Hi! I just wanted to tell you that you're an incredible, inspiring author, and that I don't think you should feel bad for a moment about discontinuing a story that wasn't bringing you satisfaction or joy. I hope it can still be seen as a valuable part of your writing journey that gave you some insight, and I hope it's really liberating to move on. (I'm from the Stardew fandom, but I'm also sure more than a few people enjoyed reading it and got something out of it, too).
Just wanted to show you some support and encouragement. I'm looking forward to whatever you write next!
Thank you so much for the kind words, anon. I'm someone who tends to hold himself to very high standards that I don't hold others to, so while I've given out the advice about doing what makes you happy in the past, it's a lot easier to give than take your own advice. I don't know if liberating is quite the right word for how I'm feeling, but a quiet relief is definitely there.
I do have a couple of story ideas that are germinating right now. If things go well enough, I should be publishing something later this year as a way of easing back into writing fanfic. I don't expect I'll be able to be as prolific as I was back during the pandemic, but I hope to at least be able to turn out a couple more stories.
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Hi I just started reading your fic fire walk with yesterday and I'm completely in love with it. Only ten chapters in but super excited to see where it goes. Elliott and Sebastian are my fav sdv characters and you characterize them so well! I realized just how long the chapters are and it is crazy that such a big fic is completed and totally free. Is there any place where you accept donations?
Hello, and thank you for the incredibly kind ask!
I've given thought in the past to setting up something for donations, but it's always made me feel a little uncomfortable to think about. Why I ultimately decided against donations is that I write and have written for the love of it and wanted to share it with others, without feeling like I needed to monetize it or turn it into a side hustle. I understand why people do put up donation links, but I've never felt like I was prolific or consistent enough in terms of creative content to justify it. I do thank you for the offer and the question, but I won't be taking donations now or at any point in the foreseeable future.
I am very happy to hear how much you're enjoying "Fire Walk with Me"! It's a story I'm very, very proud of, and I hope that you enjoy where it goes from here. If you do have time or inclination to leave any comments on the story, I cherish all of those. Thank you again, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the read!
I know you don’t really update your acnh fic anymore but I wanted to let you know that I reread them over and over again your writing is timeless and you are so talented ! You’ve inspired me so much and I really hope you continue writing !
Hi, anon, thank you for the ask.
You're correct that "Under the Maple Tree" has gone a very, very long time without updating. That doesn't mean that I haven't been working on it, however. I've been slowly, very, very slowly, working on it and have a few more chapters finished past chapter 17, which was the last one I posted, about two years ago. I'm envisioning this going up to chapter 27, and I'd like to be finished with it by the end of the year. I'm not going to be posting any of the final chapters until I am completely finished, so I know I don't run into any additional problems with getting stuck and feeling unmotivated.
I do really appreciate you taking the time to let me know how much both "Under the Maple Tree" and "Prism" meant to you. They're stories I put a lot of time into, especially "Under the Maple Tree," and I feel like they're good work. Unfortunately, the reader response has not been what I had hoped for. I started "Under the Maple Tree" just a couple of months after I finished writing the story that still to this day had the biggest audience response, and I was riding that high only to hit a brick wall with "Under the Maple Tree." I don't think it's a bad story, and I know people were reading it, but there just wasn't the response necessary for me to keep up with writing it consistently. As I noted in my author's note at the end of where I put it on hiatus, writing is a process that requires uplifts to keep it in motion, and there were hardly any uplifts at all the entire time I was writing that story.
I'm very glad to hear that you enjoyed it, and it will be back eventually. Once it's finished, I'll make an announcement both on AO3 and here on Tumblr a week before it starts uploading. That will almost certainly be the last ACNH fic I write, but it will be finished eventually.
Have you ever thought about publishing Fire Walk with Me or the full series as a true book? I imagine there would need to be minor adjustments in names and some world building to distinguish it from Stardew Valley, but you do a beautiful job of building out the world and characters well beyond the game. The changes would be minor in the truest sense - that's how good it is!
I haven't gotten a chance to read Blue Velvet yet, but it's next on my list now that it's complete.
I have read your Ruby and Obsidian works more times than I can probably recall, and they impact me so profoundly every time. Just like Elliott deserved to receive pay for his work, so too do you. I really hope you consider publishing - even though you're taking a very well deserved writing back doesn't mean that your existing work can't impact even more people. You deserve it. Thank you for sharing your world, your characters, your love with us.
Hi, anon, thank you for the ask.
This is a very kind sentiment, and I appreciate it more than you can know. Unfortunately, I know a lot about the publishing industry, and there is very little about it that's friendly to brand-new authors. With so much self-published and AI-written work exploding across the internet, it's increasingly difficult to get a foot in at a traditional publishing house.
Beyond this, "Fire Walk with Me" is far, far too long to be a novel. The days of incredibly-long novels, unless they're by well-known and well-established authors, is long past. Most published novels in the contemporary period top out at about 110,000 words, and "Fire Walk" is nearly 700,000. The individual chapters are also way longer than most - some are nearly 20,000 words in and of themselves.
I'm also not prolific enough to justify setting up a Patreon or some other crowd-support service, as some fanfic writers do. A little extra money would be very nice, but the pressure I'd feel to constantly be writing is one that I can't really have right now - I'm still trying to work my way through the all-consuming burnout I experienced from the end of last year to the beginning of this one, and I know not to put pressure on myself like that.
As much as I appreciate the sentiments, and thank you for the good wishes and encouragement, I've had to accept that I won't ever be a published author in the traditional sense. Thank you for the kind words, and I'm very glad to hear how much Obsidian and Ruby has meant to you. I hope you enjoy "Blue Velvet" as much - it's definitely a different sort of story, harder and rawer, but I'm proud of it and how it came together.
Hi! Hope this finds you well and at an appropriate time. I wish I could send this anonymously because I'm quite shy, but there's no other way to attach GIFs. I know my username hardly rings a bell as it's different from my AO3 one. But I commented on Fire Walk With Me about a year ago expressing how much your writing has left a huge impression on me, and how I would've loved to make art of it. And you gave me the a-OK! :)) A year later's definitely overdue as hell, but I finally got around to finding you here.
Unfortunately, despite the multiple sketches I whipped up last year in an eager frenzy, I never got around to finishing them. Since then, a lot of things have happened and I've jumped in and out of various other fandoms, my artstyle has also drastically changed (and improved maybe), but I always come back to Stardew Valley as comfort media. These WIPs are now quite old, but I thought it's unfair to never let you see them after having specifically asked your permission to make them haha. Although it kinda saddens me that none of this art I'm giving you is finished, I want you to know that I enjoyed your quality and style of writing so much that I drew your Seb and Elliott. They are both so dear to me, and have grown to be even more so thanks to you! May these roughly-drawn, messy silly lil WIP timelapses be of some entertainment for you lmao :)) perhaps one day I'll actually manage to complete something for the Obsidian and Ruby pair.
Anyway, I will be slowly catching up to your more recent works here and there!
Have a really nice day!
This is such gorgeous work! I love seeing the process come together, and how you've captured their personalities in these little glimpses of them together. This makes my heart so happy to see, please don't feel like you have to apologize for any of this. Any sort of feedback on my work, especially something that you've clearly put so much time and effort into, is such an uplifting moment, and I'm incredibly grateful you put in the time on this and shared it with me - thank you again!
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The moment I realized Noah was going fuckbuddies with Clint is when the depth of his depression really hit me. That's not bottom of the barrel, that's Cask of Amontillado.
Also I admire your firm refusal to acknowledge Alex's existence.
Good job on Blue Velvet.
Hi, anon, thank you for the ask. I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you; I haven't been on Tumblr for a few months.
Noah's depression was meant to be stark, not just in how he viewed himself, but how he thought others viewed him as well. Obviously, "Blue Velvet" is a story that's focused primarily on him and Qi, and how he comes to realize his own worth and the value of his life, but choosing Clint as the third-most important character in the story served a variety of reasons.
I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed reading "Blue Velvet" - and as for Alex, I actually have a story with him as one of the main characters early in development. It probably won't start until next year at the absolute earliest, but he won't be a background character for much longer. Thank you again for the ask!
Hullo! Just read the Obsidian and Ruby series and adored it! It also inspired me to to start up with my own typings again. I was wondering if you'd be alright with another writer using your version of Stardew and your farmer Becca as a backdrop in their own story? If not I'll just write it for the drawer and be at peace - and given how I'm terrible at finishing stories it might never go up on Ao3 either way. But I felt it important to ask permission.
Hello! I'm very glad to hear how much you enjoyed Obsidian and Ruby, and that it inspired you to start writing! I would be fine with you using my version of Stardew Valley and Becca in your fic; I'd just ask that if you do publish it, you link back to Obsidian and Ruby so that your readers know where it came from. Thank you for asking, and for reading!
i recently found Blue Velvet when i was looking through ao3 for any fics related to Mr. Qi out of curiosity, and when i tell you that the first chapter hooked me and made me binge that AND your Obsidian and Ruby series in three days. your writing style is so so good and refreshing, and Fire Walk With Me had me literally gasping and kicking my feet. i can really see the scenes play out in my head, its so well done!
i saw that you're taking a break because of burnout and work, which i hope you'll recuperate from! ill patiently wait for whatever else you have in store for however long it takes :)
Thank you so much for the kind words, anon. I'm proud of the work I've created, even in the midst of burnout, and it's always wonderful to hear from people who are encountering it for the first time.
I can't promise when I'll be back to writing. I need to get un-burnt out, and that's probably going to take a little while, at least. Maintenance is important, in all regards, and especially with the self. When I come back, it'll be in a biweekly format, which I think will work a lot better to prevent burnout.
Thank you again - reading this made my day, and I'm so glad to hear how much the stories have meant to you.
