It was leading to rabbit holes of character arguments that spiraled into hellish domains where finding a feasible 'out' for Sunset grew dire indeed. After several attempts I've decided to just rip out the rootRevision Incoming!! · 7:31pm Mar 20th, 2014
The Grand Revision is going to be hitting in a few hours, and since things will be getting jumbled around a bit, here's the low-down:
First up, everything that is being/will be taken down has been archived in the Myths and Birthrights Archive. Actually, I think I am going to go ahead and just move everything that is currently in the published story over to the archive, just to be safe.
The Appendix is being nuked. It's become a bit bloated thanks to having a -lot- of the comments end up attached to it. The two most important bits, the Map and the Sail chart (which, to be fair, I keep around as one of many nods to Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey series and not because its really needed) are going to be part of the Foreword in Chapter 1. The Dramatis Personae portion (along with the map and chart as well) will be moved to the archive. I don't know how often the Appendix was used, and if the Dramatis Personae is really needed I'll have to find a new solution.
This is to insure better meshing and flow of comments, which are the fuel-source that feeds my writing.
Chapters 1-5 and the Intermission will be taken down and replaced, while a new Chapter 6 is inserted. All subsequent chapters getting a number shift (ie, 6 becomes 7, 7 to 8, etc.)
Parts 1 and 2 are being combined into Book 1. Part 3 is now Book 2 with the old Intermission 2 as it's first chapter. Chapter titles will use the following scheme:
Book X: Chapter Y: <chapter title>
After this point I may change to a rolling publish method for revised chapters just to avoid the horrendous length of time between updates to the story. It'll depend on what I feel more guilty doing; making people wait for chapters or bouncing Myths up into the featured box for chapter revisions. The old Chapters 6 and 7 are both in quasi-revised states and could be ready within a week, or a month. It's rather wishy-washy because of other stories, how I tend to get distracted by non-writing things, and general malaise that seems to crop up periodically.
I hope this is acceptable and wont be too confusing to old and new readers of Myths.
Thank you all for your patience while I satisfied my own desire to write a second draft. I do feel it is much more coherent on its themes, foreshadowing, and the AU-ness of the setting compared to the show.
~Tundara
Ah! Finally! I've been wanting to see more of the story, but am certainly sympathetic to your need to rewrite things. I'm glad to see the rewrite hit finally, and look forward to re-reading it all in preparation for more new stuff! Right?
1941868
Yeah, forgot to mention that "Book 2: Chapter 8: Title is STILL undecided somehow" will be going up at the same time as the revisions.
1941870 Hehe. I was mostly kidding, but I'll take it! Thank you!
Very interesting. And man, I haven't heard from you in quite a bit :3
Tundara you have no clue how awesome you are right now.
I just get back from 8 hours of computerized job training at my new job, and what do I see when I get home to veg? I get news that what is quite possibly one of my favorite fics is do for a major revamp in a few hours!
This is just the kind of thing I need right now, thank you SO much for this!!!
Good to know. It's too bad you can't transfer the comments to the archive. When you say chapters 1-5 and the intermission will be "taken down and replaced," does that mean a fresh chapter entry, and therefore a blank slate on comments for those chapters?
I can see benefits of doing it either way. Certainly, it could be confusing, depending on how different the revisions are, but at the same time it'd be kind of sad to lose them. Well, I suppose you can always keep the chapters around unpublished for yourself, at least... assuming they even work like I think they do.
In any case, rolling updates for the revised chapters would be fine, I think. There's always the chance that you missed something, so it's good to get feedback between each one. Of course, it's good for the publicity too.
That said, you probably shouldn't do rolling updates for the unchanged chapters, since there are really quite a lot of them, and posting daily updates of unchanged chapters for the better part of a month would probably run you afoul of the following rule:
Regardless, I'll certainly give the whole thing a reread when the time comes
1942204
Ah, good to know about the bumping rules. I don't think I'll run afoul of that since I wont post chapters even once a week. I'm not exactly a fast writer/editor.
The revisions as replacements will probably stop at the old Chapter 13. I can't see the chapters after that point requiring the broad sweeping rewrites of the pre-13 chapters.
I also want to keep the comments, if just for myself, so the old chapters are just being 'Unpublished' rather than deleted. If there was a way to move them to the appropriate chapters in the Archive, I'd do so.
Thanks for taking the time to point out the bumping rules. I appreciate it.
1942186
Hehehe. Well, I'm working hard on getting everything formatted properly. Not sure how long it will be before everything goes up (and down), but it should be very soon.
To clarify, I'm fairly certain the two sentences of that rule are separate and the first is just a statement. Ie. That it is only possible for a story to be bumped once per day, not that it's against the rules. You should be able to post the revised chapters in whatever pattern you wish, it's just the unrevised ones that would look like extraneous bumping.
You and me both
1942244 need an extra set of eyes?
1942275
Not sure what any one else can do. It's mostly the very boring job of hitting 'tab' to indent every paragraph.
1942261
Yeah... Get back to work! I wants me some more Sharing the Night!
1942278
A text editor with regex find/replace should be able to do this for you. Either Notepad++ or Sublime Text would work. (Edit: Notepad++ is simpler to use and completely free , while Sublime is more powerful if you actually learn it, and can be used without purchase as nagware)
Just make sure regex is on in the find/replace window, find "\n" and replace with "\n\t" to add a tab after every newline. I use this method to double all of my newlines (replacing "\n" with "\n\n").
1942308
Uh... yeah... I think I'll stick with what I know: wearing out my tab key, that is.
It works for me, even if it is time consuming. It soothes my anxiety a little knowing I've gone over everything again and again. I just wouldn't trust the program. 
Thanks for the update on things, though i have to ask:
What prompted you to undergo such an expansive revision? Trust me, I know that every author is their own worst critic, but I really can't think of any significant flaws or holes in this awesome story that would prompt a heavy revision.
Keep up the awesome sauce though!
1942369
It wasn't any one thing, but a series of minor issues I have with the first dozen chapters, that prompted my decision. So far I think it was the correct one. Most novels go through multiple drafts, and that is how I look on this, as going from 1st draft to 2nd draft. Having so much of the story 'finished' allows for greater clarity of themes and what is and isn't important. In turn, this allows me to cut the waste and put in things that are needed.
Such as Orenda being introduced alongside Zubu, rather than many, many chapters later when she popped into my head. Or how Ioka is a disc-world. That fact is now established firmly in the first chapter.
I've been meaning to read Myths and Birthrights. Maybe I'll finally get to it after it's rewritten.
Oh no! I've been trying not to reread anything until I get through my read it later list! Oh well, at least I know that I have a problem.
Ok, just so I don't get confused. I stopped reading at chapter 14 just to take a break and now it says ive read chap 7-14. what if anything should i reread before i continue?
1942725
I purposefully did the rewrite in such a way as re-reading it isn't strictly required. New readers will notice a hic-cup going from 6 to 7, but that's about it, and it will be smoothed in time. You should be good to just continue from where you left off. However, a lot of chapters got 'bumped' by the insertion of a new chapter. I know that there are at least 2 more new chapters coming (8 and 11), which will further 'bump' later chapters of what is now Book One.
Chapters 1-6 are new in the sense that the pages were created today. Some have seen bigger changes than others. Chapter 5, for instance, had a great deal changed, and so did Chapter 2. But the core of them did not change.
Its up to you whether you pick up at 14, or not, I guess.
Okay so I know 1-6 are mainly fixed up and so on, is the same true for Book Two: Chapter Eight: Magnanimous?
I normally don't mind re-reading too much but considering the sheer size of this story...errmmm...yeah I don't have enough free time for that any more haha. Well that and I think my eyes would try to escape my head if I try to put them through that torture.
So just need to know if the one book two chapter is new or not for sure, I bet you did say if it was or not but I'm a bit slow at times and get confused. So a simple yes or no is all I ask.
By by love your work.
1943403
No worries. Book Two: Chapter 8: Magnanimous is all new continuation of the story and not a revised chapter.
So long as anything that's different from the original is given somewhere in a simple list of changes, I'm happy.
Revisions that change things just make me sad :(
1943876
Ah... There isn't such a list.
Probably the biggest changes would be; the addition of Tyr's arrival in Canterlot and her fostering, and; the shift from 'Titans' to 'Olympians' for the likes of Ares, Hades, Zeus and Co., along with the shift from 'Nightmares' to 'Titans' for fallen alicorns like Nightmare Moon. I suppose the massive expansion of House Sparkle also counts (7 half-sisters and half-brothers for Twilight and Shining to deal with), though that's far more relevant to the next chapter on my revision docket and Velvet's side-story.
The revisions are in a tough place, being a combination of polishing of the story's flow, themes, foreshadowing, tone, and setting while at the same time not being on such a scale that re-reading is an absolute necessity to enjoy the new chapters.
Before I begin, is there anything to change in the TV Tropes page?
1943974
I'll have to double check, but I don't believe so at this juncture.
1944096 Ok, I have read the first chapter. It seems to me that it hasn't changed much. I think it felt a bit unnecessary to call it a 'Re-write'.
1943431 Thank you kindly for that answer Ma'am
Now off to read!
1944293 Tundara's a guy.
1944482
1944482 Ohhhhh...well I feel like that person who mistakes an anime guy for a girl.
Mah bad owo'
So, I'm just going to drop my opinion here, that I would like it if you just got through the revisions before continuing the story, because I'm not going to be reading anything new when revisions could add or remove things that happened that would change how I am reading the story.
$0.02
1957324
Fair enough.
1957324
That's what I'm waiting for, too.
I'd like to start from the beginning again to refresh the story in my mind before starting the most recent chapters. I think it'll be cool to reread a story and have it be kinda new at the same time!
That's my $0.02
TOTAL
$0.04
1965992
That's cool! I hope that when you re-read it you enjoy it.