Hello everyone!

“Please.”

Sometimes it doesn’t take a lot of words…

This is the end of Chapter Three; I hope you have enjoyed it! Next week we will be posting guest art, and the week after we will start delving into the short stories, with guest pieces thrown in on Saturdays for a while. Chapter four will start mid-may. It will be quite the ride, I promise!

Speaking of Chapter Three- we are in our final countdown, with only four days left to pre-order! The book has grown a bit; and will now be a total of 84 pages. I’m not sure how it keeps getting larger, but I won’t complain!

We’ve had lots of comments recently about the world Amya takes place in; and since it has been some time since Chapter Two was released, I thought it would be nice to post a map of Amya below. Chapter Four will take place in both Alba and Vicary, and will delve into some backstory of the world; so this will soon be rather relevant. Though it will be shown in the comic itself as well.

Thank you ever so much for all the lovely feedback we have been receiving! It does mean a lot to us.

Best wishes,

Savannah

Hello everyone,

“May I have a word?”

There is only one page left of chapter three- and as per usual it will be a splash! Can you guess what Faye’s note says?

Chapter four will be titled “The Capitol”, it will actually cover both Alba and Vicary; the capitols of Perennion and Estul.

I assure you there is a lot to look forward to. :D

A note that there is only 11 days left to get your pre-orders of Chapter Three in! I assure you the book is going to be nothing but awesome.

In other news; Lenna and Vincent have been pretty much tied through the poll; or if one pulled in front of the other it was by 1-3 votes, and didn’t last long before they tied again. We have decided to do both stories for this reason. We will be posting Vincent’s first, and then Lenna’s. Michael is already hard at work on the art!

Have a great day everyone!

Best wishes,

Savannah

Hello everyone,

“That was not truly a request”

We have a bit of news. First- we hit our goal for the print-run of chapter three! I have attached a video of a rather socially awkward me thanking everyone. Because I don’t know how typing my thanks could be enough.

Second- as anyone who follows Rebecca’s DeviantArt account knows, she is getting married in April! This is super exciting and we couldn’t be more happy for her.

As per usual, we will have a short hiatus after Chapter three is completed, as we had to stop producing new pages while we focused on preflighting and artwork revisions for the print edition. Due to Rebecca’s wedding, this is going to be longer than usual.

However, instead of just doing guest art pieces for two months, Michael Sexton of Everblue will be joining our team to draw a short “background” focused comic that will be about five pages in length. So it will not be part of the ongoing storyline, but rather a look back at the past of an acquaintances/secondary character. Andrew and I are full of stories, and wonder which of the following you would be most interested in seeing:

Once again, thank you everyone for all of your feedback and support.

Best wishes,

Savannah

I decided to forward this from my tumblr, for those that would like to comment on the entry. As I’m sure you are aware, we are currently running a fundraiser through indiegogo for the printing of Amya’s third issue.

We are now over 100% of our goal our goal, which is incredible! I can’t thank everyone enough for the tremendous support we have received.
As part of the campaign I promised to do weekly updates through various media, and invited readers to send in question they would like to see discussed. Initially I was going to make a video about this, but due to my recent surgery I thought text would be better.

The topic I have chosen to respond to today is, “Why is Faye Mute, and how does it effect the story?”

When designing Faye – I wanted to create a challenging character. For those that don’t already know the story, Faye is a mute spell-caster who is thrown into an adventure with a group of new friends that don’t really know what to make of her sign language and lack of speech.
Apart from when there is pen and paper on hand, she is not able to communicate to them through words.
Because of this lacking element, we need to rely heavily on the artistic side of the comic to visually articulate what she is feeling.
However, seeking a challenge wasn’t the only reason I created Faye this way. When writing I tend to project a bit of myself onto my characters. It makes it easier to relate to and humanize them.

When I was young, I was diagnosed with a central auditory processing disorder. Though I could hear, my brain could not decipher what I was hearing. I did not learn to speak or speak properly for some time, and even when I did learn communication was still very awkward through my youth. Even to this day I rely heavily on lip-reading, as my mind becomes too confused to make out words if there is too much noise in the background.

Much like Faye I went through a good portion of my life in silence. And likewise I turned to reading and writing as a way to escape from the world, and as a communication tool.

Faye is non-verbal, but she is hearing – and does not have the same disorder that I was born with. There will be other explanations in regards to her lack of voice as the story continues.

That really summarizes why I decided to make Faye non-verbal; so onto the next question.

How do I think Faye’s silence effects the story?

I think it impacts it in a few ways. Mainly – how the other characters interact with her, and how she is perceived by the party as well as readers.
Faye has a lot of strength – but she hasn’t had a lot of opportunity to showcase it as of yet. The other characters to some extent have associated her disability with the idea that she should be a non-participant. But this is not the case.

Often when we first meet someone with a disability, we focus on what they can’t do and not what they can. Faye really isn’t limited at all. She can communicate and hold conversations through sign language, gestures and touch, writing and body language. It is the world’s understanding of her communication attempts that is limited.

If you have ever gone through Disability Sensitivity training in your workplace, you likely have a good idea of the common mistakes people often make when interacting with an ‘impaired’ individual. Making assumptions rather than asking, forcing aid, speaking to a third-party rather than directing attention to the individual, and so on. A lot of this can be avoided by common sense; however, I like to think they can be avoided by remembering one simple thing – that they are a normal human being.

A human being that has found alternate ways to maneuver the world and communicate when faced with great challenges.
As the story continues you will see the group overcome some of these issues; and I believe as the story progresses the perception of Faye will change greatly among the readers.

My journal entries tend to be rather scattered as I write as thoughts come. So if this post has seemed fragmented due to it, I apologize. My intent was to write this in my journal entry format, rather than turning it into an essay.

As always, thank you for all of your support. Please don’t hesitate to send more questions to admin@amyachronicles.com

Best wishes,

Savannah Houston-McIntyre

Hello everyone,

“Your resemblance is uncanny.”

A reminder to join us on WEBReeF this weekend! I will be involved in a few of the events:
Fri Feb 3 : Fantasy Webcomics Roundtable @ 8pm EST
Sat Feb 4 : Women in Webcomics Roundtable @ 4pm EST
Sat Feb 4 : Amya Q&A (With myself and Andrew) @ 9pm EST
We hope to see you there!

Please don’t forget to visit the Chapter Three Fundraiser! We have 25% left to raise, and only 23 days to do so! Any help you give will be most appreciated. Using the share tools to spread the word would be an excellent start. Every little bit helps!

Enjoy your weekend!

Best wishes,

Savannah

Hello everyone!

“What the hell is this?”

If you missed it, there was a bonus page on Monday! We are now at 75% of our fundraising campaign, so there will also be a bonus page on Friday.

We are now in the last 25 days of of raising funds for the print run on chapter two. Please visit the page and pass along the word, we would be extremely grateful! Every little bit helps!

Andrew and I will be partaking in the WEBReeF Gathering this weekend, which is an online convention. You can join us for a Q&A on Saturday at 9pm. I will also be part of the Fantasy Webcomics Roundtable on Friday.

Have a great week everyone, and we’ll see you on Friday!

Best wishes,

Savannah

February 1st update may be a few hours late! If you’re seeing this and it’s midnight, check back later! <3

Hello everyone!

“I suppose I already knew as much…”

Bonus update! Are you surprised? I am too! I was so focused on the Indiegogo campaign, I never considered someone would flick the extra update switch on our member’s donation page!

It might make this an interesting week; as we are currently one pre-order away from reaching 75% on the Indiegogo Campaign; at which point another bonus update will be scheduled. It is very likely we will hit that mark this week, and assuming we do, that update will be scheduled for Friday so things aren’t too clustered and confusing on your feeds. That will make this a S/W/F update week.

I am sorry I have not been responsive to comments on the last page; it was a very busy, stressful week. But I do hope to catch up later today. Thank you to those who went ahead and answered some questions on my behalf!

We are in the final month of fundraising for the print run of Chapter Three. If you haven’t visited the campaign yet please do so! If you already have – please consider visiting it again and using the share tools to pass along the word. It’s the perfect time! Every little bit helps, as I am so grateful for all of the support we have received both through financial contributions and encouraging comments.

Have a great day everyone!

Best wishes,

Savannah

Hello everyone,

“That’s no light read…”

You may have noticed this page is five days early. I have a slew of medical and union appointments next week, so this is an early update, not an extra. There will be no update next week. (*Unless we reach the 75% mark on our fundraiser, than there will be a bonus update!)

Don’t you just love the detail in this page? I sure do!

A reminder that we are about to head into our final month of fundraising for the print run of Chapter Three. If you haven’t visited the campaign yet please do so! If you already have – please consider visiting it again and using the share tools to pass along the word. It’s the perfect time!

I am so incredibly thankful to everyone who has given us such great support so far. We have received donations from seven different countries, New Zealand, Australia, Poland, France, United Kingdom, USA, and Canada! It’s amazing how small the internet makes the world. Please don’t let your location hinder you from supporting, as we will ship international!

Have a great week everyone.

Best wishes,

Savannah

Hello everyone,

“You don’t seem concerned…”

Please remember to pay the Indiegogo campaign a visit today! We could really use your help getting our GoGo factor up by using the share tools. Every little bit helps! I’m rather excited we are at 60% of our goal! When we reach the 75% checkpoint, I will be posting and extra update.

I’ve received the new spot-gloss postcards in the mail, and couldn’t be more impressed with how they’ve turned out. Because I only had one eye available due to my surgery, Cari from Toilet Genie helped me with the gloss selection. When you see them, I’m sure you’ll agree she did a wonderful job!

Have a great day everyone!

Best wishes,

Savannah

Hello everyone!

“You seem nervous Accel – Is something the matter?”

Perhaps inner Accel is screaming “Yes, yes! Look behind us!” in his head right now.

We have a little over a month left to gather funding for the Chapter Three Print Run on IndieGoGo, which is currently at 55%. Please have a look at the campaign and pass along the word! Every little bit helps.

Have a great week everyone!

Best wishes,

Savannah