The Graveyard: Fragments that never made it anywhere · 5:43am Feb 9th, 2014
I am not a patient man.
Especially when it comes to writing. I have a tendency to jump the gun and create entries for stories that never make it beyond one particularly manic writing session. This is also why I rarely put my stuff up for pre reading, the window between finishing a chapter and posting it tends to be measured in minutes, and rarely breaks single digits. That means that sometimes I hit on an idea and start writing it, then discover that it's maybe not quite as amazing as I thought it would be.
So! For your consideration, here are three fragments of stories I'll almost certainly never touch again. A quick peek at my mental scratchpad.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN
The plan was to reveal that the Crystal Empire didn't get the games because of a single testimonial by a satisfied tourist. In fact, it was politics, manipulation and Harshwhinny giving it to the worst possible candidate out of sheer spite and frustration.
THE INCREDIBLY BRIEF AND AWKWARD HONEYMOON OF STORM KICKER
Another Winningverse fic, from before the Optimalverse stole my AU heart. An amusing premise (Think 'The Hangover' in the Winningverse with Storm Kicker and RD) that petered out all too quickly. Funnier in concept than execution. But then again, Chengar's expressed interest in rescuing it from my scrap heap. I consider the idea entirely up for grabs for anyone who wants it.
THE MOON GLOWS GENTLY
The Sun Burns Brightly was one of my more successful one-shots. So I had a brilliant idea: Why not write a Luna-centric one shot that ran the entire character arc in the opposite direction? Start it off with Luna giving a badass speech like the end of Sun Burns Brightly only for it to be the exact wrong thing to do and get her in trouble? Have Celestia teach her that sometimes tempering your passion and keeping a level head was the correct approach? I even had this clever idea of tagging them both as sequels to the other, a sort of thematic ying and yang creating a perpetual cycle.
Turns out, though, that the reason big speeches are often the culmination of the stories they appear in is that they're very satisfying. When I realized the culmination of this would be Luna taking a verbal beating from a character that was wrong in an obnoxious fashion and just taking it without fighting back, well, my enthusiasm waned pretty darn fast. I doubt I could have made it work.
It got this far, althought you'll have to scroll about 3/4 of the way down to get past the end of 'Sun.'
Oh. We don't get another Winningverse story?
However shall I go on?
Interesting! I don't usually make a post here for them, but I'll admit my fanfic document folder on my computer is cluttered up with similar fragments. Some of which I will hopefully come back to someday.
Hmmm, interesting. Still would have loved to have seen the last one happen. Kinda interesting to learn that there are so many authors out there with so many great ideas that just never see the light of day. I mean, I see good number that have great ideas but end up getting written terribly so I can understand this dilemma. Anyways, hope this isn't intruding or anything but I am curious if you are ever going to finish that Cloud Kicker story that took place in the Hard Reset universe?
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I fully intend to! I just keep getting sidetracked by other ideas and, y'know, life.
You know, Moon Glows is an interesting idea, and I wonder if perhaps the problem is 'Takes a verbal tongue lashing and does nothing' being the wrong climax.
Restraint doesn't necessarily mean doing nothing. Restraint can be the unflappable rock that lets the storm spend all its fury, and thus exposes it as nothing but sound and bluster.
Restraint is sitting there, demanding the truth, until Jack Nicholson breaks down on the stand and reveals everything.
It's just a matter of finding a way to turn the restraint into a strength; perhaps she does endure a long tirade by an obnoxious blowhard without fuss, but then find a way to make that a -victory- that wouldn't have occurred. Have him You Can't Handle The Truth, have him finally become emotionally exhausted and give in, whatever! It would be fun to read
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From one Jake to another, I fail to see your pure hatred towards a user created verse.
Unless you're exaggerating, of course.
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Okay, I don;t feel like typing it all out, so TL:DR: lesbians everywhere, silly to the point of borderline retarded magical birthing system, OoC everywhere, and general annoying characters.
I guess you just have to have a soul to see it.
I keed, I keed!
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Fair enough.
Just remember that it wasn't made to annoy people. Some people do really like it and see its merits. It's a little disheartening to see people rage against when its something people have put quite a lot of effort into it. Perhaps I should get a thicker skin, though.
Or a soul. That'd be nice. I'll even rent one if I must!
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No, no, you're cool. A while back I made a point to not rage against such things for the very reasons you mentioned: I was becoming a grating dick about it.
And souls are overrated.
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Not if you play Dark Souls.
Seriously, that game is tougher than Applejack's hindleg muscles.
I KNOW THAT FEEL BRO.
But thankfully, a couple of those brief magic sessions actually paid off and bloomed into successful and popular stories. In fact, it's those 'magic sessions' where true inspiration exists. So sometimes it doesn't pan out. Big deal. As long as you keep having such inspiration, you're sure to keep writing winners.
I don't know, The Moon Glows Gently has a lot of promise. I mean any story where you can write “I may have threatened both of them with the prospect of committing some light genocide,” has got something inside it just crying to get out.
You really don't preread or edit? You just write things down and they're Eakin Level Awesome?
You've got me really, really jelly
.
I love fics that explore the royal sisters' differences, and your tagging idea is great! I hope you come up with a satisfactory conclusion to The Moon Glows Gently. Perhaps Luna could solve the problem at hand with restraint instead of passion?
Awww...I was really expecting The Moon Glows Gently.
Oh, well.
I am not even going to read them...Just because I will probably want MORE and...well, that's not happening.
The moon demands moar gently!
All of them sounded promising to me.
The Honeymoon fic is seriously one of the best lead ins to a story I've ever read on here! If you are ever thinking of picking up a fic, please please please make it that one!
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That does seem to be the stumbling block of the fic. It's a great lead-in, but nobody's quite sure where to take it from there.