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A reader that is only in for the BL part and HEA will 100% be disappointed. Because it won't happen fast. Like, there are three main couples and in volume 7-2, only one of them has actually married. The third one is more or less completely split up (the one with the fiance I mentioned in the original message), and the first one is sort-of together but can't go further because of reasons.

I think there was absolutely nothing wrong with the story per se because this is just how OMF is. Complicated world, complicated lore, complicated character constellation, several major plotlines. There's a reason why there will be 10+ volumes. I think the problem was rather that I had the wrong readers who weren't up for that kind of story.

I honestly can't tell you what the right way of posting that part of your story is. I just know that no matter how I would have posted OMF back then, I still would have lost that batch of readers because it just wasn't their story. I think readers that genuinely like a story will stay around even if there's a bit of downtime in a story for once.

To add on to that: I'm saying this especially because I was posting a lot. 90k words a month isn't little. The first volume originally had 120k words, the second one came down to only 90k because of the cuts while it's 190k in the revised one. So I would have finished the whole volume in less than three months if I ran with the original idea at the original schedule.

Nowadays, I'm doing both the revised and the original version at only one chapter a day. The volumes have gotten longer (since I don't cut anymore) and the schedule is reduced. So, difficult arcs can be daunting for readers. I had a really tragic one just a few weeks ago where I felt the need to put a warning in front of the first chapter because it'll get sad-sad.

The arc is only between 20-30 chapters so not that long but that's still a lot if you cry every single one of them. So I dropped some extra chapters on the weekends. Don't regret that because it was done for me and the readers that genuinely like the story. Not to appease those that don't care enough for it anyway.

Looking back now with the experience of two more years, I probably should have known that I shouldn't take the feedback of 'things take too long' too seriously when the same person who brought it up also complained about the lack of a real MC. I mean, it's a multiple PoV story for a reason I sure as hell won't change that so what the fuck made me think it was a good idea to change the pace of the story?

TT____TT

Thank you for sharing. And for the advice. You are right, and I guess I know that already since my book is so long that the people who are still in its ongoing parts -- will likely keep reading because they've been with me through some rough setting-porn stretches already. And managed to survive them @_@.

And I had no idea you would release 3/day O_O. That is an incredible pace!

Also, OMF sounds so exciting, honestly ^^. Do you have the distinctions between volumes inside the chapters themselves? Because on the Table on Contents, it doesn't say where the volumes begin or end...

Also it makes me wonder why sometimes the numbered chapters cease, but then reemerge later anyway? Was there a reason? Interesting. I always wondered if reading the books without (or with) numbered chapters helps or not...

Would you say your revised and your original version -- have the same readership? Or are they entirely different? Would those who stayed with the one you consider bad not understand if you shifted entirely to a single unified one? That's so harsh, to write two versions of the same story

Especially if you dislike one of them +_+.

(Although I am thinking about AUs of my stories more and more recently. The idea overall is very intriguing ^^).

Thank you again for the talk! I actually like listening to your stories about writing . Though I hope I don't take too much of your time away from actual writing with this, .

Ah, where do I start answering? I really want a reply option for these posts ... or maybe just more characters Anyway, don't worry about my time. I'd rather talk with you about writing than procrastinate with something else so this is actually great. Because let's be honest: I love talking about my stories

Now, as for the numbered chapters: It's because I forgot in the beginning, went back to number them when I noticed but was then frustrated because it took such a long-ass time so now there's numbers missing somewhere in the middle I also do indicate the end of a volume but you have to scroll a long time for that (it's c168, c339, and c581).

The pace was great back then because it allowed for so much progress I'm still writing 3/4 c/day now but it's spread over several projects so we make less progress with each per day. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be nice to finish some up and do more OMF. But even with 3c/day it'd take a long time to finish so I'm kind of reluctant. There are still 4 volumes to go

The readership ... I guess it's different? I know one reader that started with the first version, then read the revised one and genuinely liked it better (never mind the new details, I've also rewritten the early chapters for better flow). I also know that some people started with the revised version and didn't want to wait so they jumped ship to the original one (it works at several points in the story).

I can't really unify both versions at this point (might be possible later though) because the missing details still run through the fourth volume that I'm revising right now and do, in part, influence the volume after this. So I'll be stuck with this for at least another two volumes. I also changed some names so it'd be difficult to make that work with a unified version.

I can say a bit more on that but I need to go off for a bit

I'm back. What did I want to say? I actually enjoy doing the revision because I can change some other details while I go along. And I would likely do it anyway after I finish with the first version. The thing is just: I don't want to wait that long because, as I said, the first version will take forever to finish at the current pace.

On the other hand, I don't want to pause/stop the first version to revise the finished volumes. That'd take several months as well because adding all those details back in means that I need to write completely new chapters. Like, I think I've added about 380 chapters by now? (There's an additional volume in the revised version.) It's just so much time