An Update Of Sorts

As far as fanfic goes, I'm currently actively working on three stories. Two of them are new ones I mentioned when I ended my hiatus - Rariquest and Her Chosen Princess of the Sun. As an aside, I've found Cozy Glow's character to be quite close to the character I was going for with Sunset Shimmer in Her Chosen Princess of the Sun, though the role they fill is very different so I still want to get around to writing that eventually. The bigger issue is the Season 9 Premiere addressed the same themes that I'm planning on addressing in Her Chosen Princess of the Sun, but I think the story I'm trying to tell addresses it better. Both stories are on the back burner though, as my primary focus is on finally getting around to finishing Doomflower. While it's the least known of my stories and was poorly received, I actually consider it to be my best story, especially once I pull the ending off. I also need to at least finish the next chapter as I have an ongoing commission where it's release is to be simultaneous with the completion of the chapter. I probably would have not only that chapter finished, but the entire story, if it wasn't for one thing.

I have started working on a novel. I've had to prioritize working on it because I joined a writing group, and I need to submit a chapter every couple weeks, so no time to write other stuff. Hopefully I'll have more time to work on writing after I graduate, I plan on getting Doomflower finished over the summer before I enter my PhD program in the fall. In the meantime, I'll tell you a bit more about the novel. First, it's not fanfic. Not only is my writing group not a fan group, but I personally don't find that fanfic works well as novels. That being said, if you've liked my previous stories like Learn to Fly or Heavy Metal Fluttershy, you'd probably like this as it explores similar themes, it's just written MUCH better as after all these years I've gotten much better at writing. It also takes some influence from Friendship is Magic itself, for example being centered around colorful non-humans, in fact I had originally envisioned this story as a children's show, and it probably contains some less superficial elements as well. The name of this novel is Octophagia: Eight Ways to Eat and Be Eaten. It's about an octopus girl named Sarella whose a bit different from peers, preferring the accompany of a scientist (think Marty McFly and Doc Brown, except Sarella is the weird one), and how she get's caught up in a struggle much greater than herself. The fundamental question this story explores is why do people hurt themselves. If you're interested in reading it, let me know, I'm about to finish the first part and after I do I plan on sharing it with a few people outside of my writing group.