The Eternal's Garden · 4:18am May 24th, 2018
At the moment I am writing a series of stories that are completely detached from my prior work, which many people know is one ongoing series. The Equis Project series is not complected, but sadly I must focus on gaining a better level of income for myself. My only marketable skill is my writing, so I have begun a new project. I had hoped that people would notice I'm working on something new via the story itself, but this dosn't seem to be the case. My bad, I should have made things more clear.
My current ongoing story, The Adventures of Flesh and Bone. is not related to my prior work, save for being set in a parallel universe to my main AU. One I never used in Lyra-7%. The Adventures of Flesh and Bone is the "first draft" of a project I am working on with the intent to publish as original fiction later on. A project I have entitled "The Eturnal's Garden".
While they currently exist in pony-fic form, they will later be made into original fiction. This will mean extensive rewrites but I have chosen to write them a ponyfics for the first draft so you can enjoy them. These stories will have nothing to do with my prior Equis Project story line. You do not need to read my older work to enjoy this new series. . That said, I am tossing in the occasional tidbit for older fans and re-using some concepts like the way magic works, calendars, and other worldbuildy stuff.
But you can learn from the new stories themselves. For my old readers, it's not EXACTLY the same. This world has ghosts, something which were impossible in my old world. There will be surprises.
If you'd like to read a pony fic about characters living in the remote lands far from Ponyville and Canterlot in a "Steampunk by way of Tomarrowland" setting, with more drama/slice-of-life, a darker tone, and being written for a more mature audience vs my YA Novel standards for the Equis Project... The story begins with:
Just wanted to say I've been enjoying the story so far, even if I don't comment often. I appreciate you writing it in fanfiction form in the first draft, and assume you are looking for criticism? Or is it mainly as a treat for fans?
4869134 I'm looking for criticism. As the story will be re-written hearing things that could be improved is very useful as I INTEND to do all this over again.
But there's another reason I ask for feedback and comments. Self validation. I don't have a job (though I have been searching for years and years). I have very little RL social life, one D&D game with people I dont otherwise hang out with, and two roommates who are usualy at work or asleep when I am awake. If I liked interacting with people IRL I might feel compelled to go make friends, but I don't enjoy that sort of thing much. The only real thing I have to feel like I matter is knowing people enjoy my stories. My D&D group gives me like no feedback other than "Yeah, I had fun." Which makes these fanfics my only source of fulfillment life.
It's painful to admit that to someone but yeah. The reason I reply to most if not all comments on my stories and ask for them on every project is because numbers do not let me know people care. I try and foster discussion, community, and make commenting more fun since I'll talk to readers in the hopes of getting more validation for my existence. So I can believe I'm worth a damn.
FOr this story they are even more important to me than that, as I'm going to try and launch a career as an author with this. After 8 years of job hunting unsuccessfully, it's clear I will only ever be able to support myself and not have to rely on a friend's generosity for room and writing fanfics for my food if I can make money for myself. And the only skill I have is writing.
Some of my other stories got TONS of comments. All the time. They made me feel like I had some talent and could do this. That belief is waning under the recent status of my stories comment levels... I don't know what I'm doing wrong :c I'm providing the kind of content people come here for, arnt I? I'm not bad at this, am I?
4869136
You are a great writer, one of the better ones on this site even. It's just that the fandom has slowed down. Other writers have experienced the same occurrence, and have the same concerns as you do. So the issue isn't you being a bad writer, instead it is the decreased participation of people on FIM Fiction. Sorry if this comment wasn't very helpful, I don't usually comment. :/
4869789
That's incredibly helpfull to hear. I'm not a very stable person mentally. The more people who tell me it's the site and not me the better. I can find new places. webnovel.com looks good. It will actually PAY me to write for it. Not sure how much though.
4869797
Well whatever you choose to do I wish you the best of luck.
4869860 I'll stay here, for the foreseeable future. I like this place.
4870172
I can definitely agree with bokaj, it's the fandom thats slowing down. Your writing is as high quality as ever.
Meep, I agree with Bokaj. The fandom is dying, for real this time.
Before, when new seasons came out, the entire fandom rose up out of slumber and collectively gathered to talk, create, and innovate. But this season...that just didn't happen. The new characters are almost never being incorporated into stories, I see more dead users then living users here, and I'm sure you've noticed viewer count dropping.
I don't want to leave either..but.,