My setting has multiple characters like this, and the struggle comes from within their community as well as within themselves.

That's how I've started looking at it. Maybe it's my own biases coming through, but the setting is just as much a character in a story as the people are, and can often be so much more.

Progress is progress, no matter whether its on the draft or the notes. 😊

I have such a hard time keeping my wayward brain on track. The past few days have been basically just me fiddling with more world lore that I may never use. I have a goal of finishing book 1 by June, with the rough draft in April. I got a long way to go still...

Katherine feels drawn to the enigmatic intensity Zethrie seems to exude with everything she does. It's the allure of a mystery that begs to be solved that first draws her in. Then it becomes something else entirely. Compassion and empathy for the plight of a woman who knows only solitude.

What's that turn of phrase?

"Every great journey begins with a single step."

All the luck on the new book!

Ooh, now there's one I've not written yet, but I absolutely love to read.

I appreciate that. I have several friends who write fanfics of varying fandoms, so it’s not an unfamiliar space to me. I only really have one or two fandoms I can claim I have enough knowledge to write fics for, though, so it’s just not something I’ve done. Might be worth trying though.

You’re allowed an opinion, and they’re allowed to disagree with that opinion, especially in defense of their community. Nobody is trying to silence or exclude you, and they even stated they have people in that server who write both fanfic and traditional.

I shared something intended to be supportive, not spark an argument about creative spaces online being favored toward fanfics. There are plenty of spaces like Royal Road that support original works as well as fanfics.

Go out and fill the world with your art. There is nobody keeping you from it.

Okay, I’m sorry here, but you did come on pretty strong against that specific community, so it’s natural for them to defend it.

I shared that I’d found a creator who runs a Discord, not an exhaustive list of them. If being welcoming means accepting abject negativity for its own sake, no thanks.

It looks like @ficwip.bsky.social has a Discord server for fiction writers. And they run events!

Hell yeah! You got this!
Gonna make me feel lazy over here, so now I have to actually apply myself today.