I’m really nervous right now. Not anxious, nervous. 1 yeas and 364 days ago, I released an unfinished story of mine to ao3 and fox tales times. I wrote four chapters and then stopped. I never made a decision to stop, I just lost motivation and never continued.

I decided to release it because I knew it was as done as it was ever gonna get, but more importantly, I had my eyes set on something new again. I saw a music video that put together clips of don’t starve together animations to the song “The Moss”. Not long later, I found the old flip note animation for the song, and a character I was in love with appeared in my head.

Salem. Someone who believes in the higher power of storytelling. Someone who believes that people are the most powerful beings ever, because they can tell stories. And stories to Salem, are reality.

I remember the name of only some of the characters from the first story I ever wrote. Jasper, the main character, who was mostly a self insert while also being someone I could experiment with, play with, and do awful things to so that the comfort of those around him would feel that much better. It’s also the name I go by now in these circles.

Had it not been for the fact that I checked today, I wouldn’t know the name of the main character from my second babyfur story. It was much of the same thing that the first was, though way better writing quality and I had way too heavy a focus on realism. That focus is ultimately what ended the story, as I couldn’t figure out how to bring what we’re supposed to be the two main characters together without several more chapters of legal battling. I also experimented with mental health in that one, something I don’t think I did very well, but it was enough of a dip that I had answered the questions I had surrounding it.

I bring this all up, because I began writing the story of Salem, the first *real* character I’ve created, when I release my previous, unfinished work. Today, just shy of two years later, it’s done.

While I drown myself in the writing of my best friend’s passion project and the amazing digital circus analysis videos, it’s hard to look at what I made and not compare it to some of the best stuff I’ve ever seen. But despite making 95% of it past 2 in the morning, despite writing it almost entirely for myself rather than a future audience, despite the primary goal often being to calm an extreme amount of anxiety I was dealing with at the time of starting a session, I can say that I’ve created something finished, that I’m proud of. I am really, really proud of myself for this.

I hope people like Salem as much as I do. I hope I make someone’s day better. I hope Salem does for others what he did for me. And stars above, I hope most of all that my normie friend who has been waiting for this for ages likes Salem despite my brain telling me over and over that she’s just going to think it’s weird.

Goodnight FA. I’ll be posting soon, but my friend has first dibs.