Five Years?

I used to jokingly refer to the plan for Unjust Depths as a "5 year plan". This was not only a joke about communist central planning in the Soviet Union but also a statement born of a stark realism toward UD's production situation-- which is a truly self-aggrandizing way of referring to a thing I write alone, and then post on the internet for free. Basically, five years is the time I felt it would take to realistically "finish" the story from its current point, but in a truncated version. If I deep-sixed a couple storylines that are "interesting" but not particularly essential I could wrap up the story in a way I think is satisfying in 5 years. This "truncated" version of the plan became *The Plan* for all of 2023 and 2024 and beyond, until a few months ago.

After my spate of illnesses and leaving social media, and ditching the idea of a "schedule" and "deadlines" the idea that Unjust Depths had to "end" in Five Years seemed a lot less urgent. At this point, I believe (without evidence-- I'm not able to gauge these opinions anymore as I've literally exiled myself from where the data lives) that most people consider Unjust Depths done, and probably also a failure. A web serial writer who doesn't keep a schedule, doesn't obey deadlines and isn't really communicating much with their "community" or "fans" anymore is one that can be assumed to not be doing any work. I won't say that most fans of UD specifically think this way -- again I can't prove that in any way -- but I think most fans of *serials* would probably think this way. "The author has ghosted us, the fun's over." I released 13.12 yesterday, which I hope is enough of a statement of my intent to continue the story.

However, to continue the story means to decide what its future looks like. Do I continue to live with the "truncated" story plan? I have been writing to this plan for long enough that there are definitely stories that don't make sense anymore to tell, as the groundwork was not laid when it should have been. However there are some stories that could return. The current story, "Weltgeist," the story of Rhinea and the Volkisch Movement and the Spirit of their times, is set to be twice as long or more as the first book, which was "Imbria's Death March" the story of "the people of the world," an introductory story. In order to complete Unjust Depths in a satisfying way, I wanted to tell at least one story after "Rhinea" with at least as much development as the first story. In that sense, I could feel satisfied that the story had a beginning, middle, and end. How long and detailed will that beginning and middle be?

Another thing I wanted to consider is being able to do other projects. One thing that really helped with writing 13.12 was that, when I was having trouble continuing Unjust Depths, I put it down for a while and wrote over 12,000 words of a different project I'd had in my mind. I felt really energized by it! When I returned to Unjust Depths, I felt like I had a different perspective as to what the action and emotion in 13.12 could be like, and I was able to complete the chapter in a way that I was satisfied with, and ultimately publish it.

I have been thinking about writing more about that project, and maybe releasing it as ebook volumes once there's enough material for one available.

At any rate, this isn't really something that anyone can help me with but I just process things better when I can write about it.

I think for now there is no urgency to make any decision. This current part of the Rhinea story will conclude how it concludes, following the plans already laid out, and then I will make decisions when the second part of Welgeist, "The Victor and the Accused" is set to start. "The Victor and the Accused" was a place where I did some pretty savage truncation, so I hope I can bring back some of the stories I felt like telling in there when I thought I had all the energy in the world, and my health was perfect. I'm not a particularly optimistic person, which may or may not surprise you. But what I am is a stubborn person who wants to get her way and do what she wants to do even if it is unrealistic. So that's where I am at.