Update! Changing gears! Retiring from Fan Fiction.

Howdy! Hope you're all doing well! As you all may have noticed I've kinda been in a slump recently. So I took the opportunity to do some reflecting. As you've just noticed, I've updated my latest fan fiction, Mario and Luigi: The Shaman of Shadows! This means that this project is now at its halfway point! Hurray!

However, that brings me to my point. In my time here on DA I've tried tirelessly to learn how to write good enough so that my ideas would be seen and read by others. Over these many years I've only managed to make 2 1/2 stories so far, granted these are pretty much 'books' as opposed to most fan fictions, but, as many of you know, I recently crafted a sort of mock comic/manga about a character I like to call, Majin Buulma.

Majin Buulma turned out to be much more fun to create than any fan fiction and it seems to be the most engaging thing my audience has interacted with so far. Majin Buulma was created in only 4 months as opposed to the many years it has taken me to write some of my stories. I felt it hard this time around. This last post for Shaman of Shadows was a slog to get through. Whereas, Majin Buulma was riveting to do. Every page, mind you. Doing this pseudo-comic allowed me to express my creativity in a much more fun way, that I just can't do with words. To be honest with you, I was never the kid in school who always had something to read. Technically speaking, I didn't like to read very much unless it was something I was interested in.

So, with the inspiration Majin Buulma has given me, I believe that Shaman of Shadows will be my final big fan fiction. Every idea from this point forward will now be converted into learning how to do comic/manga styled art. I've even been asked if I would convert Odyssey of Dreams into a comic and I said that I just don't have it in me to linger on that story any more. So maybe, the sequel to Odyssey would be much better off as a fan comic. Fan Fiction as a medium just... isn't fun for me anymore. It doesn't allow me to be as expressive as I want. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to have spent the time learning how to write and I'll still write small things from time to time, but I think it's time I moved on.

Actually, I'm quite excited to change gears with this. I have many ideas I would like to start with once Shaman of Shadows is completed. Don't worry, I won't try and rush Shaman of Shadows and make it turn out bad. I still love my creations and my ideas. However, since I have this Patreon now, I highly doubt fan fiction is something that will bring in numbers like comic or other styles of art will. People simply engage more with illustrations than they do with words.

Ah, thanks for reading my rambling. It feels good to get that off my chest. I sincerely thank every single one of you who have watched my gallery all these years and the newcomers as well. Hopefully, as I hit my new stride here, my future projects will be even more entertaining!