[This post is currently a placeholder for content located elsewhere. In other words, I have to find it again.][F*ck. I hope I didn’t lose it when I had to restore the site backup.]
Mystic World Kai-am-ban
Interconnected Multiverse
All of my settings are interconnected. Think of them as multiple planets in the same universe. This is referred to as a multiverse to allow for the existence of separate dimensions, unknowns, and the infinite possibilities of the imagination. For the sake of simplicity, all of my stories do take place in the same overall dimension and timeline, with the exception of Utopia (draft).
Oftentimes, species still call themselves “human” since that’s just a term in the language. For example, French says “humain(e)” and German says “mensch”. Either of these translated into English would be “human”. As can be expected, this causes quite the confusion. Languages themselves are not universal, but many species maintain translators (with varying effectiveness and level of technology). Other species that want to differentiate themselves more clearly (especially if they’re not closely resembling homo sapiens) may adopt and enforce their native term. Different species may also be represented by the language they speak and/or the dominant language where they come from (similarly to how we may call someone French).
Canonically, there are three separate known dimensions outside the main one. In a variety of bizarre circumstances, a character can occasionally travel between them. However, the frequent time travel in the Balance of Souls is having a ripple effect on space time: these jumps are getting more frequent. The Nomae in the Indefinite world have the ability to partially exist in a type of in between space between dimensions, so they are especially aware of this effect. For more info there, see the Indefinite World descript after I finish reorganizing the site.
I do have images, but most of them are still a work in progress. They will be added shortly. In the meantime, some of this information can be found in [Territories around Sol] in [The Balance of Souls] world descript.
In Retrospect
I have been procrastinating this post for way too long.
I wrote Y when I was still in high school. Technically I published it on September 4, 2013, less than three months after my eighteenth birthday. At its heart, it’s not a bad story. It’s just that the book itself was a mess. The one review it has explains this well:
“The shame of it is I think a decent beta reader, or editor, could have pointed all these issues out to the author [and] fixed them before the book was published. I think if they had been caught the story could have easily been 4 stars, even 5. The basic idea of the book, Lyva’s quest, it kept me reading. I had hoped the writing itself would have improved, but at the same time I still wanted to find out what was going to happen at the end. I think this author shows promise. [Their] story idea was intriguing and the book itself just needed polishing to pull it together. [. . .] The issues with the book just overshadowed the idea of the story itself.”
Overall, I still think that publishing it was the right thing for me to do at the time. I learned a lot about what NOT to do, gained some experience, figured out how to self-publish, and settled on my writing name at the time. I can see some of my writing strengths trying to break through, but the problems overshadow them. Most of those problems are ones I’ve since learned to look out for and resolve before they get to my betas. At this point, I look back at Y and recognize that I had a lot to learn. The review did include some kind words:
“Again, and this is to the author personally. I think your book was a good first try. I’ve seen worse, way worse. You have an amazing way with words. You’re word choices and how you put them together was poetic. As I said above there are just some things you need to work on. I really don’t want you to see the low star count and get angry or, worse, discouraged. I think if you keep writing, find some dependable beta readers, ones who aren’t afraid to hurt your feelings and tell you the truth, or a good editor, I think that you definitely have a promising future in the literary world.”
I am not discouraged; I have learned and improved.
Everyone has to start somewhere.
(I’ve turned off the distribution channels on amazon. Technically it will still be listed on there, but they won’t print any after the current few print copies sell. I left the kindle distribution active. This is mostly because I can’t figure out how to turn it off and it’s only 99 cents – if someone really, really wants to read it they can.)
Note from the future: [6:10pm EST November 18, 2019]
