8FOLD: Mancers # 4, "The Old Dark House"

[Drew Perron]

On 12/5/2018 1:26 PM, Tom Russell wrote:
> On Wednesday, December 5, 2018 at 1:14:37 AM UTC-5, Drew Perron wrote:
<snip>
>>>      Well, no one said she had to stay in her room all night. And she's
>>> supposed to be the grand poobah of this crazy shindig after all. So
>>> why not wander around the weird magical Gothic mansion? "What kind of
>>> trouble could I possibly get into?" she asks one of the countless cats
>>> milling about the hallway.
>>
>> Augh okay this character is cute as hell. Seriously, every one of these
>> sentences is gold.
> 
> Part of why it took me so long to write this first arc - I started it back in 
> 2016 - was that I had to do a lot of rewrites to find Maile's voice. 
> Particularly because she starts in a situation that by definition denies her 
> agency and gives her a lot of confusing questions to grapple with, and also 
> because it's easier to define characters in relation to one another, and she's 
> starting in a situation where she doesn't have relationships with any of the 
> people surrounding her - I needed a thorough-line. Having her be adorable and 
> funny and nerdy seemed to do the trick, and I think makes her more compelling as 
> she claims more agency and starts to establish those relationships.

Definitely worked. She's fun as heck to read.

>>>      So. Samson was right. They're lying. They're gaslighting her.
>>>      Now what?
>>
>> THIS IS SUCH A GOOD CLIFFHANGER ZOMG. :D :D :D Man, I have been sleeping on
>> coming back to this. You're such a good writer! <3 <3 <3
> 
> That's very kind, thanks. I think you'll probably find the remaining issues of 
> the arc quicker to read - the first three issues in a way were about table-
> setting, turning all the cranks, and from here on it's more about watching 'em 
> go. There's also less sexy stuff in the back-end, so that aspect will be less 
> intense than it was in the first half of the arc - but it does get quite a bit 
> more violent.

I'm definitely feeling all that. Of course, I got caught in my own gears, but I 
managed to get them spinning again, and I'm enjoying.

Drew "inspired!!" Perron