Ohh I see! It definitely doesn't devalue it, don't worry, and it is interesting to hear this kind of Behind the Scenes reasoning for it... It's nice that they could make their debut here and indeed perhaps will make a return somewhere ohoho
As for Lucia, that's a fair worry to have too. I do think sometimes discussions about mental health that I've seen online can get too prescriptive in how every effort must aspire towards normalcy/respectable functioning in society whether it's achievable or not, and that leads to the exploration of more complicated feelings being discouraged as irresponsible or unproductive to be frank about. So I do appreciate how Lucia is written and the reader is invited to just immerse themselves in her worldview and thoughts for a while. Like, behaving in ways that seem strange or experiencing such intense emotions or inarticulable moments of Unreality can all coexist with still being a person who deserves to have their autonomy and perspective respected, even if a lot of media doesn't approach those depictions with the most grace nodnod. Reminds me of all the responses to the options in that "SAY SOMETHING YOU ASSHOLE" scene. And somewhat of the Mariage Sorciere and their problems a bit again. Ooh and if you do return to these ideas I'll be curious to see for sure
Also dw, I don't mind hearing your own feelings on it at all. I don't think it's saying too much or that it innately taints a reader's perception to know more about the authorial intents/what things you were invested in while creating it. In fact it can enrich the experience? without letting go of what I took from it either, I can still always hold these multiple different save files of my perception/experience in mind. It's an interesting work of art that any reader could rebuild into their mind into something else as they experience it, but also still something someone actually made with her own relations to it in mind... so in that sense it definitely feels valuable to be able to engage with you directly here.
And you're welcome!! I remember originally worrying my comment was a bit too obtrusive/randomly sentimental to drop there but it was indeed in considering the themes of the VN itself that made me think, no no this certainly isn't the kind of place I'd receive judgement on that for lol, so I'm very glad that sharing it could be of some help to you as well.
And yeah WIPs can be so difficult to get going u_u I hope you have a fun and enriching time however you approach it!
Also on a different note, I was wondering if the URL to your twitter/X changed at some point..? Clicking the link on your page says it isn't with an existing account. Or if you just got rid of it that's fair too lol, I'm not on there myself at the moment acc