Dear Aaryn;
I sat up until 4:15 am last night to finish reading Straight?! I've been reading it since earlier this year. First of all, let me say I loved this story.
In the second chapter (?) there was a point where it seemed like it just repeated the get up-go to class-go to bed-repeat cycle far too often. I almost quit as that was so boring! But I figured, there has to be more to it than this.
Then you got past that and settled into building the story. I've been reading about 6 of these visual novels this past year and while most are vague stories stringing together an endless parade of porn scenes, Straight?! isn't. You flat out have the best written, most in depth and most well fleshed out characters and story of all of the VN's I've been reading. What a breath of fresh air! In the late 1990's I was the editor for a science fiction magazine and was often asked by budding writers what the key to success was. I always told them, I have to believe in your character, I have to care what happens to them. If they're cardboard cutouts, I'm not interested. I believed your characters; I saw pieces of myself in each of them. I cared about them. Reading through v0.21.4 yesterday I cried numerous times (I lost count after 12 or so LOL); because I cared about these characters. To me, that's what makes this story so beautiful.
I'm a 61 year old man who spent his youth vacillating between being horny and cruising parks for sex to then hating myself and my entire existence for doing it. I was almost 30 before I was able to settle in and accept me for me. Not long after that, I met a woman who also accepted me as I was (I'm pansexual btw). Those were the best 26 1/2 years of my life! She died in 2019 and I will probably live the rest of my life alone (romantically) but safely connected to a handful of truly wonderful friends. I think our life experiences are very similar.
I'm sure you've heard this before, but, I'd happily read a sequel. After all, that was only the first semester! I know when you finish a story, it's difficult to create a second one. After all, that story is finished! But if you find another story to tell, I would happily read it. You are a truly good story teller.
Thank you very much.