Developing Dinky · 12:11pm Sep 19th, 2023
Hey everybody. First, I'd like to give a bit of an update on story progress. I've finished chapter 9 finally, and I think it's fantastic! Couldn't be happier. It's such a relief to have replaced a significant chunk of the 2018 version with an entirely rewritten chapter, including a fair bit of new and terrifying content that should get people's hearts racing! This will be your second glimpse into what Razor is up to as well as introduce the main problem that Nyx spends most of the story trying to solve.
Chapter six and seven have been published, as you're aware. Now, you've been introduced to my version of Dinky! This unicorn has an exceptional gift in teleportation. She is so skilled, in fact, that Luna has had her eye on the young mare for quite some time and intends to put Dinky on the adventure with Nyx and company. We see in chapter six that adventure is something Dinky desires but hasn't really had in her life. Her delivery business, the Pony Express, certainly exposes her to a lot of people and a whole lot of different locations, every day, but she's missing something in her life. Luna thinks this mission will be good for her to branch out and find her potential as well as fulfillment.
Chapter seven introduces the mission. This will be the focus of the remainder of the story and introduce a significant problem that Nyx must work out. There's a lot going on here, and we'll find out more in chapter eight, but we are now beginning to see the depth of the situation with the zebras. Their home nation of Arkadia has gone to war with Equestria several years ago. But many zebras have already been Equestrian residents! This makes the situation more complex than simply "zebras bad". What has caused Arkadia to go to war with Equestria? Why does their government oppose the leadership of the ponies? Why are they even a threat to Equestria, given the ponies' level of magical capability that they've put to good use in their own military? These questions remain to be answered.
Currently, I've been working on how to write the first scene of chapter ten. This is a lot harder than I initially expected because I've got something very different I'm trying to do with Dinky. As a result, I've had to take a step back for the last week and really examine this character and where I want to take her personal growth arc over the course of the story. See, originally in the 2014-2018 version of Black Feather, Dinky wasn't really included until chapter 36. The story's overall plan was a lot longer, and Dinky's involvement was meant to begin around the time we get close to what will now be the climax of the story.
As a result, I've had to figure out what to do with her. How to include her with the main characters on their early journey. Because at the moment, none of my currently written chapters from 11 through 35 even mention Dinky. She's just not part of the story for that long. This means I'll be writing her into these chapters as we go. Keep in mind, I'm actually quite happy with those chapters as they currently are, so I want to make sure Dinky's inclusion doesn't disrupt the flow or anything. More importantly, there's a rather significant part of the story that I absolutely cannot allow Dinky to be included in because her teleportation ability would actually wreck the plot. Some things just wreck certain plots. Imagine the movie Home Alone in the current age with modern mobile phones and the internet. Wouldn't work, would it? It's that kind of thing.
So Dinky will be written into a fair number of chapters now, but it's not merely enough to have her present. She's also getting massive characterization development. I've been working this out over the last few days after a productive conversation I had with Duvet. I won't mention what her character struggle is just yet, as that won't show up until at least chapter 10. But it has something to do with her current lifestyle and profession, and the struggles that might cause in her life.
Lastly, just a word on scheduling. My schedule is pretty tight. Fridays I usually do a final read of the chapter that I will be publishing on Saturday, to ensure the quality is as good as it can be. Takes up most of my evening after work to do this. Then Saturday I have a few hours to do some writing before I get together with my friends for our weekly social time. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I usually have a window to get a few hours in. Wednesday and Thursday there is no writing as I'm booked with other things. Overall, it feels like there's not enough time to really do quality work to maintain the weekly chapter releases, but I will continue to give it a proper effort.
However, if a chapter simply isn't ready by the time its scheduled publish date arrives, I will have to delay it until it's finished. I'd rather delay a chapter than put it out in a sorry state. Chapter ten is scheduled to be published on October 7th. I'm not 100% sure I can make that date, but I will try. The whole chapter needs to be rewritten from the ground up.
Sounds like it suits her well. I kinda wonder about her parents in this universe now
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As much of the fandom agreed on, her mother is Derpy.
Chapter six has Luna thinking...
>> She knew Dinky’s affinity for this line of work would have come from Ponyville’s mailmare.
As for her father, this began as a nod to the fandom's ideas behind that.
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/230227815750959106/1154632408059101184/my-little-pony-mlp-art-minor-Doctor-Whooves-554600.jpeg
The exact specifics in my version are more nuanced and detailed, but much of it is more to explain why she has the ability she does rather than be an actual part of the plot. Dinky draws her energy for teleportation from an entirely different source than other unicorns do for their various spells. How much of that makes it into this version of Black Feather depends on whether there's a good place or reason to put it in.
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Of course. Me, i took Derby and time Turner as I thought it suits very well. Plus, its one of the few complete Families in the fandom