The Writer's Vow: I will always finish whatever projects I begin regardless of the months that may pass by between updates, unless death or a coma intervenes. That said, be patient with me: harassment will not make me post any faster.

A Brief Synopsis of the Authoress: WiseAbsol, also known as Abby or WA, has been a part of the fanfictioncommunity since she was twelve, first by associating with other fanfic authors on message boards, and second by reading whatever intrigued her online concerning her favorite characters. However, upon consistently not finding her ideal story in any archives, she decided to write her own fics to fill the need. The initial attempts were pitiful at best, but revealed in her a passion for writing that helped her cope with troublesin "real life." While her style improved with practice, more often than not the main focus of her stories was, and yet is, the character of Mewtwo from the child's anime Pokemon, for in numerous ways he represented parts of her psyche and helped in shaping her soul. As the years passed, the trend in her writing began to be noted by other fans of the character, and soon caused her to gain something of a reputation among them - sometimes positive, and sometimes negative. Regardless though, she continues to write for her readers and for herself, for without writing she has found her life to be rather insubstantial. Ultimately, like Mewtwo, it is a part of her, and a shard she will not be discarding any time soon.

General Information about WA: She is a high school graduate who will be attending a private college in the fall of 2009. Her birthday is July 7th, making her a Cancer, a sign she fits aptly enough. Her interests include anthropology, philosophy, English literature and creative writing, and Japanese popular culture. She loves dark science fiction and romantic comedies, but cannot stand many of the series which have gained popularity over the past few years (including Twilight, which she would happily burn, but it doesn't merit the effort). On other matters, she enjoys reading, snacking on Asian food, snuggling with her cats, and walking out in the rain and snow, and loathes conforming into what others would like her to be. Also, she cannot stand intolerance. If you display it around her, you WILL provoke a side of her you don't want to be exposed to. So try to stay on her good side; she prefers to remain a civilized, friendly individual.

Future Intents: Undoubtedly for the next handful of years WiseAbsol will continue to write various fanfiction series, including finishing the current projects entitled Angelic Shadows, Hollow, and Faint. The new works that are still in the process of being fully conceived in her mind (which do not branch off from already existing fic universes) will be elaborated on sometime in the future. Beyond that, once WiseAbsol retires from writing fanfiction, she will move on to original work (she already has a novel planned based on core elements in Moonlight Vigilante) and likely act as a beta on this site. At some point, she would also like to draw up a doujinshi of Moonlight Vigilante, provided she has the time.

Quote of Interest: "To suffer is to be alone; to watch another suffer is to know the barrier that shuts each of us away. Only individuals can suffer." - Edith Hamilton.

Current Song Theme: "From the Inside" - Linkin Park.

Note: Fanwork for various stories may be found on Deviantart (by Psycho-Claw, Sxueki, and under my own page, Elegia-The-Absol), Youtube (by Hisiewen), and on this site (by Dark Magician Girl Aeris and DinoboyKingofallDinosaurs -discontinued-). I am open to all types; I only ask that, if you are going to post it on the internet, please allow me to know beforehand so I can acknowledge your work here.

Other Projects:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iTqZEoKhmk&feature=channel_page

Current Fanfiction Projects - Status:

Angelic Shadows - Chapters 013-016 are being revised. The next update will be in December at the earliest.

Hollow - On hiatus until the summer of 2010.

Announcements:

Thursday, October 1st, 2009 - 12:40AM to 4:00AM:

It has been a very long September, everyone...probably the longest I have had in some time. Events have occurred in my life I once thought inconceivable, the scars across my soul are finally being assessed, bonds have been been formed, renewed, and broken...and some lingering promises I made were ultimately shattered. Yet the destruction of those vows are not, I think, to be lamented - because in destroying them, I have managed to do something once impossible for me: I said "no" and walked away. I have been told my soft heart would get me in trouble, and it certainly had; for quite some time, when confronted with something or someone cruel, I was too weak and fearful to stand up for myself and make my protest heard. Even now, I can tell what that uncertainty has done to undermine my ability to function socially, for doubts dog me in many situations and I find myself too scared to speak - even when I know nothing and no one will lash out at me where I now am, in college. I am encouraged to grow, and I wish to do, but it is difficult for me to find comfort in society and among a group of more than three. It is also difficult for me to fully trust other people, especially with my tears: I run, not wishing to reveal my breakdowns, scared of scaring the people I have swiftly come to care for, including my roommate, who I think of as a sister. Yet during those times, I most need someone...someone to embrace me, to make me laugh, to talk to without the dread that he or she will make light of what is facing me or simply have no words of advice to offer - that, ultimately, I will not have exposed myself to him or her for no purpose.

If this sounds like a "woe is me!" entry, I do not intend it to be. I am coping alright, with the lack of sleep being the largest factor making me feel physically frail and miserable, but beyond that, I am usually alright. Yet my frustration in myself is growing, and the reality of the corrupt aspects of myself are now becoming evermore clear to me. I...want to be a good person, and yet I have caused such pain, have been so selfish, have degraded from the motivated individual I was into something far more deplorable. I will not place the blame entirely on myself; there are outside factors which helped me along, and in a way, my collapse was likely the inevitable outcome of years of stress and emotional and mental harassment. Yet I came so close to breaking completely this September - in fact, I thought I had, because in the past I had always managed to do what needed to be done in my life, and this time I seriously considered hiding away for days. My one triumph was keeping myself going to class and doing the reading required for those classes, but I am sure that if I had not re-established the fact that there was a few people out there who I could go to, I might have done something rash and made matters worse. Yet the faith I had for so long, the stone I had clung to, had been crushed...and the very irony of the situation began to twist my thoughts for awhile. I did not know what to do, so I just did what was expected of me, and then rejected the one attempting to drag me back into a nightmare. This has helped, of course, and is a large step for me...but I have been left quite drained and saddened.

Yet I did manage something which gave me pleasure: I updated Angelic Shadows! After nine months of it being on hiatus, I managed to add a new chapter. Sure, I stayed up until 5AM on a Friday night/Saturday morning to do it, but in the end I felt quite gratified, and hoped I would have reviews once I woke up...which I did. They were, admittedly, rather short and indifferent to the events in the chapter, which was a disappointment, but they were there, so what more could I ask for? I fear at times that my pride has blinded me to who I began as, who I always did better off as: a simple writer writing for her own enjoyment and the enjoyment of others - others who would, she hoped, leave a few comments. Still, as my strength as a writer grew, the number of people who read appeared to shrink. Why was that? I suppose the fact that this fandom is slowly but surely dying is a part of it; people are migrating elsewhere for their amusement. However, of those who remain, it is clear to me that a vast majority are simply unwilling to read long chapters and provide thoughtful reviews, which is a frustration considering how much effort I put into my work. There are, of course, a number of people who are too busy to get to an update right away, and then to find the time to leave a review - being in college, I comprehend that problem well. However, even if it takes me weeks, I am a person who will give thorough and lengthy reviews for chapters of the stories I am intrigued by. It is strange to me that this cannot be managed by others...especially in regards to stories that have much shorter chapters than mine, but are still stunning and complex. The lack of responses in those cases bewilders me! I look around at other, skeletal and/or more frivolous stories, seeing that they get a dozen reviews per chapter, and wonder at what has happened to the true readers. At this point, I would be happy to have around five people who habitually leave intrigued, thoughtful, and just simply involved reviews for my updates soon after they are posted - just five. Sometimes I receive that, but this is rare, and made more frustrating by the fact that we fanfic authors can check story traffic to see just how many people visit a post.

Take, for example, these stats for the months of September:

September Stats: For the month of 2009-09, there have been a total of 2,173 Hitsand 854 Visitors to all of your stories.

September, 2009 - Breakdown by Story:

Story - Words; Hits; Visitors:

The Phoenix Rose Saga - 476,986; 755; 144.

Angelic Shadows - 165,509; 515; 197.

Faint - 46,424; 311; 96.

Moonlight Vigilante - 83,900; 123; 51.

PSI - 6,333; 109; 102.

Hollow - 84,885; 97; 57.

Get Well Soon - 11,071; 78; 30.

After Get Well Soon, the hits and visitors take a dive, so I will not bother adding them to this table (for the record, the lack of attention to those works do not truly concern me - the time and effort I placed into them is ultimately a mere fraction of those shown above). However, as you can see, the numbers are respectable...but are these numbers reflected in reviews? Unfortunately, I cannot know the exact amount for this aspect, but I know that the number of reviews I received could not have been more than twenty when pooling ALL of my works together. To be quite honest, I would never ask for all of these people to leave comments - I would never be able to respond to them all, which I take pride in doing, because it establishes a bond with my readers. However, if a mere ten percent of these visitors reviewed - one in ten - I would be over-the-moon happy! Instead, we get something like PSI.

Now PSI is a relatively short and simple piece, yet it rivals my greater works in the counts. Yet how many reviews does it have...?

Ah, yes...four. Meaning that less than four percent of those who found the summary intriguing enough to visit the story actually left comments on it. And I find that completely ridiculous, especially when it is so easy to click on that little box, type in "I liked/disliked this because...," and send the feedback my way. Little things like that have kept me going for a long time, they still keep me going, and yeah, that may seem pathetic to some of you, but just be grateful that you have enough of a handle on your life, or that your life is pleasant enough, that you have not been or are not forced to rely so heavily on such tiny things for your delight. You are blessed.

I will point out one final stats group before I wrap this up and head to bed: the stats for the recently updated chapter of Angelic Shadows, "015: In the Snow." It was updated on the twenty-sixth, so it had five days to accumulate hits and visitors. Naturally, the count spiked on the update day - a Saturday, for the record - with roughly forty people. Yet the chapter stats for the month stands:

September, 2009 » Breakdown by Chapter:

# - Chapter Name - Words; Hits; Visitors:

16 - 015: In the Snow - 19,852; 71; 65.

Now that's not bad for only five days. What is, however, quite disheartening is that of these visitors, a total of five people reviewed. Furthermore, they did so all on the first day, so of the forty who visited that day, eight percent reviewed - in the subsequent days, when the remaining visitors and hits were registered, the percentage flat-lined: not a single person reviewed. Now if my work was thin and of poor quality, I might, just might, find this acceptable...but I know better. I do not mean that to come across as arrogant, but the fact is that after over six years of placing my heart, soul, and sweat into my work, my grasp of the English language and my style have improved greatly; anyone who read The Phoenix Rose Saga could see that growth take place. As such, it would be nice if the work I do labor over is, at the very least, recognized. Certainly, what I do is heavy and dense, and probably darker than many like. Readers usually want something light in all respects, something mindless to waste away a few hours with...and for those of you who want that, I would suggest that you go to an actual library and check out something insured not to be riddled with grammar and spelling mistakes, something that will actually make sense to you. If you want entertainment of that caliber, head over there - libraries are far too empty these days! However, if you are here for stories concerning your favorite characters, I would like to think you are seeking well-written and interesting ones, ones that keep your beloved characters IN CHARACTER. And guess what, people? The best of those stories typically have chapters with a word count of several thousand words. My suggestion to you all: get over yourself, read the stories that are engaging and are actually worth the time you spend on them, and leave a thoughtful review. You never know how that may pay out in the long run - an idea or suggestion you make may be implemented, you may have a work dedicated to you, you may make a close friend who you later cannot conceive of living without...

Or maybe you will save someone - someone who is doing everything in his or her power to earn the notice and appreciation of just a few people, and through that, keep moving forward instead of giving up entirely!

I am doing everything I can for you all when it comes to my work here. Please, just take five more minutes of your time to do the same for me. It is not hard, nor does it require much effort, and it is a simple, kind action you can take to improve my life - to let me know that what I do here matters.

In addition, I will ask one more thing of you: go visit and review these stories. I believe they need feedback just as much, if not far more, than mine:

http://www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/4468231/1/ - Eclipsedby Meriah. This is a truly stunning, epic, well-crafted piece which I adore completely! Her other Pokémon works are just as excellent, so please visit them as well.

http://www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/2784780/1/- Part 1 of Miyuutsuu's The Incomplete Soul Saga, also brilliantly done and quite unique in style. Parts 2 and 3 are being updated as intervals, as is the prequel romance, Indigo. The prequel stands alone, so if you do not like the Saga, at the very least attempt Indigo. The pairing will surprise you.

http://www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/3602934/1/ - Finally, More Than Just Shadowby Kirlien. She is new to fanfiction, but this story reminds me of how Pokémon was in its golden age - adventurous and emotional. In addition, it somehow balances the anime's innocence with darker, more mature elements...so please go read.

Finally, I would like to thank a handful of people for sticking around to read and review my newer works when they get the chance: blackwaterII, Crescentmewtwo, Dark Magician Girl Aeris, Mai-danishgirl, and Yami no Silvar - thank you.

With that, I will head to bed for tonight. Have a good day, everyone, and please think about what I've said.

Sincerely,

WiseAbsol

Monday, November 2nd, 2009 - 2:20AM:

God, it's too early in the morning for an announcement...but it's important, so here I go:

There will not be an update to Angelic Shadows during November. Instead, I will be gutting chapters 013-016 and filling plot holes, the main revisions being to chapters 013 and 014. Most likely I will be removing the contents of said chapters and adding notices within them and, once done with the revisions, will re-insert the contents. I apologize for this, but I have always said that if you readers give me constructive criticism, I will act on it, so that is what I am going to do now that someone has done so. There will be some major changes so at the end I would advise that you reread the latest four chapters. That will probably be a pain in the ass, I know (I have to revise it, so I daresay I've the harder task), but it should fix the...how did someone on the Tropes site put it?...ah, the "Idiot Ball grabbing in recent chapters." I may have paraphrased that a little, but that was the basic comment. I ask that you please bear with me, everyone - the story will be better for this in the end. I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause you.

Beyond that, I hope you all are doing well.

Sincerely,

WiseAbsol