#and a new draft I started in 2020 that is literally MAYBE 3k if I am LUCKY

[void-tiger]

When you turn over an idea, an idea you’ve nurtured although you’ve seriously struggled with it for a long, long time, and consider cutting it loose because maybe the struggle just isn’t working.

But, then you realize it isn’t just a Self Indulgance, you really have woven it into the crux of Everything. It’s a linch pin.

And so you keep it.

[tryslora]

About The Pitfalls of Being Famous: Updates & Malia

Hey all. I will be cross-posting this on both Tumblr and Pillowfort in an attempt to reach readers. I wanted to talk about two things: planned update dates for "The Pitfalls of Being Famous" and about Malia's role in the story.

Short version:

The next update for Pitfalls, originally planned for this Saturday--March 28th 2020--will be skipped. I'm not ready, and even if I manage to scrape the chapter together this week, it won't be ready to be seen. I know I have a habit of writing and posting very quickly, but right now I do not feel confident in doing that, and not for this particular story.

Also: if you are looking for a story where Malia is the villain, this is not that story.

Long version:

I'm putting this behind a cut/read-more because it discusses (a) my mental health, (b) the state of the world (as it affects me only), and (c) spoilers about Malia in the story.

The thing is, point A is tied strongly to points B and C.

I don't want to talk about the state of the world itself, just how it affects me. I work for a university. More specifically: I work for the team that helps faculty get their learning materials online for remote consumption. We've been a bit busy. In fact, the last few weeks have been pure chaos, long hours, and lots of talking to people. I've been writing documentation, crunching numbers, running interference, and any number of things that are definitely wearing on mental health.

I'm working from home now and that has improved things. The semester has started up, which has also improved things because now we're in operation panic more than get it going panic. But for the last few weeks, pretty much since before I posted the last update, I haven't been able to squeeze out time to write on fanfic. I've been focusing what little attention I have on my original work, because my rule is I have to make words on that before I can make words on fic on any given day.

The good news is, I am literally one chapter (that's about 3k) from finishing the current original draft. I have editing, but that's waiting until the weekend. After that, Pitfalls actually is allowed to be my primary focus for a month. For what that's worth, given that I'm going to be lucky to hit my minimum 15k in a month (that's a 2-3 chapters of Pitfalls, tops).

Anyway, short version of that is: chaos means I'm struggling to write.

Now let's get to the topic of Malia.

I know that Teen Wolf readers don't generally like Malia. I understand why. However, given that most of the comments I'm getting are how much people hate Malia (in general, in this story, etc.), I need to say something so that all readers understand this: Malia is not the villain of "The Pitfalls of Being Famous."

She's not. Derek doesn't blame her for the failure of his marriage, nor does Stiles. Hell, the Sheriff doesn't blame her. Scott looks like he does, but we all know he can be judgmental and well, he has his own issues with Malia which will come out during the course of the story.

I'm okay if readers don't like Malia. Just. Please stop telling me this, like I'm expected to commiserate because I don't actually hate Malia. And I really don't hate her in this fic. She's one of Stiles's best friends. She's a rock that he leans on, just like Liam. Yes, she's abrasive. And yes, she's overly physically friendly (hell, so is Stiles, and he needs that, and a media and world that exploits that is just people being assholes).

Malia is not evil. I'm not trying to write her to be evil. And I get the idea that if I were putting someone else in that role (maybe if it were someone like Jackson, or even Liam) that it would come across differently.

But if everyone hates on her, and I'm still writing this story where she is absolutely instrumental and will be a part of almost every chapter going forward, that weighs on me. And I'll be blunt, it makes me want to give up the story.

So if you're looking for the story where Malia maliciously comes between Derek and Stiles, and they have a huge misunderstanding because Malia hangs on Stiles, then this is not that story.

If you're looking for a story where the media blows shit up the way the media does, and Derek and Stiles struggle with the strains of long tours, the media shoving its way into their private lives, and an awesome thing (being famous) that turns out not to be as awesome as they think... then this is the story you want.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to update again on Saturday the 11th, which would be the next update date after skipping the 28th. With luck, I'll see you then.