The stories of stories can be, in their own right, fairly compelling narratives. I don't want to drag anyone into the daunting debacle that my last few years have been, but I think the progress of this story is inextricably tied to it: this story began over three years ago as a project between a friend and I where we developed two Warriors clans for a certain landscape in my area by a river to which I affix a lot of sentimental value. I later envisioned it as my formal send-off to fanfiction, a love letter to the complexity offered by the massive casts of Warriors stories, and I planned to finish it with my other two "tenth grade" projects in August. When I came down to the wire, I rushed the other two book's production and pulled off a twelve-hour stint where I wrote 20000 words to finish Deja Vu, my first ever original novel with a primarily human cast. This book remained unfinished, untouched for weeks, and at the time, that was no big deal. I planned to come back to it as soon as I had time.

That did not happen. I didn't quite run out of queue with this book-- there are likely two or so unpublished chapters sitting on the Google Doc where I wrote it-- but the story itself began to aggravate me. When I wasn't dispassionate about it (and thus able to see it was objectively a wreck) I was just trying to poke it with a long, long stick, like an animal in a cage. I wasn't putting my fingers in there, thanks. After a rough fall, I figured I'd hop back on it after my NaNoWriMo.

So this year was also the first year I didn't finish my NaNoWriMo. That caused me to reevaluate my entire identity as an author, and what followed was a month that was half depressive episodes and half long, nearly obsessive worldbuilding sprints. I would be up late and up again early, completely unable to write, tinkering with new worlds. When I entered 2018, I did it as an original author with three formal projects and this was not one of them. Somewhere along the line I closed that door, and it would have remained closed if not for the constant stream of notifications I got from it.

A lot of people have read this story since I stopped. I was happy with the numbers while I was writing, but I have to say those were nothing in comparison to the slow accumulation of numbers after I left. This story has become one of the many incomplete books on Wattpad, some half-finished, towering obelisk slowly being covered by vines as it falls into disrepair. I used to complain bitterly about unfinished stories, but well, here you go. If you're looking for something more conclusive than hiatus, then here you are. This book is not continuing. I don't plan to write any more fanfiction. Period.

However, I think it's disingenuous to treat this as a conclusion. My stories have been deeply influenced by both the Warriors franchise and my time writing fanfictions for it, the fact that I'm no longer writing fanfictions does not somehow radically alter that identity. The Hearts of Gold trilogy (a Pokemon series I'd call more of a 'saga' than anything, if you want to cry, hop aboard) and DragonClan stories, as well as this book, are the precursors to my current style and the stories I want to tell. I still go straight for the jugular when I write deaths, my casts are still sprawling ensemble affairs, and heaven knows my plots are still convoluted and heavily driven by the characters. This is just no longer the format with which I want to tell those stories. 

If you enjoyed this story, I'd like to formally ask you to give some of my others a chance, whether they be my old Warriors fanfictions or some of my original stories. I have some animal fantasy of a similarly mystical vein to these stories, lots of urban fantasy, and I'm going to be putting out high fantasy at some point in the future. I've improved a lot since writing this story and while it might be a year too late to pose advertisements, I'd like to at least offer that, here. 

To any other authors who are reading this and feel like their own stories aren't working, you will find others. You're going to have to stick with something, but you don't have to stick with everything. What matters is you don't stop writing, don't stop failing, because the only path to success involves lots of harsh falls. You will get better, you will find your voice, your story, and in time, you're going to grow stronger for every mistake. 

Best of luck.