I'm done.

And by that I mean I'm done with RoyalRoad.

This really shouldn't be a shock because I wrestled with this for months.

RR was fun when it started. A place where romance wasn't clouding everything, and I thought I would prefer fighting with lit-rpgs than romance. But, I rather not compete with it either. This is worse than romance.

At least with a romance heavy site, I can have a variety of characters. I can have a female protagonist that isn't a guy with boobs or a warrior princess. I can have a protagonist who lives a different life than the average person. I can feel like it's okay to explore. And people can claim that RR is the perfect place for writers to explore all they want too, it's certainly is not.

You can only explore following a list restriction. Male protagonist only, adventure fantasy only, must have a sense of progression which is usually mostly focused on gaining strength, wealth, notoriety, a harem, power...pretty much like a video game. It's very unwelcoming and honestly kind of hostile to anything that isn't. From what I gathered, you basically have to be a master at writing already to write something different or be judged.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-wishfulfilment. It's just that, it's only fun when you are part of the group of people who like it. And I like video games. But I don't want to write one. I can just play one. And even still, that not exactly why I play games. While it's nice to gain stronger weapons, level characters up and getting further in the game, a great part of that experience is having a control or a mouse and keyboard that makes the whole thing actually tangible. Controlling a character. Making choices that are mine for whatever headcanon I've set-up. Reading something that feature a game like experience isn't for me. I don't like it.

As for writing it. Well, if I don't read it. I don't write it. Very simple.

Also, even the times I do read something wishfulfiling or rather make the attempt as finding something to my tastes, I don't want to read it all the time. I like variety. My creative mind lives off of it. I don't want to consume the same things all the time.

Also, I have a limited time writing. It's not hard, but it is taxing for me to write. And I rather spend my time writing things I want to read and not writing certain things just to get views. I mean, that would probably make me more frustrated.

And I'm not really frustrated anymore. I've moved beyond that to solutions. And my solution is to just leave.

I admitted to myself several weeks ago that RoyalRoad makes me miserable. And I've been hanging on, but I can't anymore. I don't want to. It's affecting my writing. I've been dragging my feet with updating Edict. And it's not as bad of a process as I am making it out to be. And since I want to feel excited about sharing a story again, this is the solution.

I'm done.

I'm closing up shop.

I'm abandoning ship. I've called in the helicopter and going back to shore, to write in the way I can enjoy it again.

I am also pretty much done with writing platforms as a whole. So I'm not at anywhere else but on my website unless something changes.

https://www.brotherhoodarchive.com/

I do plan on finishing the Archive. All stories will be posted on there in some form.

I'm considering, at a certain point, placing Hy'Ruh-Ha and Crossroad in PDF or EPUB form only. So Edict will join that sort of thing eventually. The site would only host what I'm currently working on. I'm not going the KU route. I really little desire to deal with Amazon. My plan is to likely put it up on Smashwords. I can put it there for free. I don't know. I have to actually see support for that sort of thing.

When it's Dark will be finished. I'm actually drafting out that last three chapters as we speak. I likely post all the chapters up in a week then leave it up for a month or two, but that's going to be removed with Changes as well. I've already deleted the chapter.

For anyone who has read my work and stuck around

Thank you.

God Bless

-L.J. McEachern