SO I received this (no I am not auto-congratulating myself guys XD) and even though I am no longer active here on Tumblr, I didn’t want to ignore it. If you take the time to write such an adorable, inspiring note, then hell yes you deserve a reply (if I see it obviously O_O).
(note: this was submitted by @bryanmcdonald7 I have no idea how this thing works on tumblr, and I don’t want her to not be tagged just in case). Everything following the “line” are her words:
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@pimsiepim I am still not too sure about how Tumblr works and I apologies in advance because I might have posted this message twice.
Here’s the thing Cindy,
when you first announced that there was going to be a sequel to “His Girl Wednesday”, I decided that I was not going to read it. After reading the last chapter of HGW, I had so many mixed feelings and felt too conflicted that I just could not. I guess I was disappointed because I did not expect such end. But although the end did not sit right with me, I could not deny how much fun I had reading HGW and how much I loved it. I ADORE (yup capital letters) HGW, I read it so many times that I stopped counting after 5. It is up there with all my favourite Olicity fanfictions, and to be honest it is probably my favourite one.
The way you write Olicity, Felicity and Oliver as individuals is really fantastic. You have reconciled me with this ship quite frankly.
So, a couple of days ago, as I was re-reading HGW, my stubborn self decide to give “Some Things Are Meant To Be” a try. I am 15 chapters in (Pony!!!) and I don’t regret a thing! Your writing is exquisite. You made me change my mind on something I was dead set on not reading and for that I thank you very much.
And don’t even get me started on “The Old-Fashioned Way”. At first I was not really sold on the plot but I decided to just dive into the story because I am a big fan of your writing. I already love it and cannot wait for the chapters to come.
I apologies for the rant, but I really wanted to express my gratitude and the love that I have for your work.
So. Thank you Cindy.
Chance
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First of all, I am painfully aware of a certain number of readers who were very disappointed with the ending of HGW (but, and I want to thank you all, most of you didn’t feel the need to explose in anger or tell me about how I ruined things for them. It’s never nice to read that as an author, PSA. I have read stories that took a road I really didn’t like or ended up in a way I didn’t like but never felt the need to drag down the author and discourage them from following what the characters or the story was telling them to do.)
The thing about HGW, I did have doubts, and while writing STAMTB I also had doubts about that road. My personal life was also very tough at that time so it clearly didn’t help, especially since my interest in the show was dropping like... well it was dropping fast and hard. But, and that’s when I’m really happy when people like Chance coem forward, is that I didn’t do it for the sake of a sequel, for the safety of still writing the same couple, or to try to get the success from the first one to the other (spoiler alert, STAMTB wasn’t/isn’t as succesful as HGW. I never expected it because I had been astonished by HGW’s success in the first place). And a bunch of you who gave the story a try (probably by curiosity? I know I’d still be curious XD) then came forward to tell me that... they “got” it. They saw the interest of that particular road for the two of them. They saw what it allowed me to explore, and how it allowed the readers to feel even more deeply because they had grown attached to the characters over already one long story. Felicity’s angst and pain at the beginning of STAMTB would have never, ever been as impactful if you hadn’t seen her slowly but surely fall in love over 51 chapters. Oliver’s self hate and doubt and fear wouldn’t have been so gut wrenching if you hadn’t seen the carefree Oliver slowly turning into a Man only to have everything he had built and created being ripped away from him. It was also the best way to show that no matter what, these two were meant to be together. When life was somehow easy, they fell in love. When death tore them apart, they STILL loved each other. And when they were reunited and everything seems so hard and dangerous and complicated, they only loved each other more.
So, thank you so much for giving it a try, for taking a chance on them and I’m very, very happy you loved them in the sequel as well.
As for the Old-Fashioned Way, I promise there won’t be no island involved whatsoever - apart maybe a vacation in Hawai.
Cindy