Hey everyone.
I've thought long and hard about this, and I just wanted to say this is NOT a discontinuation notice.
I am working on a reboot of this story.
To be perfectly frank and honest for a minute, it's been incredibly demotivating to put so much time and effort only to get a scathing 2 star review or comment that rips into the story every other week or so. A couple here and there was something I could brush off, but getting hit with those periodically has slowly sapped my will to continue the story.
The fundamental issue with this story (imo) is structural - no matter how much line editing I put in, people still hate the shift in tone between chapter 10 - 12. A lot of people also hated the direction the story took after the introduction of the Knave of Hearts and dropped it there.
Over the last week, I've started a massive effort to outline a 'reboot' of this series, with a lot more planning and a fully established worldbuilding doc. I've already written 8000 words of it, and I plan on launching with 25k+ words during a writathon. Consider it a 'Route B' if you will.
I want to emphasize that I've also been commissioning reference sheets and character portraits on the side, and the worldbuilding + notes doc is at a staggering 118 pages now. I don't plan on letting all of that effort go to waste, so I'll continue to build those up for the relaunch.
In the meantime, I've started collaborating with a friend to tackle a story topic that I'm a A LOT more familiar with. As a former prolific fanfic writer in the Worm and Madoka fandoms I'm going back to my roots with this story. The story will be a bit lighter and softer than those IPs, but we've outlined a story over the last month that should appeal to anyone who loves Worm, Madoka, or any of the Madoka-inspired Magical Girl stories on this site.
Writing from November on has helped me shake off most of my rust, and I'm fairly confident that we can put together an action-apacked story that will also tug at the heart strings. I would appreciate any feedback you guys might have on the opening chapter.
Origin: How I Became A Magical Girl's Hapless Sidekick In A Craptastic World
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
[https://www.royalroadcdn.com/public/covers-large/64297-origin-how-i-became-a-magical-girls-hapless.jpg?time=1675735107]
Here's the (WIP) blurb:
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Two decades ago, the world as we knew it changed forever.
Aberrations: Horrific monsters borne from shadows poured through a rift in reality over major cities, bringing death and destruction in their wake. Soon, these events began to proliferate worldwide, throwing civilization into chaos.
As the days dragged on, the Earth was pushed to the precipice. Armies were massacred, and cities were razed to the ground. Relics of antiquity were burned to ash. Just when all hope seemed lost, salvation came in the most unexpected way.
Thousands of heroes emerged from beyond the rift to Earth's rescue. Magical girls who embodied human dreams and imagination poured forth and stood firm against the darkness.
When the dust settled after an arduous war, those that remained standing discovered shocking, almost uncanny similarities between the two worlds of Earth and Terra. With Earth and Terra razed and depopulated respectively, the two sides of the rift joined together in harmony to rebuild and stave off the continued Aberration threat.
As a First Year drifter at the prestigious St. Antonia's Academy on Terra, Ikki never cared much for the battles fought by these magical warriors. His main worry was that he was on scholarship as a Drifter - an immigrant from the decimated Earth. To add to his woes, he'd managed to piss off the children of one of the most powerful men in Terra within his first month.
To him, Aberrations and Chaos Events were merely natural disasters like earthquakes that couldn't be avoided or worth stressing about. He'd experienced them. He'd known the horrors in his childhood, but that was a distant nightmare for him. Magical Girls and their followers were like celebrities and the military - good to know about appreciate, but not something to really pay attention to.
That was, until he found himself in the middle of a disaster with a grievously injured Magical Girl in tow.
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Anyway, thank you all for supporting me the whole way here. I will continue to do my best to improve as a writer, and tell a better story with each and every subsequent chapter.
Much love,
Pizza