067 Status update: Of Lilies and Chestnuts · 8:51am Nov 23rd, 2015
067 Status update: Of Lilies and Chestnuts
Huh, what's that? A blog post tagged with that one story you read a year and a half ago? What could it be?
Hello everyone!
First of all, it's not about the sequel. Not yet.
Long backstory short, someone sent me a PM and turned my attention back to Fleur, Fancy Pants, and of course Chestnut. Let that be a lesson, kids! Never underestimate the power of a private message when you're pestering your favorite authors!
Now, what's all this about? Let me put it this way: writing and publishing the sequel is what I'd like to call Phase 3. Before that, there are bold plans to release a threefold Phase 2. I'm saying "plans" intentionally, because I've been a lazy bum and I don't have that content ready yet (really, all I can tell is that some of the major characters from the original will be involved, as well as a Fashionist, a Wonderbolt, and a Princess - make of it what you will). Obviously, what we need to go through first is Phase 1 which is, in fact, something that involves new content, from a certain point of view.
Is that "new content" any good? That's what I'd like to find out, which is why I'm looking for a group of good-willed people who would be interested in helping me out. Post in the comments if you are!
Requirements:
- at least basic knowledge of the story Of Lilies and Chestnuts, including the events and characters (having read once is sufficient),
- the ability to form an opinion ("Man this gud!" and "Wat?" count as a valid opinion, though more elaborate will be appreciated),
- courage to spare some time reading a lengthy, but nonetheless (mostly) familiar gdoc.
Please note this is not a proofread request, just FYI. It's more like a "Come read my stuff and tell me if it's still fun" type of thing.
By now it should be obvious that I'm doing a serious revision of Of Lilies and Chestnut. So, wanna help? 
~Prane
23/11 - Prologue and Chapter 1 now available (Cursed Quill, Cyrano, KingMoriarty, KMCA, Listener, NeonGreenTiger, Nyerguds, Samey90, StarTrotter, Tatsurou)
27/11 - Chapter 2 now available (yrfoxtaur, Nightjar)
5/12 - Chapter 3 now available (MisterClacky)
16/12 - Chapter 4 now available
23/12 - Chapter 5 now available
24/12 - Chapter 6 now available
30/12 - Chapter 7 now available
3/01/2016 - Chapter 8 now available
6/01/2016 - Epilogue now available
Huh. Might need to check this one out. It looks fun
Serious...revision?
I'll encourage you to write, even if I do end up telling you "No, do it again." a few times if you're getting it too wrong.
Great to hear you're getting back to it, though I must ask, what is at the forfront of your mind for this revision? What about oLaC are you hoping to revise inparticular? I just think some readers are scared you'll fundementally change the story they fell in love with. You may want to put their fears to rest if that's not the case.
Revision? But why? It's already so perfect, the only way it could be improved would be a chapter lovingly describing the violent and vicious stabbing of Lady Bucket Head.
Read stuff and express whether or not it is fun? Now this is something I can do!
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Yes. I decided that the story will have stronger emotional impact with the mane character being male, so I'm replacing Chestnut with her r63 counterpart, Acorn. Also, Fleur is now a Princess of Prance but suffered a memory loss and therefore does not know about her legacy. Fancy Pants is a con artist, real name Shabby Shorts—
...
Nah, kidding!
What I mean by revision is primarily fixing bad grammar, trimming some overly grandiloquent word choices (the instance of "overly grandiloquent" being one of them), and expanding upon some excerpts that were textbook examples of lazy writing. I am well aware that any change to the original material can upset the people who loved the story for it is now, and I wouldn't want to do that, so if the revision I consider "the same story, but better" won't satisfy the readers, I will simply not publish it. Still, it's something I wanted to do—even if only for myself, to see the progress I've made over the years and warm up before writing a sequel this story deserves!
3563109
Aside from the explanation provided above, that's exactly what I'm hoping to prevent by setting up a gdoc first instead of swapping the content available on FIMFiction overnight and risking a backlash. What I'm hoping to get from that are response like "It's still as good as I remembered" or "It's even better than I remembered" but if it turns out I messed it up, no changes to what we have now will be introduced.
3563121
Since my soul is made of plush, so I would probably just find a nifty way of showing that there's good in her character, too. You get reformed, you get reformed, everybody is good now!
Just please, please don't quote me on that. There are no plans for her as of now, and even in the revised version she'll definitely still leave the scene defeated and socially compromised.
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Great to see you guys with me on this one. It'll be fun!
(link to gdoc will be send later today when I have some more time)
I'm down for it~
I'd be interested in helping!
If you're looking for a nitpicky pain in the ass with a tendency to write long comments on even the smallest of details, then I can help.
3563311
...with which I kind of meant "I haven't read that particular story of you yet". So I'm kind of missing one of the requirements you mentioned
Not that I'd mind going right ahead and reading the new version, mind you. Then you have the perspective of someone who doesn't know what was changed or added; that might be useful. But it does mean it might take me a while.
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3563598 These comments feel kind of...samey.
I'd like to help, but it's a while before I have any officially free time. Yours is one of the stories that I re-read on occasion.
but I like that phrase. Now, had you invoked sesquipedalian loquaciousness…
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Hmm, seems that my internet connection screwed me over...
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Ah, I went silly for a moment. I forgot that posting a blog post tagged with a story also appears in the followers' feed who did not added said story to their bookshelves! You'd think after so many months here I should know the basics.
As for the story itself, it is up to you. You can go ahead and read the old version or go into the unknown unbiased. Tell you what, I'll send you a link anyway.
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Yay for more helping hooves! Erm, hands. Both? Whatever.
3563624
My first thought was, "Whoa, this guy's dedicated! He posted three separate posts to make sure I'll know!"
3563920
Oh, oh, I have a question then! Do you, as a returning reader, usually go back and read the entire story again, or perhaps just some chapters or favorite scenes? I'm curious because I don't read much and therefore don't do much re-reads, so I'm wondering why and how people do that.
3564049
In this case I sometimes skip the prologue, but otherwise read it through? It's been a bit and I read a lot (I don't reread that often, and usually only the best ones—hint hint.) Sometimes I reread a story because I can't remember its particulars and it finally updated.
Some other stories I skip one character's sections on a reread. I often skip recaps (though most stories I want to reread lack true recaps). Sometimes I'll skip a long action sequence, because I'm not in the mood.
It occurs to me that I may have grammatical corrections for OLaC somewhere, if I read it before I got an account.
3564049
No problem. Send away; I'll take a look
I would like to read it!
3567922
That's great! I'll add you to my link-distributing schedule and send you one around the weekend (the only reason I'm not doing it right away is that I'd like to have my readers spread around the document a bit).
So, Beta-testers?
3573168
I guess you could call it that way! Should I send you the link?
3573993 Sure! I'd love to help and I'd say that I meet all the requirements.
A little late to the party, but if you still need extra eyes, I've done a lot of prereading/editing in the past and would love to help. Of Lillies and Chestnuts is one of the stories I periodically reread when I need a nice boost.
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Sure thing! I've just sent you a PM with the link.
And I'm honored to hear you're making returns to the story, too!