So!

I went on a bit of a vacation. Technically, I'm still on vacation. More technically, I am in a place that counts as "vacationy" because I don't have access to my sweet rig of a desktop computer. I thought, while in this vacation-type-location, I would have a ton of free time, and with that freetime, I would be a writing MACHINE.

Instead, I bought a bunch of cute tops and played a lot of Pokemon. Heart Gold, so I could turn around and glomp my Nidoking at a moment's notice. Apparently it was the best idea in the world to try for an ALL POISON POKEMON TEAAAAAAMMMMM. Very fun. Doesn't get much writing done. But fun is what counts.

Technically my deadline for the chapter is tomorrow. But I suppose I'm going to have to ask my fair readers to be a bit more patient with me. Looks like it's going to be a two week wait, not a ten day wait

I leave you with a teaser: The next chapter will contain everybody's favorite ship ever.

not ready yet

false alarm

go read something awesomer

EDIT: just needs a few quick edits, forgot it was an older draft....

chapter should be back up in less than an hour

EDIT2: chapter's back up. um. sorry about that, early readers. @_@

This is a link to my blog.

You will see there, as the top post, or at least a post very close to the top, I have opened my ask box to writing requests.

So.

Dearest readers.

Is there anything, anything at all, that you want to see me attempt?

Seriously. It's like I'm up on a high dive and I'm just itching for somebody to dare me to jump.  I'm looking for a challenge, or rather, a bunch of challenges to get the brain juices flowing.

Steadfast chapter is nearly done. I have all weekend to write.

So.

*cracks knuckles*

I'm going to write.

This redesign of Zelda was going around tumblr.

So I wrote The Ruler From Within The Locked Room.

And I feel FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC

Right here!

I only mentioned it because I wrote a lot of Sombra stuff this chapter, along with a bunch of other gags. And you all know how awesome I write shadow-based villains Srsly, ManWithTwoNames made me tone him down some. He was too badass for zany screwball comedy like L&H. But i'm still proud of these gags, so I'd like to share them with you.

Fair warning: Adult humor and Sex jokes. Nothing explicit, comparable to something like a Quagmire episode of Family Guy.

And Cadence is Quagmire.

I’ve deleted A Canterlot Gift and A Canterlot Tea Party from my FimFiction archive. There are a couple different overlapping philosophies that made me really decide to sit down and pull them.

The thing is, as any kind of artist, you’re going to make a ton of stuff that you’re not completely happy with. Part of creation is accepting the fact that you will not work to a hundred percent efficiency as making every single thing an absolute masterpiece. You have to try your best when you’re not operating at your best. You have to be able to work without being inspired to work. You have to accept failures as part of the learning process. Get through the bad days with the hope that you’ll eventually hit the good days.

Gift and Tea Party were both my bad days. My off work. the stuff I felt like I had to get through to get to the good part. I thought around and around and around them for months, trying to perfect and refine them into something presentable. I was locked into the mindset: “this is what has to happen. I have to do this. There is no other way around this problem. I have to suck it up and swallow the pain.”

The result was those two chapters. Both had their own merits, but both just existed because they HAD to.

Not because I wanted them too.

I realized the other day that I had become so obsessed with doing things “right” that I had forgotten a much more important thing about storytelling. About the way that I approach a story, and how I work to make things fun and interesting.

You should not sit down with the mindset “I have to come up with a creepy scene so I can come up with a rescue scene.” When you sit down at the computer, the first thought should not be “I want to build a good structure.”

When you sit down to write, your first and foremost thought should be “I want to write a good story.”

Writing a story, to me, is finding the love and connection you have to what you want to say. It’s not about clicking facts off a checklist. It’s not about this happening, that happening, and then also this happening. Everything that happened in Gift and Tea Party is technically ‘canon’ and a ‘fact’ of the story. But if I wasn’t interested in telling the story, then why in the world would people be interested in reading it?

So I stopped. I stopped right dead and told myself no. It shouldn’t and doesn’t have to be like this. Total do-over. We’re skipping past the bullshit and getting right to the stuff I want to say. I took down the Gift and Tea Party so the pacing didn’t shit itself as we went a completely different direction. Because once you have the story you want to tell, there’s no reason to kick all of structure in the teeth.

Canterlot Gift and Tea Party can still be read, if you’re still interested. Gift can be read here, and Canterlot Tea Party can be found here.

New Discord episode, huh? I think every Discord blog on the planet has had the microphone shoved in their face, chattermouths demanding: "Hey. Ms. Author Blogger Man. How will this new episode affect your headcanons? Will this mean you have to change the entire story? Will this radically change EVERYTHING?!"

Here is Steadfast answer:

IDGAF

tUmUt

Imma delete some of my last chapters. If you want a reason why, don't blame the episode for this. Blame Quentin Tarantino.

Because, there's a difference between sitting down to spin a good story, and sitting down to build a good structure.

... Though this may get a little rambly. Trying to sort out my thoughts for an update.

I know, more than anything else, that Steadfast is not, nor ever will be The Finest of All Fanfictions. It's a light story for a little bit of entertainment. Simple, cute, and most importantly, a good exercise. Steadfast has taught me so much about writing. About long-term plotting, about fixing drafts, about actually sitting down and getting work done. About doing your best, and not expecting everything to be THE MAGNUM OPUS, BEST FIC THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.

But now I'm reaching a point where I have to sit down and really understand how to tie the loose threads of a huge story together. Write an ending to not just a 6,000 word short story, but a gigantic 200k venture that's been running for an entire year.

And I dont... quite... know how to do that.... Never have done it before, never gotten the practice for it. I mean, how can one practice that? Just thinking up a sweet ending isn't enough. This is something you actually have to write a huge fucking story for, and by that point, it's The Real Deal. Not just a little bit of training, but something you seriously need to invest time into and think real hard about.

It would be one thing if there was a big theme, or one giant knot to be untangled. You know, if this was a focused story with a strict plot that had a clear purpose. An Anti-Steadfast, if you will. There's an ultimate goal to Steadfast, certainly, but the point, purpose, and main thrust of the story hasn't really been 100% devoted to beating the badguy, has it been? The main thrust of the story has been "we're all cool friends, and isnt that just neato?" How does one go about concluding that? Go Old Yeller on their asses and shoot childhood in the head?

I mean

Yeah, there's that.

But...

I have events. I know the things that are going to happen, and how each part leads to each other part. But I am having one hell of a time capturing the mood, the flow, and just the friggin spark of the thing. I've written almost 10k words since the Christmas special, and nothing about the next few chapters feels like its clicking. I even tried to go experimental with it, and it was still more or less completely awful.

This is something I've wanted to write, planned for, and was inspired to do a few months ago. Now? Not going anywhere fast. No matter how many times I try to understand, revise, and "fix" things.

So... yeah. This may take a while.

I'm currently helping ManWithTwoNames in writing and editing The Life and Times of Love and Harmony, a comedy where the Spirits of Love and Harmony, AKA Cadence and Philomena, are both awful at being leaders of any sort. The idea's mostly ManWithTwoNames, but there will be a few chapters primarily written by me. Eventually.

But! If you just want something silly and light to fill the void of fanfiction you are most certainly currently experiencing (which I know you are because omg, there's so few fanfics out there, amiright?!) then I heartily recommend you go and read this story. Right now. Do it. Noooowww

Hey, I know Steadfast has been kind've dragging it's feet lately. Gone on a bit long hasn't it? Well, starting in Canterlot... It'll kind've be like a slow acceleration to the end. There's still a ways to go, but I've been writing "herpa derpa lets be cute!" for far too long now. Things need to batten down and refocus. And to do that, I might go on a slight hiatus. Just need to recharge my batteries and really think long and hard about this story, and what I'm trying to accomplish with it.

Honestly, I didn't think this story would get this big or this difficult to manage... learning experiences, am I right?! I will take these lessons, and I will do better in this next arc, and in whatever I do next!

Yay!