About planning · 6:22pm Aug 25th, 2014
I finally finished chapter 19 of AKD (which I was writing for the last couple of months. Meanwhile I wrote a couple of further chapters, as well as some other stories). When I was writing its ending I realised that I need yet another chapter, between 19 and 20, to make the transition smoother. There goes planning every detail before writing...
Actually, it's not the first time this happened. In the first drafts, chapters that are currently 11 and 13 were even further apart from each other, then, after some changes, were placed next to each other. Just imagine what'd happen if it stayed that way. Two major battles and 20k words of stuff getting increasingly fucked up. Luckily, when I started writing, I got a couple of ideas regarding Cloudchaser's backstory – they eventually ended up in chapter 12, which provides a slight relief after chapter 11 and some buildup to chapter 13.
Also, a couple of trivia about things that were in early drafts, but didn't make it to the final version:
- Originally, Scootaloo was supposed to react much harsher to the fact that Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust bombed them; she was supposed to go to Canterlot to take revenge,
- The battle in chapter 13 was initially supposed to be both between land and aerial forces. Vinyl was supposed to accidentally shoot Shining Armor (guess where...). In the first draft she was also saved by the Moon Army, only to be caught later, while running away to Canterlot.
- Cloudchaser in the first drafts was more like Flitter. Flitter was more like Cloud Kicker. Only after writing chapter 6 I redesigned those characters, mainly because I realised that no one in RD's squadron was normal.
- Originally it was Lyra's brother who fought in the battle in chapter 11 with Big Mac and killed himself. I changed it quite late; I even had to remove Lyra from chapter 17.
- In the first draft there was no Firefly.
- The events of chapter 5 were supposed to be divided into two chapters. One look at its length makes it clear why it didn't happen. On the other hand, chapters 14 and 15 were supposed to be one chapter, but it'd be 13k words long...
