hi !!! in case you were wondering why all of the chapters have disappeared, here is an (abridged) explanation:
so. it's been over two months since i last updated this, and while this, in part, has been because of my exams, it's also because of something else - something that wasn't going to end mid-june.
as it stands, this is the beginning of a story i'm proud of, and hope to one day be even prouder of. yet there's a flaw in it that i can't ignore for the sake of a) making it easier / quicker to finish or b) trying to keep everyone happy: it might have a group of INCREDIBLY gay characters, but until proven innocent is anything but LGBTQ+ positive.
it's not obvious yet. it probably wouldn't become blatantly obvious until the very end, but the plot i had planned out for this book was thought out when i was going through quite a bit of shit concerning being gay (pls don't question this!!! i had a few messages prying at the time and while i appreciate your concern - you're all incredibly lovely - it's really not something i want to discuss at all, and i hope you can respect that). i (unintentionally) channelled a lot of those feelings into this story, and so it gets a little too 'depressing gays' trope for my liking. essentially, the reason for the attempted murder / jasper's imprisonment, etc, etc... was all too wrapped up in the fact he + mark were gay & had a relationship, and that's not a message i want to send out anymore.
i hope you'll all continue to read this story because your support honestly means the absolute world to me! i'm not going to lie and say it's barely going to change - it is. a lot. but in my opinion, it's for the best: it's still pretentious as hell, it's still gay as hell, but there's a lot less internalised homophobia. it's lit, kids.
i'll post the new summary soon (you can see the description now) but here's a hint: the alma / morgan 'thing' is no longer going to be rly vague & a minor plotline, but one of the focuses of the story, the crime is centred around an art theft, and hugo is still a complete & utter pretentious knobhead.
that's all for now!!! i'm rly sorry about this but i hope you can understand why this was something i needed to do.
stay cool,
abbie