Hey everyone!
So I imagine that a good majority of you are familiar with my Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction series, Madness Within. I've had a sudden huge surge in interest for that series as of late, so I figured I'd better post an update regarding what's going on with those stories.
First off, thank you so much to all of the kind newbies who have been showering that fic with love! Honestly, some of your guys' comments make me cry from happiness. To this day, I still can't believe just how much that story exploded and garnered so much attention and support. It really does mean the world to me when people reach out to tell me their thoughts on some stupid story that I wrote in my free time while still in university. I can't thank you guys enough! It never ceases to amaze me how many people still enjoy reading that fic. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!
Secondly, the reason the sequel has been taking so long is because of the show's stupid release schedule. We all know how annoying the distributors of the show are at this point, and this is the main reason for the delay. As the show has progressed, it became more and more important to watch the episodes in their proper order, something which the distributors do not seem to care about or appreciate. So my boyfriend and I have been waiting for all the episodes of season 4, and now season 5 to all be released so that we can watch them in chronological order how the creators intended. The reason this has delayed things on my end is because I don't want to run the risk of spoilers. I've blocked practically everything
Miraculous Ladybug related on my social media pages, just in case for that very reason. Not everyone reads author's notes in the stories, so I didn't want to risk somebody accidentally revealing a spoiler to me in the reviews and comments. During season 3, I already had a bunch of people flocking to my work when the episode 'Chat Blanc' was released, discussing how correct I had been in my prediction of what would happen to Chat Noir if everything was revealed to him and he lost Ladybug as a result. It was just lucky that I already had a good idea what that episode would be about anyway, and it didn't spoil any significant plot point.
So yeah, once all of season 5 has aired, and once my boyfriend and I have gotten around to watching all the episodes, I'll be able to safely start work on the sequel.
Thirdly, my beta reader has gone missing on me. I had someone who was helping edit the Madness Within chapters for me, and the plan was that they would be my beta reader on future fics within the series. They had also planned on creating an actual physical copy of the story to give to me, and maybe we would have even given some away to the audience. But they suddenly vanished one day, and I have not heard from them since, via any channels of communication. I can only hope that they're alright. I've been waiting for them to get back to me, but I haven't heard off them in years at this point, so I think it's safe to say that the project will now have to continue ahead without them.
I think Madness Within is one of those series that needs a beta, especially for picking up any stupid typos on my part, because I really hate re-reading what I have written in this story because it's so damn exhausting. So hey, if anyone wants to be an editor for that story, feel free to email me at thetauruspixie@gmail.com and we can discuss things and you can show off your English skills.
However, there has been something else that has been stopping me from properly working on the series, and I'm sure many of you already know that reason already: the online harassment. I know that it was only a tiny minority, and that I shouldn't listen to the things they say, but it still has me really nervous about returning. I really don't want to have to strictly monitor comments, especially on FanFiction.net, because I want people to be able to have their say, regardless of whether they have an account or not. I welcome and don't mind constructive criticism. But I do not appreciate being harassed and bullied over the plot of the story not going the way they hoped, or because of my all over the place update schedule. I didn't appreciate people swearing at me and calling me names when I was in the middle of real life struggles. I am not a robot writing slave. The
Miraculous fandom is notoriously pretty toxic at this point, and I'm not sure I'm looking forward to being a part of that again.
I already know that when I upload the sequel, updates will be far and few between as I take my time with the story. It's a hard story to write and can leave me emotionally drained. Not to mention, I don't want to put that much pressure on myself, only to get bullied anyway, ever again. It wasn't worth it. So I really appreciate those of you have been patient and can find it within them to still be patient in the future. The story will not be my number one priority, but I promise you that it will be published and that I have not abandoned the series.
I hope this helps answers a lot of questions that people have had lately.
