An unexpected update

There’s something new(ish) about Friday Night Twilight II: chapter eight. Read on to find out why.

I’ve said before that I didn’t expect Friday Night Twilight II to reach the heights of popularity that it did. What came as an even greater surprise was the shift in reader reactions when the story concluded. Some people were very, shall we say, dissatisfied with the ending. This caught me off guard, although in retrospect I suppose it shouldn’t have. The story ended abruptly, and the epilogue that I originally thought to be a satisfactory wrap-up just… wasn’t.

There were a handful of comments that, in my mind at least, demanded that I come up with a different ending or attempted to tell me exactly what ending to write. I read every comment, some of them several times. None of it felt good. The fact that the story topped the featured box at one point only made it worse, ironically enough. I’d drawn in a lot of readers and subsequently let them down.

That’s what I told myself, anyway. In reality the story is still one of my most popular, even if there was a big jump in downvotes following the last chapter. A conversation with the indispensable Skeeter The Lurker helped me put things back in perspective.

Anyway, when those complaints started rolling in my first thought was to do something drastic. I thought for weeks about how else I could change the end while still keeping the true to my initial vision. I even started writing two of the more promising ideas. Nothing worked.

After a depressing period of writing nothing at all, I turned my attention to other projects. That was the smartest thing I could’ve done. Time away from the story wasn’t enough, I needed to get my brain to switch gears. I wrote another story, planned some others, and came to an important realization: I already had the ending I wanted, what was lacking was its presentation.

Enter chapter eight: a replacement for, and retelling of, the epilogue. I say retelling because the ending is still the same. If how things worked out for Jake and Twilight before drove you into a frothing rage, you’re not going to be appeased by this new chapter. If you liked, or could at least stomach, where those two ended up then I sincerely hope you’ll give this new take on the final leg of their story a chance.

Big, heartfelt thanks to Skeeter The Lurker for helping me deal with this, and to Craine for proofreading the final chapter.

Comments

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Heh... All I did was mention my opinion...

Thanks for taking it into consideration, dude.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Chaotic Note]

Just to sum up a response to this blog.

Popularity =/= Quality