Category Archives: News

So between 2004 and 2015 I was part of a fanfiction project called Next Era. Astute readers will notice a similarity to the URL. Yes, next-era.net was the domain we got for the website for it back in the day, and I still use the same hosting we got for it at the time. So when the time came to put this website up, putting it on a subdomain to that felt fitting. Anyway, it was a Mega Man X fanfiction project, and the final story published for it was one of mine, back in 2015. Since then, the most that was done with it was myself putting down pieces of a draft for something intended to be a finale to the whole thing in 2017-2018, as it never got a proper ending (well, I also broke the wiki while trying to update it in 2017, but that's irrelevant).

You're probably seeing where this is going.

Last month (starting in February, but anyway) I played through the Mega Man X Collections on Switch (do as I say and not as I do: Do not play Mega Man X7). This, especially Mega Man X8 for reasons, just got me in the mood for telling stories in that universe again, stories I was planning but never told back in its heyday... I had a lot of ideas in those days. Ideas that never became anything. Some ideas were in some ways transplanted over to Pure Corruption, some characters definitely owe parts of their personalities to Next Era characters. I can directly trace Rink back to one of them, even if Rink is very toned down from that "source". So anyway, I ended up doing a complete rewrite - a full remake, really - of the very first Next Era story I ever wrote, contacted two of the peeps from the old crew, and really did start writing one new story, one I had several plans for back at the time but never wrote. I thought I did start writing parts of it at some point, but I can find absolutely zero evidence that I ever did after digging through documents.

This in no way at all means I'm giving up on Pure Corruption! I'm rather hoping it's going to be a net positive, giving me another creative writing outlet, and the Next Era stories are chiefly oneshots of varying lengths, rather than one chronological chapter-by-chapter story starting at the very beginning and going to the very end. So it's a somewhat different approach to writing those stories, which could be useful to loosen up some writer's blocks I absolutely have from time to time. And I absolutely promise that Pure Corruption is where my main priority lies - it's absolutely my primary project and revisiting Next Era is, for the time being, a side gig. I still can't believe I'm actually doing it, but now I really, at the very least, want to finish this one I'm currently writing.

So... yeah.

Me getting in a writing mood just in general is good too now that everything is annoying and I don't get any work and don't make money.

Bah.

/Kenny

...but the place where I work did just get shut down and it's kinda hard to be an exam hall monitor from home, so, there's that.

I feel bad about not having done another update yet. My chapter plan is still in a bit of a tangle, I'll find some solution to it, don't worry, but these coming chapters are kinda important so I don't want to rush them. I also haven't heard back from my prrofreader so no chapters are currently completely ready for publication. And I'm sitting here with a Wikipedia tab open to read up on a thing to make a certain scene make sense.

So anyway.

I know I've said it a lot but I hope you have some patience with me and the current volume is the one I want to complete more than anything, so the one most frustrated about the lack of updates is absolutely me.

/Kenny

So... okay... yeah. I didn't mean to lie, but... no more chapters in 2019. I hadn't heard back from my proofreader regarding the chapter in question, and then I ended up getting sick after Christmas, so... yeah.

I'm doing New Year's on my own this year, didn't feel like I should go out while still recovering. But 2020 is, as I've mentioned previously, the year where I hopefully turn everything around, since I start a new job in January, which is an extreme weight off my shoulders.

Chapter progress is good, but... is about to get a little odd, since what's supposed to be chapter 047 is getting so long that I am likely going to have to split it, and what's currently 048 might also need to be split, which might result in volume five getting one more chapter than had been planned, since I need that volume to end with a very specific scene. So if the chapter progress meters start moving in weird ways over the following month... that's why.

So that's where we are! Thanks for sticking with me throughout 2019, and I hope you'll stay around for 2020, which should be a big year for both myself and my projects - Pure Corruption first and foremost.

I'm excited.

So a Happy New Year to the lot of you! Happy New Decade, even!

/Kenny

So. Hi.

The chapter progress page moved a lot for a bit, then slowed down. Chapter 046 has been at three and a half fruits for a bit. That's a half-truth, though - the chapter is basically finished as it is, it's not going to go over 3500 words, and I'm editing some stuff before sending it off to proofreading. Though I already have two chapters in that phase, and I don't want to give my proofreader too many chapters at once.

But I'm also considering if I, for reasons I'm obviously not spoiling, might have to do some rewrites of chapters 045 and 046. I need to discuss it with my proofreader too. I've been... not quite agonizing over it, but I keep second-guessing myself about it. Which is a reason things have not been super productive lately. Hopefully I'll get to publishing soon!

/Kenny

And, again, things are me.

I've got my new apartment. There's still a lot to be done to make this into a home that I'll be completely comfortable in, but the computer is in place, internet's working, I have my Switch set up, and the kitchen is done enough that I can cook normally. Moving day was a complete disaster and one of the absolute worst days of my life, I will say that much - I was anxious about it and it still ended up a lot worse than I had ever imagined. But somehow, all the items made their way to the new building (except for a few I decided to just discard because it was probably time to replace them anyway), and things are slowly becoming better.

Week before that wasn't great either. I was away at a con, working karaoke as always, and I personally didn't have a fantastic time for several reasons. The actual karaoke was great - whenever I sang, I felt good, it was a lot of things surrounding it and the rest of the con that just made me not feel great. I'm too old to do cons like I used to.

On the flip side - I did get a lot written while at the con. So another chapter has now been sent off to proofreading, and the following one is at least more than halfway done. Still have other stuff to deal with - but publishing should actually finally resume shortly. Please be patient just a little longer.

/Kenny

So! I've got an apartment lined up. Not the one I mentioned in the previous update, but another one in the same area. It's a nice apartment. Big. Open. Bright. Nice kitchen.

And it makes me extremely worried. Or, well, anxious. A little scared.

Not the apartment as such. It's a good apartment. And I'm pretty sure I'll like living there. Once I've settled in. Which is the entire thing, really - moving to another apartment is going to literally be the biggest change in my life since I moved into the apartment I'm moving away from, which I've lived in for over ten years. So of course I'm anxious - every routine I've made for myself, everything I've gotten used to in all my years of living here - practically all of it will get discarded and I'm going to have to start figuring out new ones. I'm sure it'll all be good once I've done that, but... it's probably perfectly natural for me to worry about it right now. I do have this tendency to worry that things are going to end up being "wrong", that I've made the wrong decision. At the same time, this is absolutely the best apartment I could get under the circumstances, and it is a good one. More central location.

So anyway.

Being anxious over that hasn't exactly been to the benefit of my writing, as I find myself less able to concentrate because of it. I'm certain it's going to turn out alright in the end, but I can't just magically become not anxious. Next week will be a lot of preparations (though most of it's prepared already, as I've mentioned in the past - the majority of my possessions are in boxes and furniture that could be disassembled has been disassembled), and the week after that I'm actually heading off to a con. I definitely need that break. And when I come back home, it'll be moving time, though I don't know yet exactly the date that's going to happen. I've got some phonecalls to make.

And once I'm in my new place, with the computer and router all set up, I can start building anew, and then I will absolutely be more able to get things written. I hope. Also got that part where I need a job, but, y'know...

/Kenny

And by things, I mean me. Soon. Anyway, I figured some update here was called for, since I still am not a point where I have a chapter to publish.

I've been continuing my job-hunting with no success, and am now also taking care of some other stuff. Plus, I have to move out of this apartment in a month's time - going to view a new apartment on Tuesday, which I'm first in line for, so chances are good that'll be my new place. A lot bigger and in a much better location, for only a pretty negligible increase in monthly rent. So that's cool.

And that's basically where I'm at. I have a variety of things going on at the moment. Since I don't have a job, you'd think I'd be writing more, and I do agree with you. But not having a job or anything at all, really, frustrates me to the point where I end up just doing nothing productive. Can you get burnt out from doing nothing? Because it's kind of feeling like that. If I had less free time, I'd probably make more of an effort to do more with it. Plus, I mean, having less free time would mean having a job, meaning having money to do things with, so there's that too.

Bah.

Well, I hope you'll still want to stick with me and be patient just a bit longer. Hopefully I'll have something else going on soon to pep me up.

/Kenny

The chapter progress page has gotten that revamp I was talking about - instead of a vague sense of "halfway" and "almost done", the progress bars are now (almost) entirely tied to my current word count of upcoming chapters. It now has half-fruits as well, and each full fruit represents a 1000-word threshold - half a fruit means less than 500 words written, a full fruit means between 500 and 1000 words, and so on, until four full fruits which represents 3500+ words but not all chapters actually reach that many words so sometimes it'll skip a step (and since I still intend to update the progress bars weekly, a lot of steps will be "skipped", most likely). 4½ fruits now means it's in proofreading/editing, while five full fruits of course still indicates that the chapter is ready to publish. So there you go!

So this is just a regular message from me. Still no new chapter, which I'm sorry about. But I figured some signs of life and information from me could be called for.

The two jobs I have, I technically still have, but they're part-time gigs that don't really get me enough money, so I'm still looking for more. In the meanwhile, I've been using my free time for some stuff I have to do - I have to move out of this apartment within 4 months, so I've been cleaning up. Packed boxes of stuff. Thrown away a whole lot of stuff. You never know how much trash you have until it's time to move. Disassembled and put away a bookshelf. My apartment has rarely looked better tbh and there's still a whole lot of work for me to do, and it's something I really do have to prioritize at the moment. Writing isn't completely at a standstill, though - I've made some breakthroughs. I do have a mostly clear plan for the rest of the current volume. I really want to get these chapters out, but life is like it is sometimes.

Still.

Have a good April Fool's day. Remember to check your sources. I'll hopefully have some gooder news for you soon enough.

/Kenny

I'm gonna keep this fairly short, 'cause I'm currently doing New Year's at a friend's mom's place. But I've wanted to give you a bit of an update, at least.

As you can see on the chapter progress page, which didn't get updated over Christmas for a wide variety of reasons and I now have changed to be more truthful about when I've actually been updating it, the next chapter is done and will be published on Friday, so you havethat to look forwards to.

I'm not going to give any big New Year's Resolution about publishing more. I wish I could, but - I have an update on what I said in my last news post. I have jobs now. Yes, jobs. Plural.

One that makes use of my skills - I'm an interviewer for a research company, so I go around and do surveys.

And one that is what I like doing more than anything - writing about video games. Reviewing. So far, this year, since getting the job, I've written reviews of one forgettable indie game on the Switch eShop, Super Mario Party, Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Okay, so that last one hasn't been great for my writing progress. But anyway.

So a big thank you to everyone who's been with me for 2018, sorry for not giving you more chapters, and I hope you'll stay for what's hopefully going to be a more productive 2019!

/Kenny