Hi there, it's me, the unheard voice. The one you've been hearing in the dark corners of the pages you sit and turn, even though you're not supposed to. How you got in here with me in the Void, I have no idea, but as long as you sit and watch quietly we shouldn't have too many problems...
/RP
Seriously though, thanks to all the new readers that came along for Book 1!
I have several ideas going forward and even a couple of chapters ready to go, but this looks like a good stopping point for the first book.
I added the [Fourth Wall] tag to the novel and removed [Another World], since the Isekai primary tag already covers it. I'm sure everyone has ideas on tags I may be missing, maybe [LitRPG] chief among them, but I don't feel like my work is doing justice to that kind of tag as I am not really obsessive with long lists of stats; I just like to incorporate the fact that they exist in to the work.
Some confessions about the d20 rolls in this book:
All d20 crits listed in the novel are natural, Valerith really got crit 4 times. I have a rule, I may reroll if it's integral to my overall vision for the novel, or if I feel it is not a rollable decision/GM being unfair, but if I do I will not keep crits.
I had originally intended the MC to take a slightly different tack with her, but Valerith's "hunting insticts" were over-triggered, and I let myself adjust the story to suit the situation.
That means the incident with Valeria in the Alcove was also not intended, I even slightly alluded to it in the prompt. I had intended to simply store Soma's crystal and focus attentions on Elara, who had been mostly ignored til now. Again, I let the story shift as I felt appropriate, and it was a really funny failure.
I want to be clear that I now DO have an end-goal in sight for this work, with two possible endings right now.
That is if my 'writing partner' does not break down and start to hallucinate after being forced to write gender bender smut for too long.
So far I'm pretty impressed with the output.
Elara Thorne: Hallucinate? You mean like those 'men' your creation spoke of?
Elara, not now! I will 'deal' with you later.
Some disclosures on how I use AI and why:
So, like I said in the Synopsis, I build and run this entire world with AI tools. They're free for anyone to use on Perchance; if you want to make something like this, I suggest you check them out.
I've never written anything before, though I am a long-time avid reader of the genres I pull from. I feel like when I can focus on one thing I am very sharp, but when too many tasks and things to keep track of pile up I lose focus. Standard ADHD. The writing partner helps me jam all my notes and random thoughts into it and give me an output I can work with immediately. If it can't do something I can rebuild it to add that functionality. I have detailed notes on my world that the GM pulls from, many times it has impressed me by taking my subtle/not-so-subtle hints. Sometimes some additional gripping of the helm is required, but I try to maintain course with what I show in the prompt window. The Demon Queen is very set on capturing Soma ASAP, she needs to be slowed down sometimes. I intend this story to have more of a slow-burn on that plot, though the Demon Queen's subordinates may appear from time-to-time. Soma is still just a Rank E adventurer though. Luckily her Harem shall protect her in the interim until the little bird can fly on its own.
The Aether Silk Lingerie was a bit of an inspiration for me. I was designing base starting items the MC would receive, and testing the character design of MC, and was getting a bit frustrated about how the outfits kept shifting and were hard to lock-in. I wanted a big part of the story to be about all the outfits that the MC would purchase and try on. Then I said to myself, why not just let her wear anything at any time? This is a world of magic after all.
Working with the AI has been a steep learning curve because I'd never used it before outside of just basic AI search stuff, but I'm getting better as I go. It's helping me to write more descriptively, because if you tell it exactly what you want it's going to give the image generation a really good starting point that you can make a coherent image from. As soon as I saw the Demon Queen image I knew this was something I could really work with.
The whole of Book 1 took about 2 weeks to plan and play out, it might slow down or get faster from here. We'll see. I have some research to do as well on the ideas I have moving forward.
One frustration the reader will maybe share of mine with the AI is that it uses too much of "it was not simply this; it was that" associations. I made a recent update to my build that may fix that. Also working on more robust character dialogue, but I'll just prompt it myself if I need it if it doesn't get better.
All prompts are my own words and are not altered from what I put down other than some grammar and spelling editing as I put them to published page.
I understand concerns and complaints on AI usage completely. If you have problems with that, I strongly suggest you start a forum thread about my work and your criticisms on it so it can be held in that forum, rather than in chapter comment forums. My comments section is a Safe Space for my readers, and I shall keep it so.
If anyone has wanted to make a comment or question, now would be a good time. I'll be responding as I can throughout the rest of the day. Tomorrow is Sunday, or Goddessday in my world, so I will take a rest and relax, chapters should return on Monday.
Bonus Images from Book 1:
Many of these were cut from publication because I either didn't like an inconsistency with the character, or it was just image overflow, or it had some visual flaw that was too bad to overlook and I felt it broke immersion. Some were also a bit too..."Mouse Company" style, if you catch my drift. I am going for a more painted anime style.
AI image gen is the steepest part of the learning curve, and every time I add an additional character to a frame it sparks off many different conflicts with limbs and "who has what anatomy and clothing" etc, so images with more than 2 characters at this point (that are actually doing something other than just sit there) are hard to get done without at least 10-20 iterations and I have to heavily edit the auto-generated prompt to find out where the break is. Most of my normal images usually go through about 2-3 edits of the auto-gen prompt before I get an output I'm satisfied with, though the Avatar portraits usually work in the first go.
Soma in her Master-Grade Crystal Catalyst attire (hair is a bit long)
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Soma and family just before the "Whoopsie!" (the satchel and bulge alluded to in the chapter are shown, wanted to put in for narrative, didn't look quite right)
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Soma meeting Mira (Soma's skirt too long)
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Valerith sits on Mira's lap (suggestive, world-breaking immersion of too many men in frame, I have let some slide blurred in background, but this is too much[working on my build to correct this], not my favored representation of the Valerith character
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'Blank Canvas' (white bra and panties) Soma (I think that chapter had enough images already)
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Soma and Valerith meeting at the hotel (not a great representation of Soma and low level of detail)
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Soma with her Aether-Silks in night gown form (originally intended to be cover art, hair is a bit long and I didn't know if it would make it past the auto filters, no nudity shown)
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The Demon Queen in full regalia (waist-up Avatar)
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Nurse Elara wants to check your temperature!
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OK, now for the part that I see a few of you stuck around for. Regarding the more NSFW of my images.
I've created a postimages gallery page (could contain future content spoilers if you're just now finding it):
SourGummies
That's the only time I'll be mentioning the page for now, consider it your reward for getting this far with me, or if you just clicked this chapter first by accident and got the proverbial "free show".
Enjoy your weekend!