Status update 2 · 12:21pm Feb 22nd, 2012

I'm still alive!

The first part of the third chapter, The Song of the Stars, will be out this week. I've decided to split it in two since it kept getting longer and longer.

Sorry for the long wait, but with this chapter, I felt I needed to give the text some rest before getting back to it. (I wrote the first draft two weeks ago). The initial draft really is much easier to endure than the countless hours of editing that come after... I also have this strange procedure where I listen to the draft read out on my phone while I do the dishes, hoover, etc., just to avoid blankly staring at the screen without accomplishing anything. That also gives me a sense of how the chapter sounds spoken aloud. So I listen to it, try to remember the parts of my draft that sucked the most, go back to my computer and try to change them while possibly making everything worse, listen to it again, wash, rinse, repeat ad infinitum. (I've got a program for this that converts text to MP3s in the blink of an eye, it's quite useful and sounds surprisingly natural.) Weird, huh? But it kinda works for me.

I feel that this chapter is much more complicated to write compared to the previous one, there's much more going on... not only plot-wise, but also when it comes to the relationships between the characters, and those are always harder to write than stuff exploding. I really hope I can get this right. I'm trying hard not to let you down here.

Anyway, once part 1 is out, part 2 will follow very quickly, and then we're already approaching a cesura in the story.

In the meantime, if you are looking for a fic to read, might I suggest Saigonshy by Violet CLM? It's also lengthy, but totally worth it, and it's not getting anywhere near the attention it deserves. It's an MLP/Miss Saigon crossover, and I loved every word of it. (Heed that there's some disquieting scenes in there, but it's pretty tame overall). Throw the author some support if you liked it.

Okay, enough procrastination for now! Back to writing, I guess