What's the difference between writing a story you like, and writing a story you're flat-out obsessed with?

Over the last week or so, I've seen the difference firsthand, and it's been really striking.

​For two years, as I worked on Catgirl Roommate, I was writing a story I liked.

I had lots of funny material to share, I enjoyed the way the protagonist's character development caught me by surprise, and it was an interesting challenge to write a genre I'd never written before.

Apparently it worked out well, judging by the fact that when one of my friends was partway through it, he was laughing so hard he couldn't speak.

Unfortunately, I've got a dirty confession to make:

While I did like the story, I wasn't obsessed with it. And although I liked the characters - well, most of them - I wasn't in love with them.

As a result, writing Catgirl Roommate was more difficult than most of my other projects, and I enjoyed the process less than I did when I was working on stories where the characters really tugged on my heartstrings.

After I finished Catgirl Roommate in December, I didn't do much fiction writing for a while, because I had a lot of client projects and I was focusing most of my creative time on my Undertale webcomic, Just Cause.

Now that one, frankly, I AM obsessed with.

Sure, it's fanfiction. Sure, it's not one of my novels. But the relationships that grew inside this story, and the character development that blossomed within those relationships... these are a few of my favorite things.

Some of the characters became so psychologically complex, some of their bonds with each other deepened in such beautiful ways, and there are so many little running themes and symbols (I'll admit, I'm a sucker for those)... I'm just so in love with this story.

But the trouble with telling a long story via webcomic - especially when you feel a compulsive need to add lots of layers of shading instead of just basic cel shading - is that, while a picture is worth a thousand words, it takes a thousand times longer to create.

​It took months of drawing, and several pages of comic, to work my way through what would be a single scene in a written story. And, over time, I began to get frustrated with how long it was taking to get the story out there.

I have so many scenes that are burning in my heart, and I want them out there now!

So I decided it was time to do what I'd been procrastinating on for a while, and start actually writing the story.

When I did, I was stunned by what happened.

I already had an outline, so I didn't need to figure out what was involved in each scene. I could just go ahead and write, and boy, did I write!

​Where it used to be a challenge to get 300 words written in one day - partly because I had to make sure that as many of those words as possible were funny - now, I was EASILY writing 800 to 1,000 words or more. Sometimes over 2,000.

​​This, despite the fact that I'm also running a business that sometimes keeps me busy for 12 hours a day.

Now, going by chapter count, I'm almost halfway through the story. Barring unexpected delays, I should be done by the end of February, easily.

And then I can continue gradually working my way through the comic version of it, one thousand-word picture at a time.

Do I regret spending so much time on Catgirl Roommate?

Not at all. Even though I wasn't as thoroughly in love with it as I am with my current story, I still enjoyed it, and I still believe it was a story worth telling.

People are still laughing until they choke because of it, and who knows - maybe Sam's growth as a person will inspire other people to see where they can grow, too.

In the meantime, I have stories to write, things to draw, a neglected YouTube channel to create music videos for, and maybe even some healthy self-care to squeeze in between my content creation and business-running.

I'm three scenes away from getting to the part of the story where the backstory is revealed, and I've been dying write that backstory for so long... I LOVE the relationship between these two characters...

*Gives a totally undignified squeal and runs off to work out and write*

Now it's your turn.

Have you written stories you liked, and stories you love, and noticed the difference? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

I have to admit, I'm a sucker for morally grey antagonists.

Maybe it's because villains are expected to be evil, so when an antagonist shows an unexpected degree of courtesy, kindness or mercy, it immediately sparks my imagination.

Maybe it's because it's a sign of good storytelling when even the protagonists' enemies have redeeming qualities and good reasons for doing the things they do.

Maybe it's because I'm an INTJ, so logical, intelligent characters who put the big picture above their emotional impulses naturally resonate with me, and such characters tend to be cast as bad guys.

Whatever the reason, polite, elegant characters who come across as bad guys to a lot of the viewers and cast tend to become my favorites. This guy is a prime example.

Yes, that is one of the most formidable antagonists in Farscape, smiling warmly at a flower and looking a bit like he's holding back tears.

Scorpius is probably the most complex and interesting antagonist I've ever seen, so it was only a matter of time before he caught my writing fancy. I wanted to explore the motives, fears, hopes and pain of this fascinating character, so finally, I gave myself permission to take a brief break from writing Catgirl Roommate to create a character study for him.

If you're a fan of Farscape, and especially if you're a fellow Scorpius fan, I think you'll enjoy this fanfiction. In Means to an End, Scorpius pauses in the wake of one of his most villainous acts, and reflects on the mission that drove him to do it, and the effect that that mission has had on his personality, his relationships, and his life.

Once you're done reading it, I'd love to know what you thought! I look forward to reading your comments.

It's finally finished: my Farscape Harvey mini-episode is ready to watch on YouTube.

Set during the events of Daedalus Demands and Icarus Abides, this video fanfiction dives deep into Harvey's troubled, isolated mind, exploring his fear, anger, loneliness and regret as he waits for John and Jack's attack to begin, and his resignation as his attempts to defend himself fail.

If you've always thought it was a pity that Farscape never had an episode devoted to Harvey, and that it never really explored his unique point of view or his tragic predicament, you're going to love this. Once you're done watching, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Have you ever had one of those times when you started to create something that was going to be small, and it decided to grow out of control?

I was going to make a music video for Harvey from Farscape, centering around his perspective on the events of "Infinite Possibilities". I wrote out the outline, chose the music, started adding slides and clips...

...and then realized that what I was creating was turning into something more like a mini-episode.

At first, I wasn't sure how to feel about that. If the video gets too long, will people want to watch it?

But then, Harvey never does get an episode of his own. Which is very regrettable, because he's an interesting character in an unusual and rather tragic situation. So much missed potential there.

Sure, what I'm creating won't quite have the production values of a Farscape episode. I don't have a million bucks to throw at it, or Wayne Pygram to voice Harvey's musings. (Though, I know YouTube has someone who's gotten good at vocally impersonating Scorpius; maybe I should recruit him.)

All the same, I think it's turning out pretty well. It's kind of like a cross between a music video and a fanfic, and it pulls on all the right heartstrings. In some ways, creating it has been kind of a saddening experience; it's a deep dive into the mind of a very lonely neuroclone. So if you enjoy sympathetic fanfics about characters whose viewpoints aren't explored much in-series, I think you'll like this.

What do you think? Would you enjoy a fan-made Harvey mini-sode?