Hello guys!

If you've been eagerly waiting for the next update to Aimless, I'm sorry to disappoint you. This whole thing's gonna be a massive author's note, since I've got some news to share. But don't worry, I'll take it down once I'm ready to post CH56 for real.

As some of you may already know, I've been writing an original story since May 2020 (around the time when I had just released the 44th chapter of Aimless). Until today, I've been juggling this story together with Aimless, alternating updates. Sometimes I'd go for double updates on one, then double updates on the other.

However, something really positive happened to the OG fic. It got scouted for a contract on the Webnovel site. Someone in the company's talent management team found my fic somewhere, read the chapters I've put into it, and passed me to a member of their editorial staff for further processing. I also took the time to research their offer and its legal obligations, as well as gauge how predatory it was or was not.

Long story short, I have decided to pursue a non-exclusive contract with them. This way, I can still maintain the OG fics on all those other sites (to a limited extent since I plan on putting it behind the paywall after a certain event in the story), continue writing short stories and posting commissioned art for its world without asking for permission, and most importantly, precluding myself from any scheduling requirements so I can maintain control over my free time. Writing is merely a hobby, after all.

Unfortunately, it's not as simple as merely uploading all my Google Docs to the intranet of the company in charge of Webnovel's content.

For starters, their representative told me that they want their stories to be mobile-friendly and require every chapter to be 1200 to 1500 words long. Anyone who's been following me for years knows how long my chapters can get, and this means all the chapters I've written to date need to be split into four to six pieces each. Sounds like a nightmare, right? At least I'm not putting Aimless into Webnovel. I totally can, as they have a section for fanfiction, but if I have to divide all 55 chapters into 1500-word chunks? Goddammit, no. That's way more tedious than putting up my chapters on AO3!

Chapter splitting not only means that I have to make some adjustment to each and every piece to ensure the narrative and prose remain at high quality, but also means I need to review my chapter outline. I have done so for the first book I had planned and it already resulted in additional content that I have not written before and, worse, that I need to submit to keep the process going.

Aside from that, I have to comb the content I've written so far and censor sensitive material. This is actually going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done since the OG fic is designed to be sensitive. I put my heart and soul into it. Nearly everything in the story is taken from my personal experiences or those of my close friends, with even minor characters and landmarks having real-life counterparts.

In short, it's going to be a fucking hell lot of work! In fact, it's been taking away the free time I've allotted to writing the 56th chapter of Aimless.

So what does this mean for the fanfic?

1. Am I putting Aimless on "hiatus"?

NO! Aimless is not dead and I don't plan on stopping updates when I've been getting hyped up about the events that will take place after the December Cliffs arc. To give you a good idea of how things will progress, I suggest you go read the oneshot I've recently written for the fanfic canon (Turn of the Wheel), which features Aimless!Bianca during the opening sequence in TLoS: A New Beginning.

We've already seen bits and pieces of this appear in Aimless proper (namely Joshua's status as the Second Transcendent and his absence from any of the Realms' legends/myths/prophecies, the terrifying aura emitted by Bianca's sword, the Sorceress' awareness of humankind, et al). More will come through in the next three chapters, since Skylands is involved in the December Cliffs arc in some way.

The slice of life portion is heading in an interesting direction too, with his first venture out into the city expected after the conclusion of the current arcs. Just thinking about Joshua heading out to the Lodestar district and visiting Gavin's coffeehouse or meeting barkeep Ember excites me! XD

With all this shit going on... why would I put Aimless on hiatus now? It's just starting to get good!

2. When the OG fic is up and running, will I prioritize its updates over Aimless? What about when I'm already writing the paywalled chapters?

No, I won't.

Both Aimless and the OG fic will receive love from me equally. I like writing, but I don't intend for it to be my career. My passions lie somewhere else.

3. Will I also put up Aimless on Webnovel as I've done on AO3?

Hmm... probably not.

If their readers are used to 1000 - 1500 word chunks, that'll be a much bigger nightmare than my OG fic, even if I don't make further adjustments to the story.

Most likely, Aimless will stay on FFN for as long this site remains alive.

4. When will I resume writing Aimless?

I'm not actually going to stop writing the 56th chapter. I've already been doing it on and off, and there's currently about 2000 words in my current draft.

Unfortunately, with my writing time mostly going into the OG fic's chapter splitting and its adjustments... I'm going to say that Aimless CH56 will be delayed. Significantly so.

I was hoping to publish the 56th chapter before I fly home to Texas in late April for a month-long vacation, but this probably isn't going to happen now.

I'm now looking at a June update at the earliest, just to be safe.

5. Do I think the OG fic will be successful?

LOL I don't particularly care XD

Like, the thought of making a little bit of money off of it is pretty awesome, not gonna lie, but it doesn't change the fact that my aspirations lie in a different direction.

Well, I think that's all I have to say about the matter. Let's see if my beta readers (Stryker and Azure) have anything to say or ask about it.

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First we have Stryker...


Hey all, Strykeruk here. Obviously we are all very excited and happy for Silent. If nothing else it means more awesome writing haha. I can assure you that there is already some stuff in the works and Azure and I stand ready to spring into action and prod Silent repeatedly should he try to abandon Aimless.


"prod me repeatedly" LOL

I have to add that it does not help that Azure also knows me on Discord and one of my readers is on his way on becoming a pretty decent IRL friend. There'll be many people poking me for sure hahahaha

I honestly can't see myself abandoning this fic. Aimless is close to my heart as well. I didn't exactly put "my heart and soul" into it, but it carries my feelings of homesickness and alienation from being in a community that is largely alien to me... which still applies to me even now, surprisingly. I don't expect to be letting go of this fic anytime soon!

Anyway, let's see what Azure has to say...


Hello, Azure here once again. And… yeah. This was quite the surprise, to say the least.

I've only been involved with the behind-the-scenes of Aimless for a little over a year now, but in every interaction I've had with Somni, I could feel the passion he had for everything he wrote. Be it Aimless or otherwise. He's a very talented writer, and I say he deserves this opportunity. I've already congratulated him about it earlier this week.

While yes, Aimless being delayed is sad, rest assured, it won't end here. I know you've heard those words a million times before with other stories, only for the opposite to be true. But I say this as someone who's hovered around the site since 2009 and has seen many authors I've considered talented give up or just vanish… Somni is serious when he says Aimless won't be left unfinished. No matter how long it takes. And I'm sure Stryker and I intend to see it through to that end as well, alongside him.

I hope to hear from you all again soon!
-AzureDragonZX


Oh, wow! Thanks for the vote of confidence.

I hate to say it, but I'm not quite sinless in that regard. My poor Digimon fic hasn't been updated since I started Aimless way back in 2015, even after I had assured its followers that I planned on finishing it. I have tried multiple times to come back to it, but every attempt left me feeling drained even from the beginning.

I write what I feel like writing, and unfortunately, I've never felt the urge to write Interloper again, not since Aimless started soaring. I've been religiously updating Aimless even after so many Spyro fanwriters have moved on with their lives, with or without finishing their stories. There's just so many ideas that can be made for this story, after all. It's what helps keep the inspiration alive. :D (The fact that I maintain the right to do away with the planned chapter outline and write *whatever* I wish for Aimless also helps.)

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All right, y'all. I better get to it then. Until next time!