Some questions need to be asked...

...so that we can get the answers that matter most.

When I started Valor is Magic, my goals for it were focused around building a habit of writing and completing my first large-scale project. Prior to this my largest (finished) story was about 20k words. While I certainly wanted to try things and work on my skill as a narrator and storyteller, my weakness has always been the discipline to sit down and work on a story, regardless of mood or the cooperation of my muse. As a result, I had only ever really played with short stories.

Something I’ve learned in the last months is that in fiction, like so many other things, scale matters. It matters a lot. There’s a reason why sailors get offended when people confuse boats and ships: They might look the same to casual observation, but they really aren’t. Since it’s a goal of mine to write novels for a living, at some point I was going to have to sit down and build my own narrative “ship.”

Valor is Magic is that ship. Every person who has ever tried to learn a skill has had a first attempt, and this is mine. The first few attempts you aren’t worried about measuring your success; just doing it till completion is enough of a challenge as it is. To continue the metaphor, it still needs to have all the things a ship has and be watertight, but didn’t expect it to be anything special to look at.

So maybe it will make some sense when I say I’ve been surprised at the limited but generally very positive reception I’ve received. “Shocked” is probably more accurate. Turns out some people seem to think the story has a lot of things going for it, and that I should try to market it beyond just the one chat room. After long talks with Wool and Frontsevens, I/we decided to take things to the next level.

Announcement #1: Valor is Magic is being prepared for submission to Equestria Daily.

I don’t believe this will mean much to those of you who follow ViM right now, but I wanted to come right out and say that this is happening. Wool, Front, and I are going to be re-reading every published chapter so far. This mostly means polishing out any lingering typos or errors in the story, but I will also be detail-checking and playing with the formatting. In fact, I’ll be messing with quite a bit of formatting changes. If this results in any notable changes to the narrative, I’ll take notes on any retcons and post them in another blog page.

Some of the guys in TWG feel pretty strongly that ViM will make it on without a hitch, but I’m unconvinced. I guess we’ll all find out together.

Announcement #2: As thanks to those who have supported the project already, I will be offering a chance to ask ViM’s Twilight, Luna or Kaleb anything you want, subject to my selection.

That’s right! I’ll be writing a Q and A with the “real” authors of Valor is Magic. This is your chance to get answers regarding the expanded Valorverse and the ponies that live there. Curious about Equestria’s soldier ponies? Dying to get more detail on the griffin prides? Do you just want to know the last prank Celestia pulled on Luna? Now is your chance to find out!

Question guidelines:

-Anyone with a FimFic account may submit questions for consideration.
-All questions must be submitted in the form of private message to me on FimFic. Can’t ruin the surprise by having them show up as comments, now can we?
-I plan on writing this exchange as an open forum where all three can comment, but each question should start with the intended recipient. Such as Princess Luna: (Question.)
-There is no limit on the number of questions you submit, but I will not choose more than three questions from any one source.
-Any question that would make me consider a mature tag for the blog post will be rejected. I think that goes without saying, just covering all the bases here.
-Questions that spoil the story will be rejected outright. Things like “does X live or die?” will be ignored. I do, however, understand that not all questions that dance around spoils will look like it to those who don’t have access to the full outline. That’s part of why I’ve not set a cap on the number of submissions per person. I’m trusting you all not to abuse this, but I can’t imagine there will be a problem.
-Submissions will be closed July 7th. The answer session will be posted the following weekend.
-I have the final say over what submissions are used. If I think it’s an interesting or fun question that the characters can respond to without getting spoilery, there’s a good chance it’ll get answered.

That’s it for now. I’m looking forward to seeing what interesting things people can come up with. Remember, I might be the one doing the work, but the answers can only be as colorful as the questions. Lastly, none of this should have much of an impact on Chapter 10, so look forward to seeing that in a few weeks too.

(Kudos to Gc13 for coining the term “Valorverse.”)