rynling | 2024 Writing Log, Part Eight

- I finished Chapter 14 of An Unfound Door, an original fantasy gothic mystery. Writing a chapter a month isn’t bad progress honestly. If I’d written a chapter a month when I first started this project, I’d be done by now. I know it’s my own damn story, but I really want to see how it ends.

- I posted Chapter 8 of Lay the Gods to Rest, a Zelda/Ganon story set in the vaguely Victorian future of the Tears of the Kingdom timeline, on AO3 (here). I did a considerable amount of research on fencing for this chapter, but I didn’t use most of it. Swords are cool, but traditional Western fencing has got to be the lamest sport ever invented, I swear to god. The punchline is going to be in the next chapter, when Zelda shows up with a gun.

- I posted two short Zelda meta essays on AO3. “Zelda and the Calamity” is (here), and “Ganondorf as an Agent of Change” is (here). I used to be extremely emotionally invested in writing these essays… but no more, alas. Tears of the Kingdom was a disappointment, to say the least. Still, I think the essays are worth archiving.

- I created a preview of my story for the Legend of Zelda horror zine, and I posted it on Tumblr (here). I previewed the last two lines of the story, and I hope the journey to get to these two lines will be an adventure. Zelda II is heavy on Dark Souls “ruined kingdom” vibes, and it’s always fun to spend time in that sort of postapocalyptic gothic nightmare space.

- I drew Tears of the Kingdom fanart of Ganondorf holding a Frox. This took an unreasonably long time. I kept going through drafts and making Ganondorf’s arms progressively bigger. They’re still not as big as they should be, but I hit a wall regarding how comfortable I am with exaggerating body proportions. Ganondorf is still a large and handsome lad, though. The drawing is on Tumblr (here) if you want to see a giant man holding a salamander monster like a puppy.

- I also drew a cute little Korok and posted it on Tumblr (here).

- I applied to be a writer for the 13 Days Halloween advent zine (here on Twitter). I apply every year and never get accepted, so my hopes aren’t high. Really I just wanted to amuse myself by writing the pitches, and I’m going to start writing the stories I pitched next week. They’re all great ideas, if I do say so myself.

- I returned to and edited an original short story called “Limerick Incident Interview Protocol,” which isn’t so much a story as it is an academic best practices document concerning a fictional accident at the nuclear power plant outside Philadelphia. Unfortunately, none of the speculative fiction venues I know that would publish a piece like this are currently accepting submissions, but the story and cover letters are ready to go when submissions open again.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I spent the past week sitting outside and chain smoking while reading the news and talking with people on half a dozen group chats. Sometimes I can compartmentalize the different areas of my life, and sometimes I have trouble. At this specific moment in history, I am having trouble. Making art has been slow going, but I’m doing my best.