Stories in progress · 9:37am Oct 8th, 2014
I thought I would just give an update on the stories I am working on at present so folks have some idea of what I am up to, as well as putting a little bit of pressure on myself to get these things done.
Dawn - A story about Luna and Celestia, long ago, before they had wings or even cutie marks. Celestia is outside, awaiting the dawn that she and the Circle will bring, and Luna, still a filly, joins her. Originally written for the last write-off, I'm presently in the middle of revising and rewriting it. It is presently at its full length - 2,500 words - but being revised and edited. My goal is to have this story posted by October 12th.
Dusk - The sequel to Dawn, it concerns the immediate aftermath of Celestia raising the Sun for the first time. Like Dawn, it was originally written for a write-off under the title "Moving Heaven and Earth". It is presently at 1,200 words, but will likely end up somewhat longer than that, likely clocking in around 2,000 words. My goal is to have this published by October 17th.
Shotgun Wedding - Yes, I haven't forgotten this story. I actually have three unpublished chapters - whose combined length is nearly that of the story at present - which I need to edit and post. My goal is to get at least the next chapter of this story posted by October 26th, and preferably sooner, and to get this story done. I'm sorry I have allowed it to languish this long, but it will get done.
Daring Do x Rosetta Stone OTP - This TwiDash story was actually the very first fanfic I started working on, and it still isn't done, a year and a few months later. Why? Because I keep rewriting the start of it. I'm finally at the point where I've actually got the start set out, though, and I think that I can write the rest of it once I concentrate on it.
An AU story set in a world where Daring Do is, in fact, a fictional character (though I really blame season 4 for that, and it seems like by the end of season 4 the writers forgot she was real, too, given the struggle over getting a signed copy in Trade Ya), the story centers around Twilight and Rainbow Dash getting to the end of the latest Daring Do book and Rainbow Dash getting upset because Daring Do ends up with Manehattan Silver instead of Rosetta Stone, a professor back at Daring Do's university. Clearly, the author is out of their mind; Daring Do x Rosetta Stone IS the one true pairing.
There's no subtext here, really.
If this premise sounds familiar, it is because it is; this story was originally written for a contest which ended well over a year ago.
Their argument over the presence or absence of lesbian subtext is interrupted by news of the author being attacked by a monster, and the pair are forced to spring into action, saving the author of the Daring Do books and taking her to the hospital for treatment. While there, Rainbow Dash ends up ranting at the author about her latest book, and the author is put into a very awkward position as she realizes just who "Rosetta Stone" really is in Rainbow Dash's mind, and has to figure out how to broach the subject with Twilight without giving her friend away.
The main problem this story has had is getting the author to not just be a plot device and be an actual character of her own, but I think I've more or less figured that out at this point, so all that remains is to write it. This is presently sitting at about 4,000 words of actual, completed story, out of a total length of likely four times that many words.
After I get the next chapter of Shotgun Wedding done, I will work on finishing this story; my goal is to have it published by November 1st.
Scaring Each Other - An adventure story set in the immediate aftermath of Castle-Maneia, centered around Applejack and Rainbow Dash confronting the Pony of Shadows. This story was originally finished all the way back in May, but is still sitting around unfinished. Why? Because it has some serious issues; at present, the ending is terrible, and the story has pretty poor pacing. The core of the story is, I think, good, but I have to more or less rip out the beginning and the ending and rewrite them, and I just haven't done so, though I may end up taking the original idea behind this story and rewriting it as a stand-alone story entirely separate from the story it turned into. The story is presently at 18,000 words, but will likely actually end up shorter than that due to significant cuts.
Ice Cream Sale - A RariJack shipfic that I started back in February and never finished, I really like the idea behind it. Rarity is taking advantage of the pre-Hearts and Hooves day ice cream sale for ponies who do not have someone to spend the day with - ponies like herself. Running into Applejack while out shopping, Rarity invites Applejack to come and commiserate with her. On Hearts and Hooves Day. By herself. In Rarity's house.
How could anyone possibly get the wrong idea?
The main problem I've been struggling with with this story lies in the fact that I've gotten through the end of it and I, personally, feel like the story isn't done. I feel like I'm left hanging. And I'm not quite sure what I want to do about it. It has an ending, but it doesn't really end.
This story is presently sitting at 4,000 words, but it may end up significantly longer, depending on what I end up deciding to do with it.
The Best - Rainbow Dash joins the Wonderbolts and discovers she really is the best flier in all of Equestria, and has to come to terms with what it means to be better than her heroes. This story has been sitting at 15,000 words for ages, but I really do intend to get it done; it is likely to clock in at around 40,000 words. Fun bit of trivia: I was actually inspired to write The Legend of Falling Rocks, Buffalo Brave because a character in this story, who was in part loosely based on my dad, told the story to Rainbow Dash between scenes.
No One Will Notice - Set prior to the start of season 4, the first draft of this story was actually written a year ago now, but I have to more or less rewrite about 3/4ths of it. Twilight has been learning about how to control the movements of the heavenly bodies from Celestia, and now is finally ready to practice. She goes to speak with Luna and asks her if she may practice with the Moon as, after all, even if Twilight doesn't do it right on her first try, no one will notice. Luna reacts about as well as you might expect, and Celestia and Twilight need to figure out how to mollify the Princess of the Night. This story is presently sitting at 8,600 words, and will likely end up at about 11,000 after the rewrite.
Moving Heaven and Earth - This is not Dusk, which was originally published under this name during the write-off, but another, different story. Set after the events of Season 4, it is something of a sequel to both No One Will Notice and The Stars Ascendant, though it will be a wholly stand-alone story. In the light of yet another attack which has incapacitated the Princesses, Luna and Celestia have asked Princess Cadance, Twilight, and Shining Armor to come to Canterlot so that they may be taught how to properly control the motions of the heavenly bodies. At the appointed hour, however, a crisis emerges, and Celestia sends off the mane six to deal with it... without Twilight, because Twilight needs to practice this, and the others can handle the situation on their own. Twilight is not happy with the idea of being isolated from her friends for training, or the idea that they are being sent off into danger without her, and finds it especially offensive because she already knows how to do this (more or less), and wants to know why she is being held back in Canterlot and separated from her friends.
This is in outline form at the moment, and will probably clock in at around 10,000 words.
The Changelings Are Due In Ponyville - This story is an outline, but it is the outlined story which I most want to get done after Moving Heaven and Earth. The premise is that the Cutie Mark Crusaders see two changelings in the woods, and, while hiding from them, overhear a conversation wherein it becomes clear that one of the changelings has been in Ponyville for years. They're forced to hide too far away from them to get a good look at them, but when the changeling heads back into town, they see them transform into a pony with a pink mane.
Naturally, they go tell Twilight right away, and Twilight reacts in the totally reasonable way of gathering together every pink-maned pony in town to try and figure out which one is the changeling. There can't be that many pink-maned ponies in Ponyville, right?
This is a story about trust and suspicion, and the title references The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street and The Monsters Are On Maple Street for a very good reason. My present guess about its length is probably somewhere in the realm of 15,000 words, of which 0 are actually written.
So, that's where I'm at. Hopefully, by telling you guys about these stories, I will be encouraged to get them done. Feel free to bother me about them; half the point of making this post is hopefully getting people to pester me, as I think setting up external expectations for myself helps motivate me.
I don't like letting people down. I guess I've got a bit of Rainbow Dash in me.
I'm curious, what's it like to work on so many stories at once? It seems like it would be very inconvenient. Even if they're just sitting around unfinished, and you're not actively working on them, it seems like it would be stressful having all these different projects in the back of your mind all the time.
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Honestly, it bothers me a little bit. That's why I gave some due dates for some of them on the above list, and talked about the others; I really should get them done, and it is silly that I haven't. In a couple cases, I could get them done if I just spent my free time for a day working on them, and yet, I continually deign to do so.
I dunno. I write pretty quickly when I actually devote myself to it, so I see my failure to complete these stories as pure laziness.
I really am terrible about getting these things done. I actually left a couple stories off the list entirely because I forgot to note them on my tracking sheet - How Does She Buy Oranges, a story wherein Rainbow Dash and Twilight try to get Zecora to not rhyme, is partially written as well and not even listed.
I also didn't list a couple other stories which I'm sure are sitting around on my hard drive but not on my tracking sheet. I've got about a page done of a terrible story which is actually TRULY the first fanfic I started on, but I'm not sure if I'll ever finish it because it was spawned entirely by a comment by Whyclops on a story long ago - the comment that told me that yes, I should join this site, because the people there are as terrible as I am.
I also have a couple of unfinished short stories which don't have separate listings as well, one of which is actually over a thousand words long. Ironically, that's why I abandoned it; it was a response to the prompt Temptation for the Rarijack prompt tag, but was too long. I then promptly wrote a three thousand word long story for the prompt instead, which I have always rather enjoyed, but which kind of negated the reason why I set aside my first short story based on the idea.
THAT story is about Rarity drinking a whole bottle of Applejack, assuming it is apple cider, and subsequently behaving like an extremely happy (and friendly) drunk. After Applejack puts Rarity to bed, she finds the full bottle of applejack that Rarity allegedly drunk hidden away, and realizes that Rarity was only faking being drunk when she was coming onto her. The problem is, I like the idea, but the story would actually end up far longer than I think the idea warrants.
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Are you really actively planning to finish that many stories? I've always found that after a certain point of extreme inactivity, it's best for my sanity to just put a story to rest and mark it with a 'Maybe someday' sticker, and then forget about it to focus on something I'm actually working on.
I like this idea a lot. I wouldn't know, but a silly romantic comedy idea like that could easily justify a short novella, depending on the execution. I think that idea is much stronger than you realize.
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I have a planning - doing gap. Just because I believe that I want to do something doesn't mean that it actually gets done, unfortunately.
I really made this post because I hate letting people down, and thus, by creating expectations for myself, I (hopefully) do something to avoid such.
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Hey, maybe you'll have better luck with that strategy than I did.
Good luck.