Hello there.

Well,as you can see, chapter 2 didn’t come out yesterday. My fault – I overworked myself in the seminars (4 hours!) and kind of fizzled out when it came to writing on the way back by train. The deadline I placed on myself, as you could gather, was a little too keen – a big no-no for effective creative writing, not least on the side.

Thus, I’m going to take a little longer to iron things out – it’ll be ready for real by the weekend. The thing is…it’s technically already written – all two thousand words! I’ve introduced the new characters, set in some inciting incidents, drama and dialogue etc. It just isn’t up to scratch. I’ve hit on the epiphany that I probably shouldn’t be posting my shoddy beta-drafts on this blog, since they’re no fun to read. I need to put effort in for my readerbase, however small! Unclear context, spelling mistakes, flat characters – all need to be wiped beforehand, not left to stink. Thus, if you can excuse me to worry about my writing a little more, that’d be great.

I’ve also realised that I haven’t given you lot much stakes of Nominal – sure, it’s the result of a late october Poll (Miscellaneous protagonist) which I based on a Metric of likes which I’m very grateful for. But I can’t tell what you really think,what you really want. That’s not to say I haven’t got feedback from friends (writing/university buds) and family (my dreaded twin) – I just want to know if the people following this blog actually have any suggestions to improve. Not that I’m going to stop writing here – oh no, it’s my accountability – but it would be be a beneficial arrangement to discuss things a bit more in the comments. I could comment more myself, once I’m freed up at christmas – I owe you all an eye!

Anyway, enough faffing – what do you want to see from the Noumenal Project?

Noumenal is set in what I can best describe as fictional purgatory – all sorts of characters, mostly homemade, are drawn from all kinds of genres and mediums to be represented in the novel as they impede or assist our protagonists in their quest for meaning. This is, all in all, an experimental character study – matching very, very different archetypes and originalities together to see what would happen. Here is an obligatory list of some perspectives I’ve considered so far – spoilers limited to only chapter 2:

• A beleaguered father (Peter Stout) from a British soap opera set in a miserable Tyneside borough fraught with drug addiction, debauchery and general paranoia – think eastenders. Undergoing a mid-life crisis, drug withdrawal and loss of identity, he pursues a treacherous mission to improve the local environs of this realm if only to make his life meaningful.
• Lionel Verney (Nick. Verne) of Mary Shelley obscurity. A public domain character I’ve decided to toy with – a former impoverished gentleman who seemingly survived the apocalypse of his own world who has been living around the forest and small settlements of the “plane/purgatory” who saved Stout’s life and becomes an unlikely ally in his ploy. Distinctly stuffy and classical despite effectively living the life of a hobo.
• The knight (Elroia). A former NPC from a Souls-like (difficult dark fantasy) game who has tasked herself with the dispatching of a delusional despot who has somehow accrued absurd power within the purgatory.
• The “chosen one” (Juill) – a highly troubled young man with magical affinity who happened to be the main protaginist of a fantasy comic series (“Manga” styled) and was fated to save his world…before the narrative disintergrated into this purgatory. An adaptive narcissist with a messianic complex, he struggled to cope in a setting where he is no longer the sole solution.

Other characters (who you might like more) include:

• A satire of a highly querelous jacobean lawyer who thinks dancing is a sin – William Prynne.
• A witch who spies and gossips about everyone in her neck of the woods by installing spare eyes into flowers.
• A small, fez wearing binturong who works as a guide. As friendly as he is disconnected. Inspired by Children’s mascots.
• A hugely bloated, filth eating canid monster with a penchant for mindless gluttony, who serves as a guard dog for a deranged, petty oracle who has usurped divinity for herself – the disgusting epitome of wish-fulfillment literature. The oracle is Elroia’s target, and is the source of many more garish abominations.
• A strange, experimental hypnotherapist who works exclusively on rehabilitating “chosen ones and deviants”…for a twisted fee.
• A talk show monstrosity, where audience and host have been fused into one malicious bastard – the prince of shame.

Now, the question is over to y’lot – what sort of weird and wacky characters would you like to see in my grotesque procession? Let me know, if you please, in the comments! I’ll get back to work on bringing these beings to life in my writing, if you’d excuse me.