So, I apparently ruffled some feathers with some close friends over the thought that I was insulted by "I like it"s, and I feel I should clarify this.
TL;DR: Sorry, have a chapter.
I am not at all insulted by a simple "I like it." Those are fine. They tell me people are enjoying what I'm doing and that's great. Just like when someone tells me "I like your shirt," it puts a smile on my face. My problem is specifically with The Dragon Tamers story because of how it started, grew and changed. It's been 20 years, guys, did you know that? I started this at 16. And for the decade I lulled, I received almost an email a month with the "I liked it" and asking if I would continue. For a decade! I love you guys so much. It wasn't just from here, it was from all sorts of places I had posted in my early days, but some of you are also here. So when I said I was ashamed, I am ashamed that I created a fandom for something that doesn't exist anymore and I am so sorry to you guys. There is nothing worse than the creator losing interest. It sucks, but it is a sad reality.
Going back to the "I like it"s, that was both the saving grace for this novel, but also my initial downfall. I blindly followed "I like it" and "keep going" and "That's great," and when the time came to fulfill my life's dream of being published, from an actual publisher who had reached out to me with the "I like it," I then received the very first constructive criticism I had ever gotten in my life. "None of this makes sense." There were more words, but that was the gist. So, in my hubris and exuberance, having had my dream dangled right there, I went ahead and published on Amazon. Quite a few people bought it. If you were one, thank you so fucking much! That helped me at a time in my life that I was trying to breathe. But it was without beta readers, without an editor, just a meandering rough draft and those were the comments and reviews I was getting, that it was 500 pages of wander without anything making sense. But hey, dragons and sex so cool! Holy shit, constructive criticism? Wow, mind blown. All I had ever gotten to that point was "I like it" in more or less words. The occasional "it sucks" but those are equally nondescript and ignored.
I took it down, and I have mulled it over for a decade. Some folks close to me likened it to beating a dead horse and all I say to that is don't let no one discourage you when you know what it's supposed to be in your heart. I started doing research and working on this world so that it did all make sense. Roscrow was always destined to be a Q'Hu, I simply had not created the species yet. And with every rewriting, even the ones I kept to myself, Jasper kept working his way to the front line. And S're, well, she's always had a thing for the bad boys and she needed two hearts for two boys. So that is why, when a few have suggested I simply split the two books... maybe some other author could. Maybe some other author could just change a few things, give them different names, clean things up, make them separate. I cannot. The characters evolved but their voices stayed the same. They are the same characters, on the same planet, struggling together. I cannot separate these things, and for that, I am sorry.
Since I started posting here and finding new places to post to get more constructive feedback so that I can grow, I have received emails from people who recall the old book from Amazon and from people who recall the horny 16 yo ramblings from the very first place I ever posted (which also led me astray, starting out on a sex site writing sex stories rather than stories with sex in them, but it was a different time back then). Almost all of them with those nondescript "I liked it." And I'm glad you did! Thank you! Genuinely! From the bottom of my one human heart. But I did not. I did not wake up every morning at 4 am because once I realize I'm awake, Roscrow is already poking me. I did not hurry through my day with urgency to get back to the story. It did not consume my every waking moment. Before, I wrote it for the "I like it"s. Today, I'm writing it for the "I like it." And trust me- I'm lovin' it.
As an apology, I have in queue the next chapter to catch you guys up with the furs and new places I've been finding to post this. Truly, I am sorry to those of you who loved the old versions. I hate it just as much when creators I love lose interest. It is my fervent hope that you will like this one. The plot moves because of character actions rather than characters acting to suit the plot. And if you notice any spots they don't, I invite you to point them out. All it's going to do is make my next scheduled project that much better. Dragons to dragons, Roan and his elfy are hot on Roscrow and S're's heels, and that story has not changed, I just never finished it, but it's gonna be sexy.