A hard question for ALL my readers · 8:41pm Oct 30th, 2019
Okay, guys. I have a serious question to ask all of you. Are you enjoying A Tale of Two Suns Book 2? And more importantly: Do you want me to continue?
I know people have favorited it, and liked it, but here’s the thing: I published the latest chapter more than a month ago, and on the day that I published it, the response I got was lukewarm at best.
For an audience wondering what was happening on the EqG side of the story, the chapter which got into that had shockingly little response. In fact, I got only one comment on the day of publishing, much to my confusion, since I naturally expected more commentary or interest, as there usually is more commentary or interest. I especially thought there’d be a bigger response considering it was the first substantial new content for the story since I created Book 2 in the first place.
To reiterate what I said in previous places, I am not dropping the new Equestria storyline I’ve developed and separated into Book 2. Let me reassure you, I do, in fact, have a plan for it, and I’m not just throwing in something random because I’m out of ideas. It’s a plan I’m rather proud of, and I hope you will be proud of it as well as it unfolds through the story.
This lack of general response has me concerned, to say the least. It feels to me like a large portion of my readers have completely abandoned my work, which, if true, is incredibly dispiriting.
Combine that with my realization that despite this series constituting my most successful fanfics thus far, my overall achievements are still rather mediocre as far as fan fiction on this site is concerned, and, well, it doesn’t fill me with much confidence in my own ability, or do wonders for my motivation to keep writing.
So, I will ask again, and I hope I get an answer in the comments: Are you enjoying Book 2 so far, and do you really want me to continue? Is this story worthwhile to you? Do you really want to read it, or is it just a passing curiosity of no real consequence?
I want to write good stories on here. I want to share my ideas, which I think are going to be fantastic. I hadn’t even gotten to where the plot lines truly intersect, and that’s because I was trying to pace out the events I wanted to happen, and not create extremely long chapters.
That goal has not been reached, has not been proven, and yet, I very much fear my audience has depopulated into a shell of what it once was. I feel like a performer standing before an almost empty theater where once, it had been full, and that my voice is more often echoing off the theater walls than reaching someone's ears. I can’t tell you how depressing that is.
For those that have stuck around and showed their continued support, thank you. Thank you so very, very much. I still intend to keep writing chapters, and progressing the plot in the most efficient manner possible, and I hope that they will bring entertainment to you at some future date.
But I still pose the question to my readership as a whole: Are you enjoying Book 2, and how many of you honestly want me to continue writing?
If you read my work at all, and see this blog, please leave your answers down in the comments.
I love this sto y don't stop piz
And updated soon
I love your story as well.
And I would be sad should you decide to stop writing,
but at the end of the day it is your decision if you want to keep going or if you want to stop.
Just because I dont comment doesnt mean I dont read. Remember that for every comment you get, there are many others who enjoy reading and say nothing. At the end of the day, I feel like there's an idea, a hook, something interesting going on that I want to know more about, in the story. I hope, personally, to see it through to the end, even if you only end up doing it for yourself.
Personally, I've read enough to know that I enjoy the story. So I'll probably just wait for it to finish before I binge through the whole thing.
I just want you to know that I truly love the work you do. These two series are far and away some of the best Sunset material on the site. Your writing skill is far above what I consider the average for fanfiction in this fandom, and you write characters that feel genuine, lovable, and who demonstrate both intelligence and individuality. When you write stuff set in the Equestrian Girls world, it is magical.
Now, take what follows with a grain of salt.
Just about everything involving the Manehatten plot is beyond boring. I have, at times, skipped entire updates of your story because I noticed it entirely takes place in Equestria. The slice of life stuff you write, and the stuff involving the human world are par excellence. But I legitimately couldn’t care at all about this weird cult, or vampires, or whatever the heck that entire plot line is. It seems to come out of nowhere and have nothing to do with the story itself.
If I could give you any sort of advice, it would be to completely remove that plot line, and everything related to it. If your chapters included none of that, and far more of the human world and all of it’s far more interesting plots and conspiracies, I definitely would comment more.
In summary: you are an excellent writer, and your stories are truly wonderful. But you’ve got an entire storyline weighing the series down like an albatross. Your story is on my favorites list for a reason, but if others feel the same way, that might explain the apparent lack of interest.
Don't feel too bad about the whole 'empty theater' thing, to use your analogy.
I, for one, didn't abandon just your story. I abandoned the fandom as a whole before I finished the first book of "A Tale of Two Suns" due to life and all that. Only getting back into it pretty recently.
Thanks for reminding me your stories exist by the way, I'll be giving them a read/re-read.
Don't you dare to doubt yourself and stop writing this story! The first one is so great and I expect nothing less from the second. And so far I hasn't been disappointed. I'm not that much into "commenting" thing every now and then, but now I'll say without a doubt that you should keep writing.
P.S. I think that your Equestrian line with that cult is quite interesting. I'd like to see where it going.
Keep writing. Some people wait a few chapters to comment. lol. I think I haven't either. Just keep writing. And don't change story beyond what you think should happen too much. Otherwise you won't be able to write it well. It's a good story that doesn't deserve to be unfinished.
5148182
This sums up how I've been feeling about this story lately. I started (and continued) reading this story for the Sunset and Celestia relationship stuff. That's the part of the story I'm invested in. The stuff in Manehattan and Equestria simply isn't what I read this story for. You may have great ideas for that plotline, but to me it's just a distraction so far.
Also, 10k word chapters can be a bit intimidating to some people. I know it's silly, but I'd rather read two 5k word chapters vs. one 10k word chapter.
Just because I don't comment doesn't mean I don't read it. It just means I don't have anything to say, or can't think of anything to say. I'm terrible at that sort of thing.
If you're willing to keep writing, I'm willing to keep reading. It's as simple as that.
Are you kidding?! This is one of those stories I've latched onto like a leech. Don't worry about the lack of comments, just jeep writing as you do. We all desperately want to know what happens next!
(And also because I really want to see Circinus get the boot)
I love your work, and am excited to see your plan unfold. You cannot aks an art critics opinion before the painting is complete, nor a singer to preform a song that is only half composed Sometimes we as humans can’t or don’t like something at first until that final piece of the puzzle is set, then it clicks in that glorious Aha! Moment. In any case your worth as a writer isn’t measured by what others think, the question is are you happy with the story you’ve been telling? If the answer is yes than that’s all that matters. I for one love your story, it’s the only reason I log on sometimes.
Please continue! I love your writing! I hope that Princess Celestia and Sunset truly realise they are mother/daughter instead of pretending to be.
I will say this with all honesty. I love AToTS, have always loved it, and will keep coming back to it to read it no matter what. You hooked me completely with how great your writing was, particularly for the slice of life parts. But a side plot on the Equestria side, while it threw me off a little at first (because I didn't recognize who the new ponies were), made sense immediately once I thought about it. After all, and no spoilers here, it comes at a point where one arc of the story has pretty much concluded. This is the ideal time to bring in new characters and, most importantly, new conflicts.
I actually enjoy seeing things develop on the Equestria side. I want to see where this goes, since Celestia will now likely have to divide her attention even further. And I really doubt the Cinch Sisters are as down for the count as we think on the EQG side. Appropriately, the story now deals with mysteries on both sides of the mirror.
Honestly I haven't been reading "Book 2", but I will get around to it at some point and I do want you to keep writing it.
The reason I haven't read "Book 2" is because I saw that the first two chapters were just old chapters cut out of "Book 1" and since I had already read them (and I didn't feel like re-reading them) I decided to wait for some new chapters to build up.
Also, I've been ignoring fan fiction to play video games for the last few months...
Personally I check fimfiction periodically—every week or two—for story updates; that combined with the timing of the update—I was a bit busy because of school—led to my commenting several days later. I still enjoy and look forward to A Tale of Two Suns: it's one of perhaps 3 other stories I follow on this site.
I hope you continue, and I'll echo what others have said: some chapters simply inspire more engagement than others due to its content, but they're still reading, or will read eventually. Some prefer bingeing or what have you.
Thanks for writing 🙂
Oh, I enjoyed the stories very much! And would like to see it continue. You have written so well. I happened to also like the Equestrian side of the plot too.
Sorry for a late response, but just wanted to voice my support. :)