Reanna: Well, It's Our Birthday. Do You Know What Would Be A Great Gift? BUYING OUR BOOKS! Also, You're

SL: I added Terrance's notes to The Murder After, and now, it's 52 pages. I also changed the price to $5.95 because it sounds better. This is the last change I'll make, I promise. Now, it's ready to buy! I'm happy with myself.

Reanna: The Plural Positivity Word Conference's admission changed, so we won't be able to go. The organizers said the change was caused by Airmeet changing its contract. General admission is $50, and scholarships seem to only be available to members of The Plural Association online community. We relied on the scholarships for free admission.

This sucks because we were looking forward to bringing Terrance. Plus, we went almost every year. Going to the Plural Positivity World Conference made us feel like we were part of the community. Tumblr and Dreamwidth can never substitute that.

If you can, please donate to The Plural Association. Maybe that might help the organizers give scholarships more freely next year.

Link to Donorbox

16 January

Testing psychologist: "Reanna doesn't have a social circle, so she uses [or goes into] fantasy."

Me (Brian): "Fantasy!? Say that to my face, you limp noodle!" (In-headspace)

Present Day

Me: "I am not a fantasy."

Reanna: "She didn't even know you exist."

Me: "I am still not a fantasy."

The next time I think I'm fake, I'm going to remember I had a negative reaction to being unintentionally called a fantasy.

Sequel Problems

SL: I published The Murder After fourteen days ago. That means no one has read it. Yet, I'm afraid people will make a big deal out of The Year After being longer. I'm not finished, but I can tell it's going to be longer than 44 pages.

Imagine someone buying the book in 2025 and going, "why the hell is this longer than the first one?" It's longer because there is more to say. Plus, I'm writing this for Terrance. It's a decision I made before he became sentient. He deserves something good in his life. (The events of the first book fucked him up.)

And that good thing is a boyfriend. This leads to another problem: What are people going to think? We live in a female body, and although we're bigender, we still present as a woman. What if people think I'm trying to satisfy a headmate's fetish? I'm not.

This romance appeared naturally. The Year After wasn't supposed to be one. It started as a scene where Terrance is on a date, and he can't focus because he's dissociating. (Did I mention I thought of this before he became sentient?) Then, it turned into a scene where he had Liam (the date) over at his place. I saw it and thought, "that's a good thing in his life." It doesn't cure Terrance of his issues, but it makes his life a little better.

The Year After is for Terrance. I don't want anyone to think I'm satisfying a headmate's fetish just because we live in a female body.

Reanna: You know what? We're not going to share the playlist for Carnival. You're just going to have to buy the book to see it.

SL: I've thought about putting The Muder After and The Year After as one book because of how short the first one is. Except they're different genres. One is a mystery/dramadey, and the other is a romantic dramadey. So, I don't think it would have worked.

But I might have a solution: make The Year After a second volume instead of a proper sequel. It makes it a continuation of the story without combining anything. I just need to start from chapter eight. That won't be hard because all it requires is changing the chapter names. (I write a chapter twice then type. That's how Reanna and the other headmates treated Carnival.)

Reanna: Sometimes, plural writer culture is being the headmate everyone takes traits from for their characters.

SL: Another thing about Terrance's second person perspective. He perceives his thoughts as commentary, so it's like The Murder After has a chorus. He doesn't have a name for it, but we call it Also Terrance.

Terrance is a plurallet. That's a singlet who is still plural (more than one) in some way. We think it's a midcontinuum experience. (That's the state of not being singular but also not multiple.)

Happy Thanksgiving from Mint Phalanx!

SL: I never said why I tagged dialogue in Terrance's story in sketch format. (Link to the preview for The Murder After if you're confused.) I wrote it in the second person, so the tags make it easier to know who's talking. As you can see, Terrance is never tagged with his name.