I know that, no matter what I write below, many people will see it as "another dropped twilight fanfic."
But it isn't dropped.
I have to stop posting new chapters for a period of time.
Yes, posting, not writing. I will continue writing and just won't be posting it.
Sounds strange? Ridiculous?
Maybe.
But the explanation is even more so.
Even though the beginning of the fanfic might be quite rough, I'm actually very satisfied with how the story is progressing. And the funny part is that this is exactly the reason for the pause. I spend so much time and effort editing chapters before posting them that I've stopped feeling satisfied with the writing process itself. If I continue like this, I'll eventually burn out and end up throwing all the work I've done into the bin.
To break it down, I spend maybe 2–3 hours writing a draft chapter and then another 6–7 hours editing it before posting. The main problem isn't the editing time itself, but the fact that I can't start writing the next chapter before I finish editing the current one. Otherwise, I end up delaying the posting schedule, which is already pretty messed up.
Some of you might ask, "If it only takes you a couple of hours to write a full chapter, why not just write more than one a day?"
Yeah, I tried. It doesn't work.
It's a bit like a nuclear power plant: scaling isn't as straightforward as it seems. Doubling the input doesn't double the output. Even those 2–3 hours of writing can end up being spread across two actual days.
That said, none of this changes the fact that it's entirely my fault. Spending so much time editing means my actual writing still needs a lot of improvement.
In the end, I AM NOT stopping writing, and I'm not even stopping editing new chapters. I'm simply going to stop posting for a while, anywhere from two weeks to perhaps over a month.
I also want to build up a reserve of chapters for those inevitable bad days when writing just doesn't happen.