New Chapter and Related Apologies · 2:21pm Feb 6th, 2013
New chapter is up! Twilight and Celestia are getting closer to the dragon kingdom now, but they still have a little something to go through before they get there. That little something may or may not include living, giant stone statues.
Anyway! I am really sorry about the delay on this one. A combination of real life, the holiday, other side projects, and having to rewrite huge chunks of it led to some delays.
Sessalisk often tells me that in six months, I will probably hate the content I am writing now. And so far, without fail, that's held true with everything. I first wrote that chapter back in July of last year, and sure enough, when I blew the dust off it a week or so ago, I discovered something that looked... well... awful. The kind of something that makes you want to set it on fire because the act of horrifically murdering it is probably easier on everyone in the long run.
However, when that something is also a chapter in a long, ongoing adventure story... that option probably isn't all that clever. So, I had to pull up my socks, crack my knuckles, and take the wall of yellow highlights that Sessalisk gave me (twice, with a final (smaller) third round of suggestions) like a champ. It took a long time, and it wasn't easy, but hopefully the end result is something that is enjoyable.
This is the kind of thought process that makes me terrified to go back and read a lot of my own work. While being able to see how far I've come is nice and all, it's also horrendously embarrassing at times, haha. You just kind of cringe when looking at all of the little things you would have done differently. But anyway, that's neither here nor there, really.
Perhaps I am hating on my own work more than necessary, but y'know. That'll happen. Besides, self-criticism and the ability to accept criticism leads to progress. And with this chapter, I learned lots of great things about similes and when to use them and when not to, so that's awesome. Woo learning!
Thanks a bunch, guys, enjoy, and stay awesome!
To send you off, have a Celestia that caught my eye just recently.
The fact that you can end up being disappointed with the beginnings of a fic is the reason that I withhold releasing my stories until they are completed. That way, I'm certain that, with revisions, the quality of the beginning matches that of the end.
800915 It's a really good point, and I am getting closer and closer to that method as I write more and more. For example, most of this story is already written; it's just not edited.
That and it's awfully long, so by the time I get through one lot of edits, I would probably be already cringing at the first chapter again! Haha.