Once More Into the Breach · 11:20am May 31st, 2013
And here I go with another story, apparently. The first chapter has been submitted as I write this, so the rest of this post will make more sense once it's up. [Edit: it's up!]
This one isn't any of the ideas I've mentioned before in chat and comments. It just kind of came out of nowhere last week wanting to be written.
I'm taking up "Trixie's Friendship is Clearly Superior" as an exercise in just writing stuff, letting it flow on without obsessing over all the fiddly bits like I did with "My Little Pony's Little Ponies" (and tend to do with any project). I've got the setup in the first couple of chapters nailed down, and a general idea of where the story is meant to end up, but along the way I mean to just wander around letting the characters talk, without fretting so much over plot. The story kind of plot that is.
Although it's basically a comedy, this story isn't a reference-laden farce in the manner of MLPLP, and it's liable to wander into more dramatic territory as it goes. It's strongly possible that the story will pick up a Romance tag somewhere along the way, and possibly go up to a Teen rating for adult problems and bedroom shenanigans -- but it's not at all certain yet. A few things I do know about the story already:
* Neither Twilight nor Trixie has a secret crush on the other. Of all the potential ships herein, Twixie is, at the starting line, the least likely (much as I favor the pairing elsewhere).
* I have made no decisions at all yet about what sort of relationships are going to develop between Trixie and the other characters. I'm waiting to see what happens when I make them interact.
* I'm aiming to bring it to the endpoint somewhere around thirteen to twenty chapters on. I can't possibly commit to a regular update schedule for the near future but I hope to get out at least one chapter a month if not more -- odds are good for long delays followed by bursts of several chapters in quick succession.
* The intended milieu allows for some more adult topics, but it's still meant to be more or less the world of the show, where ponies can shrug off pianos to the head (unless the plot wants them in the hospital) and most of them are just plain sweeter of heart than humans tend to be. A world that's still basically nicer, even when the ponies in it start with the special hugging. It may get dramatic (possibly even melodramatic, what the heck), but the story isn't going to make sudden turns into darkdarkdark or anatomically detailed cloppiness. Not that I have any problem with that sort of content -- take a look at who-all I'm following to measure that -- but it's not what's going on here.
* Scootaloo's parents are a fine upstanding pegasus couple with respectable jobs and no major personality disorders. She will be given ice cream.
* There may be some big fantasy action toward the climax, but I don't think it's going to quite tip to qualifying for an Adventure tag. I'm also going to fight as hard as I can to suppress the urge to do 'worldbuilding' and just let the setting unroll with the story, but there are a few non-standard headcanon ideas lurking in the background.
* I'm just scared as hell to jump into a new project like this in a public space. Hope some of y'all like it, even if it kind of wanders around bumping into the walls before getting around to any kind of point.
A new Baby Boo story? YesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesYEEEEEEEEEES
On a more serious note. Wandering around letting the characters talk is quite a good idea, imo. Especially when you’re dealing with such strong characters as pastel colored equines—no sarcasm intended.
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It basically takes the parts I have the most fun writing -- the interactions and dialogue -- and puts them right up front, so hopefully that'll lubricate the whole writing process. The second chapter, like the first, is going to be kind of wordy with a lot of time spent just on Trixie's thoughts, but after the setup is out of the way the emphasis is going to shift way over to dialogue and interactions.
Absolutely; they are strong characters! Though it is true that toy-company cartoons about happy colorful talking animals are not exactly the first place one would expect to find such.
I look forward to this.
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Hoof-bump! /)*(\
So, their crush is overt, then?
Sweet, one more to the read-later list.
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D'oh! Smartass.