An Update On Guilty Hornet Version 2 · 10:57pm Jul 20th, 2016
It's been quite some time since I last posted anything regarding this story, and for the past few months I've been hard at work mapping out the story and nailing down all its background and world building, with the help of D48, who I've been bouncing ideas off of, and who's served to give some useful feedback on my first drafts of the opening chapters. There's only so much planning you can do, though, and whilst I'll be away on a week's holiday from Saturday, I intend to start properly pushing forwards with the story once I get back.
The plan is to write the first few chapters (I'm thinking about the first five or so; enough to get the new version's plot properly going) and post them every other day until they're all out, at which point I'll switch to updates on a hopefully weekly basis from there on out. Chapters will follow the template of my other story, as writing long chapters tends to get me bogged down and demotivated in my writing, and therefore will be shorter than the first version's chapters (about 3000-4000 words). This means about three or four scenes each chapter, with an emphasis on scene quality over quantity, and an easier job keeping up with updates.
I'm going to take the rest of this week to finalise planning, then get right into things the moment I'm back from holiday. The first chapter is mostly finished already, but that still leaves about four more to do before I start uploading, which I'd estimate as happening about a month from now, all going to plan. After such a long wait, I want to make sure you have a sizeable chunk of story to start off with this time, and that the new path Guilty Hornet will be taking is clear to you all long before I switch to weekly or fortnightly updates.
Thanks for all the patience, and feel free to ask any questions that come to mind about the new path I'm taking the story. As always, I'll respond to any and all comments ASAP, and I look forward to finally showing you the results of all this work and planning.
Woo, good news, everyone!
I look forward to reading the new and improved version! Will it be starting from the same initial premise as the old version?
Good luck, I'll look forward to it.
4104080
Yes, it will. Chrysalis will still have mortally wounded Twilight and must again try to save her, much like in the first version, but it hopefully won't get pushed aside like it did the first time around. The other half of the original premise - working with ponies to keep the country working - is also returning, although with different characters. What's being lost, plot-wise, are things like the infighting between the changelings, Chrysalis having to trade her happy memories to the draconequus, Seeker, in return for information which could save Twilight, and Princess Luna making a direct threat against Chrysalis (she was even going to have an army later on). Generally, I'm moving away from trying to set up big fight scenes and all that and focusing more on the characters' struggles, although even the first one didn't have all that much fighting. I was going to have a full-blown changeling civil war at some point in the original (which is not returning in this version, because it's silly) which is why there were so many named changelings so early on - I was going to do a Game of Thrones and kill a lot of them off!
Most of the major changes have come from a character perspective, rather than a plot one. Spike, for instance, is much more important as he'll be directly helping Chrysalis save Twilight. Starlit Scrolls has been replaced with two members of the Mane 5, to split her role as a friend and as someone to help ponies and changelings cooperate into two different characters, for ease of writing and for conflict between the two roles. There are also less changeling main characters and more pony ones than last time for necessity's sake, due to the way the second half of the premise is being done this time. I've scaled back the changeling ruling council to just 4 changelings, excluding Chrysalis herself, of which some are not always present: High Imperator Labium (still her military commander), Duke Mollis (now Chrysalis's Praetorian Captain as well, due to me combining those two characters), Princess Maxilla (not often present as she's looking after the Changeling civilians outside of Canterlot) and Lady Slate (mostly working in the background to keep things running).
As a change from last time, the ponies now have a proper ruling council of their own, with which Chrysalis must cooperate to keep things running, which is led by Prince Blueblood and Fancy Pants. Blueblood isn't a cliche antagonist this time around, by the way: although he certainly won't be on the changelings' side, he will be just as much of a character as anyone. There will also be a lot more interaction with Celestia and Cadence than last time, and Luna's threat will be much more subtle than it was. Canterlot's citizens will also have a role to play, and the nation's perception of Chrysalis will come into the story from time to time.
I hope this helps!
4104389
Thanks! I look forward to sharing it with you.
4104401 Sounds like it'll be a great read! I can't wait!
To be honest, when I compare The Twilight Citadel to Guilty Hornet, there is a stark contrast between how Chrysalis runs things in your story, and in mine. For example, much less doom and gloom compared to mine.
But this isn't about me, this is about your interesting concept of Chrysalis actually working with ponies to continue running Equestria instead of outright replacing everything and making it to her image.
This story had a lot of potential when I first read it a few months back. I liked the idea of how you portrayed Chrysalis in a rather non-violent light, as opposed to the numerous other stories that give her off to be a blood-thirsty conqueror. In this story, the fact that she's actually trying to save Twilight from certain death while dealing with political struggles both inside and outside her own people makes it all the more intriguing to me.
I hope everything falls into place for you, and that I can read your revised story in the future.
(P.S. Haven't I seen you before Cross Lament?)