Post-Draft Blog Part 2: ... Straight Back To Hell · 10:31pm Sep 21st, 2015
In my defense, it's not like I didn't tease the tagged story a little bit in the last post.
Let's talk about Harmony for a bit.
Three and a half years ago, when I was a senior in high school with less than half a hundred FIMFic followers to my name, I started a thing. A rather large, long-and-involved, gory, expletive-laced, really-defeating-of-FiM's-purpose-in-every-conceivable-way thing that, in the process of being all of that and more, also rocketed into the feature box, shot me well up into the triple-digit count for followers, and still stands as the most highly viewed story I've ever published here. It was the most ambitious thing I'd attempted to do in my fledgling artistic career, and for a while, I feel like I did pretty all right with it.
Two and a half years ago, I effectively abandoned this thing. Another two chapters dribbled out into the mix after Bronycon 2013, but they owe their semi-complete existence to a week-long bout of really wanting to just get the damn things out of my Google Drive so I never had to think about them again. For all intents and purposes, the thing I loved so dearly was dead, another one of the way-too-ambitious projects that litter the early years of any writer's ascent into competency.
And now--or really nine days ago, as of today--I completed a full draft of a novel-length project for the first time. In a year that saw me place well in several contests and win one of them outright, briefly hold the #1 overall spot for the highest rated story on the site, and make it into the Royal Canterlot Library, finishing a story of that length without relying on serial publication for motivation represented the last step in a developmental process that all my time spent writing fan fiction has contributed to completing. As far as my personal sense of competency is concerned, I've achieved everything important that fan fiction can offer me. After several years of awkward growth and muted self-doubt, I finally feel confident that I could cut it in the world of original publication in terms of sheer artistic skill. Were I to leave fanwork behind entirely and set off on my own, I could do so with no regrets.
Except one.
Except this thing.
Before I go any further, let me clarify one thing outright: I am not going to completely abandon fan fiction in order to work on original stuff. Fanfic's still fun to do and there's still plenty I could learn from all the people here who read and write it, but more importantly, a day short of twenty-two years old is no kind of age to still pretend I couldn't do both at the same time. Admittedly, I'd put unsavory odds on me producing any fics of the long-form variety, but short stories and maybe even a novella-caliber project or two certainly aren't out of the question. At this point, I honestly couldn't tell you how much original short-form work I'm going to produce in the next couple years versus fanfic short-form stuff. Just to set the record straight, though: there will be no wangsting over which type I'm wasting my free time on. Writing is fun. I'm gonna write stuff that's fun.
On the subject of Harmony, though, that sole descriptor isn't as straightforward as I wish it was. Truth is, finishing Harmony would be pretty fun. I did have the whole thing planned out all the way to the end, and there's some really incredible stuff I never got to incorporate. If Jim Croce lyrics determined the nature of reality, I'd save time in a bottle and just grind that big ol' bastard out.
That's just it, though: it's a big ol' bastard. In fact, it's a damn near illogically huge bastard of a story. The portion that's been published already is one chapter short of representing roughly a quarter of the entire narrative's probable length. Four novels worth, over four hundred thousand words, close to two-thirds of Fallout: Equestria--whatever way you want to phrase, the fact remains that finishing Harmony would necessitate a huge investment of time and energy. I'm not opposed to spending a week or two on the odd short story for FIMFic, but dedicating months upon months to a project that will never see the financial light of publication has got me feeling a decidedly different type of way. It's decidedly different enough that I haven't fully decided how I feel about it, especially since it is a story that's been comatose for two years and--in my eyes--really hasn't aged well.
And so now, to help me figure this out, I turn to you. I need you guys to tell me how you'd feel if I were to buckle down and start working on Harmony again.
Please note the phrasing I just used, though: your opinions are going to help me figure out how I feel about this, not force me towards one decision or the other. One possibility is that I get a hundred comments begging me to start the fic up again, and I decide to move on in favor of newer projects anyway. Another possibility is that no one responds to this, and I end up hopping back in the steampunk saddle again just for my own sake. Either way, it's very unlikely that I'm going to finish the entirety of Harmony in one straight effort, and virtually impossible that I'd get it all done without publishing any of it as I just did with Gifted.
Should I refire Harmony's proverbial engines again, here's how I'm thinking it'd work. In outline form, the story is broken up into several expansive "levels", each of which represents a somewhat self-contained narrative about Ruby and Link that advances the overall plot. The Farmer's Market level (read as: the one I was in the middle of when the project well belly-up) has one chapter left in it, and then one more chapter will follow that one as a stand-alone section. After that, there are six more "levels" planned out before the story ends, making for a total of eight sections including the two already published. Were I to return to working on Harmony, I would treat each of these "levels" as its own separate novella--or in other words, as an individual project a la Gifted. Practically, this means that I'd draft a "level" to completion, edit it, publish it in chapter chunks, and then move on to another long-form project--which could just as easily be a completely different story as it could be the next "level", depending on what I'm interested in working on at the time.
The negative side of this plan is that it would drag out the eventual completion of Harmony even further, as large gaps could pass between "levels" if another project catches my attention. To that end, this plan is also very sensitive to advancements in my writing career--if, for example, hell froze over and Firestarters took off as an original series, I'd drop Harmony like third-period French and go all-in on whatever's earning me real-world money and reputation. The positive side, however, is rather straightforward: at some point, I presumably would finish Harmony. It'd be a personal source of pride for me, and I hope a source of quality entertainment for you.
That being said, there's another option on the table for how this Harmony business could play out. If you'd rather not go through all that will-he-won't-he stuff and just get this whole thing over with, I'm also open to posting an edited and annotated (but complete) edition of the story's outline as a blog post here, detailing exactly where I would've gone with it and all the technicolor ponies I would've lit on fire along the way. Again, I'm basing the validity of that plan in part on your comments, so for no other sake than clarity, don't hesitate to speak up. To sum up, though, those are the three options I'm considering for what to do with Harmony: give up the ghost completely, whittle away at it level by level, or publish the outline and totally give away what the code phrase was. (Yes, there was one. And yes, it was said at least once within what's already published.)
Let me know what you guys think (or if you think anything at all), and regardless of your opinions: thank you all again. Its unfortunate legacy nonwithstanding, Harmony did some great things for me and served as a truly important benchmark in my growth as a writer, and all of you reading it contributed to that. This isn't a life-changing decision I have facing me, just one that I want to give a fair bit of thought. Whatever comes of it, I figure we'll still have some fun.
And that's (finally) all I have to say about that.
(Please don't hate me for not bringing this up until now.)
I totally understand where you're coming from with this. I have one of those of my own—it's called Zenith.
I've actually been wondering about my own place in the fan fiction versus original fiction continuum as of late. It's been more than a year since my last story, and I don't have the excuse of actually having an epic-length story to show for it. As I feel that the fandom's tastes have shifted farther and farther away from my own I've begun to wonder if I've reached the point where it is time to just "let go" of this fandom and once more attempt to write the Great American Novel. It didn't work out so great last time I tried, but thanks to the friends I've made here I now know how to use an em dash and subjunctive prepositions. You're much younger than me, so perhaps you have the energy to actually go through with it and write fan fiction at the same time. For me, with my rapidly greying beard and receding hairline, it will certainly be an either/or proposition.
Congratulations on completing your fan fiction novel. I hope that Firestarter will give you as many returns as the effort you put into it. Know too that when I was halfway through the story in BioShock 3 I actually muttered out loud to myself that "Wow, Harmony's narrative is way better."
Happy Birthday tomorrow if I forget to congratulate you.
Why not do a bit of both? Keep working on it in your offtime as you feel like, but also post the production bible for those who don't want to wait.
Filthy Canadian suggests compromise naturally.
I think it would be great to see Harmony reach its conclusion, but at the end of the day its all up to you. I have another suggestion: If you don't want to work on the story anymore, instead of publishing an outline, why don;t you have somebody else finish it, using your outline to wrap it all up in a neat little bow?
yes
I would feel yes.
Yes is very Harmony yes.
Don't give up. D: Gambatte, Aqua-san!
I would pay you money to write Harmony. Not much money, as I'm a high school student with no notable sources of income, but I would pay you money. That is how much I want that story back.
3410260
I'm a little disappointed that you don't have anything in the pipe after a year. But that's totally fine, I have some other stories of yours I still need to read. I also know that I don't contribute to your financial situation (unless you were to open something up, or ask), so I can't make any claim to your time. But this site is the only way I've ever interacted with you, even if it was a one-sided audience perspective. Is there anywhere else I can see your work? Or your thoughts posted online?
I vote for eventually finishing the sucker. I don't care how long it takes; I'll keep happily reading whatever comes out. fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/013/2/0/ootwist_by_comeha-d7213zw.png i.imgur.com/J8FwB24.png
Well now, I remember enjoying Harmony back in the day, and I expect I'd enjoy it again if you continued.
On the other hand, most of my other memories of Harmony are by now very patchy, and I too have other things to do.
So, basically, I think I'm saying that it would be nice to not have the story ended like this, even with a post on what would have happened, but if you did decide to do that, I'd not now be too broken up about it.
I hope that this helps at least a bit, and good luck with whatever you decide to do.
I would suggest that leaving it unfinished… wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. Though please bear in mind that I say this as someone who also never started it, and so doesn’t have much investment in the story and characters (confession: I was already reading some pretty long stories when you first posted it, so whilst I heard nothing but incredible things, I thought I’d wait for it to finish first. In the end it kind of just dropped off my radar).
But yeah, I have my own version of this. So far as length and how many people were following it are concerned, it's not on the same scale as your one, though for a good year or two it was basically my life. And in terms of my development as a writer, it remains the most important thing I ever wrote, and that includes everything from my creative writing modules in university. Everything from those modules combined.
Without going into details about the various ways in which I totally messed up (there used to be more than two chapters, for instance), there came a point when it occurred to me that, for as much as I didn’t want to admit it, the story was dead, and should stay dead. Thinking about it still makes me feel terrible. But there was no getting round the fact that, at least in my particular case, the time and energy I could’ve spent finishing off my unfinished epic pony fiction from several years ago was better spent concentrating on my original work, which I could then send off to literary agents. In fact, I’m sending off another batch today – again, instead of devoting loads of time to an old story I’ve mostly lost enthusiasm for, I’ve been getting myself used to the whole process of sending my work off, and it’s been invaluable to me.
None of this is to say that a finished Harmony wouldn’t be amazing, or that pony fiction is a waste of time (I’ve never been nearly as active here as I feel I should’ve been, which I really regret. Otherwise, making a fimfic account was honestly one of the best decisions I ever made). But it sounds like possibly Harmony has already served its purpose to you, and if that’s the case then whilst it’s a shame you never finished it, you might be better off moving forwards.
Though you’ve gotta do what feels right, of course, that’s the most important thing. If you do choose to carry on with it just for fun, that’s a completely respectable decision.
Also, good luck with editing Gifted, and congratulations for finishing the rough draft.
Also, happy birthday!
EDIT: Just read the first chapter. I stand by what I said, but I can see why people love this story so much. In particular, the world-building is sublime – your explanations of magical theory were wonderful to read about.
If we are still here commenting on its future then not only are we still interested but we are also willing to wait however long it takes...
The end decision is yours and yours alone. I personally would be happy with either way (finishing the story, or an abridged version that tells how it ends)
I know the feeling.
I'd like to say I have mixed feelings about this, but... honestly, I'd be perfectly okay if you wanted to stop. And I say that as someone who really, really likes Harmony; it was probably my first ever "holy shit this is really good" fanfic and was definitely part of my inspiration to try something long-form myself. But I guess for me, it doesn't need to be longer than it is because it's already filled its purpose. I was in for the quality of the writing, not so much the story. While I'll admit to a certain degree of curiosity about where this was all going, it's currently at a convenient stopping point where I can set it down and let it exist as its own self-contained thing. Unfinished stories can be kinda beautiful too, y'know?
And maybe it's because I'm myself an extremely slow writer who never finishes anything, but I'm also sensitive to the time investment for you. This is an incredibly huge thing you've committed to, and it started a very long time ago. You can't write that much and wait that long without being a different writer than you were when you started, and that's not a bad thing. The only reason I'm keeping up my long-form story is because it's a measure of how much I've grown and improved over time - and as for you, you weren't exactly small beans to begin with. And while it's flattering that you're willing to commit yourself to go backwards to something old just for the sake of making people happy, I'm more interested in seeing what you can do when you flex your muscles in the real world.
Sure, keep pecking at it if you want to. Make a hobby of it. But don't feel at all obligated because of us. We're just a bunch of weirdos on the internet; we don't know what we want. Do whatever, in the long run, is going to make the best art.
I was writing up a reply but then saw 3412282 already said what I was thinking. Either way would be good in my mind. I've enjoyed what you've written so far, thank you for making it!
I would personally adore to see Harmony finished, but that's entirely up to you.
I thought I'd commented, but I guess not.
For me? yeah, I'd love to see you continue it. Very much so.
That said? write what you enjoy more, first. I haven't seen you so happy writing something in a long time until you fell into doing Firestarters. Which I'm VERY much looking forward to.
Please keep writing Harmony, if you just have time to spare.