New Story · 4:12pm Mar 4th, 2022
Introducing a new story set in the world of Equestrian Business:
For the first of many times over the next few weeks, I wish to thank my editor, Hope, for helping me to polish this story into its current state.
Giving Yourself Advice is set twenty-five years after Equestrian Business. It uses the (human) world and some of the characters from the earlier novel, but the plots of the two stories do not interact. Therefore I believe it can be read even by people who haven’t read Equestrian Business and for that reason I’m including the relevant “Cliff’s Notes” in author’s notes before the relevant chapters.
Also, I’ve decided to go along with the current FimFiction practice of publishing blog posts alongside each chapter with notes, instead of just sticking them all the “Credits & Acknowledgements” chapter at the end. (Well, I’m also including the C&A; you can’t really have a McPoodle story without one.)
It has been a custom of mine to completely finish my stories first, then publish the chapters on a schedule. I do this to encourage engagement—I think the story becomes more exciting if the reader is forced to try and guess what’s going to happen next rather than just clicking the link to go straight to the next chapter. However, this story has a dozen main characters, with the plot skipping between each of them; I don’t know about you, but I would have a hard time remembering what the pony Applejack was doing five or six weeks ago when she shows up again this week. Therefore, I am publishing one part per week, with the chapters in each part being published a day apart within that week.
Here's the full schedule:
- Prologue: Friday, March 4.
- Part 1: Week of March 11–17. Chapter 1 (Friday, 3/11), Chapter 2 (Saturday, 3/12), Chapter 3 (Sunday, 3/13), Chapter 4 (Monday, 3/14), Chapter 5 (Tuesday, 3/15), Chapter 6 (Wednesday, 3/16).
- Part 2: Week of March 18–24. Chapter 7 (Friday, 3/18), Chapter 8 (Saturday, 3/19), Chapter 9 (Sunday, 3/20), Chapter 10 (Monday, 3/21), Chapter 11 (Tuesday, 3/22), Chapter 12 (Wednesday, 3/23).
- Part 3: Week of March 25–31. Chapter 13 (Friday, 3/25), Chapter 14 (Saturday, 3/26), Chapter 15 (Sunday, 3/27), Chapter 16 (Monday, 3/28), Chapter 17 (Tuesday, 3/29).
- Part 4: Week of April 1–7. Chapter 18 (Friday, 4/1), Chapter 19 (Saturday, 4/2), Chapter 20 (Sunday, 4/3), Chapter 21 (Monday, 4/4), Chapter 22 (Tuesday, 4/5), Chapter 23 (Wednesday, 4/6), Chapter 24 (Thursday, 4/7).
- Part 5: Week of April 8–14. Chapter 25 (Friday, 4/8), Chapter 26 (Saturday, 4/9), Chapter 27 (Sunday, 4/10), Chapter 28 (Monday, 4/11).
- Epilogue, Credits & Acknowledgements: Friday, April 15.
Yes, this is going to be a long story. 177K words, just barely the longest story I’ve ever published on this site. That’s another reason why I’m publishing it in installments: so as not to intimidate people who might be put off by the total length.
Now as a reward for being a follower and reading this far, I’m going to confide something to you that I’m otherwise not going to reveal until the Credits & Acknowledgements: this story is explicitly designed to be evocative. In every chapter you should be asking at least one question that I will not be answering by the end of the story. Yes, some of them are there as sequel bait, but most of them are there to get you the reader to imagine the stuff I’m leaving out, to make the world of this story your own. I would love nothing better than if some of the readers of this story are inspired to invent their own stories, regardless of whether or not those stories ever see the light of day. This story is set at the beginning of both the Friendship Is Magic and Equestria Girls franchises, at twin moments of wonder when anything was possible. Don’t be sad that these two series are over, be glad that they belong to us now.
Update, 3/16: Split the over-long Chapter 7 in half, and adjusted schedule accordingly.
And how. Looking forward to seeing how much of the bait makes my muse bite.
(Also, very glad I thought to read this announcement post at some point.
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Not sure when I'll get to this story, as I have a sizeable backlog of others already, but we'll see, and I hope, whenever and whether or not I get to it, that it goes well. :)