Hey everyone! Hope you've all had a good summer.
I wanted to make a post announcing a temporary yet indefinite hiatus from North Star. Now before you freak on me, please hear me out. I'm not just making this decision out of the blue, nor am I doing it without multiple proper reasons.
Reason 1, it's just that time of year again. The time of year where professors drop a metric shit ton of coursework on me as if I'm their only class. While in the past years I have been able to juggle class work, work work, and writing for North Star, I don't think I'll be able to pull that off this time. It's getting to the point where I'm taking less gen-eds and more classes specialized for my major, and for those who don't know, those specialized classes are a LOT heftier than normal freshman classes. I just don't think I'll have the time to write…
…
…Ok I will have time to write. I'll make sure of it. The problem is what I'm writing.
See, I'd like to participate in more wiki contests. Specifically, holiday contests. I'm already planning on making something for the 2023 Halloweencon, the 2023 Christmas Art Exchange, and the 2024 Cupidcon. Because these cons all have short deadlines and themes that require me to quickly brainstorm a plot, I won't be able to participate in these AND work on North Star AND do my college work AND go to work work. Something needs to go, and for as much as I'd love for it to be work work, it's gonna have to be North Star.
Now, college and wanting to participate in cons isn't the only reason.
Reason 2, I wanna work on something not related to North Star. Remember the first announcement I made waaaaay back March 2022? Well, in it I mention how I began a draft for a Broken Masquerade tale. That tale is what I want to work on.
But see, here's the thing. It's not so much a tale… as much as it is a full on book. Seriously, I finished a general outline of the story, and it's looking to be at LEAST 11 chapters. And not short, 2-4k word chapters either. No, it's going to be a full, 3 act story with plots and characters and arcs and the whole shabang. Obviously this is a huge undertaking, and it's going to be a long time before it's finished.
Which is exactly why I want to get started on it now. A project this big can't just be left on the backburner, otherwise it will never get done. It needs to be front and center of my writing focus, a position that was originally occupied by North Star. With this new story taking up all my attention, North Star will unfortunately have to come to a pause for a bit.
Don't worry though. I'll still write and publish some other projects from time to time. Like I said, I'd like to participate in a few holiday cons. Also, just to keep my motivation up and not completely ghost yall by not posting, I'm absolutely going to start writing 'shorts.' A short is exactly what it sounds like, a short tale that's only about 500-1.5k words long. Something I can make in a day or two, quickly get some of my friends to look at, and post without really caring whether it stays up or not (does not mean I won't put any effort into it, just that, unlike a North Star tale, I won't be as much as a perfectionist, which means I can get them out quickly (oh yeah, the shorts won't be for North Star, just other canons I wanna dabble in)).
In fact, I've already posted a short today! It's called Swimming Lessons, and it's for the Devil's Advocate series. If you're a fan of North Star, Iris, or humanoid anomalies in general, then you are going to LOVE both the short and the canon.
Speaking of being a fan of characters, this leads me into the next reason for the hiatus…
Reason 3, I'm not happy with North Star.
Ok, so this is a bit more serious and a bit deeper than a lack of time or starting other projects.
When I started North Star two and a half years ago, I really didn't have any experience in writing characters or story. Now that's totally normal. The SCP Wiki is a haven for amateur authors who are looking to sharpen their skills, and let me say I absolutely have. Just read one of my first stories, like Scottish Goliath or Minutemen, and then read 7 Levels of Site-17. I have grown so much as an author, and I have learned so much about writing stories and characters.
The problem is, the more you grow, the more you notice the flaws in the characters and story you've already made. And let me tell you, I have some major issues with what I've written so far.
Like killing off Tommy in Beyond the Depths. At the time I did this because my idea of character development was just… beating the absolute shit out of Iris. And while trauma and tragedy are a great way to build sympathy, I've learned that beating a character up too much just makes things either comical or numb, two things I do NOT want my Iris to be. Plus, Tommy's death was made totally redundant by Anthony dying not long after. Basically, Tommy dying was probably the worst single decision I could've made (Don't worry, I'm already plotting ways of retconning it ;)).
But there's one thing I've grown to dislike more than Tommy's death: my own original characters…
…
…Well ok, not ALL of my original characters. In fact, I actually love 99% of my characters. Milo, Rigby, Albany, Brian, Jaxon, all of them are a pleasure to write.
No, the problem child here is Black. A pretty big problem as well, considering he's the main character of the story.
Thing is, Black is very much a character built around circumstances and other characters. Don't act you don't notice it. I made him to be friendly towards Iris, I made him to listen to Milo's story (first), I made him to question Albany's dedication to dehumanizing skips. Which is all fine and good, but the problem is that's all he is.
I made him because I needed a catalyst to the conflicts of the story. I needed someone to push back against the Foundation's dehumanizing policies, someone to reach out to anomalies, someone to rally people for or against a cause. I needed someone for the other characters to revolve around.
I became so focused on the characters AROUND Black, that I never gave him much character. Like stop and think, just what is Black's character? He likes history, he's… uh… nice? He… does the right thing?
There's really no meat to his character. I made him to be a general protagonist, because that way he could easily fit into any situation I needed him to. And while the inexperienced, newbie writer from 2 years ago thought this was clever, the seasoned writer of today realizes just how bad that makes Black.
"But Dapper!" I hear you say. "You're the author! The creator! Just give Black character. Just give him a backstory like you did with Milo and Albany."
Hmm, not a bad idea. One problem though.
I've been trying for months.
In the time since posting 7 Levels of Site-17, I have spent countless hours brain storming ideas and writing a tale that gives Black that character. But here's the problem. Unlike Milo, Albany, and every other character I've delved into… I don't like writing Black. And as any of my fellow authors can corroborate, when you don't like writing a character, you don't like writing period.
I think this is why I want to take a break from North Star. 7 Levels was already a pretty damn hefty tale, being a whopping 8k words and the longest (single) article I've written. I was already feeling a little burnt out after that, and trying to force myself to write about a character I despise just made it worse.
Now, despite my hatred of the main character, this does NOT mean North Star is cancelled. This series is my baby, the whole damn reason I became an author in the first place. I'm not going to just let it die. I'll find a way to make Black work, trust me.
I just need some time. Some time away from North Star. Some time to write something else. Some time to get inspired, strengthen my skills, participate in the community, contribute to Devil's Advocate (a much better canon than North Star that you should go check out right now) with some shorts, and just not constantly be forcing myself to write something I'm feeling burnt out of.
North Star will return, you have my word. But for now… for as much as I hate to say it because I make fun of this all the time… the North Star storyline is on a temporary but lengthy hiatus.
PS: You're still free to write stories that take place in North Star. If you have an idea of a tale or SCP or article you wanna make canon (and actually have on the hub), let me know either through Wikidot PMs or Discord DMs. See my author page for my contact info.
