Cadance and the Wedding Crashers Postscript · 3:59am Aug 31st, 2019
this... this was an adventure. (warning! spoilers for story discussed)
according to the file data i first started this thing around the end of June, so like the very start of my summer what with my spring courses and all. kind of fitting in retrospect how a project i began with the start of this season ended with it.
i remember typing out maybe a couple hundred words or so for [something old] around the same time i did for creative capitalist ch 1. though it wasn't until later that i expanded upon it to maybe 6-700 ish and attempted to upload it to fimfic. until i noticed the thousand word requirement and had to go back in to edit. after that everything really was off the cuff impulse decisions which i felt really undercut the pacing between the third and forth chapters.
the interactions of the characters really wasn't something i planned out very well, believe me if i had i would have included the ladybug thing when cady met twilight. that first exchange between them will always be a moment of pure undiluted cringe for me.
ultimately what really held back the release of the beast that was chapter four was the character interactions, and me trying desperately to get them right. in my head there was always a plan to get them out of the cave in time, but the characters didn't know that. i had to erase and rewrite that entire section twice over to remove the tension destroying snark that i couldn't help but shove into my first pass at that scene. it was a really new experience to try and insert myself into the limited perspective of an actor in my little drama, to try and see things as hopeless when i knew they would all work out. i had to really fight myself to preserve the tone of the situation as much as i could in those segments, something i hope to get better with in time.
its very interesting to be in the position of an all seeing author needing to remind yourself of the mortality of your characters.
another difficult bit was trying to get their individual personalities right. something i'm not convinced i achieved. cadance needed to be a more feeling character than the fact focused book horse, but i had no idea how to organically advance the plot or any really inkling of a real personality/flaw for evan. thus i interceded their discussion with evan's "brilliant plan", forwarding the situation while also introducing something new about that character, his dangerous impulsiveness. something i hope to explore as both a negative and positive of his character in the future.
when it comes to the lavender scented unicycle i'm not sure what i was supposed to do with her in this specific of a situation. especially considering this is more cadance's story than hers. even in the show she's just really the pov. most of her drama comes from the way everyone else acted around her when she was trying to out chrysalis. i ended up unable to really put her in a room against her "enemies" in this story given the limited time frame of the scenario i chose, so again here's hoping i can explore on this particular drama thread more in the future.
this really was cadance's story, she's the one most affected by everything. her special day is ruined, her husband taken, her family loved ones and entire nation put in danger, and i fear i may have failed her in this regard. the whole bit with the pistol and evan going ahead was my unfortunately rushed attempt at repairing this, and sure her saving evan at the last minute and critically wounding the architect of all her pain is big. i just don't think i made it big enough. thus her character and re-affirmation of herself is something i shall have to endeavor to make priority of in future installments; when cadence gets the band back together.
ultimately what most inhibited the writing process as a whole was my planning for the sequel. should i set up x in y scene, or can i even begin to make that organic and un-obvious foreshadowing? all the future characters i wanted to introduce, the new villains and story lines that i knew would be infinitely better than this one but nonetheless would necessitate this one existing before them. character arcs were set up for figures i hadn't even introduced yet where concluded in epic fashion, great battles held in star-lit skies reached amazing pay offs, awful tragedies i concocted ended in heart warming genuine resolutions. yet i became irritated at my own story as it wasn't the sequel, it was holding me back i felt. now those stories i dreamed of reaching are the new slog i must suffer through to tell the new stories i have thought of in that time.
being a writer is a very weird kind of mental space.
i feel that this work has proved itself my "force awakens", a deeply flawed piece with much room for improvement but generally decent. so here's hoping my next installment is more "empire" than than "TLJ" (god i hated that movie). wish me luck.
-thank you all for your support and positive comments during the creation of this work, if you have any thoughts on the work in question (don't fret he'll get the liset back), my particular writing style, etc; any form of constructive criticism is heartily welcomed. the sooner i improve the less i'll suck in the future.
I loved The Last Jedi, but whatever....