Looking to the future...

Hey all,

It’s been a while since I did a general message to everyone and I think it’s time because I want to talk about my future and my writing going on. Don’t worry, it won’t be as bad as such an intro sounds. It may even be exciting.

I’ve been writing RWBY fanfiction for over 10 years and I think anyone could start to feel burned out after that amount of time. I’m not intending to stop right now, and as long as people support me, but I do want to explore other avenues and have fun with my writing, which can sometimes feel stilted when I’m writing my nth RWBY story.

With a few fics ending, I’ve been putting through into new ones and coming up with ideas I genuinely like. However, I’m always stuck thinking, “This doesn’t fit RWBY characters so I’ll have to adjust” or “I’ll have to RWBY-ify it to make it work”.

Sometimes I feel like I’m making my ideas lower quality to fit RWBY and its characters and to avoid OOC situations. This often leaves me feeling less interested in it as a result. Instead, I’d like to explore my own ideas with my own characters, and work on some original fiction for a change.

Essentially, I want to write my own novels and not just do fanfiction. I even put thought into coding a video game but have put that in the back of my mind. Essentially, I want a new passion project to get me excited again!

I’ve been wanting to branch out like this for a while but there’s never been a good time with work on, and then my health. Obviously, this is more work so it might potentially be rough on my health too, but it’s something I could look forward to doing rather than feeling tied to a deadline on. And it wouldn’t be every week anyway, so there’s a much more relaxed schedule.

My current thoughts/plans are to write and release some chapters one by one on Patreon, replacing the tier reward for a RWBY short chapter/one-shot every month. It’s a reward I haven’t even fulfilled for a few months because of my health issues, so I’d be able to get back on that sooner – and hopefully more reliably.

I’m even considering expanding to grant something to people below that level. I’ve always felt bad about people who support at lower tiers essentially receiving nothing (even if they’re getting the RWBY fanfic updates I promise) and so I may write two stories simultaneously. One to be available only to people of a higher support level, and the other available to everyone who supports me.

Or I may write two stories and let the higher tier see a chapter every month, whereas the lower tier gets them alternating. So they can see both, but at a slower pace. I'm not 100% sure yet which way I'll go.

I don’t plan to stop writing RWBY right now, but I may consider – over the next 6-12 months – reducing my load on it down to 4x updates a week, rather than the 5x I currently do. I’ll discuss that all with you and get your opinions on it, etc, but I’d love to explore my own creativity with some original works.

I still have my original version of Forged Destiny that I want to release as a web novel at some point. That always gets pushed back because I’m writing five chapters a week on different stories and juggling my health while I’m at it. Perhaps I'll consider that one of the things to write on here, or maybe it'll be something else.

So, in summary. Nothing will change right now. I’m not retiring.

However, I would like to get your opinions – in the form of a poll – on this topic. You don’t have to justify yourselves to me or anyone else so please do answer it honestly. No one will know what you pick.

The question will be:

Would you continue supporting me if I reduced my RWBY content a little and focused on some original works? The specific example being: 4x RWBY fanfic updates a week (instead of 5) & original content as Patreon rewards here (instead of a RWBY one-shot every once in a blue moon).

Obviously, this isn’t binding so if people’s financial situation changes/ they decide they want to support other things/ I end up on the Epstein List (jk)/ whatever else, then I understand people moving on. I just want to get an idea of whether people would be okay with this, or whether they are only here for the RWBY and aren't interested in other things.

Remember: Any change to 4x RWBY fics a week would not happen for a good while, an you'd have advance warning. Don’t panic right now that any stories will be cancelled.

Thanks for your time – and for your support!