I've been asked frequently just what the process is in creating a chapter, and just why it takes so long. Well my answer to that last point is because I have a life outside of the net, and it frequently takes me away from being able to produce the next chapter.
But when I do have time, here's how it works:
When I start a story, I write up a master outline that lays out the major plot devices. It's very simplistic, but it helps me get the story hashed out.
Then I go to whatever chapter that needs writing. Obviously if I've just created the outline, this would be chapter 1, currently I'm looking at chapter 10. I sit down and I write the chapter, surrounding the major plot points. Why don't I write the whole thing out at once? I don't know, it just works this way for me.
After that, I build whatever MOCs or sets I need for the chapter. Sometimes I change the chapter to suit the MOC, but most of the time the MOC is built for the chapter. Building sets usually only takes a day, but building a fully detailed building usually takes anywhere from a day to a month, maybe longer.
Then I print out the finalized chapter and mark out where I plan to take each picture. My current scheme is to have a chapter with 9 pages with 33 - 39 pictures.
Of course, next I take the pictures. I pose the figs the way I need them to be and I take the shot. Typically I take four or five shots per scheduled picture, making sure to get the right pic, or at the very least, the best pic I can given my lighting conditions and hardware.
Then comes post production. I need to at least crop and re-size the pictures, if not add special effects. Chapter 9 had very few special effects, whereas chapter 8 had many. Post-production for Chapter 9 only took a few hours.
Finally, all that's left is building the HTML pages for the chapter pages, typically 11 or 12, and uploading them to the site.
Hopefully, that'll give you some idea as to what it takes to produce a single chapter of my story, and just why it takes so long.
