2025 Writing Log, Part 38

[rynling]

- I wrote two more short stories to post during the Final Fantasy VI Celebration Week on Tumblr (here). One is about Locke and Rachel, and the other is about Setzer and Edgar. I also put together some visual reference material for three potential art posts. Man I love FFVI. Even after all these years, it’s still one of my favorite games.

- I wrote the next piece of flash fiction for my Ruins zine. This one is called “In This House We Love Hello Kitty,” and it’s about urban exploration and the darker side of nostalgia. And also numerology, which I wrote about (here) on Dreamwidth.

- I made a promotional post on my public-facing blog (here) and on Bluesky (here) about Strange Tales and Modern Legends, an illustrated short story collection based on demonic Japanese folklore.

- This week I queried another agent for An Unfound Door and put together a list of good venues for “The Case of the Phantom Portrait,” almost all of which will only be open in a few months. I also sent the short story to three magazines currently accepting submissions, two of which rejected it in less than 24 hours. Gosh this process is anxiety-inducing! It sure makes me want to kill myself destroy the economic system that limits funding for the arts and makes publishing fiction so difficult.

- This week’s post on my book review blog (here) is about When the Museum Is Closed, a short, sweet, and highly relatable magical realist novel about a shy young woman who falls in love with a statue of Venus. And the statue loves her back! I really enjoyed this one.

- Something that made me very happy this week is a commissioned illustration of Demon King Ganondorf based on one of the unused draft designs from the Tears of the Kingdom artbook (this one here). The illustration was created by the darkly brilliant Frankiesbugs, who posted it on Tumblr (here).

- Frankie is currently offering discounted chibi commissions (here), and you should totally get one. The horrible little man she drew for me is currently living on my phone’s lock screen, where he reminds me of how much I love playing video games.

- And meanwhile, I drew a cute little autumn-themed wizard fox based on a ceramic figurine created by Ceramicorn, and I posted the drawing on Tumblr (here).

Not much to report this week. Just doing my best. 🌿

Comments

[lassarina]

FF6 has honestly aged better than many things of its era and even later games.

That novel sounds super charming, I have added it to a wishlist.

I am so sorry for the continuing struggle and anxiety of submissions :(

[rynling]

Thank you so much! I dislike the friction of submitting queries, but it's been an interesting experience to get a glimpse of what the market looks like from the other side. To give an example, I've been surprised by how few American agents are willing to represent fantasy. Meanwhile, British agents apparently can't get enough of it, and they seem to be especially interested in my own pet genre of "gothic fantasy." I'm querying American agents first, of course, but I'm going to move on to British agents soon. It's kind of exciting!

I'm also starting to think more about self-publishing. Right now it's something I'm still fantasizing about instead of seriously researching... but it's been fun to fantasize about.

And god, yeah. FFVI has aged so well. I used to think I wanted a remake, but I was wrong. FFVI is perfect just the way it is.

[lassarina]

I suppose the markets are doing different things in the US and UK, which doesn't surprise me. I hope you get through to an agent who realizes how great you are.

You know, I keep considering self-pub, but I know I don't have the energy or inclination to do outreach consistently for marketing, and...I dunno. Honestly I think that what I want more than anything is for people I like and respect to enjoy my work and then pet me and tell me I'm clever. I am a simple creature in some ways.