I have reached a decision on Midnight Rising...

Thanks in part to one final comment that came to me over PM last night. It wasn't a mean comment. In fact, it was nothing but a simple, politely asked question from a reader I hadn't heard from before: do you have to read the griffon chapters to understand what comes after?

It just drove home the point one final time that the chapters don't belong in the main story, and that readers weren't coming for them. They're a distraction from the main event, no matter how much fun they were for me to write. So the decision I've now reached is this:

The Enter the Griffons arc chapters will be removed from Midnight Rising in their entirity and reposted here:

[Adult story embed hidden]

That story was originally intended to be an anthology that held side stories that came out of Nightmare Night, but I'm going to change it so that it's for Unleash the Magic material in general. I will put a note at the bottom of the last pre-griffon arc chapter in Midnight Rising pointing readers there, and otherwise use the chapter I'm currently writing to summarize what happened in that arc, which does remain important later on in Nightmare Night.

I will de-publish but not delete the chapters from Midnight Rising so as to preserve comments. I worry that in doing so, I'm skirting the site rules against reposting existing content to different stories, but at this point, for the sake of my story and sanity, it has to be done. Doing so will clear out the clutter of the main story and restore its narrative focus back to where it belongs and should have always remained: Midnight's punishment of the Shadowbolt girls and subsequent duel with Daydream.

I am truly sorry for the amount of the grief this arc caused everyone, including most especially myself. Just another example of me tying myself up in tangents and forgetting what I'm supposed to be doing. If I have any weakness as a writer, it's that. But don't worry. You'll see a sequence in the new Midnight Rising chapter of Ms. Cheerilee discussing with Sunset directly (via Googly Doc comments) what she did wrong and why. Sunset will be standing in for me in that instance, and just like me, she will take her lumps and medicine.

I will start the migration tomorrow, and may as well use it as a chance to drum up interest in T&T by meting out the chapters there one per day. I would only ask that those of you who enjoyed the griffon arc drop the T&T story a like and fave, since that’s its new home.

Comments

[AJ Aficionado]

A fair decision. I hope this settles matters permanently.

[spike2000]

I really wish you weren't doing that, it's just feel like a big part is taking out of the story.

But if that what you want, I can't stop you.

[SuperSaiyanDiclonius]

We all make mistakes in the heat of passion Jimbo.

I confess that I lost interest after the third Griffin Chapter, but I understand.

Hell, in Vol. 2 of one of my series, I was supposed on introducing a new character, but got carried away in the growth of pre established character that new character was demoted to a side character in his own Volume.

Don't let it eat away at you too much, focusing more on what the masses want vs what you want is the quickest way to kill your creativity.

[redmar]

I think that's a good decision to make. Hopefully when the new chapter is publiched things will calm down.

[Firesight]

5775082

A fair decision. I hope this settles matters permanently.

Thanks. Here’s hoping.

5775133

I really wish you weren't doing that, it's just feel like a big part is taking out of the story.

As do I.

But if that what you want, I can't stop you.

As you’re going to see in the new chapter, it’s not what I want, but what the story needs. I’ve lost too many readers over this. I’m glad you and others liked it, believe me. But in the end, to judge by the falling read counts, it was costing me more than it was gaining.

5775147

We all make mistakes in the heat of passion Jimbo.

Yep. Sometimes the lower head runs away with the bigger one when we’re writing stuff like this.

I confess that I lost interest after the third Griffin Chapter, but I understand.

It wasn’t just you, to judge by the plunging read counts. What I didn’t understand is that no matter how much I was enjoying it, that wasn’t why readers like you were here. So I can only offer my apologies and invite you back as I try to get the story back on track.

Hell, in Vol. 2 of one of my series, I was supposed on introducing a new character, but got carried away in the growth of pre established character that new character was demoted to a side character in his own Volume.

Nice to know I’m not the only one who’s done it, though the story scale I did it on was bigger here.

Don't let it eat away at you too much, focusing more on what the masses want vs what you want is the quickest way to kill your creativity.

True, but I also can’t ignore what the masses want when it becomes clear that something I’ve done is more unpopular than not and costing me a significant number of readers. It’s a balancing act, but it’s just as much a mistake to write strictly for myself than to write strictly for others. The latter means I won’t enjoy it. But the former means that most others won’t.

5775159

I think that's a good decision to make. Hopefully when the new chapter is publiched things will calm down.

Thanks. Guess we’ll see. Look for one final blog post on the subject today.

[Firesight]

5775133

I really wish you weren't doing that, it's just feel like a big part is taking out of the story.

But if that what you want, I can't stop you.

As you and at least one other reader have begged me to keep in place, I've changed my mind. It stays. Look for one last blog post later.