The Fate of the Onion · 5:25am Jan 3rd, 2015
I have been encouraged to produce more chapters of Mismatching Wits and have been woefully delinquent in doing so. Much of this is due to Real Life stuff (and no, I will not even try to open a Patreon for a fanfic). Even so, there is a large amount of material already written for the story. The question is how to present it.
MW suffers from the Unstrung Bead problem. For the most part, I compose the story by visualizing interesting scenes and intriguing dialogue, then arranging these to see which fit together most elegantly and serve best to carry the story in the right direction. I then write interstitial material to join them and string them upon the narrative thread. I have a great deal of beads right now, but am not always certain how best to string them, or even which beads should be discarded as inconsistent with the others. (The story is complex enough that I am using YWriter to keep things in some kind of order.)
It would be easier if this were a lighthearted, travelogue-of-marvels sort of story; but unfortunately, I have saddled it with a Purpose. The story proper began from a daydream I had after reading the "what color would your shard be?" Optimalverse thread. I originally didn't want to publish it at all, as I didn't see much point in making another "I uploaded to Equestria Online and I got eternal paradise and this t-shirt" story, but then the Purpose (the reason for the Dark tag) suggested itself and I realized that the story could be used as a vehicle for it.
So... I could drop the Purpose (perhaps by tossing it into the 100 word Optimalverse story thread, or attaching it to All the Ways I Hate CelestAI) and make MW a lighthearted dramady about a human finding a new life in EO—it would grate somewhat upon my soul, but it would make the story much easier to write. Or I can hold firm to the Purpose, in which case updates must continue to be occasional. Or I can present some side stories crafted from beads that don't quite fit, in order to pass the time between actual chapters...
Or something else. Thoughts, my readers? I'd much rather be stringing beads along than have you think that I'm stringing you.
It's been a while since I've read your story, so I don't recall the details at the moment, but if you have good ideas but struggle with putting them together, perhaps you could try teaming up with another Optimalverse author? Whether they write or just suggest ways to connect your scenes would be up to you.
Well, what I really liked about the two chapters of MW that we have is how self-consistent it is. It feels like an advanced AI simulation would go. So my answer would be that if that verisimilitude is consistent with your Purpose, then keep going, but if it's just the means to an end of "How I hate CelestAI: The Novel," then you might want to split it off.
Start sending me beads and I'll send back ideas on how they go together
. Don't drop the Purpose. I mean the Precious. PREEECIOOOUUUUUS.
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Collaboration is possible for this work, in the latter sense only.
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The feel of virtual-similitude is in fact consistent.
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There are an awful lot of beads, dude... but I can certainly work something out, perhaps by sending synopses of scenes for the most part. [Of course I see your game; you just want to read the story before everyone else, you sneak...
The Purpose stays. I shall PM the redoubtable book_burner sometime this week, Real Life permitting, to work out how best to selectively incinerate the story. I shall also consider a side chapter or so if a bead is too enchanting to be discarded.
Late reply: I'd rather you continue with the fic in the manner you'd originally intended. I've seen too many fics come out less enjoyable than they could have by changing tone or style mid-stream. "Composure" tops that list, with its most recent chapter.
Even later reply: I've found two references for Elizabethan English that you might find useful for Luna's dialogue.
* This is a brief overview of the various pronouns used back then.
* This is the entry point for a much more extensive reference on speech and on forms of address (among other things). It in turn is part of a general reference on "Life in Elizabethan England", which is nifty for its own sake.
Enjoy!
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Thank you for the references. I'm being carried along on the rapids right now, so MW will have to wait a bit longer.