Category Archives: Daybreak on Hyperion

Not what you expect

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First of all, this is Aorii and not Krytyk. Sorry to disappoint those of you who have been wishing for an OSO update.

Second of all, no this isn't a Daybreak update. However if you did enjoy Daybreak -- or enjoyed parts of it but not the genderbender -- I'm starting up a new writing project that you may be interested in:

The Flowers in Boreal Twilight

If you're a Daybreak reader, you might remember Captain Markov telling Kaede about the 'Grand Marshal of Samara' having a story similar to hers? This is that story.

You might be surprised that this is on completely different site. This doesn't mean I'm migrating from Krytyk's or moving Daybreak. However, I do have several reasons for this:

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Something short and sweet

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Posted a short, Extra Chapter for Daybreak Volume 3, finally getting a chance to explain archery as well as two scenes that I dropped from the main story due to pace considerations. It's a fairly lighthearted read so, enjoy~

Volume 4 is currently in planning stages although work on it will start soon.

For anyone watching current anime, Kotarou -- the male protagonist from Tsuki ga Kirei -- is essentially a younger version of male Kaede (introverted, awkward, sensitive and easily embarrassed, but very disciplined in his aspirations). I challenge those who say "Kaede doesn't feel like a boy" to disagree with this =P

~ Aorii

Daybreak Volume 3 Closing Thoughts

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Now that Volume 3 has ended... a bit of self-reflection.

This volume was not received well. So as an author, I ended up having a do a lot of soul-searching in the past few weeks... longer, actually.

I've written in the last Daybreak Dev Diary that Volume 3 was me trying to tackle a particularly ambitious topic -- the judgmental biases of human perception -- that proved somewhat beyond my skills as a writer. Sure, I managed to finish the volume and make it... mostly work? But there were definitely some jarring parts, some poorly paced chapters, and a whole midsection that seemed to have thrown people off.

Sylviane -- the main focal point of Volume 3 -- was meant to be a bipolar character from the start. She has a rather mild (yes, mild!) form of a serious psychological illness, and it took a long time peeling back the many layers of issues. Her nearly-molesting Kaede and her suicidal-moment in Volume 2 were meant to be the first peeks of her Hypomania and Depressive episodes. Her bulimia was also a lead-up, as for somewhere between 75% to 90% of anorexia/bulimia suffers, the bulimia is actually a "secondary effect" of a stronger psychological disorder (most commonly chronic depression).

Then she actually, truly crashed in middle of Volume 3 and hit her lowest spot... and a lot of readers hated her for it, and what it did to Kaede in exchange.

(Spoiler warning up to Chapter 12.)

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Kaede's Last Memory and Minor Updates

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Sylviane's Concept Artwork by Hachi-Hana - still WIP

As typical for end-of-volume time, I go around making tons of edits. A comment by Kemm reminded me that Daybreak always had an awkward exposition (something beta-reader Himeko used to tell me a lot) so I went back to make edits to chapters 1-3. Not much change a reader wouldn't know already, except -- I added a bit more detail for Kaede's last memory before waking up in Hyperion. A reader once complaining that they had to wait until volume 3's first chapter before receiving any information about what Kaede was like on Earth, so...

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Daybreak Dev Diary #5 : Human Perception, Bias, and Ethics

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Working with Hachi-Hana on more Daybreak art. Here's a Pascal concept sketch where she captured his personality in one pose.

Finally, volume 3 of Daybreak draws to a conclusion. The epilogue is now posted, the chapter references caught up, and many chapter edits pushed in (mostly minor, aside from two scenes in v3ch11; also the 'Onee' explanation in v3ch18). I also posted something fun for gamer folks.

To be honest, I'm not quite happy with the results. Writing volume 3 has shown me that my ambitions here exceeded my actual skill as a writer. The volume isn't paced well, nor does some chapters hold on their own. It's been a learning experience, but it may be years before I try a theme as hefty as this one -- as always, constructive criticism is welcomed ^^

For the readers who did enjoy volume 3 though, I also hope you learned something. See page 2 for the Dev Diary.

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