An Open Letter to the Readers of Not Listening Just Hallucinating

Greetings,

I really liked this story and it was fun and therapeutic to write, but I didn't do it justice (well, that's my opinion anyway). Reading it back sort of makes me cringe – and so, I've sort of been working on its re-write. Hopefully this is the point where somebody squeals in anticipation – sorry if you were just expecting another chapter, but don't be immediately disheartened and whatever you do, don't unfollow. Pretty much the same story, but now better developed. There will definitely be more chapters (so far I've got a count of six, though they may get condensed or separated) and it will just be longer and hopefully more emotional and interesting to read. To be honest, I don't see a definite end either. That's something I look forward to.

Hopefully, the second version will be an improvement, and I switched to using the characters' original, Japanese names – watching Digimon Adventure Tri, I've grown to like them so much better, and understand so much more about the show. However, for those who doesn't agree with or particularly prefer the new writing, I will be leaving this, the original 'Not Listening, Just Hallucinating', as it is. So if you're reading this – check my page and read the other story too. It won't be completely different to this – just better and longer and more in depth, and hopefully an improvement.

The new version will be titled, 'Anti-depressed' (subject to change – if you have any ideas don't hesitate to suggest – you may read this and see that the title is different, so read the summaries if you're hunting, though I will update this open letter so this entire sentence may be redundant but anyway…), and it will feature updates – I'm tempted to write many alternate situations also; my ideas sort of come to me from nowhere, so if I write a scene that fits the story it will definitely get added. Check it out, it's coming soon – the first three chapters – i.e. the rewrites of these pre-existing first two chapters, and a new one to keep you interested - should be up soon if not already. I'll try and post them all together so that there's actually some content. They do take me a long time to write, and I always re-read them and hate them and start over – tell me if I should just stop, or if I'm ruining it.

Chapter one is now a lot longer – please tell me if the writing style is better. It's still third person, and in past tense, but I got rid of the italicised sentiments that illustrated TK's thoughts. Now you just get everything from his point of view. I also wanted to explore social anxiety – something that I think would have struck Takeru after an… ordeal such as this, which is interesting considering that as a character he's usually very extrovert. I might just put the character through his paces… in that respect I must sound kinda cruel.

Reading the reviews, I was really happy that I managed to get such a reaction from some readers, which was a massive boost for me considering that I didn't think that it was even written that well once I had gone back and read Not Listening for myself. I was definitely annoyed with some of the stupid mistakes I made – I clearly did not proof-read enough. I've not ever really considered having a beta before… I like to do everything myself to be honest.

The story should make more sense now that I've gone back and fixed stuff – though I'm sure someone will tell me after reading the new one that it probably didn't need tinkering with. The story did undergo a bit of scrutiny and I did alter a few things. Don't hate me too much if you liked it the way it was and didn't think I needed to mess with it at all.

Please review 'Anti-Depressed'; feel free to message me if you have any ideas, criticisms, suggestions or requests. I actually cannot get enough of the communication – it really is great to hear what you think. I'm at university, so any reviews I get will be motivation to get writing (fuck studies). I'm a slut for feedback.

If you've had a look at my other fic, Bullies, you'll know I alluded to this open letter. If you haven't, read it. It's not too dissimilar in style to the new stuff. I wrote that one on a whim and just uploaded it for kicks – the new stuff (inbound) I've been thinking over for a while. I've even written this letter out a bazillion times.

One last thing – studying at university has really opened my eyes to psychology, and after having studied it, I think I could see Takeru as having Bipolar Disorder (aka Manic Depression). What do you think? Is that something I should implement? I think mania is something that would suit him… he really does switch from happy to depressed. Or is it taking this fic too far? I might just have to start another project…

Thanks again!

Mr B.97

P.S. I write my stories in Apple Pages, than move it to my computer to Word before uploading it, so regardless of how many times I proof-read stuff there always seems to be small deletions and paragraph spacing issues and such. Forgive me, I do try and edit things as carefully as possible. Also, I know that what I've written may appear as massive chunks of writing but, yeah, that's how I wrote it and I don't want to split it up into little slithers for no extra reason, unless there's dialogue. Just bear with me. Thanks.

P.P.S. I wrote this a while ago, so I figured that as a small addendum I'd address Everybody Leaves, which I think is slowly becoming a companion piece to Not Listening. In this story, Takeru is bipolar, and has seemingly had a bit of a breakdown prior to the story. It parallels to the new Not Listening… tell me which one you think is better. Because I do some Psychology modules at university the details should be pretty good, but please let me know if the experience isn't very true.

I'm considering merging the two, to be honest… Anti-depressed could really be like the prequel, or at least, it has the potential to be with some minor changes. I think I could do it, if anyone is interested.