The Boy-Who-Lived... Is Over There - Final FFN Author's Note

Hello followers.

I've always hated chapters like these, but find myself in the position of needing one now. I know that it is incredibly frustrating to be following a work and see that notification only to open it and find the disappointment of a random note instead of more story.

However, due to the failing backend of FFN's site, I have chosen to shift to posting only to Archive of Our Own.

I have explained this in my Author Profile and a couple of times on Elfish as it was nearing its end, but I'm sure some of you only follow this one story, so won't have received those notices.

Nothing currently posted on FFN is being removed. All of the stories that are here will remain here. I will still be coming here to read and I will still check reviews and PMs. Unfortunately, the backend for writers has been unstable for several years now. Including the site being completely inaccessible, reviews not showing (which happened again as recently as last night for me), posted chapters seeming to vanish from publication without me pulling them and in a way I cannot correct, statistics vanishing entirely for months, and pages simply not loading at all for long periods. All of this with little, if any, communication from the dev team.

As much as I have enjoyed my almost eight years here as a writer, this instability is too much of a nuisance for something I do for the joy of it.

I know that some people despise AO3 and prefer to read here. There are types of stories I will bookmark here over there because that experience is preferred when reading myself. But the communication alone, when problems arise, is definitely better over there. So I'm making the switch from this point forward.

That is to say, Chapter 11 of The Boy-Who-Lived... Is Over There is now up and live on AO3. My user profile is Tyrannic_Puppy and should be easy to find with a quick Google search. Though I have also tried to provide a link in my Author Profile. Every single story posted here is already up there as well, including two WIPs that never got ported over here at all.

And there are benefits to AO3 from a writing perspective, though not as likely to be used on BWLIOT as on other fics. I can directly place images into the text or Author Notes on the story for users to see. I can use other HTML elements like tables to organise things in ways that FFN does not allow, giving me a little bit more freedom of design. I won't be doing anything crazy like implementing an altered text format for the entire story and forcing it on anyone, but I am excited to see what tools will be useful for my writing in the future.

Yes, this is rambling and long. I know FFN disapproves of such posts in general and I'm trying to make this as robust as possible to limit its likelihood of removal so that it remains here for anyone curious as to why the next chapter hasn't appeared.

My apologies to those who may have followed here recently or who really don't want to make the jump over to AO3. This is a quality of life change that I've decided is necessary and I hope people will not begrudge me that. As here, I am more than happy to chat on AO3, though that can only happen in story comments there. As noted above, PMs will remain open and you can feel free to ask me anything you like.

And all of these works remain free for anyone to take as inspiration and play with as they please for making their own fics. I write because the story I wanted didn't already exist, if you feel the same, I urge you to give writing a try. You never know what you're capable of until you give it a try. Even if you don't post, try to write. You'll often be surprised at what you can do once you give it a go. And remember we all grow as we go. My work has come a LONG way since I first posted Birth of a Hero back in 2006.

I hope to see some of you over on AO3, and I wish to thank all of my readers here on FFN for the years of fun. Hopefully, I can provide and enjoy many more over there as well.

Sincerely, Chris the Tyrannic Puppy.