working on writing stuff for The World In My Mind and I'm really glad I changed the ending concept for Atlas and Ruin's arc


Warning for topic of suicide and mutilation, as well as possibly slight Spoilers I guess for my personal writings? Idk if I'll ever finish them or not so XD

Originally, Ruin was going to regain his vision, but then his grandfather was going to gouge out his eyes in a fit of anger (the idea was that he would make an excuse that Ruin deserved it/Ruin had became "too secular" and deserved to be punished). After that, Ruin was going to lose hope for the future, spiral, and hang himself. The ending would be Atlas finding Ruin's body, and would have been something with the vibe of sudden grief. Atlas's development would as well been one of losing the will to live/losing his autonomy and succumbing to his fate within The Eye.

The original concept got scrapped because:

1) Didn't fit with the vibe of the other stories within The WIMM thematically. Of course, though, the themes and topics I've been exploring in The WIMM have changed a lot over the years too (especially with how I handle them). But keeping this original concept in the current WIMM would go against the main theme in a very awful way that didn't make sense for the story.

2) Didn't allow for any further exploration of their characters. Although Atlas would have been technically alive, he would have become a pawn with no will of his own. I didn't like that idea, especially with how his character is

3) It felt too much like "Death for the sake of shock value", despite the original concept existing for a plot purpose. However, this plot was also scrapped after reworking Atlas and Alma's characters (especially after solidifying Alma's revenge-genre characterization and what that entails). It just felt needlessly edgy

4) I got really attached to their dynamic. Doting older brother and begrudging younger brother. They're so funny to me, and their interactions are just very endearing. It felt wrong to do that to them

5) defeated the whole purpose of Ruin gaining his eyesight back, as well as it sent a really bad message imo. Especially considering what Ruin's character represents to me. It also defeated the whole point of his character arc. Overall, bad vibes

6) While Ruin's grandfather is canonically abusive, including physically, I felt like he wouldn't have the guts to go through with eye gouging due to Atlas. Had Atlas not been a character, Avram def would gogue out Ruin's eyes. But, alas, Atlas wins again :3


Currently, MAN is my ending concept SO much more different. It's very hopeful and really wraps up their characters a lot better imo, as well as Ruin doesn't get his eyes gouged out XD

It also allows for them to connect to my other characters (cough the Amor Family cough) and they get to interact with the world more together :3