It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Make a Snake Girl

in which our heroine draws back the curtain and lets you see behind the scenes while trying to make a clever book trailer

Hello lovelies!

Ooof. This isn’t exactly news, but dieting and working out are the worst. There. I’m now, like, 3/4 of the way to writing a comic strip for the daily funnies in a 90s newspaper. Anyway, that’s been a big part of my summer free time lately, and yes, since you asked, I’m feeling healthier already and quite pleased with how my butt looks in workout leggings. ;)

Today I’ve got a few updates, but then I’ll be drawing back the curtain and showing you a lot of stupid little videos while we collectively lament the end of the universe as we know it.

New Stuff Being Written!

I know in a recent post I hinted that the next installment of Bimbo World was underway. And it is. But something else will likely beat it to publication, and that’s gonna be an actual summer beach novel. I’d like to get it out while there’s still some beach time left, so I’m really hustling on the edits and layouts.

It’s called Interview with the Gynoid. And it’s about a brokenhearted dysphoric coder who discovers a charming cafe hides a cutting edge fembot creation lab… and it’s about to start churning out Stepford wives for evil techbros.

I’d describe the book as more of an erotic thriller, think the Acquired series of mine but doing a modern Stepford Wives tale.

Anyway, I wrote it LAST summer on the beach and have been kicking it around for a while, but I’m eager to release it, so that’s my focus for right now. Premium friends, I’ll include a little preview at the end, just for you!

The Bimbo Game

Ugh. Coding is hard. But I’m actually pivoting slightly, merging the existing Bimbo Room demo game with some of the concepts in upcoming Bimbo World releases. You’ll see some crossing over of ideas with both of those! More on that soon.

But today, loves, I want to invite you to laugh a bit with me, but this requires some explanation.

Marlynn of the Ring - the Book Trailer

Y’all, I just love that stupid monstergirl pulp novel. I really want to do a sequel. And people seem to quietly dig on it when they find it. It’s regularly in my top sales each month, even if those sales are a bit low lately.

So I was advised to do a book trailer. Ugh. I’m good at graphics and things, but social media has not been my strong suit.

I should also note: this summer I was given access through my day job to some, yes, AI tools. And though I’m back and forth on whether this is all going to usher in the apocalypse, my day job is requiring me to become an expert in them in order to keep said job, so that’s my “I vas only paying zee mortgage” (catch THAT reference if you can) defense.

I decided I might as well try and help the career I’d RATHER have as my fulltime career and put some of those free credits in service of making a book trailer for Marlynn.

And honestly… wait until you see it. I’m fairly giddy. BUT

Marlynn of the Ring features as a main character, a naga. Sexy girl on top, snake on the bottom. I obviously wanted to feature her in the trailer since, after all, snake girls are quite the thing. Gotta have some monster girls in the monster girl book trailer, right?

Please by all means, if anyone’s smart out there, tell me a better way, but here’s a prompt and what comes out.

Okay, I didn’t do a terribly good job on the prompt. I know. But what you can’t see is the dozens of attempts that are more descriptive that go more off the rails.

LEGS. I get legs a lot of the time.

I also get the “tail” as the head of the snake quite a bit. But even when things are working and we get something like THIS

(I’ve given up on the bikini top as is canonical in the novel, I’m just happy I finally produced a naga.) - but now I gotta make it move.

So my workflow on this, and this is how many of the tools work, is: I get a frame I like, and then I use the tool to describe the motion, cinematography, and I’m fairly impressed with the tool I’m using in terms of actually being able to plan a shot and see it realized. Since I did these experiments I’ve leveled up quite a bit, but if you thought it was difficult to get one good frame, this and several other tools had a great deal of difficulty with “how does snake girl move?”

Answer: well, Solar, seems like a lot of things in your imagination are not things in the model.

No, darling, you’re supposed to slither up the the cage to find your trapped lover. Not go join him in there through the stage wall.

Okay, almost, but then maybe don’t SCOOT, sweetie.

Okay, but also… don’t float.

Okay, Solar, what’s your point?

My point is that I genuinely feel like this process of basically pulling a slot machine arm and hoping to get something that matches what you were hoping to get without the money or work is maybe the most artistically disheartening feelings I’ve ever had. Especially because I realized I was getting the dopamine hit when the slots came up and I hit a jackpot.

On the other hand, my competitors are harnessing every tool that they can get their work seen, and it’s increasingly a video-based world. As a writer, I find this a bit frustrating, but as someone with a media arts background, I am finding that if I want to keep writing as a career or make it a better-paying one, I have to be open to the possibilities and I have to maybe participate in the arms race.

But lord, what this has all taught me is there’s got to be a better way. And I really hope someone reading this might tell me.

But in the meantime, there WILL be a book trailer and you’ll see it first.

XOXO

Solar

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