Conflicted Crossroads · 12:54pm April 10th
I have an interesting dilemma with an upcoming story, and thus I turn to the Fimfic public (or that portion of it that sees these blogs) for its wisdom.
The story in question is tentatively titled One of Our Twilights is Missing. I have the first chapter mostly written... but the issue is that right now, I don't actually know where that Twilight went. I have several possibilities in mind, and I'm considering taking suggestions from the comments. But going forward on a long-form story with no idea where I'll end up seems risky at best and foolish at worst. Thus turning to you all: Should I proceed with this as it is or wait until I actually know where I'm going?
UPDATE: Thanks for the input. It reaffirmed what I knew I should have done—namely, figure out the rest of the story—but sometimes it helps to double-check with an outside perspective. And as an added bonus, I've figured out some fun additional layers to the story... that I will also have to outline. 
So it goes.
So, I sometimes find it fun to explore as I go, but with long form I've found that at least in my experience, not having the end in sight (or something close to it, in this case at least one or two options for Twilight's location) is a bit detrimental. If the location doesn't matter that much from the get-go, I'd suggest thinking up several options and see where the story takes you while having those as possible choices down the road.
Which one is missing? Human or Pony?
Does she have the wings allready?
Or is she still the neurotic hornhead?
If no wings, she could have gone on
one of her science sprees and try to
find something in an old temple ruin
or some old library in the yak lands.
Maybe Daring Do knows where she
has gone?
Were this me, I would for sure hold until I end the answer to that query. I’d always regret plunging ahead by the seat of my pants for how the story could have been more solid with better planning.
But such hesitation is probably why I’ve published so few fics, and you’re very much of the “publish nee stories frequently no matter what” sort, so take the words of this spirit with a grain of salt.
I would say that it's usually best to know where a character has been whisked off to as the location discovery is part of the plot. That said, if return is to be a simple time elapsed bounce back then the where is pretty much irrelevant and can just be a throw away line/joke at the end.
That all said, dealer's choice is the only real rule, eh?
I often find that I sort of need to start writing in order to find the plot points I'm looking for. For whatever reason the act of writing by the seat of my pants makes me more focused on figuring the plot out. Maybe it's the pressure, I don't know.
But that's me, not you. If you're usually more of a planning-focused writer, then it would probably be detrimental to attempt this method. Ideally we would all always have the entire plot planned out in advance, but that's not always possible.
Really, I guess I'm saying the answer is: it depends on your writing style, and you know that better than me. But if you think you need to start writing this now and that you can figure it out along the way, then I say go for it. If not, then don't.
Either way, may your muse find you.
If you intend for her to come back, it’s probably a good idea. If not, it’s not so necessary.
Interesting dilemma. In a somewhat related matter, it’s happened several times that I didn’t realize I had this kind of problem until I’d actually gotten to the point in the story where it matters. Sometimes that’s meant going back to edit in a fix, but sometimes it’s led to “happy accident” plot diversions that ended up working really well. Tbh, anytime I have something in my story where a character realizes oh crap, they forgot something important, and they deal with it right then, that was me forgetting about it. But those often turn into some of my favorite plot points.
That is to say, it may turn out well for the story if you don’t deal with it until you need to, but in your place, already having realized it now, I probably would figure it out now.
Why won't you go meta with this premise and outline the narrative where Twilight goes into limbo since author genuinely cannot figure out what to do with her? You can expand the premise with everyone carrying on as intended without Twilight, with fake Twilights appear, maybe several Twilight understudies who are eager (or not) to hop into the limelight... It could be a fun angle to pick. I'd go with that, personally
Do what all the best horseword authors do: Come up with a series of options and poll your readers! :V
Depends on how concerned you want the searchers to be. How many options will they run through before (success?). The more unlikely, the more concerning. Lost in the multiverse is worse than being lost in a city, etc?
I remember reading something where Stephen King was talking about something similar, that he was writing a story from the perspective of a child who was waiting for their parent to come back out from a public bathroom. They’d been waiting so long they asked a stranger to check for them- then that stranger never comes back. So the kid asks a cop to check, same result. Eventually, King said he had to stop writing the story after he’d sent about a half dozen characters in that bathroom and realized he had no idea what the hell was happening to them in there.
Recommend deciding which ending feels right for the sort of story you want to tell, which’ll help with plotting and structuring as you work towards it.
She's trapped in a pickle jar
Honestly, whichever you feel most comfortable with. Personally I like to know where I'm going, but that desire is going to be the death of me some day so I can't honestly recommend it :P
Already like the premise from the title alone. (Which one and does Sunset have to find her ?)
Though where she might be I imagine it depends on the story and what payoff you want. If it's dramatic / adventurous then it's someplace weird and outside Equestria (Q continuum / Discord chaos universe/ temporal pocket wedge / stuck in a personal time-loop / the shadow place where Stygian and Star Swirl & co were )
If it's short and funny then the place should be amusing. (Stuck as a miniaturized living pony amongst a store shelf full of My Little Pony™ Figs / In a secret secret lab underneath the already secret lab / summer-science camp )
I used to plan the fudge out of any storyline I intend to write, though I don't dump it all together at once anymore, because that's how burnout happens. I was told that putting down the primary goalposts in a story/timeline is what you do first before filling the rest in, so I'm gonna echo several answers here already and say that you should decide where you want to go with this story first, and from there, you design the obstacles along the way.
I always suggest knowing the end before you really start publishing anything, much has gone down in flames because I didn't do that. Now allow for the ending to change, never be rigid, but know where you're going, even if it's just a vague idea.
In some stories, such as interactive ones or (in my current case) ones highly dependent on scientific scrutiny, this may not be possible, but in all other cases, I think an end should be known pre-attempt.
-GM, master of lurking.
Write all the possible places she went as a CYOA story.
"I'll work it out as I go" is how I get projects that stall.
Set this aside until you know what happened to Twilight.
When I decide I want to write a story, I always make sure I know the Big Points before I start writing. In this case, that would absolutely include Twilight's location. Unless you handle it as the low comedic fruit of a last-minute reveal, I can't imagine how it could possibly not be important to the rest of the story.
I love the title reference!
I'm an almost total "pantser" as a writer. For any given story, I know the set-up, and I know where I want to end up (and a few things along the way), and then I just head out into the unknown. When I run into something like this, I usually pick the worst/funniest option depending on the tone that's appropriate. So... without further context, I'd say she's trapped in Tartarus, or a dimension where she is worshiped as a goddess and her temples are libraries, and the reason she's missing is she doesn't want to come back.
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Thanks, all. This was (largely) very helpful, and it affirmed what I knew I should have done from the start: Namely, finish figuring out the story before going any further with the actual prose. The good news is that I've not only figured out where Twilight is in this mess, but also some of the specifics for other layers of the story.
Some of the specifics. Still a fair amount of outlining left to do before that first chapter can see print.
I checked through the comments to make sure someone didn't already bring this up, but is this a reference to One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing? If it is, then that's a movie I haven't heard about in a LONG time. Twilight wouldn't be missing at all. The antagonists would just grab the wrong one.
I'm really showing my age...
5776183
Huh. I took it as a reference to One of Our Spies is Missing, the Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie, which is almost a decade older. (I shake my cane at you, youngster!)
Very late to the party, but speaking as another "writes by the seat of her pants" writer, I agree about waiting until you have a clear outline and ending in mind.
Though a CYOA story, as 5776118 suggested, would be fun too.