Brainstorming: Celestia XVII-2 · 8:16pm May 17th, 2018
Hey guys, I could use some help.
To make a long story short: I have a rough outline for Celestia XVII-2 in my head, but I'm realizing it might be too complicated for its own good: trying to cram Discord, and Slice of Life, and a romance, and "A Canterlot Wedding" parts 1 and 2 as separate, parallel plot threads is rapidly getting confusing, both to write and to read.
I'm still trying to hash out something I'm comfortable with, but I was wondering if you guys had any ideas. The project's not dead yet--I'm super-excited to write both Celestia XVII-3 and -4--but this has me stumped. Any ideas for how to streamline these plot threads, or cut a few of them out, or something?
In the meantime, I'm hacking out a quick one-shot I've had in mind for a while--a cyberpunk tale called "Midnight at the Blackbriar Opera." Hopefully, that will post within the next few days. I'll keep you posted!
Trying to coordinate both Discord and the wedding seems like a bit much, especially if they're occuring in parallel. Probably best to focus more on the former so you don't suffer villain dilution.
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Good point--but that's some of the trouble I'm having. Both Discord and Chrysalis advance the plot in different ways, and I'm not sure how to comfortably fold the two together. Discord is probably the more important of the two--but I also love the romance angle of the wedding...
I'd divide Discord and the Wedding into two stories... it appears that it'd work better that way.
While my own interests are simple (slice-of-life and finally giving poor Celly a shoulder to cry it all out on.
), I have definite experience in making intelligent cuts. Ask yourself if it advances the character arcs or meaningfully change them, and if it doesn't, consider setting a plot aside. I personally prefer Discord to Chryssi (changeling paranoia plots have become too common to be enjoyable for me), but only you know which works better.
I say split the Discord and Chrysalis stuff into three stories (Discord as the main villain for story two, the slice of life stuff for story three [both to provide a breather following the second story AND to set-up certain details for the FOURTH story] and save Chrysalis's invasion for story four).
After all, the better super-hero movies have taught us that it is wiser to NOT try to do too much in one story.
As several people have pointed out separate the Discord and Chrysalis from each other. The romance plot can start in the Discord part and finish up at the wedding arc.
Go for the Larson OC captain as dad
1) for the lulz
2) so you can plausibly say the reason no guards have appeared is because they all stay in the shadows to respect his wishes