Production Blog 3/17 · 6:45am Mar 17th, 2013
Alright, so I'm gonna start posting these production blogs every Sunday to give everyone an idea where the assorted things I'm working on at any given time are at. Let's start with the Mack-Daddy, Coming Back:
Here's what's finished:
92,221 words posted (FimFiction word-count) out of 255,000 total (current estimated finished length)
And here's where we stand on chapter 14:
514 words drafted (MSWord word-count) out of 7100 total (average completed chapter length)
I've included where the word-count figures come from, because MSWord tends to have a smaller figure than Google Docs, which tends to have a smaller figure than FimFiction. Also all the 'finished lengths' here are estimates that are subject to change. Coming Back is looking to be ABOUT 37 chapters long, and chapters are ABOUT 7k words, which is where the 255k figure is coming from. However, some storylines may go faster/slower than I'm expecting them to go, so there might be a huge amount of wiggle room here. I'd guess that there's no way it's gonna come in at less than 200k words and I highly, highly doubt it would get past 270k words. With this, as well as any other projects, the actual length will become easier to determine the closer I get to the end. So as weeks go by, these figures will probably be modified to match the new estimations.
As you can see, I've started chapter 14, but haven't gotten very far. But, I tend to write quickly so there's a chance I'll be a chapter ahead of schedule and starting in on 15 next week before the next planned update.
Next is The Twidash Project. Since TDP is a series of vignettes that could potentially continue for as long as there are episodes to write from, there's no way to determine a finished length, so here's the production graph for Putting Your Hoof Down, which I will be writing:
0 words drafted out of 2000 total (estimated vignette length)
...Eeyup, haven't started yet. These things are fast to write for me and I wanted to give Subsolar Drift a chance to breathe before it was suddenly his turn to write one of these again. Poor guy's in a theater production and has had almost no time to himself. I'll probably start it Tuesday or Wednesday. They're fast to write, so it'll probably be done and ready for editing that same day.
And here's the production chart for On Orange Wings, a short novel-length story about Scootaloo I'm working on:
8,640 words drafted (Gdocs word-count) out of 40,000 total (estimated finished length)
This one's pluggin' along pretty quickly. It's a joy to write so it may get done rather fast considering the estimated length. I had a thought about this that I'd like opinions on, though. I plan on releasing it all at once when it's ready and 40k words is quite a lot for a one-shot, so I was going to split it up into chapters. Since it's going up all at once, though, I can vary chapter length to serve the story rather than reaching a specific length to be considered a satisfying update between chapters being released. As is, the chapters look like they're gonna be 3-5k words a piece, totaling around 10 chapters. My thought is this: I'm very tempted to stretch my visual art muscles (I am going for a bachelor's degree in Fine Art after all) and illustrate the whole 'book,' with one watercolor illustration per chapter. Doing so would add a small amount of time for completion; I'd paint the illustrations after it's drafted and it'll probably take me past edits to complete them. Would I be wasting my time? How would y'all feel about opening a fic and having an illustration every chapter like it was a young adult novel? Would it just be a novelty or would it be something you legitimately appreciated?
That's all for now. I have several other projects mentioned in the previous blog that are on the back burner waiting for current things to clear up. The next vignette of The Twidash Project should be going up late this week. Until then, TTFN.
Sounds fun.
I've been a bit busy with Band and Track myself, so my stories aren't getting enough attention. I should go write some more Winter Moon Festival or something before someone starts thinking I'm dead.
<3 DarqFox
Oooh, graphs. I love me some graphs.
I think the pictures would mostly be a novelty (and the young adult novel thing made me cringe), but that's not necessarily a reason to not do them! However, I've read stories in the past on here that included pictures, and it usually went like this: "Read... Read... Huh? Okay, picture. That's nice. Now back to the story. Read... Read..." Then again, that was for stories that had several pictures scattered inside the narrative, where I'm likely to be eager to continue reading. One picture at the beginning or end of a chapter might get more attention from me (though as it's being released all at once, the same issue arises).
Of course, I'm not about to moan about your story being delayed because you want to make some art for it. It is your story. And knowing that you spent time to make the art, rather than them just being images taken from the web, will mean that I'll take more time to look at them. So will I feel that they added more to the story? Well, no, most likely not. Am I opposed to the idea? Absolutely not. I think it'd be kind of cool.
926231
Yeah, in terms of lay-out it would go kinda like this:
Chapter 1: Blahblahchaptertitle
insert illustration here
Text of chapter
I know saying YA kinda comes with some baggage, but it is basically what I'm writing. It's a teen-rated coming-of-age story. I could make some lofty comparisons to existing fics that have a similar feel, but that seems rather pig-headed to do, so I went with YA.
I will chalk your vote up as novelty, though. I'd like to do it, but it's not exactly: easy, fast, or cheap. I love to paint and have quite an art supply budget thanks to student loans, but damn paints are expensive. Doing a series of ten or so watercolors wouldn't take a huge amount of time, but it's still gonna be something like twenty hours. If everyone's gonna say "Well, I'd appreciate that you did it, but it's just a novelty," I'll probably opt out.
Personally I'd really appreciate the art, but again, it would be more of a novelty unless it really tied in with the story.
And now a Scootaloo story is on the way. And progress updates. Can you get anymore awesome? Yes, it is a challenge.
I really wish I knew how you and a few other authors on here could spit out so many words on so many different stories as you do. I've managed about 70k words in just under two months on my one story, and the thought of expanding my writing beyond the one narrative I'm telling now makes my brain threaten to overthrow the boundaries of my skull and explode with violent cerebral hemorrhaging.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I'm terribly envious of your ability, and the ability of other fimfic writers to juggle multiple stories at once, but at the same time I get a conciliatory glut of awesome stories to soothe my swelling brain.
Mostly I'm just drunk.
927502
Well, keep your eyes peeled on the Twidash group; it's about to start running fic contests and the prize for the first one is a piece of original art by me. That's pretty awesome, right? (please tell me I'm awesome
)
927666
I manage to average about a thousand words a day drafted when I'm in good form. I juggle multiple projects for a reason: I have a compulsion to write but if I'm working on the same thing for a given stretch it's emotionally tiring. Having other things to switch between keeps me fresh and excited about the different projects and forces me to sit on some things for a little while and let them ripen.
Can't handle more than three at once reasonably, though. More than two is difficult, but TDP is such a small commitment it doesn't count. I don't know how folks like Wizard of Words juggles, like, six active fics at any given time. Makes my head hurt.
927715 You're awesome, radical and cool. Good enough?
Anyway, seriously. It's nice knowing where you are progress-wise and what stories you have planned. So thanks for that!
You know...if you spent more time writing instead making flow charts about writing on what appears to be MSPaint you'd be half way done with your stories. Whatever...
See you in the garage later