So I just read "Siege of the Crystal Empire" · 10:16pm Oct 7th, 2022
Gotta say, it wasn't too bad. However, it was a bit uncanny with the way some of the visuals and plot elements held similarities to what I envisioned in Return of the Ancient Mage in regards to what Sombra actually was, as well as finding out about this Ira that ya'll were telling me about. No, Whisper is not Ira or even closely related. I didn't even know anything about the Umbra before today.
Updates on my next story?
It's a bit slow going. September is always a really busy month for me work-wise. Hard to get much writing done with 72hour work weeks eating up your month. I have still managed to get some stuff done. As of this blog, I currently have about 8 chapters written with only about half of them being satisfactory enough for my liking (I changed some things and had to go back over some of them). I'm not sure when I'll be ready to start posting chapters, but I am entertaining the thoughts of doing a rapid release like I did for Return of the Ancient Mage with a chapter going up every day once it's ready. While doing so is a bit stressful, I found it's a lot better to just get it over with as opposed to stretching it out over a couple months and being left worrying and nitpicking every step of the way. Parts of The Changelings of Manehattan drained me more than it really should have as a result.
So I saw a thing...
A thing? What thing? Oh you mean how Return of the Ancient Mage is no longer rated M. Yeah, I decided to gut out the NSFW chapters and put something else in their place. It wasn't just cause I wanted to remove the smut, but I found it felt a lot better to use that space for world-building and character development. I imagine The Changelings of Manehattan will probably keep the mature rating and I currently have no plans to make it otherwise. (The one changeling queen spends the bulk of the story focused on getting laid. Not really sure how I'm supposed to write around that.)
As always, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me a line. I'm off to try to sort out this monster of a story I'm working on. Seriously, I have no idea how long this story is going to be, but it should be worth the wait.
I liked the comic quite a bit.
It game me some ideas.
I had an idea for 2 alternate versions of SotCE.
1. Umbra and Changelings are long forgotten enemies and Thorax helps uncover a secret changeling library in the crystal empire that reveals the crystal heart was made by ponies and changelings working together. However the leaders of the empire and of the changelings agreed the changelings should stay a secret for now. But the changelings had to flee when sombra tool over and drained all the love.
2. A group of umbra and windigos got together and thought the desire for peace found a way to transform. The windigos became the crystal ponies and the Umbra became the changelings...
I post this here because... I am a failure of a writer and I fear my ideas will be forgotten if I don't share them now and then to anyone who even remotely cares.
Take what this humble pleb says with a grain of salt... I'm mostly rambling.
Uhhh... enjoy?
I personally feel there is a lot of potential there for them and the history of the Crystal empire.
Oh dear... is there any way to do it in a balanced form? Perhaps rapid release with periodic breaks?
Or perhaps that just has its own problems.
Tbh... I haven't been back to reality long so if that is what you do I apologize.
In the main story it would just say they went to the bedroom together or something. That way people know when it happens.
But put the actual mature scenes like that in a bonus story called "tales from the bedroom" or something... and just label when they take place.
IE name each chaper: "[Insert name of fic] chapter 2" (to take place during the chapter.) Or "[Insert name of fic] 2.5" (to take place between 2 and 3.)
So if you still want to post your canon smut, you could just make it a collection.