TKO Creations

This is something I have wanted to stay as far away from as humanly possible, partly because I’m reaching the conclusion that there is no way to approach it that doesn’t have me come across as either a hateful bastard propagating a culture or a reactionary who flinches at the slightest hint of controversy or off-color behavior.

I have recently been asked to include a “trigger warning” to the Second Gate due to the events of the Sultry Siren within the novel, as the events that occur are demeaning and border on sexual assault.  I won’t deny this is true… it has the potential to be a degrading scene, and the “hero’s” response to it isn’t exactly the most thoughtful.

On one hand, I understand how it could be troubling to someone.  It’s not meant to be a kind scene… it is meant to be a bit troubling.  Timothy’s calculated response is also supposed to be a bit unsettling to the reader.  That’s the way I intended it to be.

It’s part of the growth of all the primary characters involved.  We don’t always make the “best” or “most noble” choice.  That’s just as true in life as it is in my fiction.

But as much as I feel for those who might be bothered, I’m not going to try and police myself by adding trigger warnings to my work.  I honestly believe if I were to do that, I would never stop.  In “Worlds Apart”, we see one of the main characters being a target of a violently racist group.  Should I add a trigger warning for those who have been on the receiving end of such prejudice?

Homosexuality is going to be a particularly strong theme in The Endtimers’ Legacy, and it’s not always going to be a positive experience.  Should I add that trigger warning to that?  What about the violence in most of the stories I’ve written so far?  Someone who has been abused by the church probably would be troubled to read the very strong religious themes.  Does that deserve a trigger warning as well?

I do apologize for anyone who is reading this and thinks I’m being heartless, because in all honesty, I think I’m being exactly the opposite.  If I were to start down this path, all I would do is worry about who might be traumatized by the particular passage I am writing.  That’s not somewhere I want (or can afford) to go.  I can’t make an exception for one person, and tell others “I’m sorry, but your bad experience isn’t as important as this other person’s bad experience.”

It’s either all or nothing; and I simply don’t have the time for all.

I feel that writing is our challenge to the world, and that goes for the warts and wrinkles as well as what we think is good.  Yes, I am going to show those rough parts of our lives.  I am going to describe (likely in detail) some very troubling events; because that is how a writer invokes a response… that’s part of how he gets readers to feel and care about the lives and actions of fictional characters.

So perhaps it would be simplest to say that there is a very high likelihood that something at some point in the works I have written or will write in the future will trouble you.  It may very well trouble you profoundly, and it will also be very likely that it was my intent to do so.  That is how I write, that is what I feel is part of the point of writing.  That’s not going to change.

Thank you for listening.

~Thomas Knapp

Not that I made all that much money through Paypal donations (all $1.05 worth… and yes, someone who was paying attention donated $.05), but I have decided to eliminate all donations through the Paypal site.

The origins of this decision stem from a post on a favorite site of mine, Exiern, which can be found here.

Now, I personally do not have terribly explicit sexual content in the stories I write.  Not necessarily out of any prudishness as I find they don’t offer anything to the story themselves beyond empty fluff to titillate mindless readers.  It’s probably why I average 80 views a month, but I digress.

Drowemos Eseotevahi has produced a remarkably thought provoking comic that challenges the nature of gender roles, and yes, in his members only section he has what amounts to R-rated material that both offers fanservice for extra dollars as well as playing to the greater point of his concept.

It’s rather amusing that Paypal has effectively decided that a comic that challenges gender discrimination is “obscene.”

Well, you know what I find obscene?  When a company uses broad brush terms to push an undefinable agenda for arbitrary reasons.  I understand its their right to do whatever they wish, so don’t take this as some form of protest or demand to take action against Paypal.  But it’s also my right to have nothing to do with a company that doesn’t represent my goals and beliefs.  So I’m done with Paypal.

In the meantime, I recommend that anyone who wants a good read visit the Exiern webcomic.  No matter what Paypal says, it’s not obscene nor is it offensive.  It’s imaginative, it’s as original as stories get in this modern culture, and it’s worth the time to absorb.  I think any reader here would like it as much as I do.

I understand that I’ve been picking up quite a few new readers lately; and in lieu of me rearranging the site to help these people (something I seem completely incapable of doing, the time I tried today I managed to crash the entire site and blog), I’m going to make a more temporary solution.

For all those stopping in, I would first recommend reading the first five short stories listed here.  These shorts help fashion and shape the background for the first novel.  It’s not vital, but I think it helps.

From there, you’re ready for The Second Gate.  It’s honestly not nearly as daunting as it first looks.  Sure, it’s nearly four hundred printed pages, but I have been repeatedly assured that it reads very quickly.  Besides, it’s not like you have to absorb it all in one sitting.

After that, you can return to the Short Stories section, and read the next clump of shorts that serve as the bridge for the upcoming second book of the series, The Endtimers’ Legacy.

But if after all that, if you want more to read, you can always check out unrelated stories I have either done on my lonesome or in conjunction with other writers at the page here.

Thank you for your patronage, and I will keep doing my best to put together a more reader friendly site… if I can do so without breaking the Internet.

~Thomas Knapp (chemiclord@gmail.com)

Meanwhile, in other news, my editor (and apparently one or two others), have seen fit to create a TVTropes page for my work.  It’s a bit flattering, and a wee bit frightening, in all honesty; but it wouldn’t do but to thank him for his support and the hard work he put together to make this very thorough index possible.  Give it a look here, and feel free to tack on what you think we may have missed, as well as linking it to other pages.  The more the word spreads, the more people look, and the more people look, the more people read.

And that, really, is the end goal to all this.

Every November is deemed National Novel Writing Month.

It’s a rather hectic and fun experience that helps people stretch their creative muscles a little bit, and run by the same organization that heads the Young Author’s Association.

For the last two years, I had taken part in the festivities, the end result of one of those years can even be found on this site; Project Freeflow, co-written with my good friend Mary Ebert.  Another one, titled Redemption, might find its way onto the site at some point in the future.

Unfortunately, I really don’t have time for NaNoWriMo this year (thanks to the no longer super-secret Megatokyo: Endgames project I’m working on), but I invite anybody who reads this blog to check it out at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and perhaps entertain taking on the task themselves.  If you’ve ever entertained writing, it’s a worthwhile thing to attempt!

And even if you don’t, they’re always looking for donations… surely encouraging their efforts to expand the world of literature is worth a few cash dollars, right?

Good luck and good days ahead!

Well, as anyone who has followed this blog for a while knows, I’ve had a super secret super awesome project that I didn’t want to say much about.

At last, I am comfortable enough to discuss it in a bit more detail now that the ball is actually rolling forward.

Fred Gallagher of MegaTokyo fame has enlisted my help in developing the story for his Endgames manga.  I don’t want to get into too much detail, but to say that yes, this is the super secret project that I had been mumbling about.  Cross your fingers and hope I don’t fail too hard!

Failing would kinda put a huge dent in any future opportunities.

This is a question that has come up a couple times, and I figure now is as good of a time to address it.

“Will this book ever be in print?”

The short answer is; not likely.

The longer answer is that I have this obnoxious tendency to not be inclined to sell the copyright to any of my intellectual property.  As I mentioned a few months back, selling the copyright is pretty much a requirement in order to get published nowadays.  Every discussion I have with a publisher goes like this:

“So, how much of an advance would you like?  We’ll have the contract to sign over the copyright in 4-6 days.”

“None.  I have no interest in selling the copyright.  I’ll give you exclusive publishing rights, but that’s as far as I’ll go…”

*click*

“Hello?”

As for self-publishing, I’ve tried that, and it’s a load of bunk.  The prices are obscene (who wants to pay $25 for a softcover of this?  Show of hands!) and the self-publishing option requires an upfront investment that loses money before you even have a chance to make any.  That wouldn’t inherently be such a big deal… except that I really don’t have the money to front at the moment.

So, that’s the deal.  You likely won’t see this in print, barring some sort of minor miracle.  *shrug*

So, once I made my intentions to post the entirety of The Second Gate, my editor kinda gave me a >_> and a <_<, and said “Perhaps we should give this one more look just to make sure everything is all as you would want it.”

To be fair, this is my fault.  Perhaps I could have told him I was planning to go final cut.  I suppose that would have been courteous.

Weekly updates will continue until the final cut is ready; some earlier chapters are going to get some love too, in the form of extra content and perhaps some more elaboration as to how the stuff in the Gate Universe works.

Sorry if I got all your hopes up… we’ll be burning the midnight oil to get this ready for ya; estimated 2 to 3 weeks.

Well, I have good news.

The completed and edited entirety of The Second Gate is in my hands.  That means, if I felt so inclined, I could upload and publish everything to the end, within a couple of hours.

But I know some people have gotten accustomed to the chapter by chapter break that I’ve been going with.

So, I’d like some feedback.  Do you want it all, or would you rather keep the nice chunks that I’ve been delivering so far?  I’m fine with either, to be honest.

E-mail me; comment; word’ll get back to me.

I have been informed that the viewing of this particular chapter can be hit or miss (sometimes it loads, sometimes it behaves like it is corrupted).  Deleting and reuping said file hasn’t helped, nor has making a new .pdf from my base document and uploading that.

For some reason, WordPress just does not like this chapter.  If you are one of the people it is misbehaving towards, please, feel free to send me an e-mail at chemiclord@gmail.com, and I can send you the chapter for viewing directly.

Thank you for understanding.