I have, however, done something that may be very much more productive in the long-run. So I've had story arcs inside my head for ages in regards to the various characters, right? Everything from how to introduce Harold's sister (during the second Endless arc), to various miscellaneous plots such as Gary's training, D.D.'s training, Vili's training, Ruby's various power-ups, a few Sally power-ups, and so on and so forth?
Well...for the first time, I've more or less formed a coherent timeline for these things. Every plot that I can remember off the top of my head, from beginning to end, after the first season. (Which I have memorized.) This means that while there are some gaps here and there, and the chronology isn't quite what I was hoping for (Amy gets introduced much sooner than I anticipated, and gains powers relatively quickly after that; her introduction was supposed to be many storylines down the road and her powers marking something like the half-way point in the story rather than like, a third at most as is current), but this is actually really important.
I haven't put the summary of these episodes/arcs in, basically just writing down that they exist, so it's not even close to being complete enough to guarantee I remember everything. Yet this is HUGE. For the first time in, well, ever, I have what effectively amounts to a table showing how long Red Hood Rider is going to be.
This is what I needed to, but failed to actually, do for The Descended. It's a little bit fluid in certain spots, with events that can happen in any order chronologically (almost all of the second half of Red Hood Rider is that way, really: events only begin to lock in order near the very ending, with all events prior very flexible), but I've identified basically all the major spots.
The Unknown Riders arc (Hannah-Vili), the Traitor Arc, various miscellaneous character introductions, D.D.'s first power-up, Ruby gaining her super modes (her first, Dark Messiah, from the first Endless fight, the second, Arbalest Armor, being around the time we see Amy), The abduction arc (this one's mainly important because it shows the relationship between vampires, magical girls especially riders, and hunters), the second Endless fight which is an entire arc/Gary's first huge power-up, Gary's second power-up (this is an example of poor spacing, but also of fluidity; said second power-up can be moved to much later), D.D.'s second power-up, one of Sally's largest power-ups, The Light arc, Dale's epic power-up, Vili's power-up, Amy powering up the whole team with Sentinel Mode (which is Ruby's third super mode), and then beginning to get into more spoilerific endgame stuff.
If you see something in my blog posts missing from the above descriptions, then either it's (1) a less-important event plot-wise but which I still have in my notes, (2) it's been incorporated into something else, likely one of the above, (3) or I simply didn't remember that detail off the top of my head, increasing my need to go through the archives and compile my notes. (That, or it's a first-season episode. Anything from the first 14 or so episodes--and for that matter, most of the second season--is so thoroughly nailed down in my mind that while I may tweak specifics, I cannot forget the whole plotline.)
Soyeah. I still need to get a few things done on all of these, because there are great details that I want written down, but I've got an amazing chronology. If an arc averages to 3 episodes (they probably won't, taking much longer than that), then I've got...probably around 75 or so episodes, by a very, very loose estimate, to cover the entirety of what I have planned for Red Hood Rider.
Obviously, the Rubyverse is much larger than that, but...oh, man, the math for this aint pretty. Each episode probably averages around 30 pages. Sometimes less, sometimes more, but let's say I release on episode a month, a hopelessly-optimistic goal. That's 12 a year. Under ideal circumstances, that means I'm probably going to be working on Red Hood Rider for 6-7 years.
Well, if Jocelynn Samara can run Rain for five (or is it six?) years and only be half-done...
(Let's face it, stuff happens, and I have commitment issues and also many things happening in my life. I'm having enough trouble just meeting my January 2016 release date goal. So 10-12 years to tell the entirety of Red Hood Rider is probably the most realistic estimate I have.)
Anyway, yeah. I'm not cutting content, though I think at this point, the only content I'm adding is in the form of expanded-Rubyverse material: extras to flesh out the world, but which won't be focused on. Of which there is plenty. (The file I store my notes on? Between character notes, timeline notes/storyline summaries, and expanded universe material...it's 119 pages and 47,193 words...and this is covering my blog material from blog content prior to April 16th. There's SOME material in there that is fully in-depth and goes beyond the blog--mostly, recent stuff like the blood masters and whatnot--but most of the material between April 16th and now, December 28th, remains very much not in the notes. And given that I average talking about Red Hood Rider something like 5/7 days per week......yeah.)
Well...for the first time, I've more or less formed a coherent timeline for these things. Every plot that I can remember off the top of my head, from beginning to end, after the first season. (Which I have memorized.) This means that while there are some gaps here and there, and the chronology isn't quite what I was hoping for (Amy gets introduced much sooner than I anticipated, and gains powers relatively quickly after that; her introduction was supposed to be many storylines down the road and her powers marking something like the half-way point in the story rather than like, a third at most as is current), but this is actually really important.
I haven't put the summary of these episodes/arcs in, basically just writing down that they exist, so it's not even close to being complete enough to guarantee I remember everything. Yet this is HUGE. For the first time in, well, ever, I have what effectively amounts to a table showing how long Red Hood Rider is going to be.
This is what I needed to, but failed to actually, do for The Descended. It's a little bit fluid in certain spots, with events that can happen in any order chronologically (almost all of the second half of Red Hood Rider is that way, really: events only begin to lock in order near the very ending, with all events prior very flexible), but I've identified basically all the major spots.
The Unknown Riders arc (Hannah-Vili), the Traitor Arc, various miscellaneous character introductions, D.D.'s first power-up, Ruby gaining her super modes (her first, Dark Messiah, from the first Endless fight, the second, Arbalest Armor, being around the time we see Amy), The abduction arc (this one's mainly important because it shows the relationship between vampires, magical girls especially riders, and hunters), the second Endless fight which is an entire arc/Gary's first huge power-up, Gary's second power-up (this is an example of poor spacing, but also of fluidity; said second power-up can be moved to much later), D.D.'s second power-up, one of Sally's largest power-ups, The Light arc, Dale's epic power-up, Vili's power-up, Amy powering up the whole team with Sentinel Mode (which is Ruby's third super mode), and then beginning to get into more spoilerific endgame stuff.
If you see something in my blog posts missing from the above descriptions, then either it's (1) a less-important event plot-wise but which I still have in my notes, (2) it's been incorporated into something else, likely one of the above, (3) or I simply didn't remember that detail off the top of my head, increasing my need to go through the archives and compile my notes. (That, or it's a first-season episode. Anything from the first 14 or so episodes--and for that matter, most of the second season--is so thoroughly nailed down in my mind that while I may tweak specifics, I cannot forget the whole plotline.)
Soyeah. I still need to get a few things done on all of these, because there are great details that I want written down, but I've got an amazing chronology. If an arc averages to 3 episodes (they probably won't, taking much longer than that), then I've got...probably around 75 or so episodes, by a very, very loose estimate, to cover the entirety of what I have planned for Red Hood Rider.
Obviously, the Rubyverse is much larger than that, but...oh, man, the math for this aint pretty. Each episode probably averages around 30 pages. Sometimes less, sometimes more, but let's say I release on episode a month, a hopelessly-optimistic goal. That's 12 a year. Under ideal circumstances, that means I'm probably going to be working on Red Hood Rider for 6-7 years.
Well, if Jocelynn Samara can run Rain for five (or is it six?) years and only be half-done...
(Let's face it, stuff happens, and I have commitment issues and also many things happening in my life. I'm having enough trouble just meeting my January 2016 release date goal. So 10-12 years to tell the entirety of Red Hood Rider is probably the most realistic estimate I have.)
Anyway, yeah. I'm not cutting content, though I think at this point, the only content I'm adding is in the form of expanded-Rubyverse material: extras to flesh out the world, but which won't be focused on. Of which there is plenty. (The file I store my notes on? Between character notes, timeline notes/storyline summaries, and expanded universe material...it's 119 pages and 47,193 words...and this is covering my blog material from blog content prior to April 16th. There's SOME material in there that is fully in-depth and goes beyond the blog--mostly, recent stuff like the blood masters and whatnot--but most of the material between April 16th and now, December 28th, remains very much not in the notes. And given that I average talking about Red Hood Rider something like 5/7 days per week......yeah.)
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