The Darkness Is Upon Us
This story just got significantly darker.
Three years have passed since I first set up this here website. For three years, I relied almost entirely on the WordPress Elementor editor. It is a wonderfully practical little tool that allowed me to combine text and images through simple blocks, while still adding some finer touches and effects along the way.
It has all been learning by doing. And after three years of that learning, I have finally begun venturing into HTML editing. Here and there, I picked up small tricks and learned how to shape individual elements more precisely. During the past months, I also turned to an AI assistant for help with more elaborate ideas — though help in this case means lengthy conversations where I explain the desired effect and the assistant then attempts to translate that into the appropriate code. Well … more or less.
The results have been genuinely exciting for me, because I feel much closer to realising the vision I have always had for The Glass Wizard and for what a web serial can become if making full use of the medium.
Now, where I would have wanted a chapter printed on black pages, I can let the website page itself change! This will hasppen tomorrow:
In the upcoming Chapter 2.7 of Book One, the Witch Moon rises.
T̰́̇ͦ̀è̸̷̸̬̤̗̊_̸̵̰̦̗̒͜ȟ̗̍ͤa̶͉͉͍̭̰̅̀̈͜ͅȓ̶̶̛̦͇͙̟̈̿͒ͮ͑̋̚͡u̟͖͔̖̙͙͆̄̿ͩͧ̃̽̓̈̌̀͟͞n swallows the light, and so you will find yourself reading in darkness.
It has taken quite a bit of tinkering and testing, but I now have a shifting darkness surrounding the text and a more experimental presentation that I hope helps convey the feeling of the Witching Hour — or, in this particular case, the most uncanny Witch New Year. This here is one of many typographical art elements you will encounter in B1*C2.7:
My intention is not to decorate the page, but to make the reading experience itself feel different. A little stranger. A little more immersive. Something that exists beyond plain words on a screen.
There is still so much more I would like to attempt: visual effects such as lightning distortions for sections surrounding the crater, and other ways to make certain moments feel distinct. But alas, I am only one duck, and the technical mysteries of bringing all these ideas into existence require quite a bit of time and energy.
The new Witch Moon Mode is a significant step for me, though, and I am really happy with it. There is something wonderful about seeing the words appear differently on the page; watching the white and silver lettering shift against the darkness. Perhaps it allows the desolation and overwhelming presence of T̰́̇ͦ̀è̸̷̸̬̤̗̊_̸̵̰̦̗̒͜ȟ̗̍ͤa̶͉͉͍̭̰̅̀̈͜ͅȓ̶̶̛̦͇͙̟̈̿͒ͮ͑̋̚͡u̟͖͔̖̙͙͆̄̿ͩͧ̃̽̓̈̌̀͟͞n to linger just a little longer.
I hope it enriches your journey through The Glass Wizard world.