The Schedule, the Break, the Contest, and a Turn's Afterthoughts · 1:47pm Dec 8th, 2018
A Magic Turn of Events is over, but let's get to what the schedule looks like first:
- The Gift Givers of the Grove fic: The week of December 9 to 15 will be a hectic one for me, which explains why I'll take the full week to do the first chapter. Expect it to drop either on the 14th or the 15th. Turns out I'm likely to overshoot the end of the year, but, given what's coming up next, I aim to end it by January 5 (Saturday) at most unless things really don't go according to plan.
- As is celebrated tradition, I'll be going here and there in real life to participate in the Christmas festivities throughout the rest of December. This may push me to write more or write less per day, depending on how I choose to tackle it. As much as I want to churn out words, I know my priorities.
- After the end of the Gift GIvers of the Grove fic (or during it if things go spectacularly out of joint), I'll be taking a break from writing from January 7 to 12. I may or may not respond to private messages during this time, but there'll be no writing for me during this time.
- I've joined the Season 9 Bingo Writing Contest, which means I'll be posting a short story after the January break. Expect that to come out and finish before February.
- Finally, I'll start working on A War's sequel.
Granted, this isn't set in stone. God has better plans than I have, and if He sees fit to change it around, then so be it.
Now, on to A Magic Turn of Events after the fact. Spoilers ahead...which may not be much since this is an anthology.
How do you love trash?
In a way, Turn is a fic that shouldn't have existed. It only did because I botched the story of Magical Curiosity and railroaded it to something that fit my fancy during the time. I was as stumped as the characters there in trying to solve the magical leaks. So, I decided to not care and say, "Let's turn the world into another Equestria because I don't care at this point. I want to be done with it."
Somewhere along the way, though, the idea for Turn came up. Why did I push through with it? It felt like a logical conclusion to things. Yes, I did say that it's heavily inspired by FanOfMostEverything's Group Precipitation, but, really, in a world where everyone suddenly turned into ponies or griffons or what have you, it'd be a shame to leave that thread hanging.
I guess that's when I really got into the good part of this world.
Writing an anthology was harder than I thought. I'd have to think of a new short story every two or three days and act on it. The hiatus I went on did help, but for most of the time, I had to wing it. A lot of times. (Many wings weren't harmed in the making of this story.)
Past the first chapter (which was really a way to ease myself into this anthology thing), it was overall fun to write about a changed Earth. Seeing Wallflower finally get recognized for her gardening work albeit under magical circumstances and as a witch, having Sunset and friends record some public service announcements to help the world at large, properly writing one of the sirens for the first time, dealing with a positive take on living for thousands of millennia, handling an Equestria Girls version of the Young Six, letting Gloriosa enjoy some Gaea powers for a good purpose, watching uplifted horses do things...and just beholding Earth's new dynamic.
Yes, there are blunders which are wholly my fault. Cadance ruling over Earth's Crystal Empire and Crystal Prep and a love counselor's office is too much for someone who'd just turned into a very powerful alicorn. A.K. Yearling's chapter before I looked at it again was an unfocused mess, and several of the chapters here in general were pretty poor when it comes to, well, staying focused on one or two things.
Perhaps I'm still not used to anthology writing.
After my stint with A Volunteer at the Bureau going back to this fic felt ominous in a good way. I returned with only three chapters to go, and two out of three had already been in my mind for some time. Also, transitioning from Los Angeles which I've never been to to Equestria's Earth which I could never ever go to at all probably helped; I was more familiar with the latter, funnily enough.
One thing I did notice near the end was the interactions of characters from both worlds. It was an entertaining puzzle, to say the least, having to figure out how to differentiate the two Trixies, the two Rainbow Dashes, the two Coloraturas, the two Junipers, and so on.
As for the finale...well, I hoped it was a fitting end. A return to normalcy, even if it's a different kind of normalcy. I like circles, so having it all end in the same café that sparked this beautiful mess of a duology in the first place is fitting. Well, to me, at least. I'm not sure if it's fitting to other people.
Will I return to it? Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know, really. The schedule I have ahead of me is tight and leaves no room for a one-shot chapter once in a while...unless it happens anyway.
Overall, both Curiosity and Turn were eye-openers to me. I took the rising popularity of Curiosity and let it get into my head. I cut it short with an abrupt ending which I expanded upon with Turn, coming at it with a milder approach.
I'm thankful God has allowed me to go through that. I shouldn't be coasting my way through this.
And, well, enjoy the songs with the word magic in them.
