Almost There! · 8:41pm May 2nd, 2017
I have almost completed the finale! (Or at least, written in down. I'll have to type it up here later for my "editing")
The "chapter" turned out quite a bit longer than I expected. Therefore, I will publish two "chapters": one main chapter that is (quite a bit) longer than usual and an epilogue to Book I. I had planned the sort of epilogue to be the last third of the finale chapter, but with how long the actual climax of the story is, I think it deserves its own chapter.
And when you read the actual chapter, I think you will understand why it took so long. I really had to get this one right.
Anyway, expect both to be published either late today, or tomorrow, depending on how long it takes me to write the epilogue (which is difficult for entirely different reasons.)
Yeah, I hear you readers saying, "Okay, that means tomorrow, then." I get it, and I would feel the same. However, I have pretty much forced myself to have no other free time but working on this ending.
Oh, and while I know most of you won't want to hear this, but I will probably be taking a few weeks of hiatus until the next book starts. Or maybe a month.
No, this is not an actual break for me. I don't stop writing. It means that I have enough time to plan the next book properly, and it means that I will have enough time to:
1. Get ahead a few chapters so you don't have to wait a month when I get writer's block.
2. I can actually edit more than a once-over when I type it in.
And remember, I will mark this story as "Completed" until I start releasing the second book under the same story. So if any of you have it in Tracking, don't remove it.
(Incidentally, if you have a reason why I should not mark it as complete then, or if you have a reason why the books should be in separate stories, I would love your input. Right now, I just think it would be the best option for Guiding Light.)
EDIT: On the recommendation of a reader, I have decided to separate the books after all, but provide an e-book that allows the more fluid reading style. (And including the illustrations as well, unlike the book that Fimfiction provides.)
Only reason(s) I would give are that there ARE some folks out there who always wait for a story to be marked "Complete" before reading it, and that might throw someone off or upset them when suddenly it's active again. If there's going to be a significant pause between updates, "Hiatus" might be better.
I would also suggest that, perhaps, splitting book 2 off into a separate story if book 1 resolves in such a way that the main idea has been brought to a close, it might make the story less daunting to later readers. "Oh, this is only a dozen chapters, I can go through that" rather than "oh geeze I have to read through thirty chapters just to catch up" for example.
4517714 Hmm... the first book resolves in an emotional and physical way, but it ends on a horrible cliffhanger, and leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
But you do bring up some good points, especially with the huge amount of chapters this story will ultimately have.
I thought of marking it as "Hiatus" as well, but by now, that term on Fimfiction has come to mean "Either it's cancelled, or expect an update in a year or so," so as a result, many people will shy away from such a story.
Now I think I might separate the books. Still, I kind of want a place where the complete story can be read in one go. So I'll probably make an e-book of it or something for people to read it more conveniently.
(As in, other than the one Fimfiction makes automatically.)
Thanks for the input, though! This is why I like to hear everyone's opinions.