Wandering Firebender

Announcement 3

Hello once again my readers,

I want to start off this post by saying a happy 3 year anniversary to Wandering Firebender! When I first started writing up chapter one of this story on a whim during the summer of 2020, I never could have imagined that it would blow up to this degree. It has taken me a long way as a writer now, and I still am going as strongly as I can.

Through the course of the pandemic, losing friends, making new ones, and depression, I have been working on this story faithfully, trying my best to post semi-regularly with varying levels of success. I have a deep amount of love for this story, and despite some criticisms that I have received, I have not grown tired of it at all. I wanted to take things in a new direction after chapter 60, and I feel good about what I've been able to come up with. 

Even though this story is a fanfiction, I've done my best to write it in a way where it is faithful to the source material, so much so that perhaps it might as well be canon. Who knows, maybe one day it could be? (Avatar Studios hit me up)

In all seriousness, I love this story and I love Elio and his journey, and it makes me proud every day knowing that there are people out there who have taken time out of their own lives to let me take them on this journey. I'm sure if you've been around long enough and you've made it this far it is pretty obvious that Elio IS me. I've poured so much of myself into this story and these characters, so much so that it can be hard not to become defensive when I receive criticism - nevertheless I keep my works up.

However, there is something that I need to address.

Because of the amount of energy, effort, planning, and thought I have put into Wandering Firebender these past few years, a lot of my other projects had to be put on the backburner. I have original books I was working on, and I haven't worked on my unfinished book in over a year now. I'm starting a new original series with my friend Iashiaya, who you may know from the Wandering Firebender live reading streams I've started doing. Not to mention my other fanfictions, which I pour just as much heart into, but not as much time or effort lately.

I wanted to make it to chapter 90 before making this announcement, and it has been hard with life getting in the way over and over again. Personal circumstances have changed: I'm working harder than ever, I'm lonelier than ever, I'm depressed and I'm so, so tired. But I don't want to stop working. I don't want to stop writing this story or any other story. Which leads me to the real purpose of this post:

I am going to be taking another break from Wandering Firebender. An indefinite one. Maybe a longer one. I really don't know yet. I'll work on chapters here and there in the background, but there won't be any new chapters until I have written everything up to this story's final conclusion.

This isn't the end, but simply a break - a break I think maybe all of us deserve: myself, you, and Elio as well. Sometimes you need a rest even from the things you love in order to get your mind right so you can reset and come back in a healthy way. That is my intention.

So in the meantime, I will be directing my attention back to my other projects: those unfinished books and my other fanfictions such as my new Harley Quinn story: In Love With A Good Man, Lightning - My Hero Academia, and some other planned fanfictions that I haven't announced yet.

Additionally, I will try to start working on my music again with song covers, video game music, scores and hopefully some original stuff too. 

I mentioned it before, but I have also started doing readings of Wandering Firebender live on my friend Iashiaya's twitch channel. It consists of a troupe of 4: myself voicing Elio, Iashiaya voicing characters such as Sri and Cindra, Kazenius/Kaze voicing background characters and main characters such as Alger and Cassian, and WebOfShadows as our narrator, who also did the lovely art I have posted above. Here is the link to Iashiaya's twitch if you want to join us and see their live reactions to the story: 

twitch.tv/iashiaya

Soon the art you see will be the new cover of the story, but if you are reading this on Wattpad, where I originally started posting this story, you get to see it ahead of time. This is always how I've imagined Elio since I first created him, and it makes me extra proud to finally see him realized through this awesome fanart that Web made.

In conclusion, whatever it was that brought you here to this story, if you have made it this far, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your attention, your praise, your votes, and your words of encouragement and kind support. It has meant a lot to me as it bolsters me forward, and maybe one day I will become more than just the author of some fanfictions - maybe something much bigger (assuming that some fair wages finally start being given to writers lol)

If you want to see how my writing style translates to other kinds of stories, I have plenty other choices here for you to check out, which I intend to start updating more. If you're only here for Wandering Firebender, then I look forward to seeing you again when chapter 91 comes out. Either way, thank you for coming along on this journey with me.

Alex