Update on My WIP: Portal to Japan

So, I thought it is best if I at least give a brief update on my current work-in-progress, especially since I still have it listed as “Coming September 2021” in my other website, cerohsner.com, which has been very sadly neglected as I still figure out how to present my work online and stuff.

Anyways, even though I do not blog as often as I used to, that doesn’t mean I am not working as hard on my book as ever. Yes, I’m still working on Portal to Japan after finishing the first draft on June 1, 2020, and it is almost 2 years since the idea for it came to me in October 2019. I have now discovered better who the ultimate protagonist is, as opposed to just knowing the ultimate villain. I know how the time dial that sets the time travel machine’s arrival and return times works. I know the two specific points where my book is notably weak. I made a huge dynamic shift in understanding what my book is about, and I’m currently working out the puzzles that my characters have to solve, knowing what the end goals are.

I also discovered recently that this story is very Professor Layton-esque; in fact, the Professor Layton game walkthroughs hosted by Arglefumph on YouTube are what inspired the very existence of puzzles in the book. Not to give too much away, but I realized recently that my WIP is basically “Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy” but scrambled, less sad, and hopefully more cohesive. I doubt that puzzles are very definitive of classic literature (or are they?), and yet they are there.

It is very clear and very disappointing to me that I fail in delivering Portal to Japan by September 2021. It ain’t coming. Not so soon, anyway. But this project continues to give me joy.