A Prench Tale Part 1 Conclusion & Part 2 Release Date · 10:08am Apr 17th, 2019
Hello dear readers!
Part 1 of A Prench Tale comes to a close today with Chapter 7. The story will resume with Part 2 and Chapter 8, which will be posted on May First!
I want to thank you all for taking the time to read my story, and I hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I enjoyed writing it! Your feedback is always appreciated, as well as any constructive criticism, so if you have a question, or think that some bits could be improved, or if you would appreciate to see a little more or a little less of some specific elements, please post a comment below to let me know!
~ A little behind-the-scenes look at Part 1 ~
A Prench Tale is my first published fanfic, so naturally this came with its lot of little hurdles and surprises...
But first off, let's talk about what could be two quite divisive elements:
Why a Five Score fic?
Five Score, Divided by Four is the second MLP fanfic I've ever read, after Anthropology. Like many others I found the narrative of Five Score entrancing, and it's still one of my favorite fics.
However, I wasn't planning on jumping on the side-fic bandwagon at all – especially so late! To be honest I was content to keep lurking around Fimfiction for my daily dose of ponies without ever trying to write a fic myself, for two reasons – I didn't think I could have interesting ideas to write about in the context of pony fanfiction, and I was already pretty busy with my original fiction (which includes non-MLP ponies anyway).
And yet, with time, I started to play with concepts and idea... No 'big concepts' that would serve as the backbone to original fanfics, but little scenarios that could be placed into pre-existing narratives to explore some of their core ideas under a slightly different light. This was, in part, in reaction to some tropes and narratives oft-seen in transformation-centered stories (TF is also often a big part of my original fiction works), and I was led back to Five Score for its very specific take on the relation between transformation and identity. That's how the characters of A Prench Tale and their adventures came about. Still, I wasn't planning on turning them into a published fanfic either...
Since those first ideas I have developed various other fanfic concepts set in their own universes (I'm currently working on eight of them), but the characters of A Prench Tale kept tugging at my heartstrings – so much that their story, including its offshoots, is now my largest planned fanfic work. So, even if I was pretty anxious at the idea of publishing a story set in a known 'verse, I decided this could still be an adventure worth sharing!
Why France?
Simply put? To my knowledge, the continental European setting wasn't especially explored in the Five Score universe, and this would allow me the required freedom of action to build the stories I had in mind. As for France itself, the country represents an important crossroad for all of Western Europe, and its demographic, environmental and political diversity opened interesting storyline ideas (oh and I speak some French, so it was fun to use that too). Further down the road I also plan to include characters and settings from other European countries.
Publishing A Prench Tale
I've been working on this story for a while, but I'm still a very slow writer. That's why, when I published Prologue and Chapter 1, I wanted to also have at least two or three more chapters mostly ready to go. That way I could publish chapters weekly without rushing to write a full chapter each week.
That... didn't really work out as intended... ^^'
I ended up publishing all my chapter backlog on the same day, after some expeditious proofreading. I still think this was the right move, as it gave a better idea of where the fic would be going with respect to the characters and the themes of the story (oh, and that way we also reached the point were the characters were full ponies...), but that also put a huge pressure on my production plans for the three remaining chapters of Part 1...
Chapter 5 wasn't too hard to complete, as ~47% of its length was already written, shaved off from the end of Chapter 4 to keep it at a reasonable, less-than-10,000 wordcount (Chapters 2 and 3 were originally one single chapter, just like 4 and 5). Chapter 5 still got to +10,000 words, though.
The real challenge was Chapter 6 – which I consider to be kind of a make-or-break chapter. I ended up at almost 18,000 words, ~96% written in the span of one week. Considering my usual daily word output is between 1,500 to 2,000 words (edition included, and that's if I spend the whole day writing), this was a bit intense. Actually I was so late on my schedule, I chose to publish the chapter without proofreading (did that the day after).
I could have split Chapter 6 up into two parts, like for 2-3 and 4-5 (the break would have occurred at the end of Amber's second part), and maybe that would have been the right thing to do, but I was really attached to the idea of 'Chapter 6 as one single entity', and with a chapter title like 'Defiance', I opted to keep it in one piece. This came with its sacrifices, however...
There's a song in Chapter 6. Right now you only have the lyrics, directly integrated into the text. My initial plan, though, was to also propose vocals and music. I just didn't have the time to write the chapter, and compose and record those parts – not with a satisfying quality. Maybe this is serendipity, for multiple reasons: songs are a real gamble in the first place, they could pull the reader out of the narrative, or feel tacky; if this one doesn't work, I could ax this aspect for future chapters (as of now, I plan for one song per Part). There's also the fact that I have almost no experience writing and performing music, and I'm barely more experienced with the vocals part; this could prove to be a complete disaster. Therefore, I will work on this during the pause between Part 1 and Part 2, and we'll see if it's worth it or not!
I look forward to picking this up again in May! A great start so far, and I love the consistent release schedule and quality, you make a wonderful author.
5045736
Thank you! ^^ I'll keep doing my best, and I hope to improve along the way!
Hi
Enjoying reading the fic, I have a few questions I wanted to ask though. Also thanks for not using the friendly human characters as disposable cannon fodder whose only purpose is to die shortly after being introduced.
1. I noted in an earlier chapter when Ambre or Laurence (I cant remember which) implied that there might be more going on with chads identity with regards to gender than what chad is stating on the surface. Is this potential foreshadowing for the future? or am I just interpreting this the wrong way, with chads identity being already being fully settled as a male? Apologies if this question comes across as a bit stupid, I just wasn't entirely sure due to how the themes of identity have been used throughout the story so far.
2. Roughly how long do you plan for the story to be in terms of parts/chapters?
3. Apart from Ambre (and possibly Chad depending on the answer to my previous question) will there possibly be any other gender related stuff in this story in the future?
4. What was the city where the opening portion of the story was set?. I know it was stated to be in southern France, but Im not sure if the name itself was stated. Or was it only set in a vague location in southern France and not an actual pre existing city in real life?
5 Last one. What, if any, plans for fics do you have after this story is finished? Or writing work in general outside of fimfiction?
Thanks for looking at these questions and answering (if you did), I look forward to the story's return in May!
5048646
Hi!
Lots of interesting questions here! I'll do my best to answer each of them.
1. Sarah/Chad/Sweetchard's gender identity
It's not a stupid question at all! This could be seen as foreshadowing, yes, and this specific issue will be addressed directly in Part 2.
The discussion in Chapter 4 on Chad's gender identity was started by Ambre:
Chad understood it as a general 'how do you feel?', but Ambre was really asking if he was experiencing any kind of gender-related body dysphoria, just like she did before she transitioned. Her question wasn't completely innocent though, as she wanted to test her own hypothesis on how the change acted relative to gender identity. Later, in Chapter 5, when Chad decides to adopt a masculine name, this is how Amber reacted:
For Ambre this would be extremely validating, as whatever acted to transform her recognized her as a woman first and foremost. This is also why, during the discussion in Chapter 4, she was trying to ask Chad if he had ever wanted to be a man – if he did, then just like her the change would have reacted to it – and suggested that, even if he didn't wish for it consciously, maybe he still yearned for it deep-down.
We'll see further down the road if Ambre was right, or if her personal stakes in Chad's answers clouded her judgment...
2. Length of the story
As of now, A Prench Tale consists of 8 Parts, not including the Prologue and the Epilogue. All the 'Parts' of the story will not be of equal length, and each one will include between 4 to 6 chapters – though this could change later on, as for example Part 1 was only supposed to be 5 chapters long.
The story of A Prench Tale centers on its characters and their evolution, rather than a unique overarching plot. Each 'Part' is supposed to be its own little story, a bit like the successive seasons of a TV show, and is built around leading questions. Part 1 focused on the change itself, naturally, and its immediate consequences: 'What is happening to us?', 'What are we?', 'How can we survive in a now hostile world?'. Just as 'Change' was the operative word of Part 1, the one for Part 2 would be 'Rights'.
Sequels are also planned, following the same pattern of 'each Part is a small story' and should be roughly of the same length. I thought about splitting each Part of A Prench Tale into its own fic, but I fear it would prove counter-productive with regards to the continuous development of the characters, even if splitting the story would make easier to insert new Parts if needed. Each Part will still be clearly delineated in the story's description.
3. Gender related stuff
Every main pony cast member of A Prench Tale has experienced or will experience gender-related shenanigans – even if some don't know it yet – and questions of gender, both social and physical, will keep being explored throughout the story. Ambre isn't the only character for which transgender topics will be discussed, even if the 'magical gender transformation' kind of gender issues will be more prevalent.
4. The city
The unnamed city of Part 1 has been modeled after Montpellier, including its tramway lines, its proximity to both sea and rural countryside, and its important tech sector.
The city wasn't explicitly identified in the story for two reasons: to keep the focus on the characters rather than their environment, and because, quite simply, the characters didn't have much reason to think 'we are here'.
Future locations will be more clearly defined as characters go from one to the other, especially when said locations are of personal significance (as we'll see in Part 2).
5. The future
A Prench Tale will take some time to be completed, especially considering its sequels, but I plan to write other pony fics on the side.
I'm currently about halfway finished with a shortish one-shot that I should release in the coming days. I also have 3 short stories planned, two trilogies of novel-length stories, and one sprawling, multi-part story of the same magnitude as A Prench Tale – though this one will be released as separate fics in a series.
Beside my work for Fimfiction, I write for my own original universes that I've been developing continuously for the past 15 years. To qualify the main one of 'sprawling' would be... kind of an understatement
A lot of the concepts I explore in A Prench Tale and other fanfics are also found in my universes, of course – transformations, gender and identity stuff, etc.
I hope I answered all your questions to your satisfaction!
5048878
Thanks for the answers!
May I ask if any of the stuff you have done outside fimfiction is published anywhere? Incase I wanted to do some reading in the future. If its not then dont worry, Just wondering.
5048912
No, my other stuff isn't published yet, but that's on me – I've completed two novels but never sent them to an editor...
That's not a bad thing though. I wrote them ~10 years ago and my writing style has improved a lot since then, and I'm currently working on a short novel that I hope will be my first published book.