Shield Maiden has quickly become a character I could write forever without hesitation.
Frantic Scribbles & Senseless Ramblings August 2021
A little later in the month than usual to welcome the new subscribers migrating over from the Sagas of the Shield Maiden Book Two Kickstarter.
Making Progress
Writing has picked up last month now that the full stress of the Kickstarter has died down. And I’ve actually managed to get some bits done here and there on various projects.
The main focus however has been on the Folk Horror comic. I had originally structured it for an eight issue arc but it began to feel a bit bloated and honestly I’m still somewhat in short story mode so going from writing 10-20 page shorts to a full eight issues series was stretching me a bit. So I took a look at the story. Looked at what I wanted to say with it and what my plan was and, more than anything, got to the point a bit quicker.
So now it’s a planned six issues series. I cut two full issues all while still keeping the slow and steady build that I’m really enjoying about writing this comic. Sometimes having the room to let your characters breathe is a blessing but with Folk Horror I want to enclose them in the unforgiving surroundings and make it all just a tad more claustrophobic.
I started the very early stages of jotting some Sagas of the Shield Maiden Book Three ideas down. And once again I find myself with more ideas than pages. Shield Maiden has quickly become a character I could write forever without hesitation.
On top of that I also got to look at the last set of pages for Shield Maiden Book Two. The whole book looks fantastic. All four of the interior artists absolutely smashed it and I can’t wait to share it with everyone. The pages are off for lettering and then we’ll be approaching the finish line, hopefully a little earlier than planned too.
I also got to look at some early pages from Kat for Tails of Mystery issue 4. The final issue of our mini series and the closure to the first comic I ever published. It’s been an incredible journey and we’ve got some very exciting things planned for it.
Welcome to (my corner of) the Internet
With the end of another kickstarter comes a wave of amazing new subscribers. Here’s a brief rundown of what you can expect if this is your first newsletter and you’re thinking to yourself I just wanted to read about a badass Shield Maiden. What have I signed up for now?
I’m Asa Wheatley, I’m a writer of comics and sometimes prose and tabletop RPGs. The newsletter itself started as a way to keep myself accountable with my writing and it’s grown more than I ever thought it could. Monthly, each incarnation is a mix of updates on the progress of my upcoming projects as well as insight garnered or interest raised from TTRPGs (normally D&D)/ video games that I’m playing.
Alongside that I’ll likely throw out some recommendations. I tend to lean away from the negative because I’d prefer to talk up the things I like rather than talk down the things I don’t. Most of the time anyway. I normally try to spotlight some horror films I caught on Shudder, although typically I haven’t managed to fit anything in this month.
If you’re new to the newsletter and there’s something you’d be interested in me writing about whether it’s process, writing or just general chat drop a comment on this edition and I’ll see what I can include in future newsletters.
A Change of Play
I recently finished the first Dishonored game and was surprised by how much I liked it. I’m not normally drawn to stealth games. My usual tactics of running in and killing everything immediately don’t often play well with stealth. And first person can sometimes turn me off a game, if you’ve created a cool character for me to play at least let me see them!
But I’d heard good things about Dishonored and it’s currently on Xbox GamePass which I managed to get 3 months of for £1. Side note if you can get that deal it’s well worth it, the plethora of games on there is incredible. So I load it up and as soon as I’m met with the realisation that if I go around killing everyone I’m going to get a ‘bad’ ending everything changes.
I have no actual knowledge of how much of a difference playing it with high chaos makes but just the thought of it made me change my entire playstyle. I went full stealth, retrying sections if I got spotted and making sure to get the non-lethal ‘assassinations’ on each of the targets. Although some of those non-lethal takedowns are arguably much worse than if you’d actually killed them. But the mechanic itself interested me the most, the idea that as you commit more acts of, what is essentially unnecessary, violence the world around you suffers. The plague intensifies and the populace are worse off for it. And depending on how you choose play it helps cement the idea that Corvo is truly a protector of the realm.
You like it, you link it
FairyFare #1 - Nick Bryan & Rosie Alexander’s comic about the fairyfolk finally launching an app looks great. I very much enjoyed Nick’s work when I picked it up last year and Rosie’s colours are stunning. This was an easy back for me.
The Top 10 Greatest Banned Films - A look at some of the best video nasties by director Prano Bailey-Bond whose debut - Censor - I’m really looking forward to.
Psychomachia - An excellent mini comic from Zoe Thorogood depicting the first reuniting of The Seven Sins and Seven Virtues since 1615, in a small pub in England.
I’ve got to go back to working on Folk Horror before the day job picks up again tomorrow. Hopefully next month I’ll have some news about an artist joining the team. Until then, stay safe and look after each other.