Fireside Chat #3: The Crystal Human Chapter Four · 6:41pm Aug 20th, 2023
(If you wish to read the previous Fireside Chat, you can read it here)
Hello everyone, and welcome to the third fireside chat, a series of blog posts where I talk about various bits and bobs related to my story “The Crystal Human” (and potentially other stories as well, if I ever do decide to write anything else.) This will include spoilers, so make sure to read the chapter first.
Or don’t. I mean, I’m just some random guy on the internet who writes fanfiction in his free time. I can’t tell you what to do.
With all of that out of the way, let’s grab so- wait, what do you mean we’re out of watermelon? Well go out to the store and get some more!
…
What do you mean the Homeowners Association is outside my hou-
Chapter Four: Exposition Through the Format of Wandering Thoughts, Writing Siblings as an Only Child, The Great Chapter Switch-a-roo, and the Rage of The Alicorn of Love.
I once said that I wasn’t going to do five chapters of exposition when it came to our main character. That it would be a “... gradual stream of information rather than the "bam, here's five paragraphs of exposition!" that I've seen so many other stories do.” I once promised the good user paladinwolf that that was how I would handle telling Jackson’s backstory.
Well the “five paragraphs of exposition” bit turned out to be a lie. Forgive me, paladinwolf, for I have sinned.
I still tried my best to avoid the “Hi, I’m [main character]! Here’s a little bit about myself!” thing that I’ve seen some other people do. I’m personally quite happy with it, and I hope that I did it well enough that it doesn’t feel like I’m yanking people out of the story to tell them about my shitty early 2010’s deviantart OC.
The original plan for a gradual exploration of Jackson’s background and life before Equestria is very much still in effect. I would recommend paying attention to stray lines of dialogue (even if they seem unimportant at first glance) as well as the occasional stray thought that passes through Jack’s mind.
Next up on the list, we have the fact that I am an only child writing a sibling dynamic between three brothers. In order to do this, I am largely basing it off of stories from my fathers childhood that he has told me (he actually is the youngest of three brothers), as well as the time I’ve spent with my cousins at my grandma's place over the years.
Jackson’s grandma is also based, in part, off of my own grandma. She won’t be the first person Jack mentions that is based on a real person from my life (remember the name “Old Man John”), and I’ll mention it here in the Fireside Chats when a character is based on someone from my real life.
I’ll do my best to get it right, but don’t be afraid to tell me when you think that something just doesn’t seem all that realistic for the dynamic I’m trying to write between Anthony, Edward, and Jackson through Jackson’s memories.
Now I’ll address why I decided to switch chapters four and five. It’s simple, really. My original idea for chapter four was getting hit by some pretty big roadblocks, and I figured that if I worked on chapter five a bit then I could get some ideas. At the time, both chapters were set to take place at the same time as each other: While Jackson was carrying Shining back to bed, Celestia was giving Twilight her new assignment and Luna her Jackson-related extra credit.
It was gonna be one big chapter, but I decided to split them into two because I felt that switching perspectives around so much would be confusing for the reader.
Then along came the now ill-fated Spike POV idea.
And then came an even more ill-fated “switch between all of the Main 6” idea.
So needless to say, I’m not doing those ideas anymore. You’ll see it when I release it. Just know that I have settled on who’s eyes we’ll be seeing Chapter Five through, and I have started work on the third draft of it. I’ll talk about it more in its corresponding Fireside Chat, so for now you’ll have to settle for that.
And finally, we come to the scene where Cadence gets pissed off at Canterlot nobility. Believe it or not, she was originally even more pissed off at the nobles about this in the first draft.
How pissed off? Well, you know how she slammed her off on the countertop during that scene?
Yeah, in the first draft, that countertop no longer exists.
I toned it back because I thought that Cadence destroying part of the kitchen in rage was way too out of character for her. Especially for something like interference from Canterlot Nobility which, as a Princess, I’m sure she’s somewhat used to at this point. The only reason she’s so pissed off now is because she is under a lot of stress for… well, obvious reasons. The nobles attempting to block the troop deployment was simply the straw that broke the camel's back for her.
“Don’t pull a Sunset.” is exactly what it sounds like. She may have fallen due to ego and ambition, but she can have a bit of a temper, as I’m sure you’re all aware of.
Right, time for miscellaneous things.
1: The song Jackson is humming is “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It’s the third CCR song to be referenced, with both “Suzie Q” and “Lodi” being referenced in the first chapter.
If you couldn’t tell, I really like CCR.
2: Jackson’s short recipe list is actually based on my own, but with one key difference: I can also cook waffles and pancakes.
3: I hate the Homeowners Association.
4: I have a snippet of the current Chapter 5 draft to show you, which is now titled “Her Most Faithful Student”. It goes a little something like this.
“We’re going to the Crystal Empire!”
…
…
“Huh?!” The rest of the girls and I chorused in unified confusion. After exchanging some murmurs amongst ourselves, we all turned our attention back to the purple unicorn who had made the announcement.
And that’s the end of the teaser.
So uh, yeah. That’s it.
This time around, I figured I would provide some post-chat entertainment. So, dear readers, please rise for the President of the Royal Society for Putting Things on top of other things.
Thank you, and have a good day,
-Phoenix
Thanks for the info, really looking Forword to the next chapter cuz it seems like you've got some good stuff planned.