Jul
17th
2014
Some news on the Supplemental files. · 3:50am Jul 17th, 2014
Evening folks. I've gotten word back about why the Supplemental Files have not been approved.
Because it isn't a story, per se, but a collection of reports related to another story, it cannot be approved on the site by itself. They did state that I can continue to add to it and folks can access it directly with this link here.
At this point I'm at a loss as to what I should do. I could continue to update the Supplemental Files 'story' to keep it separate from the main story itself. Or I could fold the report chapters into the main story though the reports I had planned are meant to provide background information from the Equestrian perspective and don't tie in directly to the storyline.
Thoughts? I'm open to suggestions.
Maybe keep them separate and have a note in the main stories description?
Either add it to the story. Or if your feeling confident, make an entirely new cast of Pony Characters who are the equivalents of Dr. Shen, Bradford, and Vahlen. That would actually be interesting to see, but it would likely take away from the main story in time and resources.
When I saw the notice pop up I figured it was the "not a story" thing before even coming here.
I'd say fold it in. You can put whatever you want as chapter headings...
You could do Supplemental File 1: Synopsis of Infantry Tactics.
Supplemental File 2: Whatever the second chapter is
This would be enough for people to know it was "post story."
2293049 This could work, maybe leave a link at the bottom of the Mente Materia chapters leading to the newly released files. They could be like Omakes almost.
You could put them in blog posts and link to them from certain chapters.
2293049
I was about to suggest just that.
I am not sure exactly how these are intended to work out overall, but could you attach them either during or after the story is complete as an appendix of supplemental materials? If any particular chapter is tied to a certain one you could have a 'See Appendix X' at the end or some such.
Example:
Appendix I: Supplemental Infantry Tactics
Appendix II: Etc Etc
You can always put it directly in Mente Materia much like you used to put the supplemental chapters for Stardust in the original story. I say fold it, but it is your choice.
You might consider making a link in the author notes whenever you have a new Supplemental. People that want it can follow the link, and people that don't can ignore it.
Thanks to everyone who's made a suggestion so far. I've got a lot to sleep on so I'll make a decision within the next few days.
One thing to consider: unpublished stories do not show up as unread favorites (they affect the counter, but they don't actually show up on the list) when a new chapter is posted. So if you do decide to keep them as a separate story, please insert an author's note with a link or something to let people know that new material is available.
Just add them to the story. You did that with Stardust so I don't see what the problem is here.
2293049 I like this idea.
I say fold them into the story: you did it with Stardust, so it wouldn't be too different.
Another possibility would be for you to create a group, and have those supplemental files on Google Docs or similar platforms, with links. Shinzakura is doing exactly that with his story All American Girl, as he has a group were he has links to a relationship chart, a TVtropes page (that largely also works as a FAQ), the genealogy of the nine or so royal and noble houses involved, a monograph on species taxonomy and genetics, and is pending a timeline and a storyline guide. And these two last ones are needed, as his story spreads into five stories, only two of which are completed.
Perhaps add a short story to go along with them. Just a chapter or 2 about what's happening on Earth while the main story continues on Equestria (I doubt all of X-COM will be teleporting to Equestria, someone has to remain on Earth). Include these chapters in with the files. Maybe have the author of the files be a character of the story.
This may satisfy the 'must be a story' rule, gives us a little more information about your universe (which I believe is the point of the supplementary files), and gives us a short bonus side story.
Then again, I have no idea what you have planned for the future on this saga, and if this idea would fit in to that plan.
First thought is that if you're trying to avoid messing with the cadence of the story, the easiest method would be as Minitheif mentioned above. keeping it in a separate story file and appending updated pages in the authors notes of the main story as they apply.
Folding them into the main story would also work, as was evident in stardust. Just having a chapter a supplementary information that could be read at the readers discretion.
The third possibility exists of having a side story running in the background that could sustain large portions of techno jargon while maintain believe ability. Possibly reports from some of the background "research" type characters of both races working / studying each other while working on a united goal.
I'd hesitate about the third as that's not only a big addition to the amount of work required (full disclosure, I'm also selfish about it compromising "Materia" chapter release dates
)
Given any particular execution however, I'll be reading it!!
As a side note folks, bookmark the supplemental files from the direct link. Even if you "read later" or favorite, it'll increment your favorited available number, but will still be invisible if you try to access the from either list.
But they were wrong in not approving your story! Your reports were written from a character's perspective, which makes it a story! If this isn't approved, then letters by characters shouldn't be approved either, and there are tons of letter fics out there! They probably glossed over it quickly and didn't realize it was written from a character's perspective. If you reply and explain the situation, maybe they'll approve it.
I'm fine with whatever, as long as they're skippable. They're interesting, but if you end a chapter on a cliffhanger, and when I hit next it's a supplemental file full of techno-babble, I'm just going to hit next and get back to the story. I do go back and read them, but I don't like it when they interrupt the pace of the story. It happened a few times in Stardust, which is the only reason I mention it.
Fold it in. They're all written from the perspective of characters in the story, therefore, they belong in the story.
Why not have tham as blog posts? Other authors have done similar things and linked them to a story.
You could fold each chapter between the Mente Materia chapters, like you did for Stardust, that would make it simpler and wouldn't be too out of place, considering what Synopsis of Infantry Tactics looks like, it would be fine to see something like reports, records, and documents pertaining to the war mixed in, like the Stardust supplemental files filled in information about the Stardust Project that didn't really fit anywhere else or wouldn't fit into the main chapters, you could simply fill in reports containing large amounts of information information in between chapters containing story and plot. Plus they're written by characters in the story as part of the story, and thus fit in the story.
Alternatively you could leave it as a separate story. Link to relevant files in Mente Materia chapters. Also, from experience it appears that you can still favorite a story that hasn't been approved, and it will show up on your list and you'll still be notified when it updates, so as long as readers know that it exists and have a link to it they'll still be able to follow it the same as any other story.
Thank you everyone for you feedback. I'm a bit short on time at the moment so I can't make a decision quite yet. I'll mull it over while I'm at work and decide later tonight.
Two more approaches:
1) Do supplements as blog posts. Keep an updated master index prominently available. See the Bad Horse Blog Index as an example.
2) Attach a frame story. Either something ongoing, featuring the compiler and her ongoing stuff, or a before and after of a pony referencing the material. Effectively, change the no-non-story posting rule from an obstacle to an inspiration.
I'd agree with some of the other posters and say just insert them in the main storyline. Just mark them as supplemental chapters.
Chapter X: Bad stuff happens
Supplemental iii: Report on thingy #6
Chapter Y: Dealing with bad stuff
etc
You are having trouble getting the Supplemental Files approved on FIMfiction, but despite that keeping the Supplemental Files on FIMfiction should be best even if you have to fold them into Mente Materia. So many websites have broken outbound hyperlinks after a few years.
Not entirely sure what makes them any different from the supplemental files in Stardust that folding them into the story wasn't the first option to be honest. I'd rather see them folded into the story instead of having to worry about a direct link for them. Ideally though, we could just bribe whoever does approval to let you get away with whatever you want :D
Folding them into the main story gives the added benefit of us reading them when they're relevant, instead of people reading the supplements before Mente Materia, or reading Mente Materia then the supplements.
I'd like to thank everyone for their feedback! After weighing all the options, I'm thinking I might just fold the supplemental files into Mente Materia. Yes, that does mean there may be a 'filler' chapter immediately after a cliffhanger, but I want folks to be able to read this stuff without having to hunt for the link. I could always include it in the blogs but it seems a bit messy to do that rather than included with the story itself, and including links in the author's notes of a new MM chapter when the files updates would mean I would have to technically get two chapters done at the same time which might delay both.
I think the best decision is going to be folding it into MM. I'll send WandererD a message and see if I can just copypasta this chapter into MM or if I have to axe the Supplemental Files 'story' first.
Supplemental files minichapters inbetween in the main story. You know it to be the true way.