Into the Multiverse · 5:14am Apr 4th, 2014
Another Daring Do chapter just got finished! Love those cornflower blue icons. Apple Bloom and Applejack are now prepped for publication, Sea Change has passed muster, and Green Dragon is being drafted right now. Equestria Daily is still dragging its feet on releasing Book 2, but it's moving up in the queue, so with any luck you'll see it soon! I've got a big weekend of writing ahead of me, so with any luck, Green Dragon will be done this week, and Chapter 10 will be right out after. So, I'm feeling good! We feeling good, Twilight?
Thanks, tiny cheerleader Twilight. You're the best hallucination a brony could ask for.
One thing occurred to me though, as I was writing today. There are five drafts of Green Dragon all of which are substantively different (that is, not counting little edits). That's a lot of rewrites even for me, but it's not going to top my record. Daring Do, Part 1 has ten substantive rewrites, changing everything from Siren's personality to which characters are even present in the chapter. I'm not complaining—the final draft is always the best, and it's just a part of the writing process. But, it does have an interesting implication.
Namely, that there are other versions of Siren out there. There's one version of Siren where she's more magical. One where she's more emo. One where she never meets Trixie face to face. Sometimes there's a door there, sometimes there's an open archway. Sometimes, Siren spends half the chapter chatting with one of the guards in Neptune's Bounty. Sometimes that guard post is staffed by a wiredoll instead.
The thing is though, none of these chapters were rejected for just being badly written—I do have a few of those, but I don't count them towards the draft total. They were rejected for just not feeling right. They weren't the Siren Song the story needed and that you guys wanted. But they were a Siren Song, I could totally have written a story about. During the many revisions of Daring Do, Part 1, I joked that if I ever wanted to do a Bioshock: Infinite adaptation, it would take place in Neptune's Bounty just so I could use all this alternate-universe material.
It's not quite a joke though. I can't be the only writer who has left a million good stories on the cutting room floor this way. I kind of want to work with that in some way, building up a story that shows all the evolution and adaptation it went through as it was written, instead of just the polished final product. Not quite sure how to do that though.
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Daring Do Progress
Letters from the Deep: Ready
Daring Do, Part 1: Ready
Daring Do, Part 2 Ready
Ether Wash: Ready
Apple Bloom: Ready
Applejack: Ready
Sweetie Belle: Reviewed
Heart's Desire: Reviewed
Sea Change: Reviewed
Green Dragon: Drafted
Chapter 10: Outlined
Chapter 11: Outlined
Chapter 12: Outlined
Chapter 13: Outlined
Chapter 14: Outlined
Chapter 15: Outlined
Epilogue: Outlined
Outlined: I have a nice text file full of bullet points saying what happens in this chapter.
Drafted: The chapter has been written and I don't hate it.
Reviewed: The chapter has been written and my editors don't hate it.
Ready: The chapter has been cleaned up for publication, including grammar, formatting, illustrations, etc.
So you're waiting for an EQD release before releasing Daring Do on Fimfic?
I wish all fanfiction was as well thought out and planned as Siren Song and Daring Do.
Ether Wash... any relation to White Wash? Eep.
Also, yeah, ten rewrites for one chapter is nuts. Nuts like a true professional though.
I'm glad I hadn't missed out on any of the chapters! I was afraid this started, I might have to reread Siren Song for a refresher.
Eeeeeeeee!
That's pretty much my default response whenever I see a status update on these stories.
1980786
Correct, sir. One of my editors advised me to do it that way, because it drastically increases your chances of getting frontpaged. I'm sorry to make you all wait in the hope of a higher viewcount, but Vision is my baby. I want it to catch on.
1980924
Thank you! The whole reason I started these stories was I wanted to take a swing at some more carefully outlined and pre-planned writing.
1981021
Nuts like a FOX.
Wait.
1981219
Well, Vision was #120 in the queue when I submitted it, and it's #66 now, so it should be up soon! I've actually been rereading Book 1 a lot lately, just to double-check that the foreshadowing lines up right. It's funny to read old-Siren in contrast to new-Siren.
1981310
Always awesome to hear from you, dude. I shall not disappoint.
1981365 'Tis an honorable goal! I hope it garners wider appeal as well.
It is hard waiting for this story to be released... I am really looking forward to read it... I hope it will be as great as Siren Song is. But I get the "It will be released when it is ready" approach. So I am just sitting here, looking forward to this story and trying not to put any kind of pressure on you.
1981365
Oh right, she took the thing! Wonder if she'll end up cold and despondent like Berry, or if she'll turn into a more dangerous sociopath than she is already.
Seeing those chapter titles getting tagged as "Ready" one by one is like watching a Christmas tree slowly being lit up; you know it's going to be glorious when it's all done, but damn if the wait isn't excruciating.