thundamoo
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Back From Vacation + AYEH Updates
🕑 Added 2023-11-26 08:38:54 +0000 UTCHey gang! I'm back. The visit to my partner's family over vacation was wonderful; while we couldn't see one of her dads, the other is doing very well and we had an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving dinner with his wife's family (and apparently some of them are checking out my Patreon now, so uh... hi, guys). I got a lot of spare time to read, relax, and do some thinking. I am feeling a lot better about my work and my life in general. So... yeah. That's pretty cool! Thank you all for being patient with me. I have some important announcements to make in light of all my recent relaxation and braining.
The first is that I want to do a rewrite of Are You Even Human. I realize that probably comes as a surprise to those of you that read it; AYEH seems to be quite well-liked, and indeed, it's an idea I'm very much excited about. I really haven't done anything wrong, per se, but there's a lot I feel like I can do better. Much better. And I want to. I think it's going to bother me more if I try to press on and ignore the issues and ultimately cause more delays than if I just go back and rewrite things. So... here's how that's going to go.
The first three chapters are going to be largely the same. I might touch them up here or there, but it's mostly the same stuff; I'll repost them with whatever edits they have in a big block, along with the fourth chapter, which is where the diversion will actually start to give you major new content. The main focus of the rewrite will be having Julietta and Emily meet Christine and Anastasia in the incursion scar rather than at the military base, giving me a better opportunity to organically flesh out them, their powers, and their relationships with each other while showing more information on the aliens and just a bunch of other really small things that have been adding up into a huge itch for me.
So... yeah. Sorry if you were looking forward to the next AYEH chapter in the current chronology, but rest assured a lot of the same general stuff is still going to be important—those characters, relationships, and events were important pieces to the story, but they were assembled wrong, like a jigsaw puzzle being forced out of place. I figure since my Patreon is sort of an early-access club in the first place, hopefully it's not a big stretch to shuffle the board a little before the story has been released to the public. The nature of serial writing means I don't usually have the luxury to do these kinds of edits, but... I think AYEH needs them. It's a very important story to me, and I want to get it right.
The second announcement is just me reaffirming something people have been telling me for years: it's healthy to have breaks. Because like, holy shit did I need that vacation, no matter how unfortunate its circumstances. I am... not sure exactly how I want to go about forcing myself to take regular breaks, though. Some authors I know take a week off every month. Other authors are just faster writers than me so they can hit their quotas and still consistently have multiple days off every week. I'm not sure what I should do or how I should do it, and I'm open to suggestions. This kind of thing isn't something I'm good at.
Either way, expect the start of the AYEH rewrite Monday or Tuesday, and the Bioshifter chapter on Friday. Thank you all for your patience, and I'll see you then.
Comments
jthrr
I'm excited about the rewrite; I think the inability to fix something in the skeleton of the story (working in serial mode...) and just feeling bad about it with every new chapter is the kind of thing that adds to faster burnout. Congrats on the vacation, well- earned insights, and this excellent story!
Kennyevilmonkey
Welcome back! I'm glad to hear that you had a good vacation. In regards to breaks, I'm with everyone else on this, one week a month, admin weeks. Selki uses a similar system. As for the rewrite, I'm not particularly excited about it, but at the same time, I completely understand and support your decision completely.
Lako
Thanks for the update! One thing you could do is litmit yourself to 4 chapters a month (per story) at most. This wont do a lot but there are a few month that would normally have 5 wednesdays which you could take off.
Badbytes
Glad you got a chance to enjoy the holiday! AYEH is really good already so I’m looking forward to the reading the rewrite too.
Flying Goat
Glad to hear you're feeling better! Was getting pretty worried about you. As everyone else is saying, take whatever time off works for you, I'm certainly not going anywhere. I'm really enjoying Are You Even Human as it is, but have no objections to a rewrite.
Aclys
Having a regular schedule for the time-off would probably help you keep track of when you should be having them, so start with one week a month and try that for at least 3-6 months to see how it feels. Then can adjust if it doesnt seem quite right.
Temnai
If you aren't sure what spacing you want for your breaks you can always try different kinds and see what works best for you.
7 fin panda
Welcome back! Bring the noise when you can.
Falor
One week per month + one major vacation spanning 2-3 weeks per year in which you completely go without writing utensils. That being said, thank you for the great stories you've been writing so far
Gannon
If you feel like a week a month is too much, then maybe try a week a quarter? Or every other month? Regardless, welcome back and I'm glad you feel better!
Nöff
Hi! New here, but as someone who went through an intense burnout some years ago, I can only agree that more breaks sound like a great idea. There is only so much energy to be had and I would love to read your work for years and years to come, so a pace that enables you to be creative in the long run seems to be better for everyone :D. Thank you for the great work, I came here after binging the bioshifter audiobooks in 5 days and am so glad to have found them ❤️.
Typhado
Glad to hear the break went well, it's sounded like it was needed. As for the rewrite, I've been enjoying AYEH and I will almost certainly continue to with rewrite. As someone who avidly reads fanfiction it takes me a few hundred times reading the same but only slightly altered events before I get bored. And from the sounds of I can see quite a few things changing by introducing those characters earlier.
Nait02
A monthly week off seems great from the outside... it gives time to relax and maybe do some admin work that otherwise gets rushed or left on the side... And at least personally I wouldnt mind a week off per month if it means better quality writing, more consistent uploads and a healthy author xD
Bobkatze
Take good care of yourself. I would rather wait a month for a new chapter than not get to read the end because you burnt out. So, look after yourself and do what you deem is best for you. We will still be here.
Saul Dickson
YES! Take that monthly break. Do it. Don’t hesitate, don’t ask us for permission. Just commit to it and don’t act like some of those other creators— *cough* *cough* pirateaba *cough*— who use those breaks to do side projects.
