LaPorte Caves

circes_cup wrote: Unlike most writers in this genre, I've never left a story unfinished. I'll finish this one, too. And when I do it, I'll have the benefit of the comments offered up by many of you, which have helped me think through where I want to take this story next. What's more, I promise that I will finish the piece in a way that is true to the story I want to tell.

But I won't return to the task until some of the inner fire rekindles, and there's no putting a schedule on that emotion. It will happen when it happens.

I'm sorry, guys.

I'm sorry to hear that your enthusiasm for the story has waned. I'm as anxious to read more as I've ever been, but only when you're ready to tell it.

You really have created a fascinating world and characters here. If there's anything I can do to help keep the project alive, please let me know.

While not living up to the legendary status of some of the other members chiming in on this board I would like to throw my hat in the ring for support of Circes_Cup continuing EXACTLY the way this story has been progressing thus far. You've built an incredible world that we're all bound up in and if you hadn't been following YOUR vision from the beginning that would never have happened. However, such is the nature of public forums like this that doubt and insurrection get sown in the mind of the author by those that had no part in creating the story they're so bound up in. This is a role-reversal, world-reversal story and things are going to get reversed, so I find myself incredibly puzzled by those that hold on tightly to some conventional standards of male-female relationships and expect the story to abide by their preferences for those relationships. It would be a damn shame if this story ended up changing AT ALL due to the comments of us, the peanut gallery. Chin up Circes_Cup. Your story is being read by an exponential more than those that feel the need to comment upon it and if you carry it through as you see fit (your fantasy, not ours) it will live on to be read by an exponential more.

The body I picture on Julia. Maybe even slightly thicker, but this woman exudes superhuman power.

I expect I should be able to post a re-written 12 and a 13 within the week.

You know you're writing beer-and-a-pizza literature when your to-do list for a chapter looks like this:
1. Make sure Julia's story arc is clear.
2. Review for momentum and coherence.
3. Review for alligators.

Looking forward to sharing the next chapters with everyone.

In addition to the upcoming chapters, there's another development I'm excited to share with you.

Over the last six months, Lowerbase (lowerbase.deviantart.com) has been quietly laboring away on some visual art for the story. I count myself extremely lucky that the story has inspired him in this way. Lowerbase is not the kind of artist that you can simply commission. He works on whatever he enjoys, and that's it. His work is excellent, and he has the following on Deviantart to prove it.

So far, about 15-20 unique images are ready for sharing, some of them in multiple poses. I'll be posting a few samples shortly, with some NSFW samples to follow at a later point.

It's hard for me to put into words how excited I a to have Lowerbase's collaboration on this story, and I hope you enjoy the results.

Early scenes

Detail of Julia from the first scene

Julia after eating the fruit in the wilderness

Portrait of The Doctor

Portraits of Mindy. The red hair color is not featured in the story yet but I love it!

Wow!!! Superb images! Conngratulation to Lowerbase for the images, and to you for creating this story :-D

Great Quality images! Worthy of the Quality of the story!

Amanda NSFW Portrait

Ruth NSFW Portraits in Color

Ruth NSFW -- out for a swim!

NSFW the scene at the Waterfall (Prologue)

Ruth is really a beautiful (and mighty) mermaid .
This is another great set of images!!!
Congratulations!!

Woodclaw wrote: Very nice work, although from your descriptions I always imagined Ruth being much larger at the shoulders.

Admittedly, there are some differences between the literal descriptions in the text and the way these bodies are rendered. But some artistic license is necessary with this story.

Specifically, there are two problems with a literal rendering of my text. First, it's easy to fall into "shrunken head syndrome", where the body's musculature begins to dwarf the head and the hands, which do not grow. Secondly, it's very hard to render clothing on these bodies generally, and it gets harder the more extreme the curves get. We didn't want to be in a situation where a simple t-shirt began to look like a sack full of potatoes. In summary, these women are supposed to be built and beautiful at the same time: maintaining proportionality and looking good in clothes can certainly be part of that balance.

I don't mean to suggest that Lowerbase has landed upon the only way to render the figures. For that matter, Twitch99 took a much more literal approach, which I also really really enjoyed. But I consider Lowerbase's choices to be valid as well. I signed off on these choices at an early stage and am thrilled to have his contributions.

AuGoose wrote: There are hours upon hours of work in that shot. I'm learning a ton just looking at it.

Lowerbase is a master, but he's gone all out on this .

Yes, these scenes took a great deal of effort (and processing time) for Lowerbase, and the results show. This waterfall image is one of my favorites because it captures the transitions going on in her own mind-- the growing confidence, the playfulness that wasn't there before. It brought the scene to life for me in a new way.