Author Update:

I started posting The Last Rae of Hope online about 11 months ago, after writing down a few thoughts in my head for what I thought would be a fun but maybe also a less-than-cozy story that makes people uncomfortable about the current state of some concepts both in our world and in fantasy, with the hope that in the end, things will work out right. Satire is, after all, uncomfortable until we realize we can do better. It’s my hope that the comedy in between makes it somewhat enjoyable while I get around to breaking the already-broken system that’s in place. 

I had a “plan” when I started, but it was vague and vaporous, and that was okay because I would learn as I went.

And I have, and I still am.

That is the biggest reason for updating the plan to include a relaunch on Scribblehub that is timed with Royal Road.

More specifically, over the last 99+ chapters and 11 months (as I work on Chapter 100 now):

1) I invested in professional editing services (and boy, did I not expect so many edits… but they were definitely necessary). As I write this, the first pass on about 80 chapters has been completed, and the second pass is in progress. I'll be the first to admit I routinely cringed at the mistakes I made (some were hilariously bad, and some were just cringe.)

2) My writing style has changed significantly since I started.

a. This is also a nice way of saying I was very inconsistent. ^^

b. This is in no way a guarantee that I won’t be inconsistent in the future, but I’ll try to be more conscious about consistency as a goal.

3) My beginning chapters needed some major TLC (especially non-dialogue).

4) I’ve moved away from AI images from appearing in the story itself. Even with marketing, I try to use commissioned art when I can. This is just a personal choice since I'm in a position to support artists at times. 

5) I’ve confirmed that I am a terrible marketer. I have hired someone to help me with this moving forward. Somewhere, a personal hell is waiting for me, and it involves cold-calling people to sell fake pharmaceuticals for exorbitant prices (thanks, The Good Place, for showing me a preview of this).

6) The story works best as small, light-novel-sized books (despite my propensity to meander through chapters, there is actually a planned plot- I just pants a lot in between). This is not how I originally released the chapters on RR or SH. After looking at the story from this sort of organization, I would say we're almost at the end of Book 2 currently. 

I know relaunching can be a gamble. I know that I may alienate readers by doing this, even though I really don't intend for that outcome. However, I do want to give readers the ability to see the edited version online before looking at/diving into alternative release methods. I also considered how to reorder the series as books, which did have me add some details in certain chapters to make the series “dividable” at certain intervals that do not exceed the average length of a light novel. I think it would be confusing to reorder and edit the chapters on the current version here on SH.

May 2024 will mark just over a year of online publishing, and there is just something about May 4, 2024, that calls out to me. 

Thank you for your support and patience as I work on improving my story. It means a lot to me, and I hope it brings you enjoyment and a little chuckle here and there.

I'll be continuing to update with new chapters here before launch, but I did want to give everyone a heads-up. 

- Euphridia (Not the Goddess)