Katalepsis Book Two is going on hiatus.
Hello everyone.
I have some bad news for the present, and some (hopefully) good news for the future.
I’m going to put this in bullet points first, to rip the bandage off as quickly as possible; after that I’ll write a much longer version, for those of you who are interested in the details.
Okay, so. Here goes. The short version.
Katalepsis Book Two is going on an indefinite hiatus. Book Two, Arc One, Chapter 19 is now the end of the first arc. For non-patrons, the remaining two chapters will go public this week and next week, like normal.
I will be launching a new story in approximately 6-8 weeks time.
Necroepilogos is unaffected by this; Necroepilogos will continue to publish on the same schedule as before.
Right, well. There it is. Now for the long version.
Katalepsis Book Two is going on indefinite hiatus.
First off, I want to apologise to all my patrons and readers. I have done everything within my power to avoid this, but I have failed. I am sorry.
I also want to apologise for doing this on a Friday, less than 12 hours before my usual publishing window. I had wanted to do this in some other way, with a clear week of time, with 6+ chapters of Katalepsis still pending, to soften the news. But that has become impossible.
I’m not making this decision lightly. It’s taken me months to reach this point. This is the most difficult creative decision I’ve ever made. It’s also very frightening as an independent writer, reliant on the support and generosity of my patrons. I know that most of my audience is here for Katalepsis, I know that’s the overwhelming majority of my readership, and the majority of my income. To those of you who have supported Katalepsis, whether you’ve been here since the start or you just joined up this week, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. To those who look forward to Katalepsis every Saturday, I’m deeply sorry, and I hope that the new stories and projects I have planned for the future can fill that space. This is not the end of Katalepsis — it is a long-term hiatus, shifting it to the back burner, in order to fix some currently intractable problems.
This post is incredibly difficult to write, as you can probably imagine. I am writing it under considerable emotional strain, so I ask your forgiveness if some of my thoughts are a little jumbled or if I miss a point. Feel free to ask any questions you like down in the comments, I’ll reply as best I can.
Secondly, I want to make it clear that behind the scenes I’m fine, this isn’t about me, my health, my family, or anything else. I am not slowing down or taking a break from the story for any external reasons. I’m not planning on slowing down as a writer at all. This is purely about Katalepsis Book Two itself.
So, why am I putting the story on hiatus?
The short answer? It’s not working.
On a fundamental storytelling level, I do not believe that Katalepsis Book Two is functioning in the way it should, and the reasons for this are so complex that I cannot untangle it at the same time as writing the story week-to-week. I have been grappling with this for the last 3-4 months. At first I told myself the problems were solvable in the exact same way as I dealt in with Book One — rework the outlines, listen to the characters, surf the narrative wave, and above all, never stop. But with Book Two these techniques have failed me, first slowly, then all at once. I’ll expand on that below, for anybody interested in the mechanical details.
Why has this happened so suddenly?
Well, a couple of reasons. Firstly I’ve tried my absolute best to keep the quality of the story as high as I can in each chapter, regardless of problems beneath the surface. I didn’t want my doubts and issues with the long-term plan to show through, so I didn’t mention them, and I made damn sure they didn’t affect the characters — that’s one of my first duties as a writer. The other reason is that I kept telling myself this wouldn’t happen. I spent months insisting to myself that all this could be fixed as I went, with enough hard work, just like I did whenever I had problems in Book One. When it became evident to me that I would need to take this step eventually, I became determined to at least finish the first arc — Maisie’s Story — and somehow end it in a satisfactory way, even if it wasn’t perfect. End the narrative movement, get her home, and get the cast ready for the next instalment.
But that, unfortunately, lies at the heart of the problem.
I want to make it clear that I am proud of what exists up to this point — the first arc of Book Two, the first part of Maisie’s Story. I’m not disowning it or abandoning it. It stands on its own, I’m happy with it, and I’m delighted by all the enjoyment that readers have gotten out of it so far.
The problem is what comes next. The next couple of chapters do technically exist, but they’re terrible, they’re some of the worst material I’ve ever written, and it would be a deep injustice to the characters and the story to publish further. I’ve been in denial all last week, and then this week, telling myself that I could somehow make this work for long enough to end the arc, that I could get to the finish line running on narrative fumes, for a proper resolution; as late as yesterday morning I was still determined to make it work.
But this isn’t something I can solve with a week off. I’m not burnt out by short term problems. Book Two — or at least, the rest of it from this point onward — needs to go back to the drawing board, hard, for months at least, probably longer.
So, what’s going under the surface? What is actually wrong here?
The problem with Book Two is not the characters or the setting or anything like that. Maisie is fantastic. I love her as much as I love Heather. I have enjoyed writing her voice and her POV so much more than I ever expected. The plot of the book so far is also not a problem, I’m really satisfied with the story I’ve been telling, I’m happy with the themes, especially some of the core stuff with Maisie herself.
The problem is … well, if I was capable of fully explaining it, I wouldn’t be in this mess, so you’ll have to bear with me. I do hope this makes sense.
The problem is structural.
Katalepsis Book One was a single long narrative, Heather’s story, with a specific narrative engine — saving Maisie. During the course of that story we ended up with a bunch of loose ends — future plot hooks. Behind the scenes I expanded on these plot hooks, tidied them away for later, and used them to form the basis for the plots of Book Two, with plans for multiple POVs, exploring separate plots of their own.
However, while actually writing Maisie’s story, the ‘first arc’, something didn’t feel right. It took me a long time to understand the problem. These individual longer arcs from different POVs, as I envisioned them, they do not function as serial fiction. They function as novels, each with their own narrative engine. And novels require an entirely different structural approach to what I’m doing here!
Some of you may have noticed this, at the structural level of the storytelling. This arc kept getting longer and longer, but without the narrative weight of say, Book One’s massive concluding arc. There was a long period of slow, chewy, bad pacing — leading to a worthy climax, sure! But still, I couldn’t figure out why everything was not fitting together in the way I wanted. I never experienced this with Book One, or with anything else I've written, and my inability to diagnose the problem was half the issue.
I believe the arc has reached a good stopping point with chapter 19 — a cliffhanger, certainly, but one that feels right internally, for Maisie’s development. That’s luck more than anything. The collapse of the next two chapters was not planned, I really was telling myself I could keep going, right until yesterday morning. But, if I step back and approach this as a serial, as it should be, then chapter 19 is a natural stopping point, an arc break, in the right place. For the sake of the characters and a potential future return to the story, stopping here with a clean break is a better option than pushing things onward and making a stop-start mess of it.
I think I mentioned back when I finished Book One that Book Two is an experiment, and it might not work. I don’t think it has worked. I think it’s time I accept that, learn from it, and move on.
This is not the end of Katalepsis. My intent is to put it onto the back burner and figure out what to do. If the story demands to be a series of short novels, rather than a serial, then that is what I’ll do. I could never abandon this setting or these characters. There are so many more stories to tell about them. (Tenny needs to go to university, after all!) Hence, hiatus, however long it takes, rather than cancellation.
That kind of structural planning work takes time, and I can’t do it while also writing the same story. I guess it’s like driving a car while also working on the engine. It would crash, and Katalepsis deserves better than that.
Katalepsis will return, in some form. For now, the girls are going to retreat into Number 12 Barnslow Drive, for a well deserved rest.
This is entirely my own fault. To be very self-critical for a moment, I probably should have done this as soon as I finished Book One. I’d spent so much time making so many promises about a second book, a follow up book, to so many readers, with such faith in my own skills, that I never imagined it could fail in this specific way. I had (and have!) reams of plans, character studies, whole novels worth of stuff outlined. But this particular fail-state never even entered my mind. I didn’t know it was possible. I don't think it is possible for anything other than an attempted sequel to a massive serial, so it's not exactly a common problem with a known solution.
I should have taken longer between Books One and Two, to understand what I was doing. My reach exceeded my grasp.
To be really sober about it, I should have just written another story! Other web serial authors do this all the time — finish a story and write a new one. It’s normal. I should have had the courage to do that right away.
Well, better late than never. That’s what I’m going to do now.
A small side-note — what will happen to the current Katalepsis patrons?
Patreon actually makes this quite easy. If you are currently subscribed to Katalepsis — or to both Katalepsis and Necroepilogos — then you will be automatically subscribed to the new story when it launches. The old Katalepsis-only tier will be retired, possibly to return in the future. There will be a new tier for the new story, but if you’re currently subscribed, you won’t have to change anything!
What about the remaining public chapters?
As I mentioned in the bullet points at the top, the remaining two public chapters will go up later today, then next week, like normal.
What about Necroepilogos?
Necroepilogos is fine! That must seem like a bit of an anticlimax after all the above, but I just want to reassure everybody.
Necroepilogos is in a fine state, there’s nothing wrong with it structurally, and I have no doubts about it. Necroepilogos has always been a sort of side-project; it occupies much less of my raw drafting and editing time. It’s reached about the halfway mark of my plans, I think, and I full intend on seeing it to the end. Necroepilogos will continue for the foreseeable future, with the exact same schedule as always!
What's the new story?
I’m not quite ready to unveil the new story yet. I wanted to have an official title, live website, proper blurb, and first chapter all finalised for when I was going to make this post, but the problems with Katalepsis caught up with me faster than I expected. Right now I have only the most teasing of teasers.
It is, very broadly, a magical girl story — but that doesn’t mean what you might think it means. Magical girls and those who want to slay them, eldritch horror and dystopian nightmares, cybernetics and body horror, this one is quite a heady cocktail of stuff, and I’m really looking forward to it.
I’ve had it in development since long before the end of Katalepsis Book One, since around the time I started Necroepilogos. It’s not one of the stories on my secret story list, it’s something different and new. I’ve already begun the process of intense planning, outlining, and pulling all the characters into shape, ready for the start. At the moment I’m planning for it to run on the same schedule that Katalepsis did. Over the coming weeks I’ll share more of it, as the various pieces fall into place. I don’t yet have a specific launch date, because I want to give the story all the time it needs to be perfectly ready, but I am tentatively aiming for November 1st at the latest. It would feel very personally fitting and appropriate to be posting on Halloween night.
Is this new story going to be exactly like Katalepsis? Well, no, of course not. But it will be following some of the same core thematic obsessions — bodily transformation, found family, and dangerous women, just to name a few. It will be closer in tone to Katalepsis than Necroepilogos, but I also very much hope that it will be its own thing.
Will it be full of lesbians? I considered not even including this sentence, it feels so redundant. Of course it will!
If you’re here for Katalepsis, I suspect (and hope!) that you will enjoy it.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading all this.
I gotta be honest, I’m really scared, doing this. This feels like the biggest creative and authorial risk I’ve ever taken, and I’m deeply uncomfortable with it, even though I know it’s the right thing to do. I know that must sound absurd — web serial authors do this all the time, right? All I’m doing is starting a new story, after a bit of a misstep experiment. What’s the big deal?
As a writer, before I started Katalepsis, I got very used to failure — incomplete projects, narratives I couldn’t make work, unfinished novels. Katalepsis (and then Necroepilogos) proved to me that I can do this, I’ve got what it takes, which amazed me, and still does. I can barely believe I’ve come this far.
But what I was trying to do with Katalepsis Book Two is a narrative feat beyond my current skills.
This feels worse than failure, it feels like I’m betraying my readers. But to push on through with the story when I know I’ll mishandle it would be a worse betrayal. I know that my credibility as a writer relies on my consistency, on following through with the narrative promises I make. And having to stop a story is the worst broken promise. I won a lot of trust with Katalepsis and I value that more than any material success; I can only promise that I will do my best not to squander it with my future projects.
I won’t begrudge anybody who wants to cancel their patreon pledge, whether you want to dip out for a month or so until the new story starts, or if you were only here for Katalepsis and Katalepsis alone. Regardless of the future, thank you all so much for your support; I can’t even put into words how it’s transformed what I can do with writing. None of this would exist without all of you. This is what I do, and I will keep doing it.
Whatever happens, I’ll be here, and I’ll be writing. And I hope you’ll stick around for what I’m gonna do next. I’ll seeya then.
Or actually I’ll see you before then, with a blurb, a teaser, and maybe an early chapter or two. I’ll keep doing my best!
Comments (50)
Being somewhat poor atm I cant support you but I can say I love your work and as long as it doesnt end buried forever we shall just have to wait with bated breath. The new story sounds pretty interesting too. Looking forward to it. Id buy it, patreon is hard for me because of erratic income but kindle I can do! Good luck and dont worry, if you love an author you dont forget them easily. Too hard to find. I know im a bit late commenting but thats my two cents worth.
Thank you so much, that's all very kind of you to say! Katalepsis will not be buried forever; I plan to return to it in some new form in the future, and I've already been working on that a little behind the scenes, even with the new story currently at the fore. Don't feel bad about not being able to subscribe to the patreon! Knowing that readers like you are out there, enjoying my writing, getting so much out of my storytelling, that's the kind of thing which keeps me writing every day. Thank you, and thank you for taking the time to say so. And thanks for the good luck. I'll keep doing my best!
Oof. Just finished reading the entire thing in two weeks. Glad to hear you're still planning on writing book two, but sad to see it's having difficulties. You mentioned that the problem with book two was structural, have you thought about using a structure similar to The Wandering Inn? You've got several well established characters all centered around a central character (Heather, just like Erin(TWI) that have their own stories to tell while still needing to be present for everyone else (or at least existing with the same time span I.E. Twil goes to school while Evee visits the doctor or something). Both events happen at the same time but need separate chapters as their stories are completely different despite happening at the same time. Ugh. It's late and my brain doesn't work. Clearly I need lemons. Hopefully that made some sense and was somewhat helpful. Regardless, thank you for the story and the wonderful (except Edward & Alexander, they're bastards) characters. Here's to hoping your next work is just as good!
Thank you very much for the kind words and the confidence! I am absolutely going to return to Katalepsis in the future, indeed; it's been a difficult decision, but I'm glad I took it, I feel like it's the right course of action. I'm spending a great deal of time thinking about how to re-plan and re-outline Book Two, there's all sort of options, and your suggestion does make perfect sense, yes! One option is to essentially interleaf the stories with each other, despite being separate. The other option is fully separate novels/light novels/etc. I'm not yet 100% sure which way I will take it! No worries about it being late. Your suggestion was very astute and made perfect sense to me. Lemons or not! You're very very welcome for Katalepsis, and all the characters too! Knowing that readers have enjoyed my storytelling is what makes it all worth doing, thank you so much. I'm really looking forward to the new upcoming project, too! It's rapidly taking shape and getting outlined, and I'll hopefully have a teaser to share soon.
I'll just make a comment on what I thought the unifying theme, or narrative engine if you will, of Book 2 was going to be. Now that the urgent task of rescuing Maisie was accomplished, I thought the spookycule, perhaps initiated by Evelyn, might turn their minds to addressing what Alexander was trying to do, but in a more ethical and sane way, i.e. the vulnerability of humans to horrible fates as a result of an otherwordly entity even noticing them, even if it doesn't intend harm; and the disunity and ineffectiveness of human mages in the face of this. Perhaps in the process they will learn what the mages were fighting about back in Jan's previous life; I suspect it is relevant. It wasn't going anywhere like that so far in the first arc, which actually made sense: the first arc would focus on Maisie's adjustment to being back in the "real world". It was a great illustration of the problem, though! For the record, I wasn't finding the first arc of Book 2 draggy in terms of pacing; the setup of this spooky world/ dimension, was wonderful. I was a bit frustrated with Maisie herself, but that's OK, I don't have to love every character, and Maisie is clearly a work in progress. I don't know that I quite understand the structural problem, as I don't think readers would mind Book 2 having a different structure, with longer mini-novel like arcs from different characters' points of view. It has to work for the author, of course! I think there could still be a unifying theme, that perhaps each novella would move us a bit closer to. But I may be way off-base in terms of where you were planning to go with Book 2.
Thank you for this! I really appreciate seeing others speculating and reflecting on their own expectations for Book Two, it's actually very useful for me, as I'm now beginning the process of untangling what I had gotten all tangled up. And you're far from wrong! I don't want to reveal any future spoilers, of course, but I did have some specific long-term narratives in mind for how to link together all of these separate novel-like arcs. And I'll be reworking those most of all. I also do really appreciate you saying that you didn't feel the pacing of Maisie's arc was dragging; despite the problems under the hood, I am quite happy with how most of it worked, and glad you and others enjoyed it. Maisie herself perhaps excepted! I've really struggled to explain the technical details of the structural issues, even to other writers. It's not so much about trying to replicate the structure of Book One and getting stuck, it's more about realising that each novel-style arc must therefore be planned and executed like a novel, with the structure of a novel, and that means rethinking a bunch of my automatic assumptions and writing habits, my methods and techniques, etc. You're pretty much on the mark with how the plans should actually go - a series of novels all moving toward a greater goal. And I hope I can make that work! Again, I do really appreciate the input and reflection, thank you.
I definitely originally got into your work through Katalepsis, and I'll definitely miss it, but after getting super into Necroepiligos I'm super into your writing style as a whole! I've got my own house full of lesbians now, so I think I'll manage <3 But on a more serious note - I look forward to reading everything you put out, and I can't wait to see what horrifically traumatized lesbians you have in store for us :3 And - whenever that may be - I'll be here for whatever you end up doing with the eldritch 'cule, however long that takes. Thank you for everything! And eeeeeeeee I'm so excited for ur new stuff
Aww, thank you so much! It's really heartening to know that readers like yourself are into my writing style and my storytelling as well as Katalepsis itself! (A house full of lesbians?! Oho!) I'm going to do my absolute best to keep writing and keep telling stories, no matter the setback. I'll give it my all, to rework Katalepsis Book Two behind the scenes, into whatever new form it requires. Thank you so much for the support and kind words! I'm really excited for the new story too! I'm already working on it, and things are looking great!
Hi, I'm new to Katalepsis, only just finishing up the audiobook for book one, later today, but i gotta say I absolutely love everything about it! The characters, the setting, the horrors <3 I wish you all the best in getting back on track with book two and hopefully more. I'll also be looking forward to pledging and getting hands on with this mysterious new project. Magical Girls + Eldritch horror? hell yeah :D for now I will finish up Book one and maybe start on Necroepilogos. again all the best going forward and don't dispair <3 Can't wait for whatever comes next :)
Thank you so much! I'm really glad you've enjoyed the audiobook! I'm really proud of that, really happy with how that project came out in the end. And I really hope you enjoy the rest of Book One as well, it's quite a ride! (And Necroepilogos, if you feel like checking that out too!) Thank you for the well-wishes; I'll do my absolute best to rework Book Two in the future, and give my all to all my other projects! I'm really looking forward to the new story as well; I've already thrown myself into planning and outlining and test chapters this week, and it's firing on all cylinders, already looking great! I really hope you enjoy it when it arrives!
Your dedication to quality and vision is moving in its own right and I look forward to this new series while you tinker with the form of writing Katalepsis takes going forward. So long as I have the money I will always keep this subscription going as even now I've lost interest in reading amazing your works like yours due to personal reasons, I know I'll be glad to pick it back up and your works are so very worth it. I hope you happen upon the narrative inspiration or invention to tell the story you want for Katalepsis, and eagerly await the coming story that sounds like otherkin but with mechanical parts involved which interests me greatly.
Thank you so much! I've always tried to value quality and storytelling integrity over speed and volume, and while this was a very difficult decision to make, it felt like the only way to be true to my characters and the stories I want to tell. Thank you as well for the excitement about the new story; I'm really looking forward to revealing it! It's incredibly generous of you to maintain your subscription even if you're not currently reading my stories, that is very kind of you. And I hope you do enjoy my stories when you feel like reading again! They will always be here. Thank you so much, I'll keep doing my absolute best, both with Katalepsis behind the scenes, and this new story too! I hope you enjoy it!
Seeing this in my email was really scary, but reading it? I'm sooo glad you are putting Katalepsis on hiatus for creative integrity reasons---seriously! Even though I should be sad that Katalepsis is on hiatus, when I finished reading this, I was relieved, even happy! I would be so devastated if you had to take a step back from writing for mental/physical health reasons, much less financial ones. Pivoting to a new story makes sense! Even if it's scary and disappointing for a lot of folks; if the juices aren't flowing correctly for Katalepsis 2 then, yeah! Get some distance and come back to the world when you're ready for it. I'm really looking forwards to your take on the Magical Girl genre! (Also, considering the genre seems super popular right now, fingers crossed this story does good things for you financially! Hope everything goes well!)
Thank you! It's very kind of you to say that. If this was for other reasons, it would be a terrible thing, but I'm really glad that I can make this decision purely on the basis of creative integrity. It's really important to me to do right by the trust my readers have placed in my storytelling. "Pivoting to a new story makes sense! Even if it's scary and disappointing for a lot of folks; if the juices aren't flowing correctly for Katalepsis 2 then, yeah! Get some distance and come back to the world when you're ready for it." Exactly! And I'm really looking forward to this new story. In the background, I'll be working hard on fixing up Katalepsis for the future, for an eventual return. I'm really looking forward to exploring a whole new setting and a new cast of characters. You're right about the genre suddenly being super popular, I'm not sure why that's happened, but it's really exciting to see. And thank you so much for the good luck!!! I hope it does well too!
I'm sure me and the other spooky ghost faces wont hold it against you. Magical girl stories are fun. The basic requirements for something to be a magical girl story are actually very generous so lots of freedom to run around there. Maybe that's why that one fairy is somewhat stable mentally compared to the others there haha. Looking forward to anything you write, so expect me to continue supporting you.
Thank you! It means a lot to know that my audience places so much trust in my storytelling! And yes, you're right about magical girl stories; it's a very wide genre indeed, and I have some specific parts of it I want to play around in. I'm really looking forward to showing it off once it's ready. Really excited for this. Haha, yeah, maybe I'm the stable fairy, after all??? Secret self-insert! And thank you so much. The support and trust and confidence in my storytelling means a lot!
More than understandable. I think any creative pursuit that expects weekly output is almost inevitable that you will run into this problem, and to decide 'power through and hope for the best', or 'stop the train and fix this' is such a hard decision. Manga authors go through it too, and you see cases lile chainsawman where a two year hiatus was exactly what was needed. I think a lot of amazing web serials get ruined by the expectation of momentum, so I couldn't be happier to hear a hiatus is the option you're going for! Take as long as the story needs, I think we're more than happy to be patient!
Thank you! It's really nice to see this acknowledged, yes. I often think of web serial writing as quite similar to manga, the serialised structure and schedule can result in many of the same problems, and yeah, sometimes you just gotta take a step back! It was a hard decision, but I'm more and more confident now that it was the right one, and it will allow me to do justice to the story and characters in the long run. (While I write something else!) Momentum is a double-edged sword, exactly! For Book One it kept me going even when things were rough. But for Book Two ... yeah, time to hit the brakes. And thank you so much for the support and kind words! I'll keep doing my best!
Thanks for the artistic integrity and the courage, HY. Sympathies for the devil (wait, he’s doing fine!)…and for the anxiety. Staying subscribed; affirming support. Willing and able to apocalypse any financial shortfalls and keep you writing. Am in NYC visiting a friend at the moment, with one foot in the deeper dream. Will pop into your discord DMs tomorrow (Sat) when back in my base(line) state. (I’m the fellow that pops by every six months or so, with colorful idioms, just to check all is well.) Born too late to patron Dorothy Parker or Edgar Allen Poe, but we’re not too late to patron HY…
You're very welcome! Artistic integrity is the least I can do, it's the most important element to telling good stories. Sympathy for the devil might be good still! And thank you so so much, for all your support, it's such a kind and generous thing to do, and such a big deal! "Willing and able to apocalypse any financial shortfalls and keep you writing." This is incredibly kind of you to offer! I think I'm going to be just fine, things are going okay on that end of the business of writing, but I just wanted to acknowledge your incredibly kind offer here, thank you. "Am in NYC visiting a friend at the moment, with one foot in the deeper dream. Will pop into your discord DMs tomorrow (Sat) when back in my base(line) state. (I’m the fellow that pops by every six months or so, with colorful idioms, just to check all is well.)" You're very welcome to come say hi! Of course I remember you! And I hope you're having a good time in NYC! "Born too late to patron Dorothy Parker or Edgar Allen Poe, but we’re not too late to patron HY…" Ahh, to be in such hallowed company!
Ah, you meant to write episodes, and wrote movies by accident. Well, don't worry - we'll be here regardless for you!
That is a very good way of putting it, yes! An episode turned into a movie, but the supporting foundations for that were not yet in place. I have to get under the floor and pour some concrete. And thank you so much! All the support really does mean so much to me.
Web serials don't work for me. My brain can't keep up with them. An entire week between chapters is an impossible gap for me; I feel like I have to re-read the entire serial just to remember what's going on. I read Katalepsis up to arc 10, and I don't plan on touching it again until it's complete. Truly complete. So why have I been subscribed to you for so bloody long? Because Katalepsis is one of the best things I've ever read. Because I know it will be finished, and I know it will destroy me. Because I trust you as an author, wholly and without reservation. And your decision to take time away from the story just reinforces that trust; your dedication to the craft is inspirational. I'm super proud of you for doing this. I hope that doesn't sound too condescending. I can only imagine how difficult and scary this decision must have been, though, and I don't know that I could have made the right choice. I'm so glad you did. You'll always have my support.
I would encourage you to read book one, which is a fully finished narrative. I would consider book one to be a full novel series and it is done. Book two is a new series with the same setting, but not the same series.
You are the reason I became an author myself - You endlessly inspire me in this craft and push my imagination to new fringes every time the old became familiar. As much as I love the spookycule, that inspiration is not unique to Barnslow drive. Or even Pheiri. <3 this is the right choice. You make gorgeous things when you're not as stressed as you clearly are
That is genuinely one of the most uplifting things I could ever hope to hear from a reader. Thank you! The thought that I have inspired others to create their own stories is just incredible. I'm really glad my storytelling could help you do that. And, indeed! Beyond the spookycule, beyond the zombies too, I'm really excited for all the stories I plan to tell in the future! And right now, I'm excited for this new project! Thank you again. This does feel like the right choice, now I've made it. And I will do my utmost to keep writing stories!
This is why I love your work. I really appreciate that you want to bring us the best version of the story possible, and if it's not working it makes sense to take the time to fix it, however long you need. Im really looking forward to the new story!
Thank you so much! That's why I'm doing this, indeed. It just feels like the right thing for the story, anything else would be an injustice to the characters, so I have to get it right, even if that means taking a step back for now. And yeah! I'm really excited for the new story as well! I'm looking forward to showing it off, soon!
first of all: i'm not going anywhere. i love your stories, i'm delighted to have a new one to read, and i'll be delighted when Katalepsis eventually comes back! and i'm fairly certain i speak for most if not all of us when i say that we definitely prefer for you to take the time to make the story work in a way that you're happy with and proud of! but also: thanks for the peek behind the curtains! i had always been extremely impressed by your ability to structure a story while sticking to the serial format, which doesn't easily allow you to adjust the structure a posteriori. it's interesting to get a glimpse of the difficult work that it requires! so: thank you, may you continue to find as much joy in writing as we find in reading!
Thank you so much! It's really really heartening to hear that. I'm really excited for this new story too, I hope you enjoy it, and I'm looking forward to a future version of Katalepsis as well! This was a difficult decision, but it's been very touching seeing so many readers agree that it's the right decision. And oh, you're very welcome for the peek behind the proverbial curtain! I don't really talk much about that kind of thing, but I'm very happy to share details of how it works. It's a very unique challenge, very different from writing novels, of course. And thank you again! I will always enjoy writing, it's what I do, and I can only hope that the readers all enjoy the result as much as I do.
It sucks but it is also understandable. I do love magical girl stories, so I'm eager for the new story. Thank you for the notice.....or is update? Regardless thank you.
Thank you too! Thank you for the kind words. I know it sucks, it's been a difficult decision, but I'm glad I made it. As for magical girls, they're a lifelong fascination of mine, so I'm really looking forward to the new story as well! I hope you enjoy it, when it lands! (And you're very welcome!)
I guess Maisie needs a break to figure out what she's going to do! ;) I'm excited for the next new story, and maybe I should finally start reading Necroepilogos😅
Maisie is going to take a little nap, curled up with Heather, and the twins will be back, all in good time. I'm really excited for this new upcoming story as well! I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it properly now. And I hope you enjoy Necroepilogos, if you feel like reading it!
Gotta do what you gotta do. I'm certainly not happy to hear that Kata will be going on hiatus, what with Maisie being stranded outside still. But at the end of the day, if you don't feel like you can reasonably continue this story, then that is all there is to it. I will eagerly await the day that Katalepsis returns. In the mean time, I'll be looking forward to this magical girl story you've been talking about for a while now. You seem very excited about it, so I am too!
Thank you for the kind words! I'm not happy I had to do this either, I really wanted to get Maisie to the end of her little story here, but I'm making the decision that it's better to make a clean break and return to her later. I eagerly await the return of Katalepsis too, perhaps in some other form, as short novels! And yes, I'm very excited for this magical girl story, and it's great to hear you are too! I'm really looking forward to properly unveiling it.
It's important to be proud of your own work, else you'll lose motivation. Many people (or at least my dense ass) probably wouldn't feel the wrongness you felt and we'd still enjoy your story but if you think it needs a rework, go for it. We'll all wait, because we know you know what's best for the story. Anyway, thanks for the... Update? (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
Thank you! It's very kind of you to say that, I really appreciate the confidence in my decision making here. It's not been easy to realise, and harder still to make the choice, but I think it's the right thing. I really want Katalepsis to be the best it can, and I will return to it eventually! You're so very welcome!
I'm glad you're able to take a step back and make sure the story is in a place where it can work properly 💜 I really love what we've gotten so far, and I'm looking forward to finding out what shape Book 2 will eventually take!
Thank you! I am committed to returning to Katalepsis and Book Two eventually, in some form, somehow. Once it's had time to melt and re-solidify and re-form, I'm looking forward to all the new possibilities. I hope you enjoy it too!
My heart goes out to you for trying so hard to keep going 💜 (also, sometimes it really is just best to take a solid step back - but you know that now, the hard way, and for that I'm sorry) I had a gigantic section here about emotions and joy and passion and stress and taking steps back to see things clearly but honestly, I will just leave with this: I - and I like to think most others who came to read Katalepsis - did not come here just for Kata, and so I am here to stay. That is to say, thank you for the beautiful work that is Katalepsis (both finished and under construction) and I will be here chilling and vibing and waiting for you to join the magical girl-pocalypse (hyphen placement intended?) that I am witnessing all over :3
Thank you, it's ... it's been very difficult to keep going, regardless of doubts and issues. I really did try everything I could, so it's very kind of you to say that. And yes, gosh, it's so important to know when to step back and let go, even if only for a time. I'm glad I made this decision. It feels like the right thing. Also it makes me so very happy to know that readers like yourself and here for other stories too. I have so many more to tell! You're very welcome for Katalepsis, more than I can put into words. The magical-girl-pocalypse approaches, yes! I must do my part, and I am delighted to contribute to it!
I'm not going anywhere. You can be proud of what you accomplished so far with Katalepsis, and kudos to you for knowing when a story needs to be put to the side. I'm so excited to discover what you come up with next 🌸
Thank you! That's very kind of you to say, and it's really touching to see such confidence in my storytelling. I am very proud of Katalepsis, I'm so happy with what I've done with it thus far, and I know it's the best thing for the story to put it aside for a time. And I'm really excited for this upcoming story too! I'm really hype to share it with everyone! Thank you for saying that!
i just wanna say, Hazel you're amazing thank you for creating amazing stuff Katalepsis was one of the books that got me into reading and helped me discover my existentialist love for literature (also contributed to personal growth and helped me realize a lot of things about myself; honestly im just lucky i stumbled on Katalepsis) from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much <3
Aww gosh, thank you so much! I'm just me, but I'll keep doing my best, for you and all the other readers! I'm incredibly happy to hear that my storytelling helped you come to love literature, that's incredible to hear, it's one of the greatest compliments a writer could ever hope for. And if my writing helped you grow, then, wow. Thank you so much for saying that, it reminds me why I do this in the first place! You're so very welcome!
You're not betraying any of us by doing this. You're trying to give us the best of your abilities and if that means putting down book two for some time then that's okay. We're still gonna be here.
Thank you for saying that! It really means a lot to me. It still feels like a betrayal, but I know it's the right thing to do. And thank you for sticking around! I have so many more stories to tell, after all.
It's truly the age of magical girls
I guess it is! I don't know why there's so many web serial writers working in the genre right now, it's a bit of a mystery, even though I am a lifelong fan of it myself! Very happy to see that, and very happy to contribute to the age of magical girls.