Chapter 71: [Announcement] Commentary, Arc 4.5, Weird Shift and More

Actually, at first I hadn’t even planned on doing an 18+ Beryl x Titania scene; she was originally imagined as comic relief, a pervy futa lance warrior who told dick jokes. Actually, I hadn’t planned on doing this many 18+ scenes this early in the story until you horny degens corrupted Malo ahem, there was a lot of interest and I did want to try writing GL smut. I think it generally went alright working 18+ lewds into various scenes in the outline where it felt like they would fit, anyway~.

Freya and her cubs were newer additions to the story, too. They’ve been a lot of fun, a lot more fun than the original idea for their characters! Sasha and Arwen gaining catgirl forms is also a cute idea. From a realism standpoint though, the cubs are meant to be no more than 2-5 months old, which would make them not much older than 2 in human years. Even if we handwaved it and made them older, the rest of the story wasn’t really planned with all three of them in mind, and they weren’t meant as permanent additions to the party.

So yeah, here’s the dilemma: for a while now I’ve been getting kinda worried that the wrong expectations might have been set up, leading to disappointment later on. Arc 5 and onward were planned with some fun plot-related stuff, but it’s going to be a lot different when the party composition changes, less opportunities for smut, etc. Maybe it feels like Weird Shift got a bit derailed in Arc 4, or maybe I just got a little burned out writing.

But this isn’t the end! Triple announcement:

1. There will likely be some hiatus-ing before Arc 5, and I do have some ideas for a rewrite so we might even see Weird Shift rebuilt bigger and better later on. For now, Arc 4.5 is getting worked on! The first chapter is mostly about Alice’s backstory and sets up for 3 to 4 more chapters of smut, similar to Arc 3.5 based on suggestions like futa Viela, smut with Freya, and some other ‘fun’ surprises. (Foxy won’t really shapeshift into Futania; she might have similar lewd tricks up her sleeve~) Maybe this will be the wild mini-arc that will derail this train of Weird once and for all, we’ll see. Arc 4.5 SS 1 & 2 are finished and available on:
2. New patreon page! As suggested, I am starting a patreon to help fund more writing, art commissions, and maybe work toward turning this into a part-time thing one day. Your support is greatly appreciated! That said, Arc 4.5 SS 1 is ! The following chapters will be 18+, which means they have to be subscriber-only per site rules, but I’d like to keep the first part free & offer benefits to supporters while working on advance chapters for a new novel. On that note…
3. New novel! I am working on another story that will be posted to Scribble Hub soon™, and here’s a preview:

 

 

 

The archangel Lucie challenged the Goddess and won… at first. After stealing godlike powers for herself, Lucie fell to the mortal world below, but not before the Goddess cursed her. Now the fallen angel must build her ultimate yuri harem of overpowered waifus and defeat the Goddess once and for all—before the curse ‘evolves’ Lucie into a mindless, smut-crazed succubus!

…At least, that’s what the ultra-addictive game Smut Clicker *should* have been about. But now the waifus are all pervy monster girls, and playing the game isn’t supposed to mean getting stuck inside as the main anti-heroine herself!

“Wait, I’m a guy! How’d I turn into Lucie—and what the hell is this crazy system?!”

[It’s okay, Lucie; I’m *totally* not mad about you betraying the Goddess! ;) ]

*SCREAMS*

 

Genres: Adult, Comedy, Fantasy, Gender Bender, Girls Love, Harem, Isekai, LitRPG, Smut

You are reading story Weird Shift at novel35.com

 

Beryl’s unique anti-magic gift (Mirror of Soul) is the whole reason she could safely learn to cast fire magic without mastering the ‘standard’ defensive measures. Those details weren’t elaborated on at that point because it would be unnecessary info for Beryl, and by extension also unnecessary to you the reader. And let’s face it: we’d rather be reading about the important stuff, like futa smut. (joking, possibly ????)

Anyways, it’s the same thing if someone complained about two characters becoming soul mates too quickly; especially without any examples or context, I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.

Since Arc 1, I’ve had some fun making many chapter titles tongue-in-cheek or jokes that aren’t meant seriously. For example, Arc 2 Ch. 4: Long Live the Queen doesn’t literally feature a queen; the title is the punchline to a joke. It’s the same with titles that refer to Beryl as a Villainess or Alice as a Heroine.

There were a few chapters in Arc 4 titled ‘Soul Mates with a Foxy’ when Beryl did her soul bond with Viela. That was one of those titles that just seemed fun for that part. Beryl and Viela both did the soul bond for their own practical, non-romantic reasons that were explained, and the phrase ‘soul mate’ never came up anywhere in those chapters. In fact, there aren’t any two characters intended to be soul mates in the literal ‘one true pairing for life’ sense, at least so far. I feel like that would kind of undermine the whole party/harem dynamic in a way.

It’s still a bit surprising that the soul mates title would end up problematic like that, oh well. I’ve made other small edits before when it seemed like some were getting the wrong idea, so those titles were changed.

Yes, this is partly about a recent review, but I also wanted to make a point about being specific in general. Like I mentioned earlier, what’s clear for the writer might not mean the same thing for the reader. And I have to say, it does get frustrating sometimes when you don’t know what someone is talking about and they aren’t giving any examples to explain, you know? Then you really can’t tell if they had some misunderstanding, or weren’t paying attention and jumped to conclusions, or just outright made stuff up, or what. It’s something we’ve all probably encountered at some point.

Comments are really great for suggestions and feedback, and they always have the context of the chapter they were posted in. I’ve made lots of edits based on feedback from comments, plus it’s a lot easier to reply asking for clarification which just isn’t possible for reviews, especially if it’s from a user with their profile and PMs disabled lol.

So here’s the thing: when writing a critical review, you’ll have a better review by giving at least one specific example from the novel. A lot of critical reviews on the site are good about giving that detailed context, sometimes even mentioning specific chapters for reference. Hopefully the tone and content of the review also match the star rating lol, but that aside, I really don’t think it’s too much to ask for at least one example when trying to leave criticism. That’s going to make it more useful whether it’s a critical review for other readers or feedback for the author, and some reviews here are directed toward the author. *shrugs*

Of course, this doesn’t apply to most of you, and fortunately this type of thing seems like the exception and not the rule. For other authors who have encountered similar, the way to go might be to just not bother with reviews from people you’ve never seen commenting before, at least if they have profile and PMs off. In fact, that’s probably what I’m going to do going forward, but I did want to make this point at least once.

 

Last but not least, I want to show big appreciation for all of you who leave fun/lewd/blunt/Weird comments, suggestions, feedback, chapter favorite hearts, or just stop by to read Weird Shift! ???? And like I said, even some of the harsher comments can make super useful feedback when the context is clear. A little clarity goes a long way, that’s all~.

Thanks for reading! ????????????

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