The Unfortunate Bio of TheWalkingDaryl

I Haven't Updated In Years! (26/03/19)

The title is not saying I haven't updated in years. It is relevant, yeah?

Anyway frenz, how we going?
Been a while as always.
By the way, ignore any spelling errors; I refuse to use autocorrect on my phone; normally I use my iPod for these, but not today!

So, here is my issue for the day.

We all know I love me some fanfic. Yeah? Yeah.
So once again, this cool kid went browsing. I even tried different people this time, and do you wish to know what the problem was?

Most of the stories that took my vague interest, (not a lot), were either badly written (surprise surprise), or, that's right, you guessed it: not updated in years!

Yessir, you heard me. Years.

Like I know people lose interest in writing and Wattpad and they 'grow up' or 'grow out' of fanfic and bands and whatnot.
I get that.
I do.
Trust me.

But what irks me is people that are still on here and completely abandon one or two stories or whatever.

Once again, maybe you lose interest. But put something like...I dunno...DISCONTINUED on it so we know?

I dunno, just a suggestion.

Or when stories you keep up with suddenly don't get updated ever again without a whisper of why.

Now, we all know I'm damn picky with my fanfic reading.

I was reading one the other day and the first two chapters were good enough that I voted on them.

Then it went downhill. It went cheesy and like they were trying too hard; trying to get to many band references and too many one liners from interviews.

This is the thing. The above mentioned can be done right.
I am guilty of referencing but it's done in the context and conversation.

If you pick up on it, well done! If not, it still makes sense in the story.

I don't do it for the cheap pop, or just because I can. I do it when it is relevant.

I have many hidden away in my stories, you just have to find them.

If things are done for the sake of it, it ruins stories, in my opinion.
Maybe it's just me.

This goes for more than just references.
This has gone off track from the original topic. Too bad, we are gonna keep going.

Gimme a sec.

Where was I? Sorry had a couple things to do.

Ok, back on track.

So, this doesn't apply solely for references.
I'm sure some of you may have read this kinda thing before but it's been a while since I've seen it, so I will put my two cents in.

I have to use self-harm as the example unfortunately, so if you are easily triggered, stop reading now.
Call this your trigger warning.

We all see those typical cliché stories with the main OC, who in this instance will be named Bright-Lee Lampford, having her issues and whatnot.

Blah blah, attempted story.
Good on you, you tried.

The issue here is the majority of Bright-Lee Lampfords self-harm for no reason.

A lot of people seem to think that it's just what 'emo' or 'goth' people do. It isn't true or correct.

There is a reason and a lot of fanfic writers can't back up why Bright-Lee does it.

Any time one of my characters does it, I can back it up.

Yes, I will do that just now, just in case you feel like I must justify myself.

Those of you who have read Outcast will already know. Those who haven't, I have to back myself up.

Outcast is very oriented (is that the word?) around mental health and what it does if you aren't in a very good headspace.
I may be biased, but I would recommend reading it for more than one reason.

The whole series is based around Andy. He's the MC and it's from his POV, so we get a look into how he sees himself. It isn't evident to begin with just how much Andy struggles, but the further you dive into the series, the more you start to see the decent into serious depression.

It's a very serious series. It hurts. I won't lie.

The whole point is that when it comes down to Andy feeling like he had to hurt himself, the way it got explained was that he felt numb, that all he could feel was the depression and he wanted to be able to feel something, anything, else that wasn't just that. The fact that he also found it was a way to feel like he had some sort of control when he did it contributed to it.

There has to be a reason why they do it. Don't do it just because you think it's 'cool' and 'edgy'. Please. Serious issue here people.

My next example comes from a story of mine that we are all familiar with that isn't up here yet that I have talked about through here a fair bit recently: Oliver.

You're about to get an inside look here; you're lucky because it isn't available for viewing yet.

Ok, so the MC is Oli. Whoa, shocker.
By the way, Oliver is an incredibly depressing story. I'm not kidding at all. It is hard to write because of the reality of it.

So Oli has his own serious issues. I don't want to give too much away in case you wanna read it so I will tread carefully. It's a highschool AU so you know how come it is based like this.

The whole storyline is that an incident happens with Oli and his friend group. I don't want to say what, because it is a key part of the story. The incident causes Oli's parents to move him overseas to try and get a new start etc. etc.

Even right from the start (all first person), it's established that Oli has problems. He's also in denial about it. He doesn't want to feel anything; he would rather be numb and not have to face the reality of his mindset.

It gets to the point that he hurts himself because he seriously thinks it will make him feel better; it gives him a stress relief in a way and part of it is because he won't feel anything; he won't allow himself to let it out any other way.

This is really sad the more I type :(
I write some really sad reality.

It goes on in another story he will be showing up in, to him explaining that because he had no other way and that was his way of coping, that it became a bit of an addiction and if he wanted to stop he found it hard to do so. He has an addictive personality.

See how there is a reasonable explanation for it all?
I haven't thrown it in just 'because it's what they do' or 'how their character is'.
No, I backed it up with real reasons.

I have gone way away from the original issue.

I will probably do more like this in the near future, but for now, I hope this has made you think a bit about reasoning.
We need a happy pic of smiling people to end this.
Thoughts and opinions are welcome as always.

Until next time!