Clearly I haven't updated in a while so for those of you reading this note right now, three years after the last chapter went up, kudos. I doubt most of you even remember what the story is about. (Looking at it now, I see that my summary was also particularly useless in that regard.) There are so many reasons to apologize: for abandoning the story, not warning you about my unexpected hiatus in the summary.
But this story began to nag at me a few months ago, a feeling that hasn't let up. It started when I got an update for a story that, like mine, hadn't been updated in years. It struck me that that story had left me wondering and that, even though it had been so long, I was still really grateful to get an update. It was worth the wait. Which made me realize that there may be readers like that here: people who followed my story and were just left to wonder.
That being said, this story is abandoned. I'm not going to continue it. But at the same time, I didn't want to leave you all with nothing. Especially because I have the rest of the story. Not fully written out, but even back then I knew how the story would progress. It seems like such a waste, letting all that stuff - stuff some of you may actually care to know - sit uselessly on my computer where nobody bothers to read it (because I certainly have no reason to read it).
So I'm going to post what's left of the story. I know it doesn't come near making up for shirking my responsibility to my readers, but I'm hoping it's something. It's in outline form, and obviously the outline was made up of notes for myself, not something I expected anyone else to read - so likely there are some parts that won't make sense to other people. But it's what I have, so I'm giving it to you.
Actually, there's a small surprise that even I didn't know about: in looking through my Behind Locked Doors folder, I found what would have been the next chapter, half-finished. It's not exactly ready for reading, but then again I cringe at anything I wrote that long ago, even those things I thought were final drafts. So maybe it's not much worse than the posted chapters. Anyway, I'll post that first, one last (rough draft) chapter, and then afterwards - in a separate post - the outline.
You should just know that there's a lot I never got to. In fact, it seems I never even got to the main plot. So it'll probably feel like you're reading an entire story's worth of outline, which I can't imagine will interest very many of you. (It certainly would bore me.) You should obviously feel no obligation to read it, but if it's something any of my former readers would enjoy - well, that's why I'm putting it out there.
(By the way, the outline will start from the beginning of the story, including the plot points that have already been written. That may be helpful to refresh your memory, or it may be annoying to reread information that you already know. I'll try to make a clear note of where the old information ends and new begins, in case you want to skip to the new.)
I'm so sorry. I really cannot apologize enough. It was unfair of me as a writer. My readers were my responsibility. I committed to posting chapters and progressing my story, and I know I didn't live up to that expectation.
Chapter will be posted shortly.