"It's been a year since you've posted a LyraBon story! What gives?"

If you don't particularly care about the answer to that question, then there's no need for you to read the following lengthy post. But I figured that I should explain myself.

Back in 2016, I wrote an unexceptional "differences between Equestria and the human world" story, unintentionally fell in love with the main characters, and proceeded to outline a series of stories that followed their lives from the beginning of their relationship to the end. I thought that I'd have finished publishing it all by the time Friendship Is Magic ended, but a combination of the slow speed at which I write and an influx of additional story ideas meant that that didn't happen.

As I created outlines, I identified a couple of stories that would make natural stopping points if I was unable to get all the way to the final story. Think of them as end-of-season episodes for a TV show that was cancelled before it got the chance to have a proper series finale. Devotion was one. A Day in Our Life was another. However, the latter was the last natural stopping point before the end. If I keep going after that, I'm going to want to continue all the way to the final story. And given my aforementioned speed, that will take a lot of time.

Compounding the problem is that the next three stories in the series are the following:

• A nice little one-chapter stand-alone story that nobody will give much thought to
• A somewhat longer (Three chapters? Four chapters?) story that everybody is going to hate. I'm not thrilled about writing it and people will be upset when they read it, but it has to happen in order to continue the larger narrative.
• A one-chapter story that will be published as a direct response to the previous story to try to make things go down a little more easily, but people will still be upset

The first of those three stories is 99% complete (with the exception of the cover art, which is about 95% complete). But I don't want to publish that if I end up quitting afterward -- it isn't a proper season finale.

I've been working on the second of those three stories, but it's been exceptionally slow going. For the longest time, I was stuck in an exposition quagmire. I was slogging my way through it while the country shut down because of the pandemic and I, like so many others, found myself with gobs of free time. But even though that should have been a productive writing period, the difficult-to-write exposition, combined with the fact that I know the finished product is going to be unpopular, kept me from getting much done.

I'm now pretty much out of the quagmire, but around the same time I accomplished that, I was fortunate enough to receive employment during this difficult summer. Real life always takes precedence over this hobby, so it's been a while since I've even touched the story.

And I do view this strictly as a hobby. A way that I can enjoy spending my free time. If I don't enjoy it, I'm not going to keep doing it.

I'm not going to lie -- watching my last LyraBon story get torpedoed by early downvotes was disheartening. I know that my writing is a B at best and that I'm never going to make the featured box, but I think it deserved better than "almost the bottom of the 'top stories this week' list."

I've always been the most avid reader of my stories. I'll frequently open up the original Word documents and reread and enjoy what I've already written. Or I'll open a document to look something up so I don't violate continuity, get sucked in and read a chapter or two, and then not have any more time to write that day.

All of the above is context to explain why my answer to the question "Undefined, are you going to publish any more LyraBon stories?" is "I'm not sure."

Part of me wants to see this extensive arc to its completion. But that isn't going to happen unless I get over this hurdle of stories that I'm more or less forcing myself to write. And it's difficult for me to become motivated to finish them when I -- the most avid reader of my stories -- won't want to read them. When I consider how few other people will read the finished product, it doesn't seem like a productive use of my time and I turn to other hobbies to focus my attention on.

So whether I'll be publishing anymore depends on which desire will win out. Will I want to get to the later stories badly enough that I'm willing to push through a rough story? Or will I be content with what I've already penned and settle for reading my outlines and merely imagining the details?

I don't know what will happen. All that I know is that the ultimate answer is still many months away.

Comments

[Pluranium_Alloy]

If it makes you feel any better, I can guarantee you that I will read all of your new lyra-bon stories as soon as I am able to.
You were the first author I followed because I fell in love with your Lyra-bon stories: they were the best things I had ever read! In terms of lyra-bon fics, they still are the best I've ever read.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Please don't get disheartened even if it isn't as good as the rest it would still be better than a lot of the other fics out there.

Stay safe, Stay happy