Hey everyone ^_^
I'm really, really sorry for the lack of updates to this series. I have been kinda busy over the last year, but most importantly have struggled a lot with my writing. For some reason I've been very disheartened about everything, I keep scrapping it and starting over, and nothing ever gets finished. I've got myself into a perpetual cycle of thinking everything is rubbish and it's taken a lot of effort to get out of it again. I know this is not much of an excuse and I feel bad, because I had some really lovely feedback about the Doctor and Lizzie's adventures in time and space, and that feedback honestly meant the world to me, so I feel bad for not posting in a long time.
However, I have got myself into a good writing flow recently, I have regained some confidence, and I am back properly now. From November, there should be a minimum of a chapter a month (although I am aiming for more than that!) for the for the foreseeable future.
Furthermore, after receiving feedback about the length of chapters, they're gonna be a shorter too. This should make them more manageable to read, and means that instead of being like a traditional 'episodic' series of Doctor Who it will end up being more like the individual chapters of a book. This might not be to everyone's taste but I think my style suits it better so I'm gonna go with it. As a consequence of this, it will contribute towards chapters being more regular; part of the reason I have struggled with my writing over the last year is because I was essentially trying to write 15 novellas in 12 months, and with my current schedule it was getting way too much. I'm hoping this will be more manageable.
Something else I have been thinking about is my identity as a writer. With chapters being less episodic and more serialised, I expect the fic is going to drift away from the traditional Doctor Who approach of sci-fi adventures in space and time. This is partly because I have found myself more drawn to telling stories about these characters and their relationships, with the impending threat of the Time War in the background. Because of this, the sci-fi adventures is probably going to end up taking more of a backdrop, with stories focusing on things like, for example, Lizzie's depression, her relationship with Leo, the Doctor's relationship with Cioné, Cioné's role in the Time War, Iris finding her place in a war-torn universe.
I know this won't be to everyone's taste, and I am very sorry if that's the case. However I have evolved as a writer, and I know that if I try and replicate what's gone before, it's just gonna be rubbish, and I'm gonna be miserable having to write it – so no fun for anyone at all :P
If any readers from before do end up coming back I will be so grateful, but after being so awful at updating this year I don't blame you if you don't. People appreciating my writing, especially original characters like Lizzie, means the world to me, and I hope that even if my approach changes a bit, people will still find something in the fic to enjoy.
In the next few days, expect to see some Christmassy chapters. I know it's early, but they are actually some of the last few chapters I uploaded on the fanfic blog I write for towards the end of last year, that I haven't gotten around to posting on here yet.
I can't wait to continue this journey with the Doctor, Lizzie, Cioné, Iris, and all the other characters both from the show, and my original creations, and I hope other people will join me. There are lots of exciting things to come. Happy moments and sad moments, and hopefully it will make at least some of you smile.
Thank you so much to anyone taking the time to read this,
Ed