Yes, this is a cancellation...but not quite the cancellation you think it is.
I'm not cancelling Holocaust. We've been down that road. No more. No, I am fully committed to finishing Holocaust. But the only reason that's possible now is because I've had to cancel something else.
I'm officially cancelling Ultimatum, the original planned fifth and final installment of the For A Better Tomorrow series and sequel to Holocaust. Some of you may be bummed out about this, some others don't care and I don't blame you.
There are many reasons for why this cancellation is taking place, and the foremost one is because its simply too big a task. Ultimatum is turning out to be an absolute monster of a book just by looking at my outline, and it seems to get bigger and bigger with every new idea that comes to my head. With all the characters and subplots from FABT needing to be wrapped up, along with new ones being developed, Ultimatum looked like it could feasibly turn into a one hundred to two hundred chapter book. Yeah, I know.
I simply cannot tackle a mammoth like that. I'm having a hard enough time getting through Holocaust, which has been going since 2014! At this point, I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of 2019, which is doeable, if not pushing it a bit. But to then jump straight into Ultimatum? Its simply not possible. I'm not Shepard: I can't make the impossible happen.
Another reason is that after writing chapters of Holocaust and being inspired by other stories, I realize just how much I yearn to induldge other fanfiction ideas. I've had an idea for a MShep/Tali post-war story for a while that was inspired by works such as that by the late TheSneakyFox and Rob Sears. I've wanted a piece of that proverbial pie for myself, but never got the chance because FABT conquered all my attentions. I had resigned myself to the idea that I may never get to act on those ideas.
Well, not anymore. Writing Flashpoint just hit home with how much I want to put these ideas to paper. Even a recent story idea I've been consolidating with Rob Sears has me excited and I can't do it if I'm writing Holocaust and Ultimatum. They're simply too energy dependent. FABT requires my full attention if I'm to keep writing it in the quality I have it at now.
So unfortunately, Ultimatum has to be axed. Now, the reason I decided I could get away with this is twofold: for one, I've analyzed every possibility, and come to the conclusion that I can tweak the outline of Holocaust sufficiently to make it so it feels like a proper ending, and not have it end on a maddening cliffhanger (which it would if I simply left it as it was and didn't do Ultimatum. I imagine many would wish my painful death). Secondly, there's nothing in Ultimatum that is really required to happen, as its an aftermath story. Sure, you could say that everything in FABT has been leading up to that point, but with a few edits across the story, any reference to it can be removed without much effort. Its mostly limited to the interrogation segments at the end of each chapter, and those pointless future chapters riddled throughout Enigma, Prophecy and Requiem. Overall, Ultimatum, while I felt it would have concluded the series nicely, isn't a necessity. Its removal won't leave you wanting.
That does mean a lot will have to change with my Holocaust outline. A new chapter will take a bit longer to write as a result. I won't tell you what I'll change (that'd be spoilers), but at least Rob Sears won't know what to expect anymore! XD
If you would like to discuss this further, PM me, DO NOT post a review. You know how fanfiction is: if you post a review on this and I delete the note later to replace it with a chapter, you won't be able to remove that chapter. Just keep that in mind.
