I reached another milestone for the novel – I read the entire thing out loud to my wife, partly as a way to entertain her and partly to hunt down any remaining typos or other structural issues, which I have come to believe make themselves more apparent when spoken out. I only made a few additions or alterations here or there; no new plots or characters. I may be ready to call its current state my final draft. I guess the next step would be to find some ‘beta testers’ to go through it and get some feedback from outside parties. Where exactly do you go to find willing readers for a not-for-kids fantasy adventure starring anthropomorphic characters? Well, where I won’t regret going…

I also added a new page for Sheshai the Purifier to the site to go along with Agwilika Rhe, Elehura, and Sharpheart, so check that out. In there I added an image of another character, Besuri, and I’ll go ahead and post it here too:

Still needs some work on the fur, like figuring out how to handle the matted and uneven areas better.

Ah why not, another character model – Adri of the Grepir:

My first attempt at an avian character model. I’m going for a gigantic songbird vibe for the Grepir race. I debated a long time on what colors to give Adri, but settled on blue highlights because no other character has that hue in their natural colors.

In recognition of finishing yet another read-through of my first novel, I’m going to post more of the titular character. This time she’s in her actual House of the Hand uniform. I recently did some dental work so now she can show some teeth when smiling. I gave her some somewhat large incisors, which at least to me makes her even more adorable.

The full view of her uniform. Strapped to her legs are lurakal flasks, which are crystals used to store magical “charms”. Typically, the charm is made of concentrated purifying power, effectively acting as a purifying bomb to clear out unliving evil creatures when things get out of hand. Some have found ways to create different types of charms.

Sheshai needs some shoes. I also still have to learn how to work with outfits so they properly move with the body when posing, so she doesn’t have to stand there with her arms straight out…

I’ve been spending a lot of time on Sheshai lately. I just completed another cycle of reading through my novel with her as the titular protagonist. A good number of corrections, adjustments, and additions came up, so it looks like I am going to go through yet another reading. How far will I get through this time before tripping over a typo or being inspired for improvements? Will it ever end?!

Speaking of improvements, my work on Sheshai’s 3D model continues ever on. Adding more polygons here and there for a smoother shape, trying different texturing techniques, just added eyelids yesterday, and slowly improving on making her more animated. Some things take so much work and I wonder if I’ll ever get it to where I am fully satisfied with it; I have occasionally reminded myself of the sheer number of names in the credits of mainstream animated movies and be proud of what I have accomplished on my own.

I have completed the first draft of my novel “Sheshai the Purifier”. I feel pretty accomplished; I have written many stories in the past but never completed a start-to-finish novel-length endeavor. Well, I think it is novel length, it’s currently at about a 67,000 word count. I’ve gone through a few proofreading sweeps already. I read it to my wife over a number of sessions and it’s surprising how many typos show up when you read it out loud as opposed to reading it to yourself. Next up I’m going to re-read it cover to virtual cover and decide if I want to make any revisions or additions.

The story follows Sheshai, a Gwil healer in the organization called the House of the Hand, as she gets recruited by a crew from the House of the Shield to help defeat an evil force that has overtaken a subcontinent island. Though she’s on the small side and appears timid to many, she has a strong spirit and a secret ally, as you can see in the picture. I’ll leave it to the novel itself to lay out those details.

Sheshai’s story is actually going to take place in the same world as Elehura, only in its past. Some of the items I put in the story are going to carry over and change elements of Elehura, including the addition of the Great Houses.

So uhhhhhhh, yeah. It’s not a story I can share with all audiences. I would be embarrassed to admit my writing accomplishment to my parents though I’d love to brag on how I wrote a dang novel. Honestly, this started as one of those kinds of fantasy stories that expanded out into a full-fledged adventure. So if someone might be interested in reading it they better know what they’re getting in to. It’s been a struggle, I’ve kept CSD mostly “family friendly” (come on, look at those wholesome Legendary Prerarts posts!) but you might guess at my level of interest in anthropomorphic characters reading between the lines.