Work resuming on Midnight Rising, but... · 3:21pm April 2nd
It seems I have another issue to address.
I have to admit, I’m regretting doing the griffon arc right now. 
For as much fun as it was for me to write, it should have been a side story given how much of a distraction it turned into. And even those who liked it continue to complain about even the revamped ending, wanting the dragons to have won.
For reasons both personal and for the future of Nightmare Night, that simply can’t be the case. I want the races to be equal and what happens later on requires it. But given all the clamor for it, I’ll have to seriously consider giving readers an alternate bad end chapter for it later, as well as maybe one for if Middie won.
Regardless, the story has been causing me a lot of grief, and certain recent comments I’ve gotten aren’t helping. I’ve put tons of work in on this, yet it feels like my efforts go unappreciated to judge by the bulk of responses I received on the revamped chapter. In fact, read counts on recent chapters have been anemic in general, indicating the story has waning popularity and my efforts are best spent elsewhere.
But I’m very stubborn in that I don’t leave writing projects unfinished, even ones that aren’t getting the response I would like. So it continues, and I hope that a return to the main story and the punishment of Lemon Zest might rekindle reader interest. I thank those readers who have stuck with this the whole way through, especially as it ballooned in size and went off on a tangent. Like I said, I would have done this differently in hindsight. But it is what it is at this point, and I will see it through to the end.
Now all that said, I would like to remind folks that these chapters require a great deal of time and unpaid effort for me to create, and simply dismissing that effort out of hoof in a comment as not being what you wanted makes my lip curl and destroys my desire to write. I hear what folks don’t like about this loud and clear, and have attempted to address those critiques when I think they have merit. But I’d like to hear more often about what was enjoyed.
Sorry, mild rant over. The first Lemon Zest chapter already has 6500 words down, so I’ll aim to finish it and have it off to prereaders in a week or so. If I can find something suitable for a teaser, I’ll post it later.
That not fair to you. Just ignore them. It's your stories and you can do whatever you want!😠
I'm glad to see you're progressing with the next chapter. It's a shame that the griffon arc was so impopular but with hindsight it's easy to say that a deviaton from the main theme shouldn't have been that long. I will continue to follow it though.
My apologies for my contribution to the unhelpful comments. I am sincerely looking forward to the next chapter, and I hope the audience reception in general goes better for you there.
5774850
Appreciate you saying so, thanks. The main question I have to ask myself is, what do I want? Be looking for another blog post soon.
5774852
I appreciate that very much, thanks. When I first started this, I didn’t think it would be more than three chapters but as so often happens with my writing, it quickly ballooned out of control. I don’t regret that per se, but I do regret allowing it to divert the main story. Hence the action I’m about to announce in my next blog post, to be posted shortly.
5774985
Apology accepted. Be looking for another blog post from me later today that you’ll probably be interested to read.