Hey folks. Just a little journal talking about my thoughts on my writing and SV in particular.

As me and my wife continue to work on Sweet Venom, I noticed the total word count of the rewrite is reaching close to 400k words, whilst the original stands at just shy of 190k words. Between those two pieces, i've exceeded half a million words written by over close to 100k. I planned on doing something to celebrate reaching half a mil but i've done it! Not sure what I should do. Maybe it should be a celebration of the rewrite exceeding half a mil? Not sure.

On that note, is it right to continue calling it a rewrite when it is larger than the original? Couldn't say. I've been calling it the SV rewrite for a long time now. What do you all think? Time for a rename? Does it just become SV and the original is renamed instead?

I've hit a few milestones since I last did a journal. Firstly, I tallied all the votes and ratings I got from posting the chapters on literotica. These are the average of all the chapter ratings, with over a 1000 votes spread across all chapters.

Out of 5 stars
Arc 1 avg score: 4.64
Arc 2 avg score: 4.71
Arc 3 avg score: 4.81
SV total average: 4.72

This score is now a couple of months out of date, but it looks like they've only gone up since then. I am absolutely thrilled and humbled by this, considering the out-there nature of Sweet Venom and how it doesn't follow any particular writing tropes. I could have taken several elements of the story out to increase mass appeal but decided to stay true to what I found compelling. Time will tell if I come to regret this, but for now, I am genuinely ecstatic about this.

I've only received one "futa trash" comment so far but I wear it as a badge of honour!

My writing has come a long way since I first started, back when I was posting first drafts onto FA without even proof reading or spell checking. FA has changed a lot over this time period too, I know a lost a lot of readers because they literally moved away from FA. I can now say i'm proud to share it with people (with pre-warning) and I think the quality of the story is excellent. I do think the original had plenty of its own charm, it was more thrilling and felt more dangerous, the Controllers were scary as hell in the original and Diego got put through the wringer multiple times. The Controllers felt like they were barely stable monsters, terrorising everything around them and Seeth's sudden swing feels very earnest as she learns to be something else. I do miss that primal edge they used to have. Whilst the Controllers lost their almost horror-esq edge, in the rewrite they are much more compelling, complex and still forces on nature in their own right. They still own every seen they're in and I love writing about them. Seeing Controllers go up against other people, you get to see just how powerful they are and I think arc 4 will bring back some of the nail-biting tension. I'm hoping to continue to show that as I push the gang further and further out, exposing them to more varied threats and unveiling more about the corruption.

Spoilers for those not up to date FYI****

Mooki and her corruption is really interesting to compare between the original and the rewrite. That arc in SV:O was fascinating and I think it really pushed my boundaries as a young writer, but it had so many loose ends and tangents that I think the new version handles it much better. I think people were very forgiving of any plot holes in the original because of how interesting the story was, and perhaps some understanding that I was a novice too. These days, me and Sussy (wife) spend a LOT of time ensuring the plot has no holes in it and everything adds together correctly.

For those who read the original, did you read the rewrite? Any thoughts?

For those who've only read the rewrite, does the original sound interesting?

I've loved rewriting SV and with this next arc, we're treading deeper into new territory. With Wex back in the picture, we'll be following some plot threads the original treaded, but i'm excited to really begin the new plotlines and see what people think. We've been leaving clues through-out the arcs so far, time to see if they pay off and if Wex survives!

Thanks to all those who read and follow my work and for reading this journal. More art coming soon. More SV coming soon, stay tuned!