Theorycrafting Unique Type Pokemon (Part 1)

One of the more fun, yet challenging, post types I’ve written for this blog are my Pokemon theorycrafting posts. I’ve done a pair of them now, wherein I (along with some help) took some unused type combinations and used them to create new concept Pokemon. It’s an exercise that requires more thought than I’m willing to admit, if only because I do try to make an effort to think about the kinds of Pokemon I’d want to see in a game, how they’d balance, and what fits the world of a game I’ve been playing off and on since I was 12.

One of my fellow Pokemon bloggers, Lola from That Little Lola, presented me with an idea that we decided to turn into a collaboration. In the Pokemon games, there are currently — as of May 11th, 2020 — 54 Pokemon evolution lines or individual Pokemon that have unique typing combinations. An example of this would be Empoleon. Empoleon has a typing of Water/Steel, making it the only Pokemon with that typing. Similarly, there are two Water/Ghost Pokemon, however they are both within the Frillish evolution line. Both of these situations are considered to be unique type Pokemon for our lists.

Lola and I have divided these 54 Pokemon between us. From there, we’ll both be doing our list in two parts. You can check out the posts at the links below.

Lola’s posts – Part 1 | Part 2
My posts – Part 1 | Part 2

For my list, I’m limiting myself to no more than two regional variations per list. I think there were some missed opportunities in the regional variations, but I don’t want to do a whole list based off of them. Similiarly, I’m also limiting myself to no more than two evolutionary line additions/splits per post.

1. Poison/Flying

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? The Zubat line is the only Poison/Flying line in existence at this time.

Our new Pokemon is? Altaria might be the closest thing we currently have to a cloud Pokemon…until now. And no, the genies clearly don’t count. Anyway, the cloud Pokemon, Cirrus, and its evolution, Nimblust, are based on clouds. Of acid rain. Because the weather nerd in me wanted to make haboob jokes, but then I remembered that Gligar isn’t the only Ground/Flying line. Yes, I’m bitter.

Abilities? I mean, I am basing these Pokemon off of clouds that have acid rain in them. I feel like Corrosion is the natural choice here as a primary ability. There would be no secondary ability, but the hidden ability for this line would be the Poison-type version of Aerilate.

Learn Set? Acid (Learned at level 1), Gust (1), Sonic Boom (6), Poison Gas (13), Double Team (19), Air Cutter (25), Cotton Guard (33), Whirlwind (39), Sludge Wave (43), Rain Dance (50), Venoshock (57), Tailwind (62), Celebrate (69), Hurricane (77)

2. Water/Steel

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Empoleon

Our new Pokemon is? I don’t even care what region this is for. But why isn’t Dhelmise Water/Steel? We already got a Grass/Ghost Pokemon in the same generation as Dhelmise. There was no need for that to be its typing. So I’m writing a wrong and giving its regional variant a Water/Steel type.

Abilities? Look. You want Dhelmise to retain its Grass or Ghost roots? We’re doing that with abilities. For the primary ability, we’ll give this form of Dhelmise Sap Sipper, while making its secondary ability Dhelmise’s previous only ability, Steelworker. And to pay homage to the other form’s Ghost typing, the hidden ability for this form of Dhelmise will be an ability previously exclusive to Ghost types, Cursed Body.

Learn Set? Bubble (Learned at level 1), Rapid Spin (1), Water Gun (4), Wrap (8), Bide (12), Growth (16), Gyro Ball (20), Iron Defense (24), Pursuit (28), Whirlpool (32), Heavy Slam (36), Slam (40), Brine (44), Metal Sound (48), Anchor Shot (52), Muddy Water (56), Liquidation (60), Steel Beam (64)

3. Rock/Fighting

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Terrakion. Yes, I forgot it existed too.

Our new Pokemon is? We need a legendary bird based on the Roc, yes? Agreed. And I know what you’re thinking — why does this have to be Rock/Fighting? Why not Rock/Flying? Because I said so. We’re calling it Ruk. Quarantine brain has sapped my creativity.

Abilities? Since we’re not making it a Flying type, clearly our primary ability is going to be Levitate. That said, I’d like to propose the hidden ability here to be Gale Wings. Ruk will be learning quite a few Flying moves with its Rock and Fighting moves, so let’s give those priority.

Learn Set? Gust (Learned at level 1), Detect (1), Rock Blast (9), Wing Attack (15), Accelrock (23), Air Cutter (29), Storm Throw (37), Rock Slide (43), Bulk Up (51), Seismic Toss (59), Hurricane (68), Defog (77), Superpower (86), Rock Wrecker (94)

4. Flying/Fairy

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Togetic and Togekiss are the only Flying/Fairy types currently.

Our new Pokemon is? This one is 100% based on personal preference. I’m basing this off of the Baltimore oriole. They’re one of the few birds I like. And I don’t have a good name for this Pokemon. Admittedly, naming Pokemon is always my weakest part of these posts. I do it, but I’m not particularly good at it.

Abilities? The oriole is quite the common bird, so I’m thinking we’ll need some fairly common abilities here. Keen Eye and Early Bird make the most sense for main abilities for what is essentially a Spearow clone. As for the hidden ability, I think Anger Point is the best choice here, mostly because I want angry tiny birbo. Oh — and that Anger Point ability might be useful.

Learn Set? Peck (Learned at level 1), Baby Doll Eyes (1), Sing (5), Screech (9), Rapid Spin (12), Misty Terrain (17), Mirror Move (22), Moonlight (27), Pluck (32), Cosmic Power (37), Roost (41), Acrobatics (46), Power Trip (51), Play Rough (56), Brave Bird (63)

5. Fighting/Ghost

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Marshadow

Our new Pokemon is? Since Lola gave Farfetch’d a baby form in her post called Nearfetch’d, the only logical step was for me to make mine an evolution of Farfetch’d. We’ll call it Hoennian Farfetch’d and its evolution Whereveryouarfetch’d. 7.8/10, too much water.

Abilities? Female Whereveryouarfetch’d get the Ice Type equivalent of the ability Lightning Rod, drawing in Ice moves and boosting Special Attack. Meanwhile, the Male version would get the Ghost type equivalent of the Torrent ability. These abilities would have a titanic impact on the meta.

Learn Set? Peck (Learned at level 1), Sand Attack (1), Astonish (1), Leer (1), Triple Kick (15), Roar (20), Wing Attack (25), Shadow Punch (30), Curse (35), Brick Break (40), Swords Dance (45), Shadow Claw (50), Phantom Force (55), Final Gambit (60), Brave Bird (65), Meteor Assault (70), Explosion (75)

6. Grass/Ice

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Snover and Abomasnow

Our new Pokemon is? We’ve already got an ice cream-like Pokemon in the Vanillite line, but we don’t have a popsicle Pokemon. The wooden stick inside gives it magical grass powers. Wood powers? Idk. Its name will be Poppy. Because that’s both a play on popsicle and a type of flower.

Abilities? The obvious choice here is Ice Body because…um. It’s a popsicle. That said, allow me to posit an unexpected hidden ability: Healer. The number of times I’ve heard teachers talk about giving popsicles to kids who fall and smack their mouths on the playground leads me to believe this might be the correct hidden ability here.

Learn Set? Absorb (Learned at level 1), Harden (1), Ice Shard (5), Leech Seed (9), Floral Healing (12), Haze (17), Soak (22), Giga Drain (26), Icicle Crash (30), Iron Defense (34), Leaf Blade (38), Hail (43), Memento (47), Wood Hammer (55), Blizzard (62)

7. Normal/Water

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Bibarel. That’s it. Seriously, Bidoof is just Normal type.

Our new Pokemon is? Flooda. I don’t care if you pronounce it Flood-a or Flu-da. It’s a sentient glass of water.

Abilities? The only ability is Hydration. This is because there’s not a Quench ability.

Learn Set? Splash (Learned at level 1), Soak (9), Bubble (19), Life Dew (29), Refresh (39), Quick Attack (49), Recycle (59), Scald (69), Muddy Water (79), Milk Drink (89), Water Spout (99)

8. Water/Grass

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? The Lotad line.

Our new Pokemon is? In researching for this post, I came to realize there’s not a Pokemon based on moss or lichen. The scientific name for moss is Bryophyta, which is a kickass Pokemon name for a plant. I’d change it to Brophyta, but that just sounds like Bro-Fighta. And we’re Water/Grass, not Fighter/Fighter.

Abilities? It’s moss, so I feel like one of the abilities pretty much has to be Grassy Surge by default. And considering how much moss loves water, I’d think Storm Drain is a good secondary ability. As for a hidden ability, I’m kind of partial to Effect Spore, if only because of how much I love the Paras line, as well as the fact that moss and mushrooms tend to grow in similar places.

Learn Set? Absorb (Learned at level 1), Withdraw (1), Leech Seed (8), Camoflauge (13), Acid (19), Mega Drain (26), Bubblebeam (33), Ingrain (40), Spore (46), Muddy Water (51), Pain Split (58), Earth Power (62), Seed Flare (71)

9. Bug/Fairy

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? The Cutiefly line.

Our new Pokemon is? You’d think this would be where I’m using one of my regional variants — Bug/Fairy practically screams for the Butterfree line to be used — but no. Instead, we get a new Pokemon, this one based off of the praying mantis. And since it’s such a hardcore Pokemon, we clearly name it Manticore a– what? That’s already a thing? And it looks like a lion? Fine. Name it yourself then.

Abilities? Considering the female praying mantis’ habit of biting off the heads of their mates after copulation, a natural pair of abilities here seem to be Berserk and Hyper Cutter. The moveset will further play into the potential mixed attacker mold that these abilities put our Pokemon into. As for a hidden ability, that Fire type weakness is looking awful scary right now — that is, unless you have our Pokemon’s hidden ability, Heatproof.

Learn Set? Tackle (Learned at level 1), String Shot (1), Sand Attack (7), Bug Bite (12), Screech (16), Pin Missile (21), Draining Kiss (25), Silver Wind (31), Endure (37), Fell Stinger (42), Flail (47), Moonblast (53), X-Scissor (58), Play Rough (64), Fissure (72)

10. Poison/Ground

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Here’s where we’re going with a technicality. Nidoking and Nidoqueen are the only Poison/Ground types in the game. That said, since the reason they’re two different evolution lines is because of limitations that were in the original generation of Pokemon, we’re counting this as only one line having the typing.

Our new Pokemon is? Considering its early access to Poison Sting, I was always a bit confused how Sandslash didn’t get a Poison type evolution. So now we get it — Sandsludge.

Abilities? Sandslash’s two abilities are Sand Veil (primary) and Sand Rush (hidden). We won’t be changing those. But we will be adding a secondary ability, Poison Point. Not only is this a nod to the Nidoran lines, it makes sense considering Sandslash’s spikes.

Learn Set? Scratch (Learned at level 1), Defense Curl (1), Sand Attack (3), Poison Sting (5), Rollout (7), Rapid Spin (9), Fury Cutter (11), Magnitude (14), Swift (20), Fury Swipes (24), Slash (28), Acid Armor (30), Dig (33), Poison Tail (35), Gyro Ball (38), Swords Dance (43), Poison Jab (48), Sandstorm (53), Gunk Shot (58), Earthquake (64), Crush Claw (on evolution to Sandslash), Fell Stinger (on evolution to Sandsludge)

11. Rock/Dark

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Tyrannitar. Why isn’t Ttar Rock/Ground like its pre-evolutions, you ask? We have to show off that fancy new Dark type in Gen II. That’s why.

Our new Pokemon is? Fuck. I don’t know, man. An angry terracotta pot? It’s pissed that Link keeps killing all of its friends. We’ll call it Gannon to avoid copyright infringement.

Abilities? Weak Armor. That’s it.

Learn Set? Tackle (Learned at level 1), Harden (1), Sand Attack (4), Curse (8), Bite (12), Rock Blast (16), Pay Day (20), Crunch (24), Ancient Power (28), Taunt (32), Spite (36), Rock Slide (40), Assurance (44), Shell Smash (48), Spiky Shield (52), Earthquake (56)

12. Ice/Fairy

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Alolan Ninetales is the only Pokemon with this typing.

Our new Pokemon is? I know that Galarian Darmanitan was intended to be a snowman Pokemon. But it’s horrifying. So this will be a happy snowman Pokemon. We’ll call it Snowgon.

Abilities? Snowgon is not good competitively due to trash stats. Its abilities mirror this, with its primary ability being Ball Fetch and its hidden ability being Honey Gather.

Learn Set? Splash (Learned at level 1), Hail (1), Fairy Lock (4), Ice Ball (8), Charm (12), Celebrate (16), Wonder Room (20), Rollout (24), Icicle Spear (28), Taunt (32), Zen Headbutt (36), Avalanche (40), Play Rough (44), Moonlight (48), Aurora Veil (52), Destiny Bond (56)

13. Ice/Ground

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? The Swinub line.

Our new Pokemon is? Alright. Hear me out on this one. This is our second regional variant of this post. And it’s going to be Kantonian Hawlucha. Why Kantonian? There are a ton of Ice types in the Seafoam Islands, giving this bird a place to train. And why Hawlucha? I felt like the Ice/Ground typing was a nice foil to its natural Fighting/Flying typing. And why is this bird a Ground type — you know, since birds fly? It’s going to be based on catch-as-catch-can wrestling rather than the luchador style of Hawlucha.

And since Hawlucha has a unique move, Flying Press, that’s Flying and Fighting type, we’ll give our Hawlucha variant a similar gimmick. This is the move below called Kip-Up — a physical Ice/Ground type move with 60 power that raises the user’s Speed and Defense one stage upon use.

Abilities? We’ll be keeping Hawlucha’s primary ability, Limber with this regional variant. That said, we’ll be going with another speed raising ability as its secondary ability, with this form getting the Steadfast ability. As for the hidden ability, I debated keeping Mold Breaker, but ultimately decided against it. That said, I do think a wrestling-based Pokemon would be capable of ignoring its opponent’s stat changes when making a comeback, meaning our hidden ability is Unaware.

Learn Set? Tackle (Learned at level 1), Hone Claws (1), Ice Punch (4), Rototiller (8), Sand Tomb (12), Mist (16), Encore (20), Submission (24), Dig (28), Taunt (32), Sheer Cold (36), Iron Defense (40), Kip-Up (44), Avalanche (48), Endeavor (52), Earthquake (56)

WIP Update #7 – Title and Book Cover Reveal

Do not adjust your calendars. You are seeing another work in progress update less than two months after my most recent one. I know this has literally never happened with this specific work in progress, but it’s for a good reason.

Dear readers. I’m ready to reveal the cover and title for my book. The title of the work in progress that I’ve been working on since early 2017 will be Kotov Syndrome. The book’s title a nod to a phenomenon originally described in chess master Alexander Kotov’s book “To Think Like a Grandmaster”, wherein a player overthinks a complicated situation so much that they actually make a poor move out of desperation. The title also happens to be shared with a song by post-grunge band Rise Against, though no fiction book shares this title.

My artist for the book cover of Kotov Syndrome is the extremely talented Lauren Restivo. Lauren is the creator behind the work at Beanie Cap Prints where she has a portfolio of her work as well as some lovely prints and charms you can buy (I’ve purchased a few of the charms for myself and others…I’m a fan). You can follow her on Twitter where she often posts her artwork @beaniecapprints. She also does some 18+ art for those of you who are into that sort of thing. Not linking here for reasons1Read: The one time I did try to link to an 18+ artist’s work on my blog, Bloglovin’ threw a shitfit about my blog and banned me from being publicly shown for three years. So…, however, if you go to her Twitter bio, you should be able to find her account for that pretty easily. You can also support her on Patreon — which you should do if you can spare the money right now.

Without further ado, here is the cover for Kotov Syndrome. Hover over the image for a more clear version.

To say I’m excited about how the cover turned out would be a massive understatement. Lauren took an idea I had and ran with it, both making it her own and making it look far better than I had anticipated in my mind.

I don’t have an update quite yet as to a release date for the book, as I’m still finishing up some lingering beta reader feedback that got delayed due to COVID concerns. That said, this does put me one step closer to having this book — an over three year project at this point — published.

If you enjoyed the post you just read, please consider supporting me through my Patreon. Memberships start at only $1 and help support the costs for this site, as well as my other creative endeavors. You can also support me by purchasing my book, An Epilogue to Innocence, here. I also offer editing services on this page.

My Pokemon Gym: Ground

Welcome to the sixteenth iteration of the My Pokemon Gym series. If you’re new to this series, I take a Pokemon type then build out my team of six Pokemon of that type as if I were the gym leader. Here are the rules:

  1. I can’t use legendary/mythical Pokemon
  2. I can’t reuse Pokemon I’ve used in previous gyms in this series.
  3. Forms of the same Pokémon can be reused, provided they have different typing. For example, if I used Rattata in a Normal gym team, I could use Alolan Rattata in a Dark gym team.

Want to read my other My Pokemon Gym posts? Go read the Fighting, Ice, Psychic, Grass, Dragon, Fairy, Electric, Bug, Fire, Flying, Normal, Ghost, Dark, Rock, and Steel type posts when you’re done here. All images courtesy pokemondb.net unless otherwise stated.

Dugtrio

Arena Trap Dugtrio is well-known as being a terribly annoying trapping Pokemon — just not in the manner in which I have typically used it. I’ve always liked using Arena Trap Dugtrio to set up Stealth Rock, then slap a Memento on them. Sure, this set can’t hit most of the route 1 birds, but I really don’t need to use it for that purpose.

Ability: Arena Trap
Item: Focus Sash
Moves: Stealth Rock, Memento, Earthquake, Shadow Claw

Mudsdale

Oh hey. It’s one of the best Pokemon to come out of Gen VII. In Gen VIII, the dynamax function gives Mudsdale access to Max Quake, giving it a Special Defense boosting move to go along with its amazing Stamina ability. It’s really hard to kill Mudsdale once it gets boosts set up, thanks in large part to the fact that Body Press only gets stronger with Mudsdale’s Stamina boosts.

Ability: Stamina
Item: Maranga Berry
Moves: High Horsepower, Rock Slide, Rest, Body Press

Whiscash

You know what’s fun? Special Attacking Whiscash. It has a surprisingly diverse move pool. And it gets to learn one of the most gimmicky, yet hilarious moves in the game, Belch. It’s one of my favorite moves to catch people off guard with in a battle.

Ability: Oblivious
Item: Sitrus Berry
Moves: Muddy Water, Belch, Ice Beam, Future Sight

Krookodile

In other posts, I’ve talked about how much I love flinching movesets on Pokemon. And dear lord does Krookodile ever get a good one. In addition to getting access to the multi-hit move Beat Up, its moveset also has the flinching moves Rock Slide, Thunder Fang, and Fire Fang. I really like running an alternate Anger Point moveset that runs Power Trip, but King’s Rock sets are MUCH more annoying to face. As a gym leader, that seems fun to have.

Ability: Anger Point
Item: King’s Rock
Moves: Beat Up, Rock Slide, Thunder Fang, Fire Fang

Sandaconda

Sandaconda is one of my favorite Pokemon to come out of Sword and Shield, but it doesn’t have a distinct role on this team. I quite like a Coil-setup Pokemon, as well as the flinch chance of Iron Head. That said, the intent is for it to serve somewhat as a backup dynamax Pokemon on this team, even if it’s not running a standard Sandaconda moveset.

Ability: Shed Skin
Item: Lum Berry
Moves: Coil, Skull Bash, Poison Tail, Iron Head

Quagsire

LOOK AT THAT FACE! LOOK AT IT!

Ability: Unaware
Item: Rindo Berry
Moves: Ice Punch, Rest, Liquidation, Sleep Talk

If you enjoyed the post you just read, please consider supporting me through my Patreon. Memberships start at only $1 and help support the costs for this site, as well as my other creative endeavors. You can also support me by purchasing my book, An Epilogue to Innocence, here. I also offer editing services on this page.

We Need a Change

Note: If you’re here for the My Pokemon Gym series that typically posts on the first Monday of the month, the next post in the series will go up next Monday, June 8th. Until then, here’s this post.

I’ve been thinking for a few days about exactly what to write here. And frankly, whatever I could write here will be inadequate for several reasons. But I recognize that not saying anything — and not taking action — is more problematic than stumbling over my own words.

The American culture of racism and police brutality is one that has cost countless lives and has continually held down an entire segment of the fabric of the country. It’s a fact of life that I was very much shielded from growing up and one that it took me well into my adult years to fully understand the scope of. Even though I saw what was going on in the world around me, a part of me felt like it couldn’t be as bad as I would hear from the news or from people that didn’t look like me. I felt this, at times, despite the rational part of my brain and the logical person in me seeing the preponderance of evidence pointing to the contrary.

I don’t feel that I can be inactive about this anymore. While I do my best to support people of color, in particular writers and other creatives in the communities I’m part of, I know I can do better. I’ve made an effort to do more to amplify voices that have better perspective than my own, and I do intend to continue to do so.

I also am looking to make an effort with my pocketbook. Part of the challenge that I’m running into there is that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as funding cuts that will impact my household income as soon as this month, money has become very tight for me. That said, I do have a source of income, albeit a small one, that is still purely discretionary. That is the profits from my first book, An Epilogue to Innocence.

Beginning today, June 1st, 2020, all profits from An Epilogue to Innocence will go to The Marshall Project. If you’re not familiar with them, The Marshall Project is a group that provides nonprofit journalism about criminal justice. Without groups like The Marshall Project, the dark underbelly of the American criminal justice system would remain shrouded in a veil of ignorance for those who do not live through the experience of being a person of color in the United States today.

If you would like to purchase An Epilogue to Innocence, you can do so at this link. If you would like to donate to The Marshal Project directly, do so by clicking this link.

Blog Update: All The Writing Things Edition (WIP Update #6)

Oh hey. It’s a non-video game post. Some of my regular readers may be back for this one.

I know that I’ve done a lot of video game content recently. This is partly because it has been pretty mentally challenging to go through quarantine for me. I talked about it in a post recently, but to say things have only gotten worse from there for me mentally would be an understatement. I’m doing a bit better now than I was in mid-to-late April. That said, it’s still been a challenge to write non-video game posts. As while those posts can be long and involved to write, they’re not the same mental effort as writing my other posts.

I do, however, want to write a post to share a bit about what all I have going on from a writing standpoint. As you’ll see, it’s quite a lot, which may lead to some changes on the blog during the coming weeks and months.

First off, I’ll give an update on my work in progress. The book started going through beta reads in early March. Pre-COVID, my intent was to have all of the beta reading feedback done by May 1st. That said, I’ve shuffled that deadline around a bit thanks to everything going on with coronavirus. My new intent is to be able to work on edits coming out of beta reading in early June, though that too may shift slightly for reasons I’ll get into later in this post.

Additionally, I do have a title for the book as well as a cover artist on commission to create a cover for the book. My goal is to be able to share both the cover and the title at the same time, hence holding off on sharing the title at this point. I’m very excited to show off the cover art once it’s done, as I really like the idea that’s going to be turned into a cover with this book.

My original timeline for getting the book to market was late fall (October/November) of 2020. With the delays I’ve had leading up to this point, I may end up pushing it back. I’d rather take a bit of extra time going through my own post-beta reading edits with my editor and do it well rather than try to rush things out. That said, I’ve also considered querying and/or doing PitMad. Both of those ideas are kind of terrifying to me, especially since I know I could self-publish the book and get it to have some support there. I’ll decide more on that side of things once the beta reading edits are done.

Moving on to that whole point about why my timeline may shift — my editing business has picked up a bit over the past couple of months. This means that I’m actually having to limit new projects I take on for the first time in a long time. If you’re in need of resume editing services, I’m still open for those inquiries at this point in time. That said, all of my other audio and print editing services are currently on hold due to active projects I have, plus projects that are queued up over the next few months.

Between the increase in editing work I’m getting and the next couple of items I’m going to talk about, there may be a decrease in blog posts over the next few months. I’ve almost finished up the My Pokemon Gym series (two to go), but there will be a Pokemon or Fire Emblem post at the beginning of each month still — as I quite like writing them. That said, we’ll see how much I’m able to write up beyond that. My day job has gotten significantly more time-consuming and stressful since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak1In particular since self-isolation started., meaning I’m busier than ever on that front. With that said, it’s also very important for me to prioritize writing work that’s able to make me extra money for when me and my family need it at this point. If I need to cut stuff I’m working on in order to stay sane, this blog will be the first place cuts are made. This includes no post next week (May 18th). That, along with the fact that I already don’t post on the fourth Monday of the month, means that the next post will be on Monday, June 1st.

Shifting gears for a second, I know that many folks who follow this blog also follow the nightly choose your own adventure story I run on my Twitter. Since I wrote my post about the story in February, I’ve started putting the story’s finished chapters up on Wattpad.

The story has gotten a small following on that platform, but due to Wattpad’s banning of mature-tagged stories from public ranking pages, it’s not getting the footing it otherwise would. If you know folks who use Wattpad (or you do yourself), encourage them to follow the story on there, as well as to like the chapters as they read. Even if you don’t have a Wattpad account, I would encourage you to still give the story a read on there. It’s the only place where the story is currently housed, more or less, in its entirety. Wattpad does have the option to write paid stories for them…but the program is currently invitation only, meaning that the best way for me to get involved in the program (aside from application submission, which I’ve done) is to get readers for the story.

I’ll be continuing the nightly polls for the story on Twitter until the story comes to an end. Basing this off of how long each of the story chapters are taking, I’ll estimate this means we’ll get to the ending(s) of the story sometime in the August-October range. That said, since there are seven different possible endings to the story, I’ve already been asked if I can write all of the endings for those who want to read them. I will be doing that eventually. That said, what I’ll likely do is to write the main ending that gets selected as part of the CYOA narrative, then take a bit of time off before writing the alternate endings.

Speaking of Wattpad, I’ll be doing a new story on there that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Last year, I wrote a short story for this blog called Meeting Charlie Madagan. This is a short story that I’ve had bits and pieces of in my head since the summer of 2012. I finally wrote an outline for the story in March of this year and will be publishing monthly chapters for the story starting in June or July of 2020. The timeline is still a bit up in the air due to a couple of IRL things I need to finish up first. That said, I’ll be doing monthly polls on Patreon which will give patrons some light input as to what happens in the story. The first poll will be up for patrons in June 2020. In that poll, patrons will have the option to choose the Wattpad cover art for the story — as I don’t really feel there’ll be a ton of input that will be able to be given in the first chapter.

Finally, you may have noticed that giving my Patreon patrons the ability to help me with my story is a new development. I revamped my Patreon tiers at the end of April, adding in the aforementioned Wattpad story voting as the lowest tier reward for supporting me. For those not aware, you can get a few different rewards for supporting me on Patreon, including signed pictures of not me (signed by me), a monthly bonus blog post (which will likely be WIP related…oh…and patrons already know the title for the story), and a monthly bonus podcast from me. If you have the financial situation to do so, I’d encourage you to support me on Patreon. You’ll get cool shit.

1,300 words later and all of my writing updates are out of the way. So um…yeah?