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Living the Dream, Part 1 & ANNOUNCEMENT
🕑 Added 2019-09-21 03:45:17 +0000 UTCHowdy everybody! I'll start with announcement stuff, then set up the new story. The $50 tier benefit has for some time been, in addition to all the stuff from other tiers, getting access to story chapters as I work on them. There used to be more to it, but since I've gotten away from for-hire commissions, I felt bad, because I couldn't really justify that hefty of a price for that. So I've dropped the $50 benefits to $30, so those folks can get what they were getting without me feeling like I'm chumping them. (Chumping is my dog's verb for how he's trained me to mollify his whims. I could learn a lot about mind control from that little guy.)
Anyway, on the flipside of that coin, if you were thinking "man, I'd like to read this stuff as a serial but I would never ever spend more than $30 for it"... well, here's your chance. :) The $50 tier still exists only until the end of the month so I don't screw current pledgers out of their benefits through Patreon fuckery, but on 10/1 I'll be removing it. The $30 tier works currently, and I've gone back to update previous posts of Roles We Play to be accessible. Let me know if that seems insane or unfair or what. I don't really know, and I suck at marketing myself.
Before I forget, for those of you who enjoy taking part in such, our good friend WDB has posted another really cool discussion topic in the community tab, so feel free to add your two cents and our argue over his perspectives. :) Also, remember if you pledge $10 or more, make sure you're getting message notifications, because I am right now on my third drawing for this month's commission winner and I can't get people to reply! First one to get back at me is getting it at this point.
Anyway, for the fun stuff! I got part 1 of a new story coming at you tonight. It's set in the same universe as Neighbors From Back When, and if you haven't read it already, I highly advise it before proceeding with this. For those who read it but want a refresher, I'll post a spoiler-filled refresher in the next paragraph. It's one I've gotten a lot of mail about since writing it, and I got to thinking, what would happen if that kind of tech -- long-term exposure to subliminal messaging -- actually worked. This story is told through the eyes of a young woman who gets to find out the most exciting way possible. I don't know how many more parts this will branch out into
SPOILER-FILLED REFRESHER: The original centers on a guy named DJ Gaspar who, as a kid, set up a subliminal brainwashing device in the hot girl next door's house, only then she moved away. He never really expected it to amount to anything, only after visiting the old neighborhood with his parents, he was introduced to the new family who lives there, only to find out that his device had worked on the teenage girl who now occupies the room. The moment she learned his name, the programming kicked in, and she threw herself at him. In the days ahead, her suspicious family members on by one fall into his fold as it's revealed that the speakers shared a wall with the master bedroom, and the girl's older sister had lived in that room for many years before leaving it to her little sis.
Comments
HardhatDoozer
Well I can say that I’ve thought about those three women and DJ more often that I would have expected. So the basis is a place I’m a fan of for sure. Someone who is aware that they are being brainwashed but helpless to counteract it can be a lot of fun. So the slow burn story with a satisfying reward at the end is good. It seems like a promising start. It seemed like an okay pace. Neither too much nor too little detail from what I can see.
ukyo_rulz
Definitely not where I thought this story was headed, that's for sure. Actually I didn't think this was going to get a sequel at all... Anyway it's too early for me to give a definitive opinion on this story but for now, it has my interest. The story actually went into a more standard/generic route from its relatively unique beginnings but it still has promise. We'll see how it goes.
ukyo_rulz
As someone who has written vast walls of text in the community tab... I also forget that it exists. I basically just check there when Ice Bear reminds me to on one of his posts.
WDB
Yeah, boy, Patreon is not super great at giving you access to the functionality that they charge authors to provide! That means that we need to be using the Community tab *even more* because fuck those guys for making it so difficult to be a fan on their platform.
I actually didn't notice there was a community tab ._. hahahaha
Ice Bear
Never assume I have any clue how to do what's popular. :) Yeah, the tonal shift was obviously pretty significant, but I got to thinking about what it'd be like to be caught in the vice of such gradualism. I'm not always great with patience, and while this isn't exactly glacial, I wanted to at least give it a little space and time for a little squirming as things play out. I almost went even slower, but it felt like too much. Which is probably because I am, as euphemistically noted above, not always great with patience. At any rate, hopefully it turns out fun. If nothing else, in the spirit of fan appeasement, I wanted to make sure I was generating some relatively traditional stuff while I work through the less traditional bigger piece on the side.
WDB
Hey but maybe I should say something about the hot new story ha ha WHOOPS It's good! It's a good first part! It is 100% *not* the direction I'd've expected a continuation of Neighbors From Back When (NFBW) to go in, which makes for a pleasant, slightly confusing experience. Like, every Friend Zone or TIOS story has, like, boundaries on how it's telling its story. Specific perspectives, elapsing time, thematic objectives, there's a, not *formula*, but... *list of ingredients*? I don't mean to make it sound rigid, but you know the rhythms of those franchises, and they're pretty clearly delineated in the first installment. But then Living the Dream comes along, and it's like some off-genre exploration of NFBW. Office environment, instead of residential. Female perspective, instead of male perspective. Sprawling time jumps, instead of a tight chronology. Steady accrual of effects, instead of the explosive aftermath. It's a very different experience from NFBW, at least for me. NFBW is one of my faves, and this isn't really doing for me what that did. It's doing *something*, though. I expect I'll have a clearer picture of it after the second part, but I did like the ways the NFBW methodology crept into the story, the small drop-ins becoming a litany of devotion. (I'm a particular fan of the casual-to-furious dismissal of her boyfriend, really hit some buttons.) It's definitely a lot darker of a story than NFBW, coming close to Bring Your Master To Work Day in the way the office is just a playground for a man, tending his crops until it's time to harvest. (Or maybe that's in my head because I recently re-read it; super-hot work, btw, A++) DJ, and his likely scheme, are a lot more aggressive than the reluctant protagonist I remember from NFBW. Is our little Conner becoming a Jordan? I suppose that'd be a popular metamorphosis with patrons, for sure. Anyway, yeah, I liked it. I did! It's a different way of expanding the story, but a really interesting setup. I'm looking forward to the continuation!
WDB
A continuation of one of my Top 5 favorite Ice Bear stories *and* a shout out? What a delightful treat! And, damn, I'm probably going to have to take you up on that new $30 tier, you shrewd eroticist, you. And, hey, to anyone reading, yeah! The Community tab! Swing on by. I've updated my profile picture (I guess it was a fox or something?) to a tiny dog that only gives high-fives to better broadcast my intention to support and encourage your fandom with unflagging, easily-accessible enthusiasm. I'm happy to help! You're doing great!
