All right, I've had a few days to mull over this now, and I want to take the time to thank each and every person who left a comment last update. Your feedback really helped in this final decision.
So, there was a general consensus, and it was really lovely to have a fresh perspective on this story. In short, earlier chapters need work. Nina's mental illness can't conveniently disappear just so she can have a smooth romance with George. And, of course, the Brimley ship needs some major repairs. So, while I am indeed going to keep the ship the same, I'm going to backtrack and edit. Heavily, heavily edit. I haven't yet come up to the big plot reveal yet (ironically, it was going to happen in chapter 40), and I know it sucks for my older readers who have gotten this far into the story only for me to say that I'm going to put the first two thirds under major construction, but I want to be 100% satisfied with this story once I get to the last chapter. The revisions are going to include:
- A more story-rich relationship with Nina's mother. Instead of her conveniently living in New York and leaving Nina alone for most of the time, she will play a larger part in Nina's upbringing. The toxic effects of her mother's narcissism and emotional abuse will become a large part of why she develops major anxiety, depression, and why her schizophrenia triggers at such a young age
- A more in-depth look at her recovery process and how she was treated at Hogwarts following her incident
- A more canonically-accurate George
- Nina's initial psychological breakdown from her own perspective, as opposed to Nora's
- An improved foundation for the relationship of George and Nina
- A story about Nina gradually overcoming the hurdles in her life with the support of people who love her rather than a weird mish-mash of crap thrown in for the hell of it
Now, I'm not quite sure whether to just edit the chapters in this story, or create an entire new one dedicated to the revised version. If the former, I will be updating the new story in parts (for example, I will be editing the entirety of PART ONE and update it altogether, then move on to PART TWO). If the latter, I will leave this story up as it is and create a new one with revised editions of chapters and a fresher storyline. This is still to be decided, so I'll create a poll on my profile.
Thank you so much again for all your support and advice, I really couldn't ask to be surrounded by better people.
