Tag / Tales of Human Nature

by sixlakesstudios

Postponed: Tales of Human Nature

I realize this is last minute, as it was supposed to premiere tomorrow, but after a few drafts of panels, that Tales of Human Nature Vol. 1 will have to be reworked a little, as I need to make up for lost time on my other projects.

I have also decided to limit myself to writing the story. When I have the resources to do so, I will solicit the services of a professional illustrator for the graphic novel, as I am going to do with The Runaways.

I apologize that I keep pushing back projects, but I need to refocus myself. I am halfway done with Spring Quarter, and this Summer, I will be dedicating more time to writing and cartooning (As in comic strips. My drawing style may not be the best for graphic novels).

This summer, I am going to start drafting for the first volume of Blue City Mysteries. This means that the first ten stories are going to be released together (or at least that the plan). Mor einfo will come on this soon, but just know that even if TOHN is postpone, you will see a mystery from me soon!

Thanks for reading!

– Matt

by sixlakesstudios

Illustration Poll

Pro: You’ll get to see my illustrations of scenes from The Waterfall, Tales of Human Nature, Blurred Lines, Voldensfjordian Murders (text version), Max Fields, and other non-comic works. It’ll also help me improve my drawing skills, and I can post these on Webtoon, not just Tapas and Wattpad.

Con: More time will be needed between updates. I have college and work, and those are always tied for first place on my list of priorities, leaving only so much time for work on stories and comics.

However, I am seriously considering this. What do you think? Poll ends February 1st, 2022.

P.S.: The Aviary of Henry Weston and Blue City Mysteries are going to be illustrated regardless of the outcome of this poll, but not by me.

by sixlakesstudios

First Anniversary!!!!!

November 17th-18th, 2020: Gay, Autistic college student Matt Slater starts up the Cascades Stories website, with the first post, “Introduction,” Being posted at 9:59 PM on the 17th. HOWEVER, the website is officially registered on the 18th.

December 9th-11th, 2020: The Social Media Pages for Cascades Stories are created on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

December 24th, 2020: Matt submits “The Aviary of Henry Weston,” a short story, to the Reedsy weekly Prompts contest.

January 3rd, 2021: “The Aviary of Henry Weston” is the first original story posted on Cascades Stories.

January 3rd, 2021: “The Aviary of Henry Weston” also marks the beginning of the Wattpad/Tapas collection “Short Stories by Matt Slater,” featuring short stories and poems from SLS too small for their own book. After a few months of being unposted during the judging for the Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition, “The Aviary of Henry Weston” has been re-added to the collection.

February 2nd, 2021: “The Friend Lock,” also a Reedsy story, is posted on CS.

March 28th, 2021: “Carousel, Carousel” is posted. This is the first poem posted on CS, as well as the first writing by Matt Slater to not have come out of a prompt.

July 11th, 2021: “The Curious Store (AKA Tracing Patterns)” is posted on CS. While originally written for a Creative Writing assignment at Matt’s college, there was no prompt for this story, either. Rather, Matt wanted to write a story from the perspective of a gay, autistic man, and better explain what “stimming” is.

July 13th, 2021: Cascades Stories becomes Six Lakes Studios, as a tribute to his hometown, Lakewood, Washington (neither he nor his family live there anymore), and to his grandmother.

July 30th, 2021: Matt mistakenly publishes the first chapter of The Waterfall two days early. He later unpublished the post, and rescheduled it for the planned premiere on August 1st, 2021.

August 1st, 2021: Matt’s first multi-part story, The Waterfall, gets its first chapter published here, on Wattpad, and on Tapas. However, further chapters are only posted on Tapas and Wattpad.

September 20th, 2021: Matt turns 20 years old.

September 20th, 2021: The Vikings of Vancouver, Matt’s first comic, premieres here, on Webtoon, and on Tapas.

September 18th-24th, 2021: @impromptuwriters features Matt’s haikus about the Greek Muses. Matt later posts these on SLS. Thanks, Gage! 🙂

September 10th and 25th, 2021: Turning into darker works, Matt writes “The Runaways” for the Reedsy Weekly Prompts Contest for September 10th, 2021. Posted on SLS on the 25th of the same month, the Runaways did not win that contest, similar to the other stories submitted to past contests. However, “The Runaways,” as of November 18th, 2021, turned out to be Matt‘s most popular story on Reedsy, with 13 likes. “The Aviary of Henry Weston” is in second place, at nine likes, while “The Friend Lock” has five, and the original version of “The Waterfall,” which was disqualified, has one.

October 25th, 2021: The First Chapter of Blurred Lines #1: The Choir is published, and, sticking to his personal rule, Matt only published the first chapter here, while further chapters will arrive on Wattpad and Tapas.

November 18th, 2021: Six Lakes Studios turns one!!!!

November 18th, 2021: Matt Slater posts SLS’s anniversary video, thanking everyone who has supported SLS in its growth. This is the first video from SLS.

December 2021: Mason and Eric, the 2021 Christmas Special, will premiere. [Postponed, but not canceled]

December 31st, 2021: After this day, The Vikings of Vancouver, will only update on Tapas and Webtoon.

January 1st, 2022: Parker and Luca, Matt’s second comic, will premiere.

January 1st, 2022: “Formerly Cascades Stories” will be dropped from the site title.

February 14th, 2022: Matt, Matt’s third comic, will premiere.

February 2022: Max Fields #1 will premire.

April 15th, 2022: After this day, Parker and Luca will only update on Webtoon and Tapas.

May 2022: Tales of human Nature: Serial Killer will premiere.

May 31st, 2022: After this day, Matt will only update on Webtoon and Tapas.

October 2022: The Nightman of Bellingham Bay will premiere.

2022: SLS will be on Patreon!

2022: Matt will begin drafting the full-length version of “The Aviary of Henry Weston.”

2022: Matt will begin drafting the full-length Graphic Novel (yup, Graphic!) adaption of “The Runaways.” He will not illustrate it, however.

2022: Blue City Mysteries will premiere.

by sixlakesstudios

Update 10/31/2021 (Halloween!)

ARRRRRRGH, MATEYS!!!!! I be Four-Eyes the Fabulous, and this be my color-changing pumpkin friend, Jack O’Lantern! We be takin’ over this here website!

Just kidding! It’s me, Matt! Happy Halloween, readers!

If I’m being honest, I didn’t used to like Halloween (sensory overload), but I’ve grown to it. I just have to avoid anything that would cause me to freak out, shut down, or have nightmares. But I’m getting better! In fact, I am even watching the 1978 John Carpenter classic slasher: “Halloween!”

Now, onto the news:

The Vikings of Vancouver: More TVOV coming underway! I will only post a few more comics on WordPress, before shifting distribution exclusively to Webtoon and Tapas. Most likely, I will stop posting TVOV on here after the New Year.

Parker and Luca: I am getting started on Parker and Luca comics right now. I will try to create a character sheet for them as well.

Matt (Comic): I will be starting work on this comic soon.

Mason and Eric: I am one of those people who tries not to get all “Christmassy” (or “Winter Holiday-y” overall) until the Saturday after American Thanksgiving, but what the heck! I’ll announce this year’s Christmas Special! The 2021 Christmas Special is: “Mason and Eric!” More information to be coming next week. [Postponed, not canceled]

The Waterfall: Don’t worry! I haven’t forgotten about The Waterfall. Updates will resume sometime in December.

Tales of Human Nature Serial Killer: Coming May 2022!

Blurred Lines: Well, the story is coming along now, and will be updated as much as I can through November.

Max Fields #1: Coming February 2022!

Blue City Mysteries: I am in the process of writing stories for the series right now, but I’m still trying to figure out the characters, plotlines, and each individual story. I have some of my fictional version of Lakewood, Washington built up right now, but it’s not complete yet.

Also, I am not trying to put Lakewood in a negative light. I just wanted to set the series somewhere that is a) A diverse, medium-sized suburbia in the Pacific Northwest and b) close and near to my heart. I love that city. I lived there for a few years as a young kid, I have family and friends there, and I have a lot of memories there.

Voldensfjordian Murders: If you follow my work on “Chapters” I am so sorry I haven’t updated “A Voldensfjordian Murder” or its sequels and spin-off in a while! I am trying to get back on track, but it’ll be easier when I’m out of school for Winter Break.

If you haven’t seen them, please be sure to check them out!

Other Works: I have so many ideas in my mind, I can’t keep track of them! But I will be sure to keep you updated, and whenever I start truly working on a new project, you, dear readers, will be the first to know!

Personal: I am doing well in the Geosciences Major, and can’t wait for my winter quarter Screenwriting Class. I am also doing better, mentally, now that I am doing in-person classes. I am excited for what comes next for me in college, on this website, and in life! Also, my brother turned 15 years old TODAY! A Halloween birthday, how about that?!

P.S. Yes, those are real earrings. My Ears have been pierced since February of 2019, and earrings are one of my weird, random interests. The strange part, though? I’m not a fan of piercings elsewhere. Just ears. Not sure why.

Bone-us: Here’s a picture of my dog, Pizza, in 2019, dressed in his Halloween Costume.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2021!

BE SAFE, EAT CANDY AND HAVE SOME FUN!

(Hey, that rhymes!)

by sixlakesstudios

Update 8/18/2021

The Waterfall: Chapter Three will be posted on Wattpad and Tapas on Sunday at 4:30 PM PST. I am introducing some new characters.

Comics: The Vikings of Vancouver‘s first strips are underway.

Other than the plot and characters, there is another difference between TVOV and Parker and Luca. TVOV will have standalone comics (with a few exceptions), while Parker and Luca will have more story archs, with a few standalones mixed in.

Halloween: I have a few ideas for TOHN’s ‘substitute’ while I get the details for TOHN ironed out. You will get a Halloween story, mark my words!

Other Projects: The Aviary of Henry Weston, Tales of Human Nature, and Max Fields.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

-Matt

by sixlakesstudios

Update 7/23/2021

The Waterfall: I originally started writing this as an entry for Reedsy’s weekly prompts contest. However, I got so into the story, I realized it might go over the word limint, so I just found a good place to stop it, and said “To be continued” at the end before I submitted it. When the judging round is over, I plan to break my submission up into two parts, publish the first part on this website, but the full story will be published on Tapas and Wattpad.

Here is some information to know about “The Waterfall:”

Patty Newman and her wife Tess are cleaning out her late grandfather’s house in 2022, when Patty finds a note from him written on the back of a picture, in which he reveals himself as bisexual. He tells her the location of a diary where she learns about how her grandfather, Murray, had a secret relationship with his best friend Fred in 1950s Oregon. After this revelation, the plot switches back and forth between 2022, where Patty and Tess are searching for more information, and the 1950s, where Fred and Murray navigate being in a very secretive male-male relationship during the age of McCarthyism.

The story is set mainly in the fictional town of France, Oregon, which is based on the real life Seaside, Oregon; Cannon Beach, Oregon; Long Beach, Washington; and Ocean Shores, Washington.

The Waterfall is rated PG-13, for alcohol, language, outdated terms, and suggestive content.

Tales of Human Nature: I have scrapped the cult story in it’s entirety, and and going for a new angle with volume one. It will still be set in the fictional town of Rhododenron Heights, Washington, which is based on the real life Poulsbo, Washington; Steilacoom, Washington; and Astoria, Oregon. I am not sure if I will have it ready in time for Halloween, but fingers crossed. If not, at least Christmas, as the story starts just before Christmas, or maybe for Halloween 2022.

Here is the new idea for volume one of Tales of Human Nature (each volume will still be standalone, as previously stated):

Volume one will be titled “Serial Killer.” It is set between December 2007 and February 2008. Autistic high school senior Ryker Whitman lives with his parents and older siblings in Rhododendron Heights. His parents, Jane and Lewis, used to have high paying jobs until the Great Recession (a financial crisis that greatly affected the world in the late aughties). Now, they’re working two minimum wage jobs each to scrape enough cash to get the family through the holidays. If that wasn’t enough, a serial killer has become active in the area, dubbed the “Heights Glossectomist,” or “H.G.” by local media. The case gets more complicated, as H.G. leaves a letter for Ryker the morning after every murder explaining his actions.

What is H.G.’s Modus Operandi? What is their motive? Why are they telling Ryker about their murders? Find out in Tales of Human Nature: Serial Killer.

TOHN: SK is rated “R” for violence, language, alcohol, and sexual scenarios.

Comics: Three comics are in the queue for release during the 2021-22 Television Year (for those who don’t live in the United States, our Television Year is September to August, so the comics will debut between September 2021 and August 2022).

Comic #1: The Vikings of Vancouver: Follows the Norwegian-Canadian Halvorsen family: Marcus and Mary Halvorsen, their aduts children, their grandson, their dog, and their younger son’s live-in boyfriend, all of whom live in a townhouse in a fiction version of Davie Village, Vancouver, British Columbia. Even though this is a comic about a family, it is not family friendly. It is more of a cringe-comedy and sitcom-inspired comedy. 14+, 9/20/2021

Comic #2: Parker and Luca: Follows married couple Parker Johannsen and Luca Paiva, fathers raising three children in Spokane, Washington. I got the idea for this strip years ago, actually, after realizing that while there has been more LGBTQ+ visibility on television, there aren’t many shows with same-sex parents. The percentage of shows featuring same-sex parenting, in my perspective, goes down even further if you only count comedies. I am not a parent myself (I plan to have four kids in my thirties, but there is no place in my life for a kids right now), but I draw inspiration from my expiriences babysitting my younger brother, as well as stories from other people. PG, 1/1/2022

Comic #3: Matt: This is just some “slice of life”/social commentary comics I draw about my life, including my expiriences with ADD, Asperger’s, body image issues, social awkwardness, (self-diagnosed) mild social anxiety, navigating college during COVID, and my coming out. 14+, 2/14/2022

Blue City Mysteries: I’m working on fleshing the first few stories out.

Youtube and Patreon: I am hoping to start making Youtube content on both the Matt Slater and Six Lakes Studios Youtube pages, and get the Patreon Page up and running by the time SLS turns one. I plan to have the Patreon page membership charge by creation, rather than by month, just in case I get some slow months during the upcoming school year.

Tapas: I have set up my short story collection to premiere with “The Friend Lock” and “The Curious Store” on Saturday, with the former at 9 AM PST, and the latter at 10 AM PST. “Carousel, Carousel” will follow at 11 AM PST. They are already on Wattpad. Here are the links for Wattpad and Tapas.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!

-Matt

by sixlakesstudios

Postponed: Tales of Human Nature

I apologize, but Tales of Human Nature will be postponed until further notice. The story needs a lot of work.

by sixlakesstudios

Update 5/9/2021

Sorry for not updating in a while. School.

Anyway, I have some exciting news: An edited version of “The Aviary of Henry Weston” has been submitted to the 90th Annual Writer’s Digest Competition! Wish me luck!

Also, I will do my best to be more active in the Summer, but I just need to get through the rest of Spring Quarter. I do have ideas for upcoming projects, though:

Comic Strip: “The Vikings of Vancouver.” The comic strip follows a Norwegian-Canadian family and their interactions with other people. If you think this sounds like a wholesome family strip, it is not. It won’t be crass or overtly inappropriate either, though. Let’s just give it a “TV-14-DSL” rating. It will be uploaded to Tapas and Webtoon later this year.

Tales of Human Nature: “Volume 1: Rhododendron Heights.” My Halloween Treat to you, as mentioned in a previous update, will be the first volume of Tales of Human Nature. Every volume follows a different story with different characters. TOHN: RH follows an Ryker Whitman, autistic teenager whose family moves to a small, oceanside town in Southwestern Washington from Los Angeles in August 2007, after his dad loses his job due to the Late Aughties Financial Crisis. The Whitmans learn from a local carpenter that a small yet dangerous cult has been active in and around the town since the 1930s. Ryker attempts to learn more about the cult, but he keeps encountering obstacles, and strange things start happening to anyone who tries to help him. TOHN: RH will be all typed over the Summer, and released on Wattpad and Tapas, with a new chapter every Sunday between September 19th (the day before my 20th Birthday) and Halloween. [Postponed until further notice]

Blue City Mysteries: Volume 1 (Stories 1-10). I am working on the first few stories. The series will be set in Lakewood between 2028 and 2033. The first story will introduce the main characters, Detective Carl “Earrings” Warburton, who has been part of the Lakewood PD for nine years, and Detective Zaria “Banker” Bankole, a recent transfer from the Seattle PD, as they investigate the murder of a tennis star, whose body was found in a storage unit.

The Aviary of Henry Weston: Full-length book is under way!

“The Curious Store”: An illustrated short story I will be posting this summer. More details to come later.

Name change: On November 17th, 2021, the first anniversary of this website, Cascades Stories will no longer be “Cascades Stories.” I am changing the name. More details to come later!

Until then, thank you for reading!

~ Matt

P.S. Happy Mother’s Day!

by sixlakesstudios

Update 3/5/2021

Hi guys. I’m still focusing on finishing the school year, but I promise, things will pick back up soon.

In the meantime, here are some upcoming projects that I am definitely going to take on sometime this year:

  1. The Aviary of Henry Weston full-length book: No, you read that right. I am going to adapt The Aviary of Henry Weston into a full-length book! I’ll delve a little more into some details that couldn’t fit into the 3k-word limit I had while writing the original short story. You’ll learn more about the relationship between Connor and Burt, Conner and Mario’s story, and the family’s dynamics. I’ll also get more into the other characters: Isabel, Samantha, and Timothy. You’ll learn more about Henry and Iris, as well. I feel like I could’ve done more to describe the kind of family the Westons are. Anyway, I will be doing a lot of writing this summer, and I hope to have the first draft done by Thanksgiving (US).
  2. Ghost in the Machine: I want to write mysteries, and I’m a Computer Science major at EWU. So I thought: “Ooh! What if I wrote a tech noir?” It’s in the idea phase right now, but I hope to start writing it sometime this year.
  3. Tales of Human Nature: I mentioned this story in my introduction back in 2020, but I am going to try writing a few short psych-horror/thriller stories over the summer.
  4. Blue City Mysteries: I am going to start writing stories for my planned mystery series set in my hometown, Lakewood, Washington. Why did I change the name from “Lakewood PD?” I just thought that that name sounded too generic. So, I tried finding a nickname for Lakewood I could draw inspiration from, but it turns out there are none. So, I made one up:
    • There are a lot of lakes in Lakewood, hence the name. Lake are generally presented as blue on maps.
    • There is already a neighborhood within Lakewood called “Lake City,” so that can’t be a nickname for the city, too.
    • Blue is a popular color in Lakewood (at least from my observation). Even the City’s logo is half blue.
    • Therefore: Blue City. Even fits perfectly with the mystery theme.
  5. Untitled Halloween Surprise: Uh, uh, uh! I said surprise. 😉
  6. YouTube: I will start posting videos on YouTube this Summer under my original channel, “Matt Slater.” The Cascades Stories channel may see videos a bit later in the year.

There are a ton of other things I want to do this year, but I think I should pace myself.

I really appreciate everyone who comes to my website. I’m sorry I haven’t been very active. I’ll try to post something during EWU’s spring break.

Until then, let’s get through the rest of this winter!

Thank you for reading!

~ Matt