Drafts, Notes, and Field Research - Early Stages of This Book

These are going to be really sporadic, I'm not getting myself into the Hype Update trap like I did with Blue Mirage.  Basically, whenever I run into big ideas and/or milestones or events that go towards the writing of the book - THESE are when updates here will occur, not on a set regular schedule.

BUT ANYWAY.

I am currently formatting The Automaton of Second London's files from VN format to book format.   I'm calling this the VN Draft (because I'm sooooo original), and it is my basis for the true first draft.  There's not a lot of big changes yet - although there ARE a lot of red annotations about what changes I should make.  I'm thinking once I've finished this and marked it up enough, I'll post it here at least temporarily.  Get feedback from eyes and brains that aren't my own.  And after some time gathering feedback, coming up with ideas, and all that jazz, I'll be ready to start on the first true draft.

I've also been journaling different worldbuilding notes/ideas.  I have brainstormed how the automatons work (they do have fleshy bits; I argued with myself whether to keep this aspect, 'does this make them not robots' and then remembered 'they are not robots, they are automatons, i can do whatever i want with them, let's make em weird'), notes on a couple other races (dwarves are rambunctious beings made of granite with polished gemstones for eyes, and culaards are bat people that live in harmony with the forest and sometimes are born without eyes - don't ask me why the eyes are apparently so important to me, I don't know), and the magic system (I have no freaking clue man).  I want this world to be fleshed out more before I try to dive back in.  I'll post some pictures of these notes as I collect more of them, just so that you the audience can enjoy how unhinged they are.  And laugh at my handwriting.  It's fine, I do so all the time.

And most importantly, in December I will be doing some field research! There's a Victorian Christmas festival about an hour from my house (I went last year and may have mentioned it on my twitter or somewhere, i dont remember half the crap i say) and I not only got tickets to go but also for a historical tour of the area.  Lots of buildings from the 1800s to take pictures of, and hopefully lots of chances to learn a little bit more about the era from a different point of view.  Also signed up for a 19th-century tea party on a ship from the same era, might not be researching as actively as I would with the tour but surely I can glean something from the experience for the book.  And if not, well I get to say I went to a tea party on a sailing ship.  Anyway, field research!  Didn't do that for any of my other projects!

Next update will be whenever the VN draft is released for feedback (which should be soon, maybe after Halloween - plenty of time for me to get my own annotations done).  So stay tuned for that!