Story Update: Thank you for everyone who has read and reviewed my story! Sadly, this is not the next chapter of The Shards of Sorrow. With that said, I have no intentions of abandoning this piece and I wanted to update those of you waiting for me to pick up where I left off in Branwen's story. I'd like to take some time to clear up the air on a few things and let you all know where I am currently, if you all don't mind! :]

A.N. 1: I have received a small number of reviews and messages from those who are dissatisfied with this work. Most have concerns of little change in the canon storyline of LOTR; others are dissatisfied with the portrayal of emotional struggle and various other minutia.

To be 100% transparent, I started this fanfiction more as an experiment for myself with two primary objectives—the first being that I have had little experience with writing high fantasy as opposed to urban or modern fantasy and so wished to branch out. I have actually been praised for my knowledge of LOTR by some reviewers but, I must confess, before I started writing this fanfiction, I really had no knowledge of Tolkien's fictional universe other than the movies. It was the planning of this fanfiction that actually got me to read the books for the first time and start researching the world. Reading, researching, and writing through the lens of such an incredible literary universe has helped me understand the very different tone and pacing between the various fantasy genres.

The second experiment was writing a character with views and thoughts that are wildly different from my own. Branwen can be difficult for me to write because she is very moody, judgmental, harsh, and confrontational. To be clear, if I identify personally with any character in this story, it's probably Pippin! Haha!

I've learned a lot while writing such a character and the odd-at-times interactions mostly has to do with me struggling to figure out how someone like Branwen would legitimately react to certain situations. I have learned a great deal about empathizing with a character—both how they can get away from you if you're not careful and why, sometimes, the vision an author has for specific scenes may have to be more fluid if it will work with the characters that continue to grow with the story.

My apologies if my experiment has sat ill with you! I recognize that it has begun to collect cliches along the way and that Branwen is a Mary-Sue, so many might find themselves bored or annoyed with the story. Although, I would argue she has been a Mary-Sue the entire time considering the whole "cannot die aspect"! Haha!

With that said, my experiment with The Shards of Sorrow has born fruit! I would like to share that the reason for my unannounced hiatus was due to an original piece that I have been working on diligently the last four months between writing and editing. I have completed the manuscript and I am currently reaching out to literary agencies to secure representation for the first novel of an epic science-fantasy series that straddles the borders between urban, modern, and high fantasy. If all goes well, I hope to be actively working with an agent towards publishing my first novel in the next few months—The Dragonblood Empire: The Phantom King

If anyone should happen to know any agents currently looking to expand their client list, please let me know!

A.N. 2: With most of the work now behind me with my original novel, I finally have time to complete The Shards of Sorrow. My philosophy with any type of artform is that art is progressive—it builds upon itself and you're always continually improving. I have grown immensely in my writing from first writing The Shards of Sorrow and then writing and editing The Phantom King. It's to the point that re-reading The Shards of Sorrow is a bit embarrassing for me.

I readily admit that I was going through a rather large emotional upheaval at the time that I began writing The Shards of Sorrow and my interest was more about progressing the story rather than concerning myself with editing. For those of you who have been reading since the beginning, I'm sure most of you remember that I put out almost a chapter a day for the first twenty-eight chapters or so. While I did do my best to edit for grammar and spelling, I find that clarity and conciseness is lacking. Funnily enough, I had always assumed that when I wrote, I would find it difficult to fill pages. Instead, I found my problem was the exact opposite! Haha!

The Phantom King's first draft ended at about 375,000 words and, over the course of two months and multiple edits, I cut out over 110,000 words from first to final draft. While I doubt that I can do such a dramatic cut to The Shards of Sorrow without affecting the spirit of the piece, I do feel the need to give it the edit that it deserves for its central role in my hopes of transitioning to a professional author.

I will spend the next while carefully re-reading The Shards of Sorrow and editing each chapter. I will refrain from posting the edited chapters until the entire piece has been reviewed. Once I have done so, I will delete this announcement and then post the next chapter.

A.N. 3: A guest reviewer pointed out to me that I have been spelling "Elladan" as "Ellandan". Whoops! After adding the incorrect name to my Word dictionary all the way back in chapter 2, I haven't looked back. I've went back and changed that in all the current chapters to reflect the correct spelling. Thank you!

A.N. 4: As an aspiring professional author, I feel that I have a duty to recognize my faults when I make mistakes; especially regarding those who have taken the time to read my work. I would like to recognize an anonymous reviewer. I believe I've connected them with their actual profile here on the website (BBB [not their full handle] is that you?). If that is indeed you and you had decided to switch to reviewing as a guest for whichever reason, I would like to apologize for deleting your anonymous review off-hand some weeks back. I had not connected it to your original review some months ago and so had taken the sarcastic tone as someone choosing to be mean-spirited for little reason.

If that was indeed you, then I would like to thank you and apologize. Your initial review some months back had struck me on a personal level due to the issues I had going on at that point in time and I had responded, rather than to you personally in a private message, with an ill-thought and kneejerk author's note—to address you and to others who had raised a similar concern. Truly, that was childish of me and I should not have done so. It was the reason I removed that silly note within a day after I had posted it.

After taking a hiatus for these last few months and having the time to sort my personal thoughts, I did go back and re-write sections of this story to try and make it flow better without altering so much that it changed the trajectory of my already written chapters; bearing in mind your criticisms and those others had shared with me. Thank you and all others who had broached concerns with my narrative for taking the time to point them out to me and, if that is you, BBB, thank you for actually continuing to read my story. Honestly, I was shocked to find that you had.

As I now begin to give The Shards of Sorrow the edit it deserves, I will do my best to keep in mind your genuine and well-thought critiques and those of others as well. That anyone took the time to review and share their thoughts with me is something to be celebrated; not for a fragile ego to lash out against.

The only reason I did not message you personally was A) I'm not 100% sure that it was you and that would be a bit awkward if it was not and B) as I had been so petty as to write a public author's note directed at you primarily (even if it was temporary and omitted names), then I should have the stomach to apologize publicly as well. Whether you are who I suspect you are or are not, feel free to message me if you would like to have a conversation, but you don't have to if you'd rather not.

A.N. 5: And finally, thank all of you who have continued to read and follow my story. During those weeks when I was blitzing the first part of this story, you all and Branwen were all that were keeping me going as I watched my life coming apart at the seams. Your kind reviews, your messages, and your support have been Godsent and the process of writing Branwen healing has helped me immensely in beginning the process of healing and overcoming my own traumas; as different as those traumas might be.

While it had always been a lifelong dream to write my own novel and I even started The Shards of Sorrow with that exact thought in mind, I had accepted that my dream might never come to fruition. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Finally, for those interested, here is the hook that I have written for The Dragonblood Empire: The Phantom King. I will keep you all updated with any news if I should successfully find representation and secure a publisher.

Since the Sealing of Twilight that locked away the Deep Realms of the Otherworld and the Greater Fayré and Dragons that reside within, Men have come into dominance over Eremus. Blessed bloodlines graced with powerful magic and long life dominate the aristocracies of the realms of Eremus. The Empire of Britannia is a nation unlike any other—a magically powerful kingdom with pervasive Technological Animancy reliant upon the Alchemical Knowledge they have carefully guarded from the other nations since the Great Magician Merlin first unearthed it. Now, thousands of years later, the Empire's elite live luxurious lives above the clouds while the rest of Men survive on the Surface amongst the remnants of Others. Into this ancient Empire, a young boy of noble blood is born out of wedlock and abandoned to the Surface. James dreams of becoming a Paladin Knight, the Empire's most elite warrior Magicians, and will do all he can to make that reality. During the course of his journey and trials, he must navigate the Imperial Caste System and the tribulations of the heart as strange Visions haunt him. He discovers that it is not only Others that are monsters and to be human is a choice.