Out of the night and into the fight it's....the next chapter! (Also other things) · 11:11pm Jun 30th, 2012
Hey y'all. I got back from my various trips and whatnot and now have time sit down and blog. So here we are. I'm going to do another multimedia thingy again because it's my blog and you aren't the boss of me. Note that images are sourced where a source is given. Otherwise I just found them on forum posts. Odds are they are all from the dA pony vector club anyway. Next time I'm just going to use the vector club from the very beginning
I also have a freakin' huge pony music collection so I get to recommend my favorites, the artists' get some meagre publicity and you get some entertainment. Everypony wins.
So, first up we have the only song I've ever heard that's in 5/4. Also I really like the picture.
ANYWAY. First up, news! With our brand new reader strawman!
So, hey. I'm writing other things!
Yeah, I know. I won't shut up about this, will I? Basically, this is the last time I'm going to mention these on a Starworks blog. I know you guys probably don't care that much (in fact to be perfectly honest I have no idea why anyone would read this in the first place, but whatever) but I have decided to address the slow update speed of Starworks by releasing other things in the gaps.
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So, let me see if I understand you correctly. You are going to improve your slow update schedule...by writing completely unrelated things.
Yup! S'a great plan! I've explained my thinking in my last blog, but for Twilight's benefit, the short version is something like this: Starworks is my baby. My 'big idea' that I wanted to write as a serious attempt to make a story that people would enjoy reading. Problem is, there are days when I am just not able to get in the right headspace to right what needs to be written and I know from experience that trying to force a scene will make it awful.
I also know from experience that I generally write my best material at 4am or in the middle of important meetings or when I should be watching for my bus stop, or generally whenever I am not actively concentrating on it. "So," I think to myself, "maybe the best way to break a block on a scene is to not spend hours just staring blankly at the page not typing anything. Maybe if I write something else the answer will just come to me."
So, go read a book, watch TV. You can't just half-ass some scribbled stories and then expect them to be good.
Well, it's not quite like that. I reckon I can also use these as serious practice for writing in other genres. Starworks is great as practice for fairly serious drama/adventure, but it ain't a comedy, and I don't want to be a one trick pony here.
They would be experiments, sure, and I am not going to run them by my usual pre-reader as the guy has enough going on with Starworks and he is just doing it as a favour to me, so, y'know they may lack a little polish. But, I have genuine ideas, I need to improve my 'raw' writing, and if my writing becomes awful the second I step out of my comfort zone then that's worth knowing. Depressing, but worth knowing. It's like a science experiment. Surely you of all ponies can't begrudge me that?
Hmmm, fine. Go on then. Dazzle us with your creativity and wit.
So, these are the two that I have already made some progress on. Ultimately, I hope to try to write something for every tag (which is a little ironic, given a recent and extremely unrealistic comparison someone made to a real author). So let's go down the list as it stands.
Comedy.
Working title: All the mares in the house groove to mozart
Length: As long as it needs to be, if not shorter.
Release schedule: Chapters of about 2,000 words each whenever I have time.
So, this is my attempt to be funny. Octavia is-
Hang on. But you aren't funny. Not even a little. All your jokes are cultural references and in-jokes that will be funny to maybe 10 people, none of whom will ever read this. Also, is that Octavia I see there? This is going to be another cookie-cutter comedy about her and Scratch isn't it?
Weeeeellll, ok you got me. I'm no comedian. My only attempt at comedy to date is when I trolled a scientific journal for April Fools Day by submitting a Blueshift-esque shipfic about astronomical telescopes. It got published, incidentally, and is still 50% of my professional bibliography. Point is, it was not very good. Anyway, I want to try. If it's not laugh out loud funny then at least it might raise a smile. The whole point is that I wont know until I try. Also, yeah, Octavia music comedy is done. I know that.
The plot is that Octavia becomes convinced that electro is brainwashing everyone and taking over Canterlot so she goes on this crusade to try and kill the genre by going undercover in the electro scene. In my defence, the plot got stuck in my head and I need to write it. I don't know what else to say except, if you do bother reading it, please judge it on it's own merits, if indeed it has any. I know it's not anything daring and new, but it's mine and I'm going to do the best I can.
Dark
Working title: Fluttershy's-
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Oh Celestia, please don't do anything horrible to her...
Don't worry, I couldn't bring myself to write anything graphic with poor little Flutters. Besides, dark doesn't have to be violent. As I was saying.
Working title: Fluttershy's terribly busy day
Length: ~2,000 words
Schedule: One shot, released maybe this month
I am not going to spoil this one, it would undermine the point if I did. It's an experiment in atmosphere and, out of all the experiments, is the one that could completely and utterly fail.
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Hmm, if it's not going to be nasty then I guess it's ok. Overall this plan doesn't sound too bad. Best of luck!
Thanks, Twilight. So, with that out of the way, lets talk about the latest chapter of Starworks. You've probably run through the first song by now if you were listening to it, so have another to tide you over. Let's keep the vocal theme and go with a song that I just adore.
So, a funny thing happened to me...well, a few days ago now.
Seems that the google docs importer doesn't like certain things, such as #. Every line with a # on it (if you've read the last chapter I am sure you can see the problem) was completely gone. I've had that before with sentences in the second chapter, where-
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Nobody cares.
...oh...well...Oh! How about I talk about how I can't shake the feeling I hamstrung myself with the plot for the chapter?
Well, it can't be any less interesting...
A part of me is regretting following the pilot so closely in that chapter. It works well, and you guys seem to like it, but it just feels awkward. The Trixie bits work, I'm happy with those, but almost everything thing else feels like it was trying to go its own way and was then harshly herded back onto the plot railroad (that's a horrible mixed metaphor, I know). I'm looking forward to getting onto more of my own plotting so that I can hopefully stop strangling my characters by forcing them to have certain conversations and so on.
It's ironic really, the pilot was supposed to be a crutch, a way of helping me ease into writing my own fully fledged story. Now it just seems like it might have been almost holding me back a little. Or maybe I was just too reluctant to let go of it. Anyway, the main plot has started, the training wheels are off and we'll see how we go.
And honestly, that's kinda it...
Most of the interesting and new things will crop up next chapter. This chapter was just a case of writing the Trixie scenes, which was fairly easy. Getting the right atmosphere in the the room between Trixie and Roseluck was hard, but easier than Trixie's big emotional bit from the previous chapter. All the mane 6 stuff was just playing with scenes that were already written for me.
Really the only things left to mention are I was desperately trying to squeeze in a scene where Twilight's glasseye (The Spike OS) tries to automatically connect with Rarity's network, like a wi-fi thing, as a parody of Spike's infatuation. I think removing it was one of my better decisions.
I am interested that no-one is asking about the Applebloom 'thing' with AJ in the first section. Either that means nobody noticed, nobody cared, or everybody has already worked it out, in which case I'm not being subtle enough with my hint dropping.
The Flower Ponies... I couldn't resist.
The final scene was rather fun. Coming up with all the crazy descriptions of the abstractions that were happening during the fight was a blast and I enjoyed toying with how Princess views her 'self'. I tried to make it alien and unrelatable for the reader while still allowing them to know what was happening. I am actively trying to avoid anthropomorphising... (equ-morphising?)
...her. She is a machine and she thinks like a machine. If the final section of the fight didn't convince you of that then nothing will!
Besides that, this chapter was rather business as usual. I'm happy enough with it but I suspect it will stand as one of the weaker chapters as it sold its soul to imitate the show. That is not something I will do to that extent again.
And that just about covers everything. The next chapter is in the planning stages as I have to start being very careful about the timelines and the plot threads around about now. You guys can look forward to something from me in the near future, but I won't promise a date. I'll only disappoint you! Thank you all, once again, for the support, the comments, and the advice. You guys rock.
So, see you next time! Say goodbye Twilight.
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Goodbye everypony!
I've always had the same problems when I need to write scenes that tie so closely with an episode. I'm much more comfortable coming up with new stuff for characters to do. Believe me, it's not just you.
I noticed the Applebloom thing, and I'm not sure what's going on there, but I figure we'll be getting to it later so I didn't comment on that. Until now. So there.
As always, looking forward to more!
205070 That's comforting. I guess it's all part of the 'sometimes the story just wants to write itself, regardless of whatever you had planned' thing we talked about in a previous blog. Creativity is the darndest thing.
Thank you. Your interest in this plot thread is noted.
There is a clue in the chapter, but I'm not going to tell you anything about it. 
Ah, seriously though. I always get confused by what people pick up on in comments. Maybe one day I'll get a spontaneous comment of 'Hey Sanctae, why do you keep filling the top 10 lines of each chapter with random italic nonsense words?" and then I could be all like "Ah, well just you wait and see...just you wait
" But alas, that day has yet to come 