Now that it’s after December 20, I can finally share the digital art I made for The Silver Eye Secret Santa 2022!
One of things I have enjoyed about reading The Silver Eye is the fandom. I love how the author gets to interact with the fans and see their reactions in real time. Some fan ideas have even become almost (or actual) canon.
When I was in high school, I had a group of friends who were also writers. We loved talking stories together, telling about our favorite characters, and sharing moments of deep emotion.
I had great friends in college, but none of them were fiction writers. I really missed being able to share all of my discoveries and progress (although, my friends did listen to me A LOT and even read some of my terrible early drafts).
When I got to Vermont for my masters, I was so excited to be around writers again! But to my surprise, they almost never talked story. The focus was entirely on craft and publishing. Those are great things to talk about (especially in a school for improving craft), but I’ve found that trend continue in all of my interactions with writers. They just talk about craft and publishing. Nobody gets excited about their characters or shares heartbreaking moments.
The only times I’ve had great story conversations as an adult have been when I’ve met up with those friends from high school.
So one of the things I’ve really enjoyed about The Silver Eye is that excitement about story and characters and heartrending moments. It reminded me of that group in high school.
Of course, then I realized that a lot of the fans ARE in high school, so that might explain things. 😂 I definitely think writing for young people is what I need to do since I seem to have more in common taste-wise with middle and high schoolers than I do with my fellow adults.
Anyway, that was sort of a rambling retrospective just to say that one of the things I enjoy about The Silver Eye is the fan base, and it was super fun to participate in The Secret Santa.
(Also, the interaction with fans is making dream about doing The Epic Novel as a web comic or serial. 😁 )
A. W. Downer 
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