We are in a brand-new month which means that it’s time for your progress update on all things From Ashe and beyond!
Let’s hop right into things!
From Ashe Vol. 6
Since the last time I did a progress update, From Ashe Vol. 5 launched! I know it has been a while but things are now in a manageable position so I was able to get the book out! This means Volume 6’s work is underway… except it’s not.
Well, to be fair, I finished Chapter 2 and began Chapter 3 but I didn’t get a chance to finish it because something else happened…
My Girlfriend Was Delivered by 2-Day Shipping
Right when I started Volume 6 of From Ashe, Honeyfeed and MyAnimeList announced their yearly contest where the winner will have a chance to become published in Japan by having their light novel adapted into a manga by Kodansha!
The only problem was, to enter, I had to write a brand-new light novel using one of their three prompts… one of which was a romantic comedy which is my favorite genre!
So, I announced that I was halting work on From Ashe so that I could write my contest entry. 9 days and 48,000 words later, I had a first draft of the book. The time of this posting is June 2, 2022, and the contest started just one day prior.
I submitted the book at 9 PM when the contest opened and as I’m writing this, it’s 7:35 PM ET. That means in less than 24 hours, I have already garnered 550 views!! I’ve received some positive comments thus far so I’m happy that people are enjoying the first three chapters!
Even though all 15 chapters are written, I am not allowed to post them all at once. Therefore, I threw up the first three that establish the main premise of the story and will be posting 1 new chapter every Sunday starting June 5. This will bring me (if I calculated correctly) to August 21, 2022, for the final chapter, thus setting it to completed status 1 week before the end of the contest.
After that, it’s all in the hands of the judges and the readers who will then vote for their favorite.
Of course, like every other author, I would love nothing more than to win so if you find it within the deep recesses of your heart to give my story a read, then I invite you to do so! Just remember to like it and leave a comment as that is part of the judging criteria… but… even though I want to win, I don’t want any artificial likes or comments. Be genuine. If you don’t like what I’ve written, say so. If I do win, I want it to be legit.
You can read the first three chapters here: https://www.honeyfeed.fm/novels/7634
Art Style Revamp
I had a little bit of spare money so I contacted my artist Alex. I told him that I wanted to amp up the quality of the artwork for From Ashe even if it ended up costing me a bit more. All you have to do is look at the characters’ page or any cover to see what the art style has been like so far. Now, I present to you Ashe and Renji in their new styles!
As you can see, Renji has a different design to him. There will be events that come to pass in Volume 7 that will cause his design shift but what those events are… only I know… for now!
Ashe has a background because I wanted to test doing backgrounds with Alex for book covers. I wanted to see what we could do not because I want to start doing picturesque scenes for From Ashe’s covers but because I already decided on my next series after From Ashe has come to a conclusion… although, I’m going to keep that one to myself for now!
All I will say is that I will be switching genres and it won’t be slice-of-life. Instead, it’s going to require some fantasy-style backgrounds!
Oh, and no… it won’t be a resurrection of Shadow Wing / The Zero Eclipse.
Until Next Time
While the words to describe my efforts this past month are short, it has been insane for me. I mean, I wrote half a chapter for one novel, worked with my artist for nearly 2 weeks on the art revamp, and wrote an entire book in 9 days and went on a marketing rampage for it in the last 24 hours.
I’m spent. I’m tired. And you know what that means.
Back to work!
With the contest underway, I have already set up the editing/posting schedule and, therefore, work can resume on From Ashe Vol. 6!
Oh… and as I said… I’m in a manageable state with my financial situation so Volume 6 will have proper artwork!
Get hyped!
Until July,
Ja ne!