(A/N) I've come with a statement! The War of Onyx and Aber is going to be rewritten!
I tried to break the news in the best way I could. For two years, The War of Onyx and Aber had been my baby and has been on hiatus for the majority of 2018, and it's with no small amount of remorse and a lot of soul searching that I've decided I can't continue this current version anymore. However, I've tried to be very clear that I'm not going to abandon this story, and I'm holding to that, and as such, the War of OA- a project I've thoroughly enjoyed -needs to be rewritten with a type of great quality an idea like this deserves.
I now full well that's going to piss all of you off. In fact, I've avoided this for almost three months because I knew the kind of reaction this would receive from the people who have been following this story faithfully. The problem is that I just can't bring myself to continue something that I can't put my heart and soul into. I love this story. Let there be no doubt that this was the first major project I took on as a writer, and I'm going to finish it, but that's also why I refuse to let it be a cesspool of rotten judgement and nonsensical BS. Two of my other stories may be fleshing themselves out pretty nicely, but this one? I haven't felt comfortable with it in a long time. I set out in the first chapter with a specific mission in mind to create a romance between three characters with someone I hoped would make a really engaging main protagonist, but I don't feel like I accomplished this. Aside from the B-Plot involving the hunter and his master, everything in the story feels forced to me.
When I asked myself why Ruby and Weiss fell in love with Grey, I couldn't answer it. Why did they? Because Ruby and Grey fought together once? Because he rescued Weiss? Because this happened after several hours of Grey hounding them to be friends? Aside from that, what was Grey's primary motivation? To get everyone to be civil with each other. Why? To what end does this actually matter? It was clearly only a secondary motivation since overall, nothing came from it- no character development, no struggle, and no real change. Grey was as one dimensional as it gets. With a character like that who gets women to love him "cuz raisons," I find myself unable to even find the motivation to continue. I feel as though, if I did, it would be against everything I stood for.
That's why I'm going to rewrite the War of OA. The new name is yet to be determined, but not only do I want this story to be great for the sake of it, and for my own personal standards, but I want to deliver the best tale possible to you guys. I want each and every character to be fully fleshed out. I want each of them to become people that readers can relate to, can empathize with, and not feel as though they're watching something happen on a page as much as they are experiencing the story with someone they admire. Most of all, I want the relationship between Weiss, Ruby, and Grey to be natural and something to be proud of.
On a related note, if you guys haven't yet, download and play the JPDE Dating Sim for RWBY. The gameplay is… awful… but the story is PHENOMENAL and I give it a 10/10 easily. It's one of those stories that you can and should very well go out of your way to read, so if you get the chance, then please go for it. Even more than that, buy the manga collection. They bring such a new light to each of the main cast from the source material that they easily repay the money you spend on them, pretty much paying for themselves by the last chapter.
Before I close this up, I want to list off what I'm going to work on in the rewrite. First and foremost, I'm going to improve upon and grow Grey's character, and with how much I've already done so, I like where he is. I feel like he had a good basis as he was come Act 3 Chapter 1, as if looking at the outline or the foundation for the character he could eventually become, but now I feel as though I've turned him into a truly great character. At the very least, I could logically see Ruby and Weiss falling for him.
Second, I realize now that rushing Red Ivory into the relationship was not a good idea. Even though it was the story I wanted to write at the time I published the story, as I mentioned previously, the relationship seemed forced and I couldn't see the three being a triad that my readers really shipped. Hell, by the final chapter, I could have easily seen people shipping Grey and Neo before the other two.
Lastly, I want to rework the interpersonal conflict between Red Ivory. If you ask me, that was the source of where the rest of the story went wrong- there was too much conflict between them, and it made the story… somewhat depressing. Don't get me wrong, it worked out pretty well in many regards, but it crippled where it counts, and I couldn't save the story from there.
I am sorry for doing you wrong like this everyone. I hope that you will follow me into the rewrite, and if it helps any of you cope, I'm accepting input on the rewrite's title, the characters, and the plot, so leave a review or PM with any ideas, complaints, threats to me or my family's safety and I'll be sure to get back to you.
If nothing else, I feel... good that I was finally able to come clean with everyone so we could finally return to the story.