Thoughts on Returning and Moving Forward · 9:37am Jul 31st, 2022
I'm sure there's more than a few people who lament, maybe even curse, that I pretty much stopped regular writing and updates of my flagship project. I wouldn't really blame anybody for those kind of sentiments - anger, abandonment, resentment, disappointment, and so on. I know there's also plenty of people who will quickly counter with the claim that nobody owes readers completed stories and one should be happy for what has been made, even if unfinished. And there's plenty of opinions between those extremes.
A few years back, I finally got back into writing with a new project that, like most of my projects, stretched out far longer than I had initially anticipated. While working on it though, I had always had at the back of my mind the reminder that I was neglecting one of my most successful projects. I always sorta promised myself that once I was done this new project that I would go back and finally finish 'A New Sun Rises'.
Well, fast-forward nearly two years to good ol' 2022 (and yes, somewhere in there I did get covid), and that project is finally finished. So now I have to put my money where my mouth is and finish what I set out to do. It's not so much that I think I owe you guys an ending (wait... that sounds a bit wrong), but more its that I feel I owe it to myself to finish this, especially after how many years I've poured into it.
But there's a problem with that, or rather it's a bit more complicated than just sitting my butt down and opening up the GoogleDocs. I penned out the basic outline of this thing back in 2014, back when I had much different ideas of what the story would be, or how long it would take. Now I'm looking back at what I have in the documents, what I've written, and I've been thinking to myself that there's a lot to reconsider. Things I had planned I think I should scrap because its either introducing brand new elements and arcs a bit too late into the narrative, or would take too long to build up said new elements. As much as I don't want to rush things, the story narrative I think is hitting a point where it needs to start heading to its conclusion in a prompt manner.
The biggest problem is, I want to reach a conclusion in relatively short order, but I've made the mistake of shackling myself to a particular kind of ending because of how the very start of the story is set up. The ending I think this story deserves is no longer lining up with the ending that the story's beginning alluded to. A hazard of that sort of 'how it began' trope, as well as publishing chapters as you write. If I didn't publish as I wrote, I could just fix that ending and be happy with that, but its been out for years, people know it, and people's narrative expectations have been shaped by it. To change it drastically could have unforeseen consequences. To leave it as it is, though, might make it impossible to reach a conclusion that I'd be satisfied with, and likely neither would you as readers.
So before I can even do any writing, not only do I need to give the whole story a fresh read-over in order to get my brain back into the correct mind set, I have to figure out where I want the remainder of the story to go, and what I might need to change in order to make that happen. Rest assured, any changes to already published chapters will be announced, and I won't be making them until I'm absolutely certain the changes are needed.
Needless to say, a lot of contemplation is in order. But I'm here, and I'm not leaving until I get this shit done.
Nice to see you return.
What an absolute buffoon
been a bit, huh? :O welcome back!
I'd given up hope on a conclusion for this, so I'm happy to hear you're coming back to it!
Regarding the opening, I'll be honest, Ive never really felt like it fit the tone of the rest of the narrative. If you can work out how it fits in, awesome! But in my opinion, I don't think there's shame in retoconning the prologue if you aren't happy with it. Just include an author's note that you did so. Or give it a twist that sunset was severely exaggerating out of anxiety. I dunno. Either way I'm just happy you're continuing!
This one's gotta be one of my favorite "Incomplete" stories I've ever read on this site and I'm beyond happy to see you return to this.
Welcome back, hope you solve the plot problems you discovered.
Welcome back. And I certainly have gone back to check this story to see if I just missed an update or something. So I’m elated it’s getting finished. I hope you can find an ending you feel fits the start.
Welcome back!
Welcome back. I am glad to hear your other project went well.
Good to see you're back. Anyone who expects an author to have the exact some vision on a story that's been developing for years (how many is this one at now? 8?) has no idea of what the writing process can be like. None of us can tell you the right decision to make, but don't make yourself dread finishing this story (any more than you need to). I say you should follow your gut and worry about the details later on, though I'm sure whatever you cook up will be great :)
Whatever you do don't stress yourself too much
Welcome back!
Well that sounds like good news to me.
Also. Don’t be afraid to edit the beginning if you need to. The retcon police won’t come after you.
Probably.
Ah, just saw this, welcome back!