The April Update.

A few days ago I completed the proper first draft of chapter 11 of The Seven Trials of Clover the Clever! Which means that for every month this year I've hit a "Complete some sort of draft thing by the middle of the month" productivity milestone. In January it was the last chapter of The Crown of Night, then Seven Trials chapter 10, then two drafts of chapter 11.

I'm not sure what to do next, now that's finished. I've begun thinking that I need to look long and hard at my plan for the whole story. I wrote a big plan early on, and that plan actually held up remarkably well for these first eleven chapters. But it's beginning to show cracks. The early chapters followed naturally from one another simply by virtue of being, well, a beginning. But as I approach the big final act I'm noticing a lot more "And I'll figure this out when I get there". The core story is strong but there are a lot of important and interesting pieces along the way that I'm not at all sure how to fit in. Problems of writing epic fantasy, I guess.

I have two links to share today. The first is this long read essay about excessively literal mindsets that touches on literature and fandom issues, which I feel contains a lot of wisdom.

The second is a Metal Gear Solid Big Chungus shitpost.

Here, have a preview from The Seven Trials chapter 6:

“Platinum, aren’t you the slightest bit suspicious? What’s a little filly doing running around in the middle of the woods, leagues away from the nearest settlement?”
“Clearly she’s lost and hurt."
Clover leaned in and hissed. “Or she’s a monster in disguise, and now she’s luring us into a trap!”
Platinum scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Clover. She’s the sweetest little thing, just look at her!”
“Yeah, I looked,” Clover said. “Platty, she looks exactly like you. That’s weird. There could be magical shape-shifting monsters in this forest that get close to you and eat your love to survive!”
“Clover, that’s absurd. Where did you ever get such a notion?”
“I literally met one and interviewed him about his methods before summer, Platty.”
“Well then clearly this isn’t that. What are the odds of that happening twice in one year?”

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

That isn't how statistics works, Platinum. Honestly, it's a miracle she survived long enough to make the trek to Equestria.

Best of luck with smoothing out the story's overall structure.

[Daedalus Aegle]

5498863
Platinum did not get to where she is in life by listening to other ponies. Platinum has declared that she will have an adventure, not that she will be in danger, thankyouverymuch.

[Dragon Turtle]

This rejection of imagery, symbolism, or any higher meaning that cannot be reduced to the literal, has become especially pervasive in contemporary art criticism.This is not to say that there isn’t still great art criticism; it’s just that the internet has led to a much greater volume of all criticism, and much of it is dominated by a worldview that seems to reject metaphor, symbolism, mood and tone, or at least render them secondary to “plot.” (By “plot” here I mean “the literal events that happen to the characters and no more,” ignoring the possibility that other aspects of the creation can comprise essential parts of our understanding). One of the most popular genres of movie “criticism” on the internet right now is the “ending EXPLAINED” video, where any ambiguity or multiplicity of meaning you felt at the end of the film you’ve just seen can be cleared away like spilled popcorn. How did Jack Nicholson get into that old photograph at the end of The Shining? Is Travis Bickle dead at the end of Taxi Driver? Is Deckard a replicant? Surely these are the discussions such movies are supposed to raise, and if enough nerds puzzle over screenshots for enough time, the definitive answer will be found and the movie will be solved.

I was counting the moments to see if they had ever encountered Cinemasins, or they just so happened to sum up the behavior perfectly.

[Latrans]

I am most certainly looking forward to both the conclusion of Crown of Night and eventual release of Trials. Will Crown be offered in deadtree edition? I really think it would look good next to my copy of Education.

5499309
Honestly, if I were in a position to do so, I'd make a movie with the sole intent of racking up the highest score possible on Cinemasins. While they do make some legitimate criticisms, it doesn't take very long for them to start just filling space with "This part expected me to think! For shame!"

[Daedalus Aegle]

5499449
I will definitely make them both available in printed versions when they're finished (assuming we live that long). In fact since I'm holding off on posting The Seven Trials until it's complete I think it will be available to buy right away for those who don't want to wait for it to finish on a one chapter per week schedule.

[Latrans]

5499525
You DO love me!