072 Wrapping up 2015, Unwrapping 2016 · 1:44pm Jan 3rd, 2016
072 Wrapping up 2015, Unwrapping 2016
So the New Year thing happened and we’re now in 2016. Was that last year good writing-wise? What awaits you and me in the upcoming months? Something good? Something bad? A bit of both? Let’s take a look!
THE RECAP
JANUARY – Let’s commence this recap on a sad note. If you remember my 2014/2015 blog then you have every right to call me a person who’s quite really pretty terrible at keeping promises. Back then I mentioned that the only certain project for 2015 was the continuous work on Dreamlocked Chronicles, an AU story about Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer set in a world where night lasts forever. After the fourth chapter hit the stores, the two have gone dark and there hasn’t been an update since. I’ll be honest with you—the chances for a new chapter are slim, and I am considering canceling the story entirely. Officially putting it on hiatus may not be the best option considering that I expect to have less time in the upcoming months than I had in 2015 (more about why is that the case further in the blog). Apologies for anyone who’s been waiting for Twilight to rally Equestria against the Nocturnal Empress. It seems the nightmares have gotten the best of her.
FEBRUARY – Nothing of consequence happened on February. You suck, February. Amongst the heat of the finals I’ve been working on the next part of Dreamlocked Chronicles. I’m not saying “the next chapter” because instead of following Twilight as the first four chapters did, this one would allow us to see the world through young Sunset’s eyes. It would even be titled “Chronicles: Sunset Shimmer” as a way to introduce something that the main story couldn’t due to it utilizing Twilight’s point of view. Similarly, “Chronicles: Cadance” or “Chronicles: Shining Armor” were planned in between the numbered chapters, and while the part with Cadence is pretty much complete, I can’t really publish it without the context provided by the main story. I feel I’ve put a lot of thought and planning into that setting, so even if I cancel it in the end, I can say that some good came of it. For example, the aforementioned chapter about Sunset made me think a lot about how Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns works, and that paid off in May.
MARCH – Focusing on a story as big as Dreamlocked Chronicles had to have its consequences. I needed a break, and the Everfree Northwest 2015 Pre-Con Contest seemed like a perfect opportunity to take one. Where Fillies Fear to Tread got published. In case you haven’t read it, it’s a short tale (about 3k to meet the contest’s requirements) about a little filly with huge imagination. Who would that be? Trixie, of course! She was the one who sealed the deal when I was still pondering whether watching the show would be worth my time. She was also the star of my very first story published to Fimfiction, but since then my take on her has changed a great deal. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
APRIL – The EFNW 2015 contest had many great entries. Mine didn’t win, but I received some encouraging feedback on it which in turn made me jump into writing a sequel. In Stage Revival Trixie may not be a secret agent saving the world like she was in my older stories, but her life is far from boring. After the incident with the Alicorn Amulet she’s no longer a boastful traveling showmare, but she’s more mature and more willing to stay in one place. Her choice? A theatre, because at heart she’s still the pony of the stage! After the rehearsal, she runs into her “guardian angel” from the times of her fillyhood, Princess Celestia herself!
That wouldn’t be the only thing that happened in April. The second story I published, Starlight Glimmer’s Shop of Sameness, covers the topic of the top-notch swindlers Flim and Flam swindled by Starlight who has set up a small business, a cutie mark pawn shop. I had a lot of fun working on it, especially with a short song by the end of the scene.
One more thing (geez, April, you’re really trying to make it up for the suckfulness of your underdeveloped brother). Together with Gulheru I started the Frenemies Talk, a review series of the Season 5 episodes. Partly to do something with my spare time which I knew I’ll have loads for the time being, partly to get to know and work with other great people on the site, and partly to shut the voice in my head reminding me to work on Dreamlocked Chronicles. What a month.
MAY – The greatest achievement of the year: taking the first spot in the Fimfiction’s Box of All Fame and Glory and holding it for a couple of days. With a story about Spike (!) titled Arcane Realms. It’s a project that I find extremely important, but not only because there’s a legion of people waiting for the next chapter. I want to work on this more because it’s a story involving a bunch of original characters, and writing those, as opposed to writing characters strictly from the show, is what I think to be a good way to eventually move to writing original fictional settings—but that’s a melody of the future for me still. For now, go ahead and meet Spike himself who’s older than the one we know, Trixie’s daughter called Razzle Lulamoon, a griffon named Glavia (oh, how I love that name!), and a changeling from Hive Chrysalis, Piro-Merrot. The best thing? They’re all students at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Individuals (see, I told you that the research I did on Sunset’s school time did not go in vain)!
JUNE – That was a crazy month. All my free time got consumed as I was working on my thesis about the personality of video gamers, and overall wrapping up the university matters. Five years of studying psychology, five years of getting to know what’s going on in people’s heads in order to exploit—erm, explain that to them should they need counsel. Victory countdown has begun.
JULY – I graduated with honors! Woo-hoo! How about going all relaxed and groovy now and writing a heartwarming story, a simple one-shot rich with humor to celebrate that victory? WELL HOW ABOUT NO. Instead, I ended up with something slightly darker in tone: Tantabound, a result of how much I didn’t like the Princess Luna episode in Season 5. I know that many people liked it, so please don’t eat my face for having a different taste! Anyway, the story was my attempt at showing what was going on in Luna’s head when she created her nightmarish training program.
That was also when my will to write more Dreamlocked Chronicles took another hit. Amending Fences, the episode that featured Twilight’s school friends I intended to use as Sunset’s friends in that chapter I mentioned (because of the IDW comic). As we all know, Moondancer looks and acts quite different in the show, so it proved really tough to wrap my mind around the issue.
AUGUST – There are as many reasons to write a story as there are stories themselves, but for now let’s say there exist two main motivations: writing for others, and writing for ourselves. Dichromatic, a five-chapter story about a young changeling named Iqqel falls into the latter of the two. It was a rather personal project since it treated about changes in a young individual’s life, the changes that I was going through at the same time as well. I graduated, but I was still yet to find—or start searching in the first place—a job, and I guess writing the character of Iqqel helped me cope with the prospect. She wouldn’t be the only equine to do so! Sassy Saddles impressed me a lot with her dedication as she was struggling to stay afloat in the world of fashion, and she’s provided invaluable inspiration throughout my own search.
SEPTEMBER – Obviously the reception on Arcane Realms was amazing, but it took me quite some time to figure out which way to go with it. The first real chapter which got published back then presented the balance of slice of life and adventure that both constitute the story. Regarding the next chapter, I’ve had an idea since September but I fleshed it out only recently—that is, I’ve found a way to make it work, so if all goes well I’ll have something for you in two-three months.
OCTOBER – Another show-inspired story. The Royal Daughter introduced the character of Skyla, but in a specific, almost AU-esque way. The story itself was a sort of experiment for me as well. You’ll see very little narrative and a lot of monologing, pretty much a big chunk of exposition. But I heard some people cried real tears after reading it, so I think it worked out pretty well. I’d love to write a sequel to it one day, but I’m afraid it’s a low priority tier for now.
NOVEMBER – Alright, so two words about the secret rewrite of Of Lilies and Chestnuts started in September. It’s a tale about Fleur, Fancy Pants, and an OC thestral named Chestnut which, to quote one of the recent commenters , needs sequels. Multiple sequels. End quote. I explained where I’m currently standing with that in a related blog post, so here I’ll only tell that revising the story helped me discover great many things about why was it successful, and why people liked it—surprising things that I either unintentionally put there or simply didn’t think they may be important. That said, I now feel I know my story and characters enough to create more stuff about them, and writing a short story (not a sequel) involving Chestnut and her past specifically is something I hope to do by the end of January.
DECEMBER – And we’re here, done with the Season 5 review blog (you can full the full list here; check out who joined us during the fun we’ve had), and almost done with the said revision. I need to give Chapter 8 a final glance and then work some more on the Epilogue, so pretty soon I should be releasing the improved version. I hope you’ll enjoy it as you have with the original!
THE FUTURE
Let’s talk about the future now. Throughout 2015 I had the comfort of having more time for writing than I had initially anticipated (not counting a few mind-melting sessions of writing my thesis). Those who tried the university life know what it’s like—you wake up whenever, go to a lecture or two, maybe one workshop, then you’re free to go back to things that are actually important to you, all at the price of the dreadful finals twice a year. Pretty good, eh? Pretty good indeed. But those times are behind me, and the reasonably anticipated adult life of a person with an actual job has begun.
How will it affect my fimfictioneering? For starters, I’m not used to having limited time for writing throughout the week. Starting tomorrow I no longer can just wake up whenever, eat late breakfast, and sit down with a cup of Earl Grey with a blissful conviction that I just thought up the best scene ever. I have to be responsible! The inevitable result is that I will have less time for creating stories, which may end either with me writing less than before, or focusing, writing more in the spare time I’ll have and thus writing more, or at least the same amount and with similar frequency as the last year overall.
So here’s the logical deal: with limited time I should make some priorities. Those are, of course, more Of Lilies and Chestnuts, and more Arcane Realms. These are the things I *want* to write. Dreamlocked Chronicles, a sequel to The Royal Daughter, anything involving Queen Chrysalis and Iqqel, a sequel to Dune Goddess, merponies, something with Sunset/Sonata, maybe another attempt at writing clop—now those are stories I *would like* to write. Can you feel the difference? I hope you do, and I hope you’ll forgive me if I won’t deliver your favorite characters. Any tips on how to write efficiently with a full time job that isn’t likely to have “slow hours” btw?
THE THANK YOU NOTE
Now, for a much appropriate thank you note. It pleases me to see that so many of your have enjoyed my writing and decided to stalk me on the site. I ran some numbers. It seems that by the end of 2012 I had less than 10 followers. One year later, there were about 80 of you. The year after that, that number grew to near 200. Today, there’s as many as 448 followers, and it’s un-frickin-believable. That’s a good crew to sail with into the unknown of 2016 if you ask me! Thank you all for tagging along, for commenting under my stories, for returning to them from time to time, for liking and adding them to your bookshelves, for teaching me new things about writing, and for just being there—writing is one thing, but the feel that people from across a globe are reading what you’ve created is especially gratifying. Big thanks for all of that!
THE MUCH TOO LATE NEW YEAR’S EVE TOAST
I know it’s a bit late for raising our glasses and welcoming the new year, but I’d like to wish you all the best in the upcoming months. For the writers, may the words flow. For the readers, may the stories appear. For the bloggers, may the comments provide new insights. For the mods, may the users behave. For the technical wizards, may the site work. For everyone, may this new year provides you with new opportunities to becoming better for the sake of yourself and those you care about!
Time for the traditional quote. Hit it, Oprah!
“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”
Happy New Year!
~Prane
Happy new year, and I got an audio recorder from the brief stint I did as a newspaper stocker (Until I found out my job was temporary and I was going to get rotated into the shit places everyone needed with a minimum 30 day leave, so they can go play in highway traffic)
And sadly, never got to use it, but being able to record yourself on the quiet times for ideas or writing might work.
The other was if you have a tablet, they have a writing quick thing that could work too. Right offhand in what i can recall. There might be some sales there too.
Recording is out of question due to limited workspace, and I doubt I'd want to transcribe all those loose scraps. A tablet might work. We'll see!