Last week I mentioned that this blog would be a soft launch for a series that I've had in the works while abstaining from mentioning where the genre falls under the proverbial umbrella of fantasy/science fiction. Boiling it down to its core, this is an Industrial Fantasy series with Arcanepunk elements.
The labeling of Industrial Fantasy primarily stems as this series and the world it is based in drew inspiration from works such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Valkyria Chronicles, and Violet Evergarden. The integration of swords and sorcery into a 1930's backdrop is a novel concept that has been very difficult to translate into description. The term "Fantasy" generally invokes the imagery of Renaissance-era aesthetics, whereas "Science-Fiction" draws upon more futuristic expectations. Steam technology is heavily used in this series, but "Steampunk" is heavily synonymous with the Victorian era and that's not the theme I'm conveying either.
Nevertheless, when I sent out my manuscript to beta readers, one such critique was genre whiplash between the prologue and first chapter. The prologue had two POVs, neither of which featured any fantastical elements and leaned more toward science-fiction; so when the first chapter rolled around and the use of magic was featured, it threw readers off and made it harder for them to invest in the story.
The natural remedy was to add an additional POV right from the start to set up the whole fantastical tone early on, so it makes that first impression and sets the expectation for the rest of the story. The unintended side-effect was something that other writers are all too familiar with: This additional POV featured a character who was made up on the spot, but by the end of the POV section, there was a thread to be pulled outside of the narrative this segment served.
What followed was a short story that was centered around this particular character and builds up to their "original appearance". I also came to the conclusion that a 20,000-word one-off would be a much more palatable introduction than a 125,000-word novel. I also met my NaNoWriMo metrics writing this short story, so there's that.
Over the course of the next few Wednesdays, I will be posting chapters of this short story in chronological order. I may post more outside of these releases, but here's our start: