For a number of reasons, really. But mostly I started it when I was in an emotional bind - I mean really wound up about it. Thing is that I ended up writing Ravens of Eternity instead of this novel in the meantime, and writing that story allowed me to sort out through the majority of those emotions I was dealing with.
Writing the opening act of Scions of Gaea has literally polished off the rest of what remained. And so now I feel much lighter. Prior, I had serious driving needs to get the story on the page, and that's no longer present when I write this story.
Which means that it can't be reflected back onto the page. And if it's missing there, then you won't also experience it.
I had thought to change my story, to better match my emotional state now. But what I feel conflicted about these days are vastly different from when I first envisioned this story. Changing it would only make it a muddled mess.
Which makes me wonder what the point of continuing is. I don't think there is, even if everything in it is interesting and has something to say about the state of our world. I honestly believe that there's real potential with the story, but I simply can't write it at this time.
I am at peace with some of this, and would rather tackle the themes in a story that's much more riveting to write.
Besides that, the story itself hasn't gotten much attention. Very few are picking it up and reading, which is another good reason to stop. This isn't as important as my first point, but it's worth mentioning. A final, and equally small reason, is that I feel a bit stretched thin.
Sometimes I feel as though focusing on one thing in particular makes me truly excel at it. But once my attention goes in different ways, everything I work on starts to get diluted. So putting the novel into hiatus also allows me to better manage my time and my mental energy.
Which means that I can spend more energy working on the print + eBook version of RoE, and streaming on Twitch. Which is a good thing - being able to focus on those two specifically means better products in the end.
And this may not be the end of this story - it may very well come back in the future, but in a different format or media altogether. Let's see where things lead for now.
