Great news! I'm now open for art commissions, and discounts on those commissions have been added to my Patreon rewards!

$10 Patrons will get a $3 discount on 1 art commission per month.

$25 Patrons will get a $10 discount on 1 art commission per month. 

$45 Patrons will get a $30 discount on 1 art commission per month!

If you have a character in your head that you long to see on a real-life screen, or if you'd love to see an existing fictional character in a specific pose or situation, please send me a note or email describing what you want.

To get the details, just check out the chart below. If you have any questions after reading the chart, please don't hesitate to contact me!

I recently received a special announcement from another writer: a fellow blogger of A Writer's Path, Ryan Lanz, has announced the launch of his new initiative: A Writer’s Path Writers Club.

After looking at the writing market for years, he noticed a need for a Writers Club of this kind.

​Sure, there are Facebook groups, writers groups, etc., but those are usually just gatherings of writers, and they lack some very important features that many authors need.

Ryan wanted to create a club whose sole purpose is to solve headaches for writers. Here are some of the headaches he's looking to solve:
 

• It’s hard to find reviewers for my book
  
  
• Writing-related service providers (editors, book cover designers, etc.) are expensive
  
  
• I don’t know if my writing is good enough and I need feedback
  
  
• I need more promotion for my book
  
  
• I don’t know if my blurb or summary is good enough
  
  
• Not enough readers know my book exists
  
  
• I don’t know enough about what other successful authors have done to be successful
  
  
• I don’t know if my book cover encourages readers to purchase it

 
The club also offers some fun activities for writers, such as giveaways and contests.
 
Here’s the full list of benefits that are available in the Writers Club:
 

• Discounts from writer-related service providers, such as editors, book cover designers, proofreading services, ghostwriters, social media marketing, book advertising, template design, audio book narration, and more.
  
  
• Contests and giveaways for free services and books.
  
  
• 2 free book promotion posts on A Writer's Path blog every year (example here). Every post generates a social media shout-out of your book to Ryan's Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Tumblr, and Google+ account (total of 12,900 followers). He'll set reminders for himself to notify you when your next post is ready.
  
  
• Exclusive articles not seen on the A Writer's Path blog.
  
  
• Access to free blurb coaching.
  
  
• "Book of the Month" lottery. The winner gets their book featured for a month on the A Writer's Path blog in a tab along the top of every page/post. They'll also get a promotional post featuring their book, summary, cover, and purchase links, which is sent to all 25,000+ subscribers. There is one drawing per month.
  
  
• Help to find you reviewers and critique partners (optional).
  
  
• A free copy of his eBook, The Idea Factory: 1,000 Story Ideas & Writing Prompts to Find Your Next Bestseller. ($2.99 value)
  
  
• Free critique of your book summaries and book covers (optional).
  
  
• Insider tips from published authors in short, bite-sized articles.
  
  
• Links to free books that are normally offered at full price.
  
  
• Opportunities to show off your book to the other members.
  
  
• Exclusive author interviews.

 
Feel free to check out the A Writer's Path Writers Club here.

I was working on the latest page of Just Cause, and Undyne had a fantasy about a battle between flowery princess swordswomen.

​Of course, knowing my tendencies, you had to know I wasn't about to just make a small, simple panel for that. No, if I'm going to draw a flowery princess sword fight, it's going to be a full print-sized beast.

 
​There's a slightly bigger version on my DeviantArt account, if you want to see it.

In the process of working on this for a week, I discovered that realistic plate armor is far more complex than I'd ever realized. SO MANY joints, seams, and fortune cookie-like elbow guards that I never knew existed.

Also, the excuse some costume designers use for dressing their female characters in basically lingerie (she needs to be able to move freely!) is apparently BS; well-crafted armor has a better range of motion than its wearer.

​Furthermore, boobplate ('breastplates' that cup the wearer's boobs and accentuate their shape) is asking to get stabbed by your own armor. Hence the lack of noticeable boobs on these ladies.

Speaking of stuff I learned while creating these outfits: I sought inspiration for the dresses by looking up the cultural meanings of different types of flowers, and choosing ones that fit the image of their personalities and backstories that I have in my mind.

The lady on the left is a disgraced princess who was discarded by the royal family while their country was at war. Despite being rejected by her family, she continues to care about her people, and is determined to protect them, even if it means putting herself on the front lines.

Her flowers and their meanings are:

Coriander: Hidden worth.

Black-eyed Susan: Justice.

Anemone: Forsaken.

The acrobatic warrioress on the right is the beloved daughter of a protective family, and was told to stay away from the battle despite her outstanding skill, strength and agility. But when she saw soldiers limping home from the conflict, and heard of the devastation that her kingdom's villages had endured, she couldn't bear to sit in safety while they suffered.

Her flowers and their meanings are:

Wallflower: Faithfulness in adversity.

Heliotrope: Eternal love.

Dog rose: Pleasure, pain, healing, secret love.

And so, the two princesses met on the battlefield. Neither knew who the other was, or how much bravery and love for their people they shared, or what they would come to mean to each other as they fought each other to a draw over and over again.

Neither of them expected that the more they learned about each other, the less they would feel like enemies, and the more they'd realize they were kindred souls.

By the way, in case you're wondering why they're not wearing helmets, there are two very good reasons for that.

One is because this is Undyne's fantasy, and she's the type to whip off her helmet right before a battle.

And the other is so you can recognize their faces when they kiss in the next panel. Because Undyne fantasizes about forbidden romance, too.

I'll add shading and a background in the future, but for now, I've been working on this all week, and am feeling a bit burned out on the project. And I don't want to keep people waiting for the next page for too long.

Also, I'd love to get your feedback on what kind of background you'd like for this. Who knows - maybe I'll make a few versions with different backgrounds and corresponding shading, if enough people are interested.

In the meantime, if you want to support me as an artist and storyteller, and to get advance access to completed art and exclusive access to works in progress, please consider supporting me on Patreon.

A little while ago, I stumbled upon a great way to get more comments and exposure for your pictures in DeviantArt. Or perhaps I should say, it stumbled upon me.

I'd left a detailed critique on another artist's picture, commenting on what she'd done well and what could have been done better, and suggesting some photoshop techniques that would help her achieve the effects she seemed to be going for.

Shortly afterward, I was contacted by the admin of Project Comment: a group on DeviantArt that was founded for the purpose of helping artists to get more comments, especially constructive and well-thought-out ones.

She said she'd noticed that I was interested in helping other artists to improve, and invited me to participate in Project Comment.

I was happy to accept the invitation, and after leaving constructive, detailed comments on several other members' pictures, I submitted a couple of my own to be featured in the group.

Sure enough, the comments started coming in, and several people added me to their DeviantWatch.

Now, don't get me wrong - I draw because I love drawing, not just for the attention - but it's so much better when people can see and enjoy my artwork. ^_^

A few days ago, I got another piece of good news: I was being featured in their June-July Features of Great Commenters piece, and I could have one of my pictures displayed in the feature.

I chose my post-Pacifist Undertale wallpaper, and now it's on their features page, second from the bottom.

If you want to get more well-thought-out comments on your artwork, and you're interested in helping other artists to improve their skills, I invite you to check out the group, and to join it if it looks like something you'll enjoy.

Can I have two minutes of your time, and a quick opinion?

This blog is partly a place to share my thoughts, give you updates on my novels, and get feedback. But it's also supposed to be fun and informative for you, so I'd love to get your input on what you want to see in future blog posts.

Which of these topics and categories appeal to you? Please feel free to choose more than one, and tell me your choices in the comments.

1. Updates about my upcoming novels.

2. My thoughts on other people's stories.

3. Explorations of tropes, cliches, great techniques, and common mistakes in fiction.

4. Writing tips.

5. Explorations into the characters, world and plot of my existing novels.

​6. Something else - please describe what you'd like to see.

I look forward to seeing your choices! Thank you in advance. :)

What does the world look like, when it's seen through the eyes of a catgirl, the boy who agreed to watch over her, and the people who get tangled in their crazy mess of a life?

This week, I decided to interview the cast of Catgirl Roommate, and share their answers with you.

If you have any questions to send in, you can meet the cast and submit your questions here.

In the meantime, here's the first interview with the cast of Catgirl Roommate:

Q: Nyla, have you ever burned a house down?

Nyla: No. I made the pretty warm light go across the carpet one time, but then my human threw water on it and turned it into steam. And then she yelled at me, and the carpet was wet. I didn't like that.


Q: Mr. Michi, what are some of the craziest ways in which Nyla has scared away your tenants?

Mr. Michi: As Nyla's last answer implies, she set the house on fire once by batting a candle off the coffee table. And there was one time when she went into heat and attempted to climb a tenant's visiting father. But those are some of the most extreme cases. Usually, it's the little things that add up until they leave.


Q: Sam, did Anton ever try to pet Nyla again after what happened the first time?

Sam: No, he pretty much kept his distance after that. At least, when she'd let him. You know how cats can be - if you don't want them around, they probably want to be in your lap. Besides, I kind of suspect that Nyla can smell fear.


Q: Anna, did you ever think your son was going to have a naked catgirl for a roommate?

Anna: Haha, well, the obvious answer is, I didn't think catgirls even existed until one greeted me at the door! I was a bit shaken at first, and I'm still not sure how I feel about my son living with a naked woman, but... I'm sure he has the self-control not to make any mistakes with her. And even if he didn't, I'm pretty sure she's managed to scare him off of that concept quite thoroughly.

Q: Jack, you used to take care of Nyla. Have any of the criminals you dealt with as a policeman measured up to her in terms of weird craziness?

Jack: There have been a few incidents that came close, but even the weirdest ones were usually more of an isolated incident, whereas for Nyla, it's a way of life.

I've had to send a few people to the hospital to get... some pretty surprising kinds of stolen merch extracted from the places where they'd stashed it. But then there was the time when Nyla got into the mouthwash... or the hamster incident... yeah, she sets a fairly high bar.

​
That's all the questions for today, but if you have any questions of your own, feel free to leave them in the comments!

And if you want to pre-order your copy of Catgirl Roommate for just 99 cents, just click the button below:
​

​When it comes to weighing morality in fiction, different types of characters seem to be measured on very different scales.

Some character types can get away with things that others can't, while others can be subjected to far more violence with less moral outrage from the audience and other characters.

1. Sparing the top villain is more important than sparing the underlings.
​
The heroes have done it. They've cut, burned, shot and bludgeoned their way through the enemy horde, and they've finally reached the person behind it all. The one who's been sending all the minor enemies into battle.

The one person whose death would make the biggest difference toward ending the conflict for good.

But... "No, you can't! Killing is wrong! If you kill him, you'll be just like him! You're the good guy - you're supposed to be a role model of mercy for all the impressionable children watching this!"

The fact that they just killed dozens, if not hundreds, of underlings in order to get to this guy might not even be mentioned. Those guys are generic and disposable. (Yes, I'm looking at you, movie adaptation of Prince Caspian.)

But Heaven forbid that the heroes kill a NAMED villain with a personality. That would be un-heroic! They should stick to slaughtering the nameless, preferably masked or helmet-wearing underlings who are more easily dehumanized - that's just fine.

And if a few hundred or thousand more civilians have to die, because the important villain was allowed to continue their villainy a bit longer?

That's just the price of family-friendly villain handling.

​
2. One protagonist is worth more than ALL the 'bad guys'.

When a protagonist dies or gets hurt, there's drama. There's sadness. There are images of loved ones mourning or worrying, woeful music, and unhappy feelings in the audience.

But when an entire enemy base gets blown up, it's awesome. The light show is great, the music sings of heroism, and the corpses and bereaved loved ones are probably not shown.

If this destruction was critical to preventing the enemy from launching a campaign of violence, the reaction makes sense. But what if most of the people on that base were just living their lives and doing their jobs, with no malicious intent...

And what if the people who were killed outnumber the people who were saved?

It's only natural to care more about the characters you've spent time with and bonded with. But if the lives of minor enemies were treated with the same value as the lives of protagonists, a lot of stories would have a very different tone.

3. Revenge is only OK for (some) protagonists.

Whether or not revenge is endorsed depends heavily on the writer, but if the person taking revenge is an antagonist, you can probably count on it being portrayed as tragic at best, or evil at worst.

​On the other side of the coin, there are times when minor characters are created and killed specifically to give the protagonist a reason to seek revenge.

In the case of a heroic avenger, sometimes it will be pointed out that revenge won't revive the dead or give the vengeful party closure. But the odds of revenge being painted as a worthy and heroic goal are a whole lot better if you're the protagonist.


4. Fighting dirty vs teamwork.
​
Sometimes, a hero being drowned in a zerg rush of minor enemies is just a chance for them to show how badass they are. Sometimes, it's a portrayal of how the enemy is willing to fight dirty by ganging up on a lone victim.

But how often do you see a villainous team-up being portrayed as the Power of Friendship and Teamwork in action?

Granted, the fact that they're villains makes them less likely than a hero to be motivated by camaraderie.

But I don't think I've ever seen a collaboration of antagonists being celebrated in-story the way a heroic loner is when they finally swallow their pride and allow their friends to help out.

Have you noticed any other double standards when it comes to fictional violence?

I look forward to reading your comments.

While editing the first part of Catgirl Roommate, I've run into an interesting question:

How many bad things can happen to a character before it stops being funny?

In the case of the hapless furball above, most of his pain is self-inflicted, so we're free to laugh at his fur-scorching, face-flattening antics without guilt.

But what about cases like straight-arrow college student Sam, whose suffering is caused by his innocently misbehaved catgirl roommate?

In many of the scenes I recently edited, Sam's pain was limited to exasperation and frustration, but there were a few instances when he actually got hurt. Not few enough, I soon concluded, which led me to alter several scenes to remove or soften the physical consequences of Nyla's shenanigans.

After all, we're supposed to be laughing at his minor misfortunes like the crowd of softcore sadists that we are, not cringing at his actual physical pain.

While contemplating the line between funny farces and the laughter-crushingly cringeworthy, I thought I'd get your opinion on the matter:

Where do you draw the line between hilarious misadventures, and stuff that's too painful to be funny?

Does it largely depend on the degree of the damage, whether it was self-inflicted and/or deserved, or some other factor I haven't mentioned?

I look forward to reading your comments.

I didn't know what information the scientist had that was so sought after, or how it tied into the larger picture.

I didn't know how her hunter intended to use it; I just knew that he wanted it, and it was important to him.

I didn't know much about the spaceborne story world I was creating; I just knew a bit about the bodyguard's superhuman abilities, and her rival's tragic origins.

I had a few key scenes that I wanted to include, like dots in a connect-the-dots puzzle, but I had no idea what lay between them.

Basically, I had an awesome relationship floating around in a shapeless soup of disconnected plot points and premise elements, with no real structure tying it all together.

​What's a girl to do?

For example, I had one really awesome character who was badly in need of being included in a story, but I'd had pretty much nothing for her story except for the character herself, her backstory, and her relationships with her evil rival and sole surviving family member.

Then she offered herself and her backstory to my skeleton of a novel, and suddenly I had one of my primary antagonists, a much-needed source of interspecies conflict, and a badass wildcard character.

The novel is still a work in progress, and has thus far taken a backseat to Catgirl Roommate in terms of receiving a share of my writing time. But it's coming together beautifully, and I'm glad that I decided to give it a shot.

I guess it just goes to show that when you don't have much to work with, but you know that what you have is worth pursuing, it pays to start with what you have, from where you are, and work your way up from there.

Do you have some story fragments in your head that you absolutely love?

Did this blog post encourage you to start turning them into a story?

If so, I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Sometimes, it's fun to imagine what a character would be like if they were drunk. Even if they're the type who would NEVER willingly compromise themselves like that.

ESPECIALLY if they're the type who would never willingly compromise themselves like that.

Today, I'm going to explore what the characters in my books would be like if they were completely, horribly, falling-down drunk. After that, I'd love for you to share your thoughts on how your favorite characters would behave if they'd had a few too many.

Here goes...

The Beachwalker

After having three drinks too many, she suddenly turns on a nearby soldier and starts shouting that she doesn't know why they're in her country, what they're fighting over, or whose side she should be on.

Furthermore, she doesn't care, because she's far too busy cleaning up after their firefights and organizing apples to take time to study politics.

She then stumbles for the door, muttering about how the oranges aren't sorted properly, and musing on the possible medicinal applications of abandoned towels and vodka.

The Fugitive

If he weren't bedridden, his advanced combat skills would make him a serious hazard to everyone in the vicinity. As it is, the Beachwalker's attempt to numb his pain with alcohol results in him valiantly saving her from his unfortunate pillow.

After clumsily vanquishing his feather-stuffed foe, he grabs her arm, hugs it tightly enough to make her nervous, and repeatedly thanks her for rescuing him. Unfortunately, in the midst of his drunk, ranting delirium, he's forgotten that he's mute.

The Shopkeeper

Following the Fugitive's socially oblivious example, he hugs the Beachwalker hard enough to worry her, then begins to cry and tell her how she's like the daughter he never had.

This level of closeness quickly overwhelms her low capacity for intimacy, but because he seems to need it, she lets him keep hugging her. When he realizes she's quit breathing, his drunk brain concludes that the best way to apologize is to give her everything in the shop, without regard for the fact that she can't carry all of it, and doesn't have a house of her own to store it in.

The Doctor

The stroke of midnight finds his comrades dragging him away from a hole he was digging in a random dead person's garden. He insists that he needs to apologize to someone face-to-face, and apparently digging up the garden is the best way to do it.

Alexandra

Normally, Alexandra is the one writing the paper. The day after her drinking binge, she ends up being featured in it, because she repeatedly drunk dialed every news company in town to inform them of her theories about the resident alien superhero and his abduction-happy nemesis.

Ironically, even though the story focused on the drunk reporter's embarrassing antics, her theories turn out to be right. She occasionally rubs this in by joyriding across town in a borrowed spaceship.

Kadian

As soon as his cells absorb the alcohol, the shapeshifter realizes that he's made a horrible mistake. He loses all motor skills, followed swiftly by the capacity to maintain a solid form, and dissolves into a helpless puddle of shapeshifter goo.

He spends the next few minutes sloshing around in delirious distress while Zorei attempts to mop him into a bucket.

Zorei

Alexandra's drunk-dialing spree is interrupted when Zorei drunk-dials her. She's the third person he's called that night, because it took him several tries to get the right number, and when she asks about the unfamiliar caller ID he doesn't remember whose cell phone he's using. He does, however, have a suspiciously cell phone-sized bruise on his head.

He informs her that he's abducted Kadian, and she needs to come over and rescue him. Even for an alien supervillain, the natural order of the superhero world is hard to remember when you're drunk.

Alexandra comes over, and they soon realize that they have no idea how to solidify Kadian, nor does Zorei really want to. In an attempt to restore him to a not-liquid form, Alexandra puts Kadian in the freezer, then she and Zorei end up playing video games and forgetting him altogether until Alexa shows up.

Alexa

Alexa complains at Zorei for drunk-dialing her after his betrayal, and at Alexandra about fraternizing with her abductor and forgetting about her rescuer. Unfortunately, her train of thought is no clearer than her friend's, and her attempts to repair Kadian don't accomplish anything besides smearing half-frozen shapeshifter goo all over herself.

Alexandra starts to jokingly offer baby names for the happy couple, and Alexa starts a frantic monologue about the medical implications of a human-Marei hybrid. Zorei, meanwhile, takes advantage of the distraction to shoot Alexandra's plane out of the video game's sky.

Dan

Having decided that legal channels are taking too long, Drunken Dan attempts to hunt Zorei down personally. Unfortunately, the gun he would be carrying if he was sober is, instead, a beer bottle. He tries to arrest Zorei anyway, and Zorei responds by dumping Kadian over his head.

Sam

Upon realizing that he's become inebriated, Sam's first reaction is to drunk-dial his mother to apologize for being drunk. When she asks what he's doing, he explains that he's sitting in his house trying not to do anything until he's sober.

What he does not tell her is that his catgirl roommate is wandering the house naked, and he's locked himself in his room to avoid giving her kittens.

Nyla

As it turns out, eating houseplants is hard when you're drunk. So is unrolling toilet paper, splashing water out of your bowl, spreading the remains of the neighbour's hamster around the house, and invading closed bedrooms. You can give it your best effort, but the resulting mess just isn't as satisfying.

Puking on the carpet is easy, though. So that's what she does.

Jack

In a breach of his normally professional conduct, the policeman shows up at Sam's house to see if he can get him even drunker, and to find out what Nyla would be like if she was completely plastered.

Together, they discover that teaching cats tricks is more fun when you're drunk. But it's also harder when the cat is drunk. In the end, it's funnier just to lead her around with a laser pointer and watch her fall on her face. So that's what he does.

Anton

Anton thinks Nyla is hot even when he's sober. And now, he's drunk enough to forget what happens when you try to rub a cat's chest while it's feeling playful.

Unfortunately for him, she still has enough motor skills to remind him.

The encounter ends with Jack clumsily trying to bandage Anton's thoroughly clawed arm, while Anton drunkenly rambles about how crazy women are when they're drunk. A loud "I told you so!" emanates from Sam's still-locked bedroom, and in the living room, Jack resumes laughing.


Now it's your turn. What would your favorite character be like if they were drunk?


I look forward to reading your hilarious speculations.