Let's have a little chat. · 1:24am Oct 4th, 2018
I'm honestly not sure how to put this into words since it's such a complicated feeling but I guess I'll give it a shot.
Things have been slow, that much is obvious to anyone. Now I've always been a staunch advocate of the old adage "As a writer you should be writing for yourself because you want to tell a story, not because you want attention or admiration from readers." Which has been true for the most part, really. It's part of how I got through the original draft of Outlaw so fast.
But when my focus shifted to the rewrite my concern did as well; to the quality of my improved writing and storytelling. It was good for a while, I was getting some nice feedback and my pace was pretty okay. Then some... stuff happened and, well, you can all see the publishing dates on the most recent chapters.
Seeing people come and go I think is the hardest thing for my frail confidence to endure. I've had people write nice long reviews that have kept me going despite all the real life obstacles distracting me, but apparently their interest has waned because the viewer turnout last chapter was way less than my lowest expectations. I spent ages waiting to hear from someone I'd seen get so excited while reading through Outlaw and was eager for another chapter. But when I finally pushed through the block and gave it to them they were nowhere to be found. More recently I had someone reading through that dropped the story before they even got caught up--another knife in the gut. Admittedly they could just be busy, but a month is an awful long time between what had been regular comments.
I gotta tell you though y'all, between the "I'll wait until it's finished"-ers, people losing interest and wandering off, and people like Fuzzy (Murky Number Seven) saying they look forward to reading or Arowid (Sisters) begging me not to quit but not leaving any comments or feedback, I'm not sure I can do it anymore. People I used to talk to about my writing all the time don't even keep in touch to talk shop anymore either. The urge to write is still there but there's that little voice in the back of my head that keeps saying: "No one's even reading, you could be spending your time doing something way more fun, man."
I still plink away at the new chapter every now and then when I've got some free time and the creative juices are flowing. At this point though I can't really guarantee it'll get done. It fucking kills me to even think about throwing in the towel knowing how many people have given up along the way. It hurts me even more to think about it after a reader on reddit went from excited to "whatever, you're probably not gonna finish the story anyway, so it's hard to care about my favorite character making a return."
Eh, tentative hiatus? I dunno. I hope I'll have more for you to read in the future guys but if I don't, it's been real and I appreciate everyone that ever stopped by to leave a comment or otherwise approached me to tell me what they thought of the story.
You can’t force love or devotion. I still believe in you Tofu, take your time.
I second that. I rarely comment on stories, kinda how I am. Hard for me to explain why I like something.
When I first read your story I did really like it ,with seeing the Enclave side of things and in my mind was ultimately finished and the reedited version didn't have much to offer beyond going though the already beaten path. I find that in my own art, and with what little writing I do, looking back at your old work in trying to improving is generally a bad idea both for you/me if obsessing over the little details with lengthen the editing process to an unreasonable length losing what the essence of what made the story great in the first place, and for the readers side also because they are just all looks the same at first. If you ever want to write a story again, FoE again would be great, you would be better off starting a story from scratch and improving on what you previously learned. I hope this give you some insight on how to look at things, I hope you will keep on writing again.
Good luck
Part of why I haven’t read the most recent chapters was the wait time. I was going to read the original draft version but the rewrite came up and I thought it would be like TheBobulator’s or Hnetu’s rewrite and it be relatively fast. Both of their stories got rewritten half halfway though and now part 1 is polished and done. There both dead now with multiple years between updates. Now that’s not to say that they can’t come back and finish but I’ve personally given up hope of them every seeing a finale. The F:E craze is gone and I thought it would have a resergence from 4’s release, but everyone was so against “vault dweller” and “new Vegas again” that everyone said “no you do not make 4 fallout equestria stories that would be cheap” everyone complained about 4 anyways so maybe crisis avoided? I think it would of helped if there was another Big story around 4’s release (just like the big three of anime. Others have taken the spotlight) By the time that everyone rewrote those stories it was too late. People moved on. They have (in their opinion) more important things to worry about.
Even though something like Project Horzions needed the BIGGEST rewrite ever. It was too late and I’m sure if Somber took even a couple of months to try to crash course back to a Fallout story instead of Final Fantasy one it would of taken too long. So I’m glad he got to finish his story and I and others got closure and we wouldn’t have to wait years for an update. It’s better to have a rocky first start and a better second then to have a polished first and no end in sight. No ending. Mysteries never solved. Gone.
At least Outlaw has a ending (even if it’s not great) and I will probably go read the oringal Outlaw after I get some time. Know that it’s not pointlesss to keep going though. Everyone is still here waiting. They might not show up for opening night but they will be there for the dvd release. I might not be long time reader like others or waiting for Outlaw personally but I am a fan just like them and I wish my stories would be able to finish too. I hope you can keep going unlike the others. Break the mold. Prove that you want to finish this story.
Hey slow and steady wins the race, and it is quality over quantity!
I know that I have gone silent lately, but where I normally had a lot of reading time at work have there not really been that much lately, and when there finally are some time are it 15 minute breaks in the work, and nothing are worse than not being able to enjoy a story to its fullest.
When things are more stable at home and at work will I return with a vengeance and comment up a storm!
New reader here. I hope you continue to polish Outlaw. I really like it so far. Rekindled my interest in fo:e fics for sure.
Hey Tofu, I'm still here for you, as I am sure quite a few other people are too. Your rewrite is still picking up a few new people too if I'm reading the stats correctly. While I do hope to see an update either in the story or perhaps a blog, I would rather hear you are doing well in these tough times. Hope all is well with you Tofu.
New reader here, I read the original Outlaw like two months ago and Its good, not great but, good. I placed it on my top side stories for fallout equestria alongside Make Love, Not War and Transient. Other than that, take your time to get back your confidence and try to think that there are still others that are here for you and we always wish you the best.