
I feel bad for Elanore in the fact that everyone doubts her or pushes her. The Count wants her for her powers, her mother sends her off for her grandmother, and the town gossips about her. Plus, the Guild-master judges her as her mother. Poor dear.
I really don’t like the Guild-master for some reason…
He’s kind of a jerk in many respects. He definitely has a temper too!
I like the Edward/Giles dynamic. Dialogue was refreshingly light and hilarious XD
Giles brings out the best and worst in people. He is that too loud uncle that every family has XD
Woohoo! I found it, all my favourites suddenly vanished and I forgot the name of this! 🙂
Love it, love the story, love it all together! 🙂
glad you found it again :).
Woo, breakfast table banter, and pancakes… mmmm.. pancakes..
Pancakes always sound better in fiction than in real life. I can’t stand them unless they’re cooked crispy and soft at the same time with real butter and really good maple syrup, alongside a side of bacon. But that has nothing to do with the story xD
To tell the truth, I never comment on my web comics, though I really probably should…
I can’t pass up the opportunity to not only win some of your art, but to chat with the author!
DELURKING ACHIEVED!
xD
Glad you are enjoying the story! Hopefully have more art to giveaway next month (as I travel for Thanksgiving, I’ll probably have more time to doodle…)
As for a chat, sure, ask away!
And I feel guilty, but I haven’t read the novel in a while. *^* Evil last semester of school, keeping me deadly busy, no time for enjoy my favorite things. As horrible as it seems, I can’t wait to start work, so I have time to do nice things, like sleep and read things that require me to remember plots.
LOL. I hear you… and understand. I don’t miss school for that reason!
I love grandmother Winchester, she is so cool, wise, and no nonsense. 🙂
Yup. Old age has to have its perks!
I love Giles. 🙂 I think I’m beginning to get a crush on him.
He’s a lovable guy, or so he’d say while he preens a bit at your compliment. (He is extremely funny to write. He just says whatever the hell he feels like! xD)
Elenore meeting the lion again is just begging to be sketched, shame I have trouble with stick figures..
hah! I’ll consider that a request. I hope to open up some free time in December to do a few b/w and toned drawings… I’ll consider other requests for characters or suggestions for scenes, so everyone leave ’em here 😀
I really like your multilayered character development. Each one is interesting. Although it’s hard to have to wait for each installment to find out more! Thanks for the story.
Yeah – I wish I could write faster, but time is a precious, rare commodity these days! Glad though you are still enjoying reading 🙂
Hi,I’ve been reading this for a while and I’ve finally caught up with the story. It’s an amazing story with brilliant characters.(I’ve deciced that Count is my favorite XD) But now I have to wait for the next update. D:
Aw, thanks for delurking and providing that gracious comment. I’m glad you are enjoying the story. (Granted, I feel a lot of pressure to keep you all happy xD. )
Next update will be Monday if all goes well. It’s been a bizarre week for me post-Thanksgiving, so it may be shorter than anticipated, but it will be there Monday!
yay! thanks so much! I’m super excited to see what the sketches/art looks like. 😀 is there anything else you need from me?
Nope! It was posted yesterday and hopefully should get to you this week. If it doesn’t, let me know… I’m paranoid about USPS….
The story is wonderful. This is the earliest chapter I can comment on, but I must inform you soon before I burst of excitement. I am absolutely immersed in your characters and your writing. This is one of the first serial web-novels I have ran across and I have become seriously enchanted. I hope to see more of your writings soon and thank you for the unique take on the tale of the Big Bad Wolf!
Ahhh glad you are enjoying the story :). Can I ask how you wandered in and found the story?
I happened upon it from a web comic called Emerald Winter that I follow.
Oh yeah! I follow that and the author’s other comic, Lavender Legend. I’m sad that EW hasn’t updated in a while though… interested to see how it develops.
Ah my 2 favourite men in the same scene together. What could possibly go wrong? Obviously, nothing! I loved this scene and how they both brought out some honesty in the other. Thank you, and I hope to see more of these two interacting in the future.
Ah my 2 favourite men in the same scene together. What could possibly go wrong? Obviously, nothing! I loved this scene and how they both brought out some honesty in the other. Thank you, and I hope to see more of these two interacting in the future. Is the lady he’s seeing in his dreams (Edmund I mean) the strange visitor he had in the shop? Or someone else entirely? Very intriguing.
Giles is essentially honest when he is left to operate on his own. Blunt and charmingly obnoxious sometimes, but a generally good guy to have in your corner. It helps that he is a bit older and wiser than Edmund… although not as wise as he sometimes believes himself to be. (heh.)
Your last question is a good one. We shall see 🙂
Go granny go! She is awesome. I see where Elanore gets her spine.
Yup. Elanore is more like her grandparents than her mother :]
However, at times she is a bit ADD like her mother xD
Just started reading last week. It’s really good.
Glad you are enjoying it. If you recall, can I ask how you found this story? Thanks!
I saw an ad at the side of one of the webcomics I read. Might have been twokinds, but I can’t remember for sure.
Ah, that’s alright! If it was random surfing, then that’s cool — I have a few ads that are just targeted at random types of sites. There were/are a bunch of folks who came in through similar type webcomics so I was wondering about that… it’s always helpful for me to understand how people arrive here so that I can continue to hunt readers effectively 😉