Didn't Sleep Again But At Least I Finished

A writer friend told me something that broke my heart a little bit today; they're going to quit publishing their fanfic.

My instant thought was that they had been trolled or attacked or that something terrible had happened in their life because this person is so passionate about their writing. It wasn't any of that. Engagement with their works has been going down, as it has for many of us. Comments are like gold dust a lot of the time, and just looking through the historical comment counts on old fics on ao3 demonstrates this trend very clearly. It was not simply the comments dropping off which caused them to decide to stop posting, however.

My friend came across a discord server for their fandom (I should point out here that their fandom interest and mine diverged a couple of years ago, we stay in touch but don't currently read each other's posts because I'm not into their fandom and they would rather gouge their eyes out with a wooden spoon than read anything Star Wars) and specifically to share fic in that fandom. They joined, because we all love a good fic rec, only to discover that their latest multichapter fic, which has almost no comments and very few kudos, is being hotly discussed in this server as one of the best stories ever. Not one of these people has bothered to say this to them on the fic. When they asked, none of participants could see the point in telling the author of the fic they apparently loved so much that they love it.

This discovery has absolutely destroyed my friend's love of sharing fic. They share because they love seeing other people's enjoyment, and fic writers do that through comments and kudos/reblogs/likes because we don't get paid. There is no literary critic writing a blog post/article about how amazing the story is for us to copy and keep/frame. There is no money from royalties. All we have are the words of the people reading our works.

Those people on that server could have taken five minutes of the time they spent gushing about how amazing my friend's story was to other people and used it to tell the one person guaranteed to want to hear that praise how much they loved it. They could have taken a moment to express their opinion to the person who spent hours upon hours plotting, writing, editing, and posting those chapters. Instead, they deprived my friend of thing that keeps them sharing their writing, and in the process have killed their love of it. My friend now feels used and unmotivated.

I won't be sharing a link to their fic, they said I could share their experience but not their identity. I know they plan to post one final chapter. I know they intend to express their hurt at being excluded from the praise for the thing they created, and I know they intend to announce that as a consequence they will not be posting for a long while, if at all.

So please, I beg you, don't hide your love of a story from the writer. It's just about the only thing we have.

. . . There seems to be a slight misunderstanding, my friend. At this table, you are the challenger. Because, unlike the house, the gambler knows exactly what they want.

AVENTURINE ◇ THE GOLDEN TOUCH

Thank you so so much 😭

We might've not gotten 100 hits on my fanfic before New Years, but I'm still glad it managed to get even some attention.

The next three chapters had already been written (while I was bedridden) so I will just have to make more chapter covers before posting them!

You can still help me reach my goal of 100 hits on Ao3 if you're interested! But the longer "thank you" note is going to be under the cut.

Thank you so much and Happy New Year!

Despite how critical I may be of myself, posting my creations - that are so tightly connected with my OCs online and seeing people enjoy the content I create with them - was the best decision I've made all year.

I want to thank everyone who spent even a little of their time checking out my OCs' content this year. It gave me motivation to continue what I enjoy doing.

To be honest, I've started creating these OCs for my character design courses at the start of 2024, and I've did an immense amount of work from February until now and I really hope that it will end up evolving further and capture an audience going into 2025.

Hopefully when this fanfic ends it won't mark an end of my characters' journey. So, if you want to support me and see where my motivation leads me - you are more than welcome to follow me.

I will try to not disappoint you. Thank you again. I'll see you next year!

Being delusional is thinking smbd will care about ur silly little OCs if u started an ask about them hahaha

...I really want for ppl to care about the people in my head so bad [pained Akechi sprite]

Felt silly while replaying P5R and Im about to go to Sae's palace so I felt like it was fitting to draw Crow's prince outfit

Oh also a "what if Ume had a Phantom Thief attire" scenario because I am weak Im only human

Gonna write the text here rather than in ID cuz my handwriting is whack

1. Crow: "A piercing gun? What a strange choice..!"

2. Hime(Ume's code name): "Did you know that 25% of people are afraid of needles of any kind? And this kind of piercing gun does more harm than good most of the time. You shouldn't underestimate it, big bro."

3. Hime: "Or were you volunteering to test it's damage capabilities personally?"

Crow: "I'd rather not."

And ofc a concept of Hime's PT outfit below

ID in alt

More explanations below? If ur willing to read em lol [spoilers for p5 and Ume's story down the line]

If u're caught up with the fics u know that Ume is a demigod, an egyptian one. So I went with the animal mask motif and the broad collar necklace shape that is common in Egyptian murals.

The belts are there to give some resemblance to Akechi's Black Mask bodysuit pattern, while keeping it somewhat fresh and unique (imo).

The sideblades on rollerblades is her weapon of choice (this is kept from her original design that I'm yet to announce properly <3); the piercing gun came to me as a joke, but we can chuck it up to the fact that Ume is more than willing to continue leaning the hairdressing skill from Chiyoko and later expand her salon to a more general one where she can be the piercing master.

The right leg's design is inspired by the knee braces due to the [spoiler] knee injury she often suffered while being on ice. Ume wears her knee brace quite often.

And the silhouette overall is inspired by the 80s, as, well, most of the things accociated with Ume. (Im unsure where most of the inspo comes from so I usually say 70s-80s so please don't shoot me if I mistake an era by accident).

The code name "Hime" or "Princess" comes form the fact that she can technically be considered a princess of the underworld due to her lineage. As well as Chiyoko loved playing as her teddy bear and making Ume the princess in their roleplaying, Ume loved it too as a kid. (Also I think Akechi would call her "princess" as a joke because Im silly and delusional)

Also Im not good at drawing animals...

YAYAYAYAYAYAA

An art of my friend's Persona characters. Happy birthday @ginbutnottonic

Perhaps their lives would've turned out differently if they'd spent more time with each other... (pwease read it <3 <3)

Working hard on the next chapter already~!

U can check out other chapter covers here:

First | Second | Third | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth | Ninth

save me, oc and canon interactions, save me

yeah idk I didnt sleep so I could finish it

comic practice ft. my oc Ume and Akechi

Henlo, I am not dead Just trying to learn how to manage everything in my life with new rules and undiagnosed ADHD (Im scared of doctors)

Anyway something different this time and its a wip I probably never finish but it looks nice so far

A potential LC design for one of my HSR OC's - Arvo

If ppl find him cute I might just write a bio for him (as if I don't have a 10k+ words fic in the works right now that I'm too scared to post) or just draw his character sheet with his designs

ANyway please be gentle to him hes traumatized (who isnt in this game)

Upd: just added a lil more detailed WIP teehee