Greetings Chroniclers!
Preview of Chronicle 24
Welcome to another week here at Chronicle as we close out our fifth month! I want to thank everyone who has continued to support Chronicle and help it grow. As always, I want to let you guys know how things are doing. We leveled off from the huge month of May and seem to be cruising right at 5,000 page views. That is fantastic in my opinion. For such a young comic I am very happy with that number. We passed our 10,000th unique visitor this month and are averaging about 2.5 page views per visit, which means that people are curious enough to click around before leaving.
So, heading towards the half year mark, what does all of that mean? It means that Chronicle has found its footing and is going to keep going. We will most likely hit the end of Chapter One by the six month mark. I had written out this first chapter and thought I would see where the comic went. If it got some attention, we would go further. If not, hey we gave it a good shot. But, there is definitely some attention. So we will wrap up Chapter One soon and keep moving forward!
One of the things that I have had trouble with was a good descriptor for Chronicle. I usually say it's a fantasy rpg based webcomic. But boy is that a mouthful. Instead, I have found a term that fits it very well: Swordpunk. What is swordpunk? Well, better that you ask G. Derek Adams, author of Spell/Sword and James D. Cormier the writer who tipped me to the term through the r/fantasy Subreddit. Basically it's fantasy that is aware it's fantasy and has fun being fantasy.
When I read these two blog posts, I had a moment of clarity. I understand my goal for Chronicle a bit more. I still want to build a world and I still want to breathe life into it, but I don't want to get so mired down in the mechanics and details that I forget to write a fun story. I want to take those fantasy tropes that have sat so long they have grown moss and roll them over exposing something fresh rather than toss them away. I think I've already done that some and will continue to push that envelope.
Finally, I've had a lot of people ask me if their kids can read Chronicle. Absolutely! I grew up with fantasy that could be read by everyone and I want to continue that tradition. There is a time and a place for "grimdark fantasy" like Game of Thrones and I love it. But I also love it when my young cousins or my friends' kids say they're enjoying the comic.
So, what is Chronicle? All-Ages Swordpunk, has a nice ring to it.