Broken Pedestal Canceled · 12:03am Dec 6th, 2020
Scarlet looked back towards the cave entrance. Twilight Sparkle and her friends had been released, then, had they? If so, the days ahead were sure to be more than a little interesting. The world was going to start changing soon, she could feel it.
“But that’s not a story for us to get involved in,” she decided after a moment. She met Lens’ gaze one more time. “What happens now, Lens, Prim… is we three settle down here, and finally live that quiet, simple life we’ve been wanting.”
Lens leaned into her side at that, draping a foreleg over her shoulders. “Heh… I think I like that plan.”
“Me, too!” Primrose chirped, snuggling up between the two ponies.
Scarlet smiled at the two of them before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “A simple life…” she whispered before falling quiet and allowing the warmth of her new family to finally melt the ice that had long encased her heart.
Folks, it is with a mixture of relief and disappointment that I have decided to cancel Scarlet: Broken Pedestal. Believe me, I am just as unhappy to be making this announcement as you probably are to be reading it, but I truly think this is the best thing for Scarlet. Allow me to explain why things have come to this point and why I genuinely believe this is for the best.
So, first and foremost I write because I find it enjoyable to do so. I've always had this motto in my life that you only get one life and it is far too short to waste any of it on things that don't satisfy or fulfill you. I write the stories I do because they were satisfying and fulfilling to write. Those stories I have lingering around are examples of ones that were no longer satisfying for me. They lost their spark, or I lost my muse for them. Only a Blind Filly, the last story of the Fiends Trilogy, the Hotel. All those stories had a spark of interest in them when I sat down, but for one reason or another, that spark faded.
The spark for Scarlet's sequel has faded, too. And there is a good reason for this. See, in Scarlet 1, it was a very tightly focused story. We had three protagonists and a lone antagonist with a few side characters showing up here and there. It was focused, it had good pacing, and it didn't have a lot going on. For all of the nuances of the characters and their developments, in broad strokes, it was ultimately a relatively straightforward adventure story. We had a MacGuffin, a weird kid who had said MacGuffin, and a parental guardian figure to keep said MacGuffin and the weird kid safe. Someone compared it to the original Last of Us, and I find that comparison to be very flattering.
But because of how story 1 ended, story 2 would, invariable, have to take on a very different feel, tone, and narrative focus. The cast of characters grew exponentially. We went from a cast of three protagonists to over nine of them. Scarlet, Primrose, Lens, Spike, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity. And then we had a collection of characters with significance to the plot whose allegiances would be in flux with Nocturn and a stallion named Noble Virtue.
With the rework of the outline I was tackling, the story was shaping up to then have around three antagonists all working together. That is a LOT of characters, that is a lot of stuff going on, and it would all be blended with conspiracies, political maneuvering, espionage, trickery, and religious zealotry causing a complete schism in Newcanter.
It was just too much. But more than that... it was all subject matter that, I realize, I am not really comfortable with tackling. I am willing to tackle a lot of heavy stuff. But anyone who has read my works in the past will know that I am a character writer first. I have long believed that whether or not a story is good is immeasurably impacted by the characters who serve as the lenses through which we view it. But if you have too many lenses, and if you have too many non-character driven aspects in the story, you get a mess where I just don't know what to do.
Ever since the first outline for Broken Pedestal was come up with, it's been hell to work on. Every time I sat down with my editors to try and hash out more of the story, things just kept getting worse on my mind. Even when we finally landed on that initial outline that I used when I began publishing chapters, it felt more like a chore rather than the passion project story 1 was.
Over the last couple of weeks, I decided to put all work on Broken Pedestal's new outline on hold to just focus on other projects. And suddenly my productivity has SKYROCKETED. I've made more progress in Little Keys in a week or two than in the last few months combined. Because it was FUN. I was ENGAGED with what I was writing. I cared and I could pour myself into it. I even came up with an idea for a whole new story that swallowed me up to the point that I already have a cover and a prologue all done up for it.
So, all of these coming together made me realize that Scarlet, as a series, should not have been any more than one story. It had a decisive, conclusive ending, and basically, all of the loose ends that mattered were tied up. Scarlet: Broken Pedestal was, to be blunt, a mistake. I was forcing myself to tell more stories where there did not need to be, and it shows. Oh, god it shows.
And so I am choosing to end it where it is. Broken Pedestal will, from this point forward, receive no further updates from me, and it shall be considered non-canon to the ending of the original. Scarlet, Primrose, and Lens remain in Sanctuary and live the quiet life they have been wanting, while Twilight and her friends go on to make the world better, one broken piece at a time, without them.
I do still aim to come back to the setting sometime, though. If you'll recall in Broken Pedestal when Lens made reference to how a noble from Talonreach was assassinated in Lover's Shade by an unknown agent, there is an entire story around that which I will probably write at some point.
But that aside, this is where Scarlet's story ends. I'm sorry it has to end so abruptly and with such a pathetic whimper, but I am not willing to force myself to write something that will not be fun for me or enjoyable for you. I just can't make myself do that. I'm not willing to waste that time and energy when I know I won't get it back.
Thanks for joining me on this little journey while it lasted. I'll see you on the road to the next one.
-Skijarama
Decision respected.
can you at least give us a summary of how it would have gone for closure,i hate it when a good story im invested in just dies like this
5410369
Perhaps another time, but even I don't know for sure how it all would have gone. Part of why it was canceled was because I just couldn't find a way to make the actual story work or flow from one thing to another.
this is painful to hear as i really enjoy this story and at the same time i understand you reasons.
who know at some time your Muse may call you back.
Bit of a shame, but reading this blog post I can't really find myself to disagree with anything. If it was hell to work on, and you're more productive without it then....then it just wasn't meant to be. I appreciated the history lesson we got in Broken Pedestal, and I liked seeing these characters again, but I do remember being satisfied with the original story's ending.
Thanks for explaining. get you and wish you good luck on your other projects.
Well shoot. It was a good story while it lasted, but I 100% get it. I remember being a little surprised it was even getting a sequel considering that quoted passage, but I enjoyed it regardless. Write what you want to write, not what you feel is expected of you.
5410351
Agreed.
Sometimes its best to move on to other things. Who knows, maybe you will have an idea for it later while doing other things. But if not, well you are still doing other things. Goodbye Scarlet, it was fun.
Fair enough, I'm just glad that you told us instead of vanishing into the aether like some authors from the early days of the site, Some excellent stories, and then one day, POOF, nothing.
Scarlet was a good story, but DO NOT by any means feel that you HAVE to write a sequel, heck if you want to outright delete pedestal from your page that's YOUR call. Sequels are only fun when they bring more to the world of the story. Although, if you ever come up with ideas for mini-fics just to describe bits of history or lore, maps, art, etc. Those never go amiss in my book.
Anywho, I wish you well on whatever projects you go for next.
Farewell
Is Scarlet Frost still a life?
Wow right when i was about to read the series, at least i know its not gonna finish so i wont be reading it at all if you ever do decide to finish it completely and i find it again ill give it a go but im not interested in a story that someone quit writing.
5440730
Story 1 has a perfectly functional standalone ending. You can read just story 1 and be just fine.
5440762
yea id rather not thats why i waited if theres a sequel i want to read it and keep going stand alone or not even if its just another character from the same world i still would want to read it
Haven't read Scarlet but I absolutely 100% can relate to a small, contained story spiraling out to dozens of characters interacting over dozens of stories over generations that try to deal with too many complicated and controversial issues and just having it get out of control until it's hard to find joy in it anymore.