Ep 82 - Author Chat (Patreon)

I thought this whooper of a plot twist calls for a separate author-chat/discussion post.First off, thank you guys for your thoughtful insights and comments. I appreciate them all - both the nuanced perspectives, and the resounding "HELL NAH"s lol 🖤 Here are some of my thoughts.This was definitely was one of the harder episodes I've had to write, knowing full well that I run the risk of alienating a long-beloved character from readers (maybe forever, lol), especially if executed wrongly. This has been the ticking time bomb in the story that I've been dreading for the entire season now, and it's been a long time coming, y'all.And this has been a story-writing decision I've had to think through, repeatedly, this entire time.Although I have the option to exercise my creative license as a writer and to bank on my audience's willingness for some suspension of disbelief (because (unironically) it's fiction afterall), ultimately, I feel a sense of duty and obligation to present the other side of the coin to readers. The cold hard truth is ugly - and even then, I'm already presenting a very sanitised version of it (because I still need a job, lol).For people like Tora who've had a traumatic past and upbringing, we have some serious inner demons to contend with. And it's completely understandable for many romantic partners that this is where the line is drawn; and yes, you should ABSOLUTELY head for the hills if you meet someone like Tora in real life, at the first sign of a red flag. It was never my intention for this to be "educational" material (other more experienced and seasoned authors would undoubtedly handle these themes and topics with more finesse and expertise, and honestly all I wanna do is just draw a stupid romance comic, lol). But, for better or worse, this is also a good chance to clue the readers in - that if you meet someone like Tora, this could potentially happen. So no ragrets whatsoever.However, I also strongly believe from personal experience that changes for the better can, and do happen. Even when faced with some very serious relationship issues, there is a still chance of success and of making the relationship work with the right understanding, action, open communication, love, determination, willingness to change for the better, and the couple working together as a team to overcome obstacles - and THIS is the premise of this story.If you've read up till this episode and are feeling majorly letdown and disappointed, I hope it gives you some encouragement. This is a 100% intentionally written character and relationship arc, and is in fact one of the major obstacles in the story that our protagonists need to overcome.Whether or not I can successfully see it through to the end in a way that's satisfactory and believable is a whole other matter, so we shall see, lol.Thanks for reading and as always, your thoughts are always welcome and appreciate and are like food to my brain. In fact, let's open a discussion! Leave them in the comments below 🖤