Progress: Chapters 10 - 14

Album Zero, the Monkey update

At long last, after a few months, chapter ten of Album Zero, the Monkey is DONE! Not just that—chapters 11, 12, 13, and 14 are also ready! However, I will give them several surface revisions before I put them online (which I, notably, did NOT do for chapter 10). I have enough chapters until the first week or so of October, so...

Chapter fifteen should be done by then! And then...for the most part, Album Zero, the Monkey is...complete! Can you believe that? Less than a year! Well! Sort of. I started writing it in October of last year—the fifth, to be precise. So maybe it'll be a year after all. It's not a very long novel, but I am rather satisfied with it. 

I might fill it out a bit more with one or two in-between chapters—maybe even a chapter from Aiyool's POV again. We'll see. Either way, I'm excited. I had to really bullshit my way through the fight scenes in the latter chapters...especially 10, 11, and 15. I apologize; I'm simply not very good at writing fight scenes yet. I'll get to it...eventually. Just gotta keep going forward.

In other news...

I haven't had time to generate more images for Album Zero, the Monkey, unfortunately. I might not get around to that for a very long time, too. I also can only manage to do but so many of the intense prompts (and I do mean intense) needed for each image at a time. Each is about a damn essay long, they're so detailed. I don't have brain power for that, if you can believe it. There's a lot about this world that is still an enigma to me...not to mention there's a bit that's already changed from the uploaded version!

Such changes include the Janchitei and the White Road's appearances! It's no longer a white road or wall, but black! Because of that, the Isay Baanen is no longer called that! And so forth.

As for songs...!

...I've only finished a single new song for the series. That song is, unsurprisingly, particularly important in the first novel. It's Aiyool's Lullaby, and you can listen to it here! I'm proud of the lyrics, though they gave me a really hard time. Nothing felt right...and even now, I feel as though I can make it longer? Perhaps it doesn't need to be. We'll see.

And the final thing: beta readers.

I don't count on myself getting any beta readers. I don't know how to go about that, and I'm not exactly trusting just anyone with my manuscript. Sites like Critique Circle and Scribophile are out of the question! Those sites don't help with getting dedicated readers at all. At least they don't in my experience...

I might have to join some very specific Discord communities...Very adult-friendly Discord communities. Ugh.

Not looking forward to that, but at least there is progress, at LAST!

—Mar

Edit: Forgot to mention! Something cool might come once I finish the last chapter of Album Zero, the Monkey! Keep a lookout on the socials, particularly Bluesky!