"Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo da Vinci
It's weird writing this, but I feel I should give this goodbye longer than a few hundred words. The quote up front in center is probably one of the more famous quotes one refers to when you're a creator. So many times I've had to just let a chapter be published as is because I thought it could be better or I was torn on how I characters to solve a problem. Whatever the reason, now I'm at the point where, for this story, there's really not much left for Team RWBY to do. Abandoned is a harsh word, but accurate.
And this has nothing to do with any feelings I have with the show. This story, pretty much this entire 70+ chapters was outlined by the end of season 2. Obviously, whatever did come out when a season aired, I'd see if I could incorporate it into the story. Some of it worked, some of it felt shoved in. I planned each 'volume', if I may borrow that term, into 12 chapter chucks. So, every 12 there's usually an arc for the characters or couple, and we'd start it all up again. A lot of the chapters, especially in the beginning, were mostly one off ideas. Gotta remember when there was only one season, there's wasn't a lot to go off of. Had to work with the characters, and luckily, I was able to ride that until future seasons where the world was revealed. And in re-reading them, I hope they're still enjoyable, but with the information I have now, I would've crafted it better.
And I do still have ideas for the story, just not enough to create another 12 chapters. I wanted to bring Salem in, do more with the relics and Raven, especially now after what was revealed, probably add Summer into everything. But then what comes of Blake and Yang or Weiss and Ruby. The way, at least in my mind, how it would've had to go from here, is make it strictly adventure. All the fluff would kinda be put to the wayside. Those couples are cemented there would be little to none relationship drama.
What I've always wanted to do, but couldn't because it would elongate this already bloated tale, was to use characters like Coco, Velvet, Sun, and a couple more of the students more. The story needed to stay focused and sacrificing those characters' time was necessary. And that's sucks cause I want to play with all of them, especially some of the male characters. Been writing for 4 girls for 4 years. Could've used a testosterone break in between to do dood-bro stuff.
So, I guess this is goodbye but also, maybe not. I don't want to shut the door completely. I like RWBY and its universe, and like I said, I still do have ideas, but for now, this is how the story ends. It's going to be weird un-scheduling the reminder in my calendar and not writing 1000 words a day. It's sad but I did what I felt like accomplishing. Whether it's good or bad, or terrible, I set a goal and I worked on something and myself. It's been a mini therapy session every time I'd sit down and write.
I know I've said this every time I post, but thank you to all who read, shared and reviewed. You made the journey less lonely. I'll post the whole story on AO3 in a couple weeks so it's on another source. I'm always afraid will just go offline one day. There is a persona 5 anthology story I'm working on, so I'll be posting it in both sources when it's ready. Again, thank you for reading.