Lexi Presents: The Dreamspore Chronicles: A Psychedelic Fantasy

[Lexi Darling]

Good morning!

I have always valued writing fiction as a means of escapism; it has helped me deal with my own traumas and baggage and the emotions and ideas I could never express any other way. In this uncertain time in my life, I want to return to one piece of fiction that has been an outlet for my creativity and my expression since I was a teenager.

In 2000, I began writing fanfiction of some of my favorite media properties at the time. By 2003 I felt I had evolved enough as a writer to not have to rely on others' concepts, and I began my first original work in the early spring of that year. It was a fantasy story set in a completely invented world, influenced by the epic scope of classical fantasy, but I intentionally wanted to avoid sword and sorcery elements like dragons and castles, instead eventually coming to a more psychedelic and dreamlike setting. That story idea spun out into what would become an 11 book series (13 if you count the short story collection and the lore compendium, haha) with a massive amount of lore and worldbuilding. The series went through a few titles, but I settled on "The Dreamspore Chronicles".

When it came to the idea of putting these books online or even publishing them, I bawked at it for years. This was my private, personal project, and even if I were to bare my soul like that, the first few books are really rough in the prose department. I think the story and characters and setting are still really neat, but the use of the written word in those early books was just not good. So now that I have a bit more free time, I will be revising all the books, chapter by chapter, and posting them here for your viewing pleasure. Do keep in mind that these were written long ago by someone who was 14 at the beginning of the series, but I hope they can provide some enjoyment and a window into my mind during the writing of these books.

The themes of the series include environmentalism, turf wars, drug addiction, anti-government, gender identity, depression, and many others, real world issues viewed through the lens of an invented fictional world. I tackle this stuff in an honest, if sometimes clumsy, way. Most likely you will find them to be flawed masterpieces at best. The books are also very long and there's a lot of setup and story arcs that can take several books to resolve. Each book does have a logical start and end point, but you can't read any of them out of order. I am always open to feedback on my prose and grammar, so feel free to offer constructive criticism on that.

I may type up a general synopsis later. I might just jump right into the "revised edition" of the first chapter of the first book. Either way, I hope you find something to enjoy in my absurd little baby.

[Guybrush]

Cool Lexi! Looking forward to joining you on this journey 😊

[Lexi Darling]

Thank you! Glad to have you onboard.

Here's a brief summary of the setting of the books, and of the three main characters.

The story, at its core, is about three young kids getting thrust out into a weird and wacky world. I put a lot into making the setting feel familiar but somewhat alien as well. The most central element of the series' lore is an entity known as the Cluster, a colossal mushroom (you can get your Super Mario jokes out of the way now) with divine powers. People live on top of its cap, and it serves equally as a world, a living creature, and a god. Much of the central themes of the books revolve around the symbiosis, or lack thereof, between humans and the Cluster, as well as its "chosen people", the Clusterites, who are born from the spores the Cluster generates. This will make more sense when you read it, I swear, haha.

But the fantastical setting is less crucial to the lifeblood of this series; the characters and their adventures are the real meat of it. The books revolve largely around three main characters.

Luca, a dashing yet extremely reckless and self-destructive young woman, who seeks to discover the secrets of the universe.

Sasha, a positive but soft-spoken young man who longs for adventure and glory, to strike out on his own and prove himself.

Noko, a tough-as-nails, highly logical and calculating young woman with the ambition and drive to accomplish her goal: taking over the world.

So that's a bit of information on the story to prepare you a bit and set the stage. I will be posting each chapter as it is completed, starting most likely in late February or early March. Looking forward to showing you all this part of me.

[tristan_geoff]

Omg bookmarking next computer time g'night for now zzzz

[Lexi Darling]

So... I do apologize, but I've run into some complications with getting this story to you.

For various personal reasons I am unable to continue "remastering" my novels at this moment. However, in place of that project, I am announcing a new way of delivering the core of these creative writing endeavors. Prior to writing the "full prose" versions of the books, I wrote "script format" outlines that more or less include everything that happens, just presented in the form of something like a movie script instead of a novel. This was done because my original intention for the Dreamspore Chronicles was to make it an animated series. It was a practice I continued to do, because it came in handy to be able to work with a version of the story that contained only the essentials; the characters, setting, plot and all the messages and lore that go along with them, before I started piling on the prose. The only things you will be missing in this "script format" version of the books is the more fleshed-out descriptive prose, which frankly isn't even very good in any of my novels, to be brutally honest to myself. But the core of the story is something I am proud of, and that is why I am going to deliver to you this long and twisting mythos in this form, a form that in many ways is more true to my original concept of a visual medium than the books' final form.

I will be uploading the script for Book 1 Chapter 1 tomorrow or Sunday. I do need to make edits for clarity, but it won't be nearly as much work as it would have been to redo the full prose version. So look out for that, coming soon.

As a little teaser, I'd also like to share the titles of each of the 11 books. Each title is relevant only metaphorically, and none of the titles contain spoilers. Book 12 is meant to be the grand finale to cap off the series, but I have not begun to write it yet and may not start for a while.

Book 1: To Dance Above the Dust
Book 2: The Butterfly's Song
Book 3: The Heart of the World
Book 4: The Twilight Sea
Book 5: The Shattered Sky
Book 6: A Flight of Memories
Book 7: To Bury the Divine
Book 8: The Supernova Garden
Book 9: Cross of the Lunar
Book 10: The Infinity Wish
Book 11: The Road to Morning
Book 12: The Echoes of Eternity

Working in this way has lifted a big weight off of my shoulders; I feel like I can apply myself a lot more consistently so as to keep up the flow of chapters I post. I am excited to start this project, and I do hope you enjoy.

- Lexi

[Guybrush]

Still eagerly waiting 🙂

Note that there is a character limit to posts that might become relevant for these sort of threads. If it becomes bothersome, I'm unsure if we can remove it, but we would be able to tweak it.

[Lexi Darling]

Still eagerly waiting 🙂

Note that there is a character limit to posts that might become relevant for these sort of threads. If it becomes bothersome, I'm unsure if we can remove it, but we would be able to tweak it.

I was going to also post them to my wordpress blog, so I think if that's the case I'll just link the blog entries. Thanks for the heads up!

Edit: although I suppose it would depend on the limit. If it's possible I guess I would like to post them directly on here. Do you know what the current one is?

[Lexi Darling]

Apologies to my wonderful friends who were waiting for me to post this, but the reality is that at the moment I just don't have a schedule that is conducive to sitting down and writing this. I'm working on a lot of other, more pressing projects (a podcast, returning to streaming, my electronic concept album, and a collaborative novel with a friend of mine) and of course I have the daily housewife grind. Going through my old writing and revising it paragraph by paragraph is just a bit too involved to be able to make time for at present.

Thank you for your support. <3