Some great design work · 1:30pm Nov 10th, 2023
Greetings, Black Feather fans!
It's been a hell of a productive week in story design if not writing itself. I've had several discussions with Duvet about certain unfinished plot points as well as much-needed character development. This was, in fact, holding me up with the current chapter because I wanted to work on the lieutenant before writing her new scene where we finally begin getting to know her. For any of you old Black Feather fans, this will be a big improvement over her old and rather bland characterization as 'generic platoon leader'. Now, her role in the story makes a lot more sense, and she ties in with multiple overarching and interconnecting plot points.
We've done some more work on the story's climax as well, giving that scene a lot more fine tuning it had been missing. There's nothing quite like the feeling you get, as an author, when you finally know exactly how it all fits together. There have been a fair number of open-ended questions I knew I'd have to deal with eventually but was never quite sure how. A lot of these have been fleshed out now.
Turns out this is a five-act story! Not to be confused with the five-act play structure... I simply counted the major 'legs' of the story and it turns out there are five. We are currently in the middle of publishing act two.
The prologue was chapters 1-2 in the crystal city of Aria. This was all setup, prior to the actual story taking place. It is still important, mind you... those things all still matter. Even the chapter I published recently shows how Flitter's living arrangement with Rumble and Nyx started out due to the discussion between Twilight and Cadence in chapter two. Everything is connected.
Act one would be chapters 3-6 representing Nyx's life and status quo. The incident with the zebra sniper represents the first of three key moments where the story deals with Nyx's vow and how it affects her life. When I refer to her vow, I'm talking about near the end of Past Sins, where child Nyx (being forced into an adult body) fought off monsters, saved Ponyville, and then promised that she would dedicate her entire life to protecting ponies. This has been her central identity since being restored to her ten-year-old state in Past Sins. And Black Feather will focus heavily on the impact this vow has had on her. In act one, Nyx has a major success. She saves Dusty from the sniper. But you saw in chapter five how much it stresses her out because of the war. Nyx's narration in that chapter shows how anguished she has been because she is unable to save everyone like she always thought she could. But despite the war's toll on her self image, she did have this success. And that success with Dusty actually matters quite a lot, later in the story.
Chapters 7 and 8 are the transition between acts one and two. This is where Luna sets Nyx's life on a new course. She also informs Nyx about an important personal problem she must deal with, regarding the alicorn transformation she's on the cusp of.
Act two is from chapters 9 through 15. The settings and goals in Nyx's life have now been shifted with this new mission she's on with her friends. We've also got a bunch of new characters and insight into overarching themes and backdrops that will be important going forward.
Act three is from chapters 16 through 23. Not going to spoil this here, but it's pretty damn good. This is where the story really heats up. Nyx's life once again shifts direction with a new urgent matter that becomes very important to her. The end of this act is a huge shift in circumstances.
Act four would be chapters 24 through ?? (I haven't mapped these out yet). The start of this act begins the second of three key moments where the story deals with Nyx's vow. This act will be pretty stressful for Nyx as she deals with the very troubling situation that has unfolded. There's a lot of investigation and mystery here, as our characters all try to figure out what the hell is going on.
Act five will be the final act and probably span four or five chapters. This is where everything comes to a head and Nyx is put to the greatest test of her life. How will it turn out? You'll have to wait and see. It also ends with the final of three key moments where the story deals with Nyx's vow. The conclusion of this becomes Nyx's central coming-of-age theme and represents the completed bridge between where Pen Stroke left Nyx at the end of Past Sins and what she ultimately becomes, as seen in our other story, Flurry in Time.
There will be an epilogue as well, showing the aftermath of the story after some time (years) has passed. I think it's important to provide this because the story cuts off a lot of my timeline events I had previously planned for it, for the sake of being a shorter story. And if I just left it at the final chapter, I think that would give the wrong impression about Nyx's state of mind and her future.
i hope you dont overwork yourself
5754378
Well, I've been on this project for nine years. But yes I do need to pace it to avoid burnout. I think every two weeks will be a good pace for publishing. Maybe that will buy me time to finish the story and then switch to one week per chapter. I dunno, I'll find a way to make it work.
5754437
just being caring