Hey guys. Been a while, huh?
To anyone I've let down by not finishing Æternus Praestolatio, I'm really, truly sorry, and also pretty disappointed with myself. At the time, I kept putting off updating partly because I had what felt like a ton of homework (though now that I'm in my final year, I don't know what I was whining about) and also because truthfully, I was getting bored with the fic. Then the gap between updates got bigger and bigger, and eventually I couldn't remember the story with perfect accuracy as I once had.
Recently I read over the story again, and I was a bit surprised at the...shoddiness of the writing. Not so much the spelling or grammar, more the storytelling: the overwhelming amount of angst, the OOCness of Harry/Tobias (bad stuff has happened to him, but he should still be Harry), the melodramatics of Harry/Tobias, the focus on dialogue (and not particularly good dialogue, either) the slow pacing, the threads of story that were just left hanging... To fix it up, it wouldn't be as easy as just handing the fic to a Beta and giving them puppy dog eyes; I'd have to give it a huge overhaul, which would take a lot of time for something I wouldn't particularly enjoy doing.
In some ways I'm very proud of this fic. It is so far the only novel-length story I've ever written (though hopefully not the only one I'll ever write) and I learnt a hell of a lot from it. My only regret is that I doubt it will ever be finished. Though...if anyone wants to take it up and continue with it, they are absolutely welcome. Just email me and I'll send you my notes saying where I would have taken the story, and the secrets that have not yet been revealed.
I don't think this is the end for me and fanfiction -- I still love reading it, and I've still got fic ideas stewing in the back of my mind -- but in terms of Æternus... Well. It's been a fun ride, guys. Thanks for your unending support and positive reviews, and even the negative ones, because they made me laugh. When I started to get bored, it was your reviews (uh, not the negative ones) that made me go back to the computer and type. And not just reviewers: thank you to every single person who has ever clicked the link to my fic, even if it was to glance at the poem at the front and say, "My god, how pretentious." I can't explain the feeling I had half an hour ago, when I looked at the Stats and saw I had 202,177 hits. Just...thank you, so much.
So see you round some time, yeah? Cheers.
~blaze
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