Sapphire the Hedgehog Hiatus Notice

Okay, so I am going to upload this as its own chapter, so it can be read separately from the last chapter (except on DeviantArt, one of the sites I post my stories, and my main site, as I put my art there, too. I can put this as a Journal update and link to it from the comments). I don't know if it's appropriate to just upload an update as its own chapter, but most of the sites I upload to don't have an effective way to drop updates, so Imma do what I gotta do. This will be deleted once it's irrelevant and I start up on this story again.

But yes, I am putting Sapphire the Hedgehog on hiatus as of the upload of Chapter 23: "Block Out the Negativity" and Chapter 24: "". Let me give you guys details on what exactly is going on.

Is Sapphire over?
No, I mean, I'm sure you guys know that hiatus means it's probably coming back at some point (hopefully), but as it stands, Sapphire is not finished or canceled. I just really want to stress that, and alleviate any possible fears you might have.

To add to this, I've actually been planning on putting Sapphire on hiatus since I was writing the "Kidnapped Sapphire" arc, which was the story arc before this current one I just finished. Meaning I've been thinking about this for about five to eight chapters worth of writing (not including what I've written for my other stories).

If it isn't obvious, then I've basically been planning to put this story on hiatus only once I reached a good stopping point, which I feel I've reached with Chapter 23. Under that logic, cancellation wouldn't make sense, because if I was going to still be putting effort into writing more the story, then I might as well have planned an actual end to the story. And I also haven't written an end to the story either. We still need to explore Sapphire's crush on Shadow, and I have more plans for the story too.

So why am I putting this story on hiatus?
So, reason one, while I don't consider this a main or even important reason, did help me come to this decision. And that is... this story wasn't getting a lot of traffic?

Now, I'll admit, I mostly look at reviews and comments on my stories, as I live for that feedback. It tells how much people liked my stories, what I can improve on, allows me to interact with the readers, and might even help give ideas for future chapters. Now, I know that I should also consider favorites, kudos, or what the particular site you're reading on calls "likes", but I often overlook those, particularly because they don't give me the same kind of feedback.

But Sapphire wasn't getting much of either, especially reviews, and the other statistics don't look too great either (well, it's hard to read them on Deviant Art, given that each chapter has to be uploaded as its own separate piece, and not part of an actual "book", like on proper literature sites, and I have to link and group those together myself). Now, I don't let that bother me, I'll write a chapter regardless of how popular the story is, since I do this as a hobby, and for my creative drive. But it still is kind of disheartening. (Undertale Fallen Determination is in a similar state, but it still gets more traffic and reviews than Sapphire does, so this story is the one story that I feel doesn't get enough attention.)

Now, for the real reason, and that is... burnout. I just need a break. Now to be clear, I wouldn't say it's regular burnout. I mean, maybe, I am writing different four stories at once, so I might be stressing myself out without realizing it. But again, I do this as a hobby, because I had quite the imagination, and I wanted to get some of that creativity out there. Plus, I'm kind of stubborn. I started this, and I've made it this far, so I want to see it through.

I think it's more creative burnout. While I have lots of ideas for Sapphire, I don't have enough in-between, one-chapter stories (or you could just call it fluff, I guess), and I don't want this to just become one arc after another. (I've got the same problem with Ultradimension Neptunia: Big Nep and Smolgear, but I have even less ideas for that story as of now, but I still want to keep writing that one, since it's still a relatively new story, compared to Sapphire.)

There is also the matter that I still want to write other stuff, but despite what I said earlier, I think that four stories should be my max to write at once, for the sake of continuously uploading stuff for each (ignoring potential one-shots, which I don't much, but I do have a plan for one this year (2022)). So, taking a break from Sapphire will give me the chance to write something else.

So when will Sapphire come back?
I don't know for sure. All I can say is that this hiatus will probably be a long one. I'll probably come back to Sapphire when one of my other stories is over, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Undertale Fallen Determination is my longest-running story to date, and I don't think I'm finishing it anytime soon. In fact, I believe this story may go on for years, including sequential Books (and I'm only barely reaching halfway for Book 2, I feel). Ultradimension Neptunia: Big Nep and Smolgear, while I am needing to take some time to come up with more ideas for this story, as it is similar in structure to Sapphire... as I already stated, I really don't have any intention of stopping that story right now. And as for Nepsisters: Healing the Empty Heart, while I hope to finish this story this year or early next year, I also have a sequel planned that I also want to write, though I do need to do some brainstorming for that.

So, chances are that the new story I plan to write will be finished before everything else, so Sapphire is most likely to come back after that story. I don't think it'll be very long, but we'll have to see.

So what am I planning on writing next?
While I don't want to give everything away until I'm ready to publish my new story (and keep in mind, I haven't started working on it yet, since I've been trying to get to the stopping point for Sapphire), I will tell you a few things:

First of all, I want to address that in my Hyperdimension Neptunia stories, and I have alluded to the fact that I originally had two different ideas for Neptunia stories, but I put both of them on the shelf to write Nepsisters and Smolgear instead. I still really want to write these stories, but I'm bringing them up now to make it clear that neither of them are what I'm planning on writing in place of Sapphire.

Reason one, as I stated, two of the four stories that I am currently writing are Neptunia stories, and I kind of don't want to make it three. I mean, at some point, I think it' might have to become three, but for now, I'd rather not. Reason two is that I had a different idea that I wanted to try out.

This idea is a Zelda story, based on the Breath of the Wild world, and it takes inspiration from the character mod that I use with the Wii U version of the game (does anyone remember Linkle from Hyrule Warriors?), and one or two fanfics that I don't remember that much, but I do recall that they never got past one or few chapters, and thus, never was capitalized on. So, I kind of want to capitalize on it with my own unique story.

This is also going to be a "what if?" type of story based on Breath of the Wild's story (kind of like Kirby's Meta Knightmare or Dedede Tour game modes, but this'll actually have a diverging timeline at the start). Given how little story BotW has, even though I plan to add a little more to it (taking inspiration from Age of Calamity, of course), this is why I don't think it'll be a very long story. I kind of don't want to write too much of the journey from place to place, so there might be a few skips. But who knows, new ideas come to me all the time.

On top of this new story not being planned to take very long, I also don't want to make a sequel for it. I mean, I don't know if the BotW sequel that's coming out will change my mind, but I don't think so, based on what my story is. Plus I won't know until the BotW sequel does actually come out, and it feels like it never will. I mean, it's been delayed to next year, which, while more development time is always good, it is disappointing, because I was looking forward to the game being my big game this year (mostly because I didn't want to put my eggs into the Sonic Frontiers basket, since until recently, we haven't gotten ANY gameplay footage of it, and I can't put my faith into it without knowing how it's going to play like.)

But whatever the case, I think people can agree that this is a good time to start a BotW-inspired story, because of the hype around the sequel. But honestly, as for my hype, I just want to know what the sequel will be called. I'm tired of calling it "Breath of the Wild 2", cause I know that will not be its name.

When will the new story come out?
You'll need to give me a couple of months. My rule with new stories is to always post three chapters (which includes the prologue as one of these chapters, if there is one) when publishing something new, give people something to really put their teeth into. On top of that, since I am a digital artist too, I will want to make a cover art for the new story, too.

I'll probably be working on the new chapters as I am writing Nepsister chapters, kind of like I am doing now with Sapphire, just I won't be posting them immediately. As for the cover art, I more than likely work on it closer to the release of the story, given what my current art plans are (a lot of stuff is coming up). This will include me trying to come up with a name for the story, as well.

Anyways, I hope you look forward to my new story, and I also hope you look forward to Sapphire's return!