LaPorte Caves

Pepper wrote: Any more images from Lowerbase to tide us over?

Just posted two images to my DeviantArt account. Check them out!

Hey, Circe! Hope all is well. Just wanted to check in on you. How are things coming along?

jnw550 wrote: Hey, Circe! Hope all is well. Just wanted to check in on you. How are things coming along?

Very slow. Real life has gotten in the way. But thanks for asking. Glad there is still interest out there.

Completely understand. Thanks for replying!

circes_cup wrote: Glad there is still interest out there.

Oh, yes. I've noticed a few recent comments to some earlier chapters on deviantart, and the latest picture. Thanks for those. I find it interesting that the story started off as something of a lark. You've certainly set up a fascinating world and relationships; I thought you'd have had more of an endgame in mind.

You offered once to share access to the online drafts, is that still an option? I suspect that might slow you down even further; seems like addressing all the feedback is one of the things that's taking so long.

Pepper wrote:

circes_cup wrote: Glad there is still interest out there.

Oh, yes. I've noticed a few recent comments to some earlier chapters on deviantart, and the latest picture. Thanks for those. I find it interesting that the story started off as something of a lark. You've certainly set up a fascinating world and relationships; I thought you'd have had more of an endgame in mind.

You offered once to share access to the online drafts, is that still an option? I suspect that might slow you down even further; seems like addressing all the feedback is one of the things that's taking so long.

Pepper, thanks for the note. I’ll send you a PM to discuss access to the drafts..

I noticed something with the latest picture on deviantart. All the images of the women in this world have the hair rather carefree or disheveled. Mostly that's understandable; they're either Mindy or Amanda, young girls who'd be quite carefree, or for Ruth and Julia they're on vacation or just completed some physical activity. The only picture that's in a professional setting is the doctor, but she also has wisps of hair hanging down on either side of her face.

I'm wondering how much of that is deliberate. Either it's meant to show that the women there are so naturally advantaged that they needn't put any effort into their look, or just the preference of the artist and illustrator. Sometimes a well-done coif can have a certain aristocratic elegance; pretty, but also reinforcing their elevated status. Not sure how it would work with lowerbase's style, though. Loose hair, even in a still picture, carries a hint of movement and lightness. A more formal 'do might just wind up looking like a helmet.

Hello circes_cup,

May I please trouble you for any news you may wish to share with those of us that truly enjoy and appreciate your awesome LaPorte Caves saga?

Best Regards,
STX

RevTekkX wrote: Hello circes_cup,

May I please trouble you for any news you may wish to share with those of us that truly enjoy and appreciate your awesome LaPorte Caves saga?

Best Regards,
STX

STX, 

It’s no trouble.  I do continue to chip away at it.  But the story is bigger than I ever intended it to be.  I don’t have the time or the skills to tacke such a big story, so it’s taking longer than I’d like.  

But nonetheles, I do enjoy what progreess I make.  There are so many incomplete stories and little vignettes out ther, it’s enjoyable to be working on something that (one day) will be both big and complete.

In the meantime, I can offer up another excellent rendering by Lowerbase, which also happens to be an actual scene from the story.  I’ll also put this on DA during the weekend.

Thanks again for the inquiry.

Cheeers!
Circes

Another excellent rendering by Lowerbase, which also happens to be another scene from the story!  It will go up on DA sometime soon as well.

circes_cup wrote: STX, 

It’s no trouble.  I do continue to chip away at it.  But the story is bigger than I ever intended it to be.  I don’t have the time or the skills to tacke such a big story, so it’s taking longer than I’d like.  

But nonetheles, I do enjoy what progreess I make.  There are so many incomplete stories and little vignettes out ther, it’s enjoyable to be working on something that (one day) will be both big and complete.

In the meantime, I can offer up another excellent rendering by Lowerbase, which also happens to be an actual scene from the story.  I’ll also put this on DA during the weekend.

Thanks again for the inquiry.

Cheeers!
Circes

You know, if you want us to stop bothering you for updates, you're going about it all wrong. Think Pavlov; if you post a new picture every time someone bumps this thread to ask "how's it coming", it's not really going to discourage us from asking.

circes_cup wrote: Another excellent rendering by Lowerbase, which also happens to be another scene from the story!  It will go up on DA sometime soon as well.

Great picture! It's lucky for Howard he hit the swamp and not those craggy rocks far below!

ETA Going to go find the boulder chapter to read again - Great Work Circes! 

Woodclaw wrote: I really like this picture. I'm sure if it's s trick of my mind, but I love that the various characters look a bit different in terms of size and structure. Julia looks a lot less imposing than Ruth and more homely, yet mature, than Mindy.

This was during the phase of the story after Julia had nourished, but while she was still discovering her new self and feeling a bit self-conscious about it. Either Lowerbase is capturing that well, or your knowledge of the story is leading you to project that onto the characters. It will be interesting to see if the pictures capture Julia's increased confidence once she goes fully native (if the images continue that far).

Pepper wrote:

Woodclaw wrote: I really like this picture. I'm sure if it's s trick of my mind, but I love that the various characters look a bit different in terms of size and structure. Julia looks a lot less imposing than Ruth and more homely, yet mature, than Mindy.

This was during the phase of the story after Julia had nourished, but while she was still discovering her new self and feeling a bit self-conscious about it. Either Lowerbase is capturing that well, or your knowledge of the story is leading you to project that onto the characters. It will be interesting to see if the pictures capture Julia's increased confidence once she goes fully native (if the images continue that far).

... like in the car lifting scene when the poor guy would have to carry all the shopping after his Nourished teen daughters had moved the house....another great scene! 

Just thought I'd give this thread its seasonal bump and let circes_cup know we're still thinking of him and hoping the story will continue when he's ready.

I reread the first few chapters recently and it was interesting to compare Howard's behavior toward Julia with Julia's behavior towards him after she nourishes. And to compare it to the comments about him in this thread. There was something about it I hadn't picked up before but I'll be curious if he still comes across the same way once the revised chapters are posted.

Several years ago, on a lark, I began writing this story.  I hadn't really planned how it was going to end, and hadn’t really expected it would go more than four or five chapters.  But over time, I found myself drawing the story further and further out, and getting it into more and more detail.  

Everything got a little bit out of control.  I completed about half the story -- 24 chapters, 150,000 words -- but realized that much of what I had written was inconsistent and did not lay the foundation for the conclusion.   It needed to be cleaned up and better thought through.Over the last few years, I've been revising the first half of the story and writing the second half.   And I'm happy to say, it's almost done.  

The purpose of my post today is to give you a preview of how all this is going to be published.  There are two things to know:

— The first half of the story was extensively revised: plot particulars have changed, and a significant chunk of martial -- 38,000 words -- has been added between chapters already posted.  So, if you want to understand the new material coming in the second half, you’ll have to plan on reading the revised first half. 
— All of the chapters need additional proofreading and polishing.  Therefore, I’m not in a position to drop the entire story online at once.  I need to keep prepping the next chapter while you are reading the current one.

As a result of all this, I plan to post the revised and expanded story -- 300,000 words in length -- on a chapter-by-chapter, weekly basis, which means about 5,000 words per week.  The entire process should take about a year.  On this site, I plan to eliminate the text of the previously posted chapter (leaving reader comments in place) and then repopulate the chapters with new text as they are ready.  If any of the Admins have a concern about this replacement of the old material, let me know.

In addition to posting the story here, the story will be posted simultaneously on Amazonlove. 

Like most other people in this space, I don't have ambitions of becoming a professional writer or making money off of it.  For me, the best part of writing something is simply sharing it with others and hearing they enjoy it.  And I’m really looking forward to sharing the revised story!

I hope it will be only a few weeks longer before the revised Chapter 1 goes up.   A big thank you to all of you who have continued to encourage me over all these years!

Circes

Great Work Circes! One of my favourite stories was reading the adventures and discoveries in La Porte Caves on SWM. Really looking forward to where you take a refreshed and nourished Julia next!

glad to hear that!

circes_cup wrote: And I'm happy to say, it's almost done.

Excellent news, and congratulations on finishing such a large project.  I'm looking forward to reading it.

It's up to you, but I think it would be nice to keep the originals, too.  If the new version generates as much discussion as before, it might be interesting to compare to the old chapters and see what you changed.

Will there be any more illustrations to go along with the story?

Pepper wrote:

circes_cup wrote: And I'm happy to say, it's almost done.

Excellent news, and congratulations on finishing such a large project.  I'm looking forward to reading it.

Thank you!

Pepper wrote: It's up to you, but I think it would be nice to keep the originals, too.  If the new version generates as much discussion as before, it might be interesting to compare to the old chapters and see what you changed.

Woodclaw suggested something similar to me directly.  I’m happy to do that if it doesn’t get everybody confused.

Pepper wrote: Will there be any more illustrations to go along with the story?

It’s Lowerbase’s decision whether he does more illustrations.  I sure hope the answer is ‘yes’ but it’s his decision.  Also, Woodclaw did suggest that the existing illustrations might get embedded in the reposted, which would be really cool.

circes_cup wrote:

Pepper wrote: It's up to you, but I think it would be nice to keep the originals, too.  If the new version generates as much discussion as before, it might be interesting to compare to the old chapters and see what you changed.

Woodclaw suggested something similar to me directly.  I’m happy to do that if it doesn’t get everybody confused.

I think if you put the new chapters in a separate entry on the "multi-chapter stories" page, and disable comments on the old chapters so they don't accidentally get bumped to the top of the updates list, and I think that would prevent any confusion between the original and revised versions.

Pepper wrote: Will there be any more illustrations to go along with the story?

It’s Lowerbase’s decision whether he does more illustrations.  I sure hope the answer is ‘yes’ but it’s his decision.  Also, Woodclaw did suggest that the existing illustrations might get embedded in the reposted, which would be really cool.

The illustrations stopped well short of where the story did, so I thought you might still have some that were done a couple years ago but you haven't shared yet.

circes_cup wrote: Several years ago, on a lark, I began writing this story.  I hadn't really planned how it was going to end, and hadn’t really expected it would go more than four or five chapters.  But over time, I found myself drawing the story further and further out, and getting it into more and more detail.  

Everything got a little bit out of control.  I completed about half the story -- 24 chapters, 150,000 words -- but realized that much of what I had written was inconsistent and did not lay the foundation for the conclusion.   It needed to be cleaned up and better thought through.Over the last few years, I've been revising the first half of the story and writing the second half.   And I'm happy to say, it's almost done.  

The purpose of my post today is to give you a preview of how all this is going to be published.  There are two things to know:

— The first half of the story was extensively revised: plot particulars have changed, and a significant chunk of martial -- 38,000 words -- has been added between chapters already posted.  So, if you want to understand the new material coming in the second half, you’ll have to plan on reading the revised first half. 
— All of the chapters need additional proofreading and polishing.  Therefore, I’m not in a position to drop the entire story online at once.  I need to keep prepping the next chapter while you are reading the current one.

As a result of all this, I plan to post the revised and expanded story -- 300,000 words in length -- on a chapter-by-chapter, weekly basis, which means about 5,000 words per week.  The entire process should take about a year.  On this site, I plan to eliminate the text of the previously posted chapter (leaving reader comments in place) and then repopulate the chapters with new text as they are ready.  If any of the Admins have a concern about this replacement of the old material, let me know.

In addition to posting the story here, the story will be posted simultaneously on Amazonlove. 

Like most other people in this space, I don't have ambitions of becoming a professional writer or making money off of it.  For me, the best part of writing something is simply sharing it with others and hearing they enjoy it.  And I’m really looking forward to sharing the revised story!

I hope it will be only a few weeks longer before the revised Chapter 1 goes up.   A big thank you to all of you who have continued to encourage me over all these years!

Circes

Oooh! This news has made my day. Congratulations and thank you for your work! It must feel great seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
I will echo others in saying I don't think you should delete LaPorte Caves Classic (if you'll indulge me in calling it that.) While it may not have achieved the goals you set for it, it actually does hang together pretty well as its own work.