I hate having to make an announcement like this, but I’d hate it more if I don’t make a decision.

Demons Don’t Lie will be coming to a close this month.

First of all, I want to say, I’m sorry.

I’m sorry for taking so long to get this latest chapter out. I’m sorry for not being able to meet your expectations. I’m sorry I couldn’t deliver what I promised. But most importantly, I’m sorry that I couldn’t meet the standards that I set for myself. That one hurts me the most.

There won’t be an ending to this story. At this point, continuing to work on it would be a waste of time; both my time, and yours. I’ve been struggling to make this story work for weeks and I’m only finding it’s getting worse with each new chapter.

A lot of this is a result of the process I’ve used to write this story. I’ve been prioritising getting the story out on time and not when it needs to be put out. Some chapters need more drafts. Some parts of the story need to be written in full and then trimmed later on. I can’t do these things with my current process.

This has led to a number of mistakes that I find inexcusable: too many simple spelling errors, failing to explain plot threads, generally rough and shoddy writing, too much bloat added for the sake of meeting word counts, and an overall drop in quality as of late.

At this point, the only way to fix this story is to wholesale rewrite it from the very beginning. For obvious reasons, I’m not going to do that. That would be no different than writing a whole different story, so I’m going to do that instead.

But why change now? Well, lately, I’ve come to a few conclusions about myself as a writer and what sort of stories I want to write. This has informed my beliefs what I consider to be good and bad writing, so know that I’m using these words with a particular lens in mind.

Firstly, I realised that I haven’t finished reading any longform story that I’ve started. Ever. When I start a new series, I never complete it, and this goes back well over a decade. What’s the point of trying to write a long series if I get bored of reading after a couple of books? It wasn’t until recently that I realised this about myself and it has completely changed my perspective on my own writing.

Secondly, when given free reign, my writing gets highly convoluted. That has to stop. When I started writing Demons Don’t Lie, I’d intended for the plot to a combination of tightly knitted plot developments and explorative worldbuilding / exposition. Well, I got the latter right, but the former was nowhere to be seen. I’d added tons of worldbuilding but couldn’t really pull that together into a concise plot. Maybe there were moments where it was good, maybe you have enjoyed every bit of this story up until now, but I hate it.

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Thirdly, I take my work seriously. I don’t like being complacent, I’m frustrated when something is late, but, most importantly, I hate putting out bad work. This last reason is primarily why I’ve chosen to take this approach and move on from Demons Don’t Lie. I know there are plenty of readers here who love this story, but the problem is that I no longer love this story. I’ve been feeling this way for the last twenty-odd chapters.

I’m incredibly frustrated by all of this. But what frustrates me the most about ending the story like this is how unprofessional this approach is. However, as much as I hate doing this, if I don’t make this decision now, I’m going to regret it later on.

So, what’s the plan going forward? I’ll lay out everything here.

1. Bring Demons Don’t Lie to a close. I have nine more chapters I’ll be releasing, five of which are already up on my Patreon. Unfortunately, since I want to focus all my efforts on my next project, they’ll be rough. For that, I’m sorry. The story won’t have any kind of conclusion and will be ending before the climax of the first volume. Again, I’m sorry, but I feel I need to end this now.

2. Start work on the next project immediately. I’ll be posting it on both Royal Road and r/HFY again. Actually, I’m already working on it, so this one is already happening.

3. Take longer to write a story. This means I’m probably going to stick to two chapters per week and do more extensive editing.

4. Take some time to build up a backlog of chapters before releasing them. This will also allow me to edit my story more effectively. With a backlog, it allows me to go back and trim past chapters or make important changes so that the story flows better.

5. Make the overall project shorter. From now on, I intend to write stories that are single novel length. This should help to address my more antsy nature and let me move onto something new and exciting sooner. That being said, some of the work I do may have series potential.

6. Trim the bloat. I want to write stories that have concise and well-rounded plots. The best way to do that is to limit what I add to the story. No more ten chapter fight scenes or anything that crazy.

7. Less weirdness. Aside from the obvious, this helps to keep plots moving forward and characters relatable. Going the weird route is fun, but it also introduces a lot of problems. Exhibit A: Algier’s weird blend of personalities.

8. I’ll be posting a teaser closer to the end of this month so that you know what you’re getting in to.

I’m not going to do extra chapters or side stories like I’d originally intended to, and subsequently never did due to difficulties plotting, with Demons Don’t Lie. To make sure my story remains as concise as possible, I need to spend all of that extra time on editing and revision.

I plan to start releasing my next story in May. It’ll be released a bit later on Royal Road and r/HFY as opposed to my Patreon, though I can’t make any promises as to when since I don’t have an exact date.

Now, I’m going to get back to work. Thank you all for reading Demons Don’t Lie, and, again, I’m sorry. Enjoy your Easter, or whatever else you guys are doing this weekend.

The next chapter will be posted after this, so stay tuned!