Discussion post for Darkened Heart, September 17th

The last page of Lee’s Journal is now up on thedarkenedheart.com. This marks the end of Lee’s box. I’ll be taking a few posts to wrap up the report on her personal effects and set the stage for the next box. The props and story for Artifact 2 are long-since finished. Now I need to run the photography and work out the Intern’s story arc.

I’ve been thinking about the direction and pace of this project quite a bit, and there are a few things I’m intending to do differently for the second artifact:

1 – I’ll be going to twice weekly updates. Tuesdays will feature “lesser” images, more filler-y stuff, and a lot more commentary from the Intern. Fridays will feature the bigger, more impressive reveals. I felt some of the photos from Artifact 1 didn’t really deserve their own posts, and I didn’t much like wasting people’s time on lackluster updates. This time around, I’m going to try to be sure that every update brings something genuinely new to the plot.

2 – The Intern’s story arc is all over the map. I came up with him as a plot trick to let me explain some of the cryptic goings-on, but he deserves a proper plot. Once I know how many photos will be in “season 2”, I’m going to map out a proper story for his progress.

3 Comments

  • Incidentally, the voting incentive should be updated now. I didn’t have it up with the post because I didn’t have an actual photo ready, I’ve reached the end of my Artifact 1 buffer.

    All the more reason to get cracking on box 2, right?

    Reply
  • I didn’t think it could get better, but from your outline above it sounds like we are getting way more and more often too!
    Thanks for all the work you put into making this one of the most unusual webcomics 🙂
    (Voted as usual ~ interesting shot for the new incentive … the archives I presume?)

    Reply
  • It’s actually a photo from my workplace, but I think it stands in nicely for the Archives. We should see the photo reappearing soonish… probably Friday. After that whole horrid rigmarole with the missing posts, we’re finally getting back on track.

    I’ll admit I’ve been hesitant to increase my update schedule. I’ve had to step up my game, and it’s still entirely probable that I’ll fall flat on my face. Today, for example, I have no buffer left. >.>

    That said, I think it really improves the narrative, which is an unexpected boon. Three posts on a given topic allow me to give each prop its own miniature “arc”. I was struggling for words on weekly updates, and they practically fall onto the page when I’ve three posts to work with. Shorter stories are almost always harder than longer ones.

    As for Voting, THANKS! I’d really like to get to the 2nd or 3rd page of TWC. First page is a bit unrealistic, but a few dedicated supporters would really improve my odds.

    Speaking of voting, you should check out http://www.thedarkenedheart.com/raffle

    There’s prizes to be won for the cost of a vote. 😉

    Reply

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