Important Story Announcements - Twilight War, Dr. Negative, Duelling Pianos, And others. · 9:26am Mar 17th, 2014
It's 5 am on a monday morning here on the east coast, and It's time to do something I've been putting off for a month now. With a new day, and a new lease on account-life, changes must be made.
I've been putting it off for a lot of reasons. Because I couldn't admit it to myself, because I wanted to keep at it, because of pride or maybe because I'm just too damn stubborn. But the facts are the facts, and I can't run away from them now.
I'm going to let you guys in on a little something I've been doing my best to conceal about the Twilight War.
See, when I originally outline everything I needed to finish the story, I ended up with a 78 chapter monstrosity, not including extra chapters for battle scenes. Over the course of the story's publications, I cut things down, I tightened up the plot, I threw out events I didnt think I needed. And the story stubbornly remained huge.
Then... then after 150 thousand words, I hit the wall. I understood what had gone wrong. I realized my overambition too late, and found myself staring at a story that was easily going to clear 300 thousand words even with all of my editing, if I wanted to bring the story to a satisfactory conclusion. I was tired of writing it, and I had no inspiration to continue.
To me, that's plain and simply unacceptable. I love long books, personally, but the time has come to admit this one has gotten too long for its ambition.
Which brings me to today.
*Sigh*
Once I finish Princess Alluring (Which will be between 2 and 3 more chapters) I am going to publish between one and three more Twilight War chapters to bring things to a satisfying stopping point (No promises as to how many.) At which point, I will admit to myself that I need a fourth story to cover all of the events of the endgame to this story. This is now a Quadrology, not a trilogy.
I do this because I simply cannot continue work on this story without an extensive editing and re-working period to ensure the climax of this story, something I have been greatly looking forward to writing, comes out right. Even if it's not popular. Even if not many people ever read it. I want to do it right. I owe it to you, my most loyal readers, to do this.
I hope you will understand this need from me. I hope you will allow me the time to do this right.
Moving on to other business.
Dueling Piano's is in an awkward place right now. I published it prematurely, and I have paid for it in blood and tears. Fortunately, It's going to get the chance to be finished come hell or high water.
Once I have officially wrapped production on The Twilight War, I will be undertaking a period of rest and preparation time. During this time, I will be undertaking smaller-scale projects which represent ideas I want to write, as well as finishing Duelling Piano's and finally closing the book on the Tavi/Scratch series of stories (Since Duelling Piano's will tie the story back into the Codeverse.)
But most importantly, during this time I will be laying down the outline and ground work for The Revenge of Dr. Negative's reboot. Which will be my next major project. I am currently scouting out artists for a proper cover art, which you will get to see at the earliest opportunity.
There are a lot of reasons for this. The most important of which is that Dr. Negative is of an entirely different theme and feel to anything I've written before. It will give me the chance to grow, experiment, and try new things as an author and writer. It will allow me to make a tighter, better story and scratch some itches I love to scratch. In addition, this story should run about the amount of time Inky Jay is away at boot-camp, allowing me to save my other more complex projects for his return as my editor and assistant.
Which brings me to the Future Projects portion of this tale... and I know some of you are not going to like what I have to say.
As of right now, This is my slate of future projects going into this new year.
This list is in order of production and, failing major reorganizations, will likely not be deviated from, though small projects may be skipped over in favor of larger ones, dependent on need. Some of these are new projects, and I'll be elaborating on them in a blog post to come. Bolded stories are sequels or direct follow ups from previous projects.
My Princess Alluring - 2-3 more chapters
Twilight War - 1-3 more chapters
Duelling Pianos - 2-3 more chapters
Rarity's Day Off - Small Project
The Velvet Diary - Small Project
Elegance in Blue - Small Project
Cloudsdale Dash and The Revenge of Doctor Negative - Major Project
Apple Family Generations - Small Project
The Red Baron - Small Project
The Last Lesson - Small Project
(At this point, all new projects will be delayed until Inky Jay returns, at which point...)
The Happiness Hotel - Medium scale project
Between Two More (Title pending) - Medium Scale Project
My Sparkling Assistant - Small Project
The Code of Dissonance - Major Project
Other Possible Small / Medium projects
The Twilight Shadow- Major Project
Yes.
I know.
The conclusion to the Shadow story may be quite a ways off. I am very, very sorry for that. If I could bow to you all and beg your forgiveness, I would. But I know how my mind works. I know how my inspiration works. I know how my need to write works. And I know that I need some distance if I'm going to do this right.
I hope that you will all continue to follow me, and to trust that I am doing this because I need to do it to serve the story best.
I thank you all for your support, and I hope to continue to serve you stories you will enjoy and read with happiness.
And I remain, as always, humbly yours.
Lapis-Lazuli
so, "Twilight Apocalypse"? me gusta...
at least, you've realized the immensity before getting tangled with it...
*whistles softly at the impressive list and word count*
Jeeze... well thanks for letting the readers know what the status of stuff is. All I can do is wish you the best of luck with everything you got on your plate. Keep it up Lapis-Lazuli. Would hate to see you burn out and stop writing altogether.
Writing is a complex matter, and the muse is a fickle bitch. I commiserate with you on your issues. Take your time, refresh your head and get back into it at a pace you feel comfortable with.
As a side note, "Between Two More" is a pretty neat title, imo.
Well, I might've been a little annoyed at the ending... But since you were worried enough to post this, all I can say is: Good luck and can't wait.
ONE THOUSAND LASHES WITH A WET NOODLE!!
I was kinda wondering what you were going to do with Twilight War. Instead of bringing us a step closer to conclusion, each chapter seemed to introduce something new. It felt like we'd need well over a dozen or so more chapters before reaching a satisfying ending.
I'm glad you decided to create a fourth story to the whole thing. The whole Twilight Shadow series has been an epic roller coaster ride and I would hate to see the ending come out half assed. I used to hold Immortal Game as the Holy Grail of epic pony stories. This is one of the stories that, to me, has dethroned it. Good on you for realizing that you need to break it down further and for giving yourself some distance to recharge.
Cloudsdale Dash? No more Daring Do? Are we going to a different world with this reboot? Still looking forward to it.
You've set yourself a busy schedule there. Looking forward to reading all of it. Keep it up. Don't be afraid to take breaks. We don't want to see you get burned out.
Thanks for giving us this update!
At the beginning of this post you had me worried that you were cancelling Twilight War and I was very concerned. Now that I now you're just extending it to another story I am very relieved.
Thank god Twilight War didn´t got cancelled...thank god. I was really scared for a moment.
That is one of the stories I would hate to see unfinished or cancelled. Luckily that´s not the case and as long as you have fun with writing you should stay safe
Also looking forward for your next stories and the fourth installment of the Shadow Saga
I highly approve of this blogpost, and all content therin.
~OvO
Sooooo, let me get this straight:
You are sorry for that, that there is going to be more stories?
Wait, there is going to more stories?
That is unthinkable, HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH THING?!
This is the most evil thing one is able to do.
I ask again:
HOW COULD YOU?
...Oh, wait, more stories = more fun, so I'd guess it's okay
Thank for the update, and good luck!
If there's something I can do its wait, so take your time.
Gentle breeze guide your path, and a warm smile welcome your return.
None are the same today as they were yesterday.
I don't mind a fourth book. I truly don't. Why? My dad has a collection of thousands of science fiction paperbacks, and he's introduced me to some of the best books. So, with that, I've also seen some of the worst movies. What's the problem with almost all of the movies? They rush things, and cut things short, rather than extending things to cover everything.
I also happened upon a book called Cuckoo's Egg. It was an amazing premise, I enjoyed it......until it ended. Because it ended...suddenly. It could have easily been a much longer, larger book, more befitting a famous paperback than one of the short ones written by authors who write a thousand shorts. The end was rushed, and even my dad agrees, it prevented it from being a good novel. And it was likely rushed to meet a deadline.
Both of these things are just things to prove, rushing is bad, so I'd rather wait. As I've said before, your writing style at this point is delectable, so it's enjoyable to read your work.
Dude, whatever you need to do for the Shadow books, DO IT! I love the series so far and adding a fourth book would be awesome! As long as I have your stuff to read and engage with (much like how it has been up to now) then I, and I assume other readers, will be happy. We don't want anything to seem rushed and you don't want to disappoint, so just take your time and some longer breaks if you need them. I will be eagerly anticipating future instalments.
I vote for 'The Twilight Pant-Shat.'
The delay is bad, but the fact there's going to be more of one of my favourite grim darks by one of my favourite grim dark authors MORE than makes up for it. Go for what feels best; you're the person who needs to be happy and contented, and I will follow you for a lot longer yet.
I think a fourth story is a great idea. Slowing things down is fine and I think people feel better waiting for a new story rather than a new chapter. I was wondering how long you were going to make that story as it did look like you were adding so much that it seemed that the end was not coming soon (which of course it wasn't). IF this helps your muse I am all for it.
Now I shall just wait patiently to see what you are going to do with Pinkie Pie in that story...
I'm just glad you're not just dropping Twilight. Love it and don't understand why it's not better read. Well, other than the grimdark I guess.
Well at least I'm patient, plus I'm used to waiting a retardedly long time for fic updates. I'm just glad you didn't just drop the series entirely. No matter when it comes out I can at least look forward to your new stuff.
Take your time, Lapiz. We'll always be here waiting!