The Origins of Smashing Down · 9:27pm May 16th, 2014
Smashing Down as a story originally came to be as an afterthought. Being that I knew most of my stories at the time were terrible (and that I was still doing them for the sake of finishing them), I wanted to make a truly good story, one with... Well... An actual plot rather than a cliché storm. And thus, I did what I always do when looking for ideas:
I started a video game.
While the Moscow level of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is not particularly my favorite, most certainly because I dislike the helicopter missions, it does present a challenge at the higher difficulty levels. I played through it as normal, nothing in particular coming to my mind, until the final cutscene of the helicopter section.
A bright orange missile, the plot devices of the entire game, streaks by and annihilates the center of Moscow, and the camera cuts to a Mi-24 literally being thrown to the ground by the blast. At that point, I said "Hold it, what the hell happened to be people inside?"
I brainstormed for a bit, before coming up with a basic list of characters: The startlingly racist and nationalist Kozlov, the calm and distant pilot Sokolov, and the level-headed / rash contrast of Lieutenant Vasilyev and his Sergeant. I had originally planned them as a contrast to Equestria: I would have them run around, get into trouble, fight their way out, and stay on the run.
For the first six chapters, that was my entire plan. I published the story, and was immediately inundated with what was, to me, an excessive amount of readers. Don't judge me for that: I never expected to be popular, and this was a surprise to me. And thus, the story involved. I put in a token American force inside of a single helicopter for contrast, but their characters never really panned out. They were lost to the story later on.
And then I felt the urge to add in more. The characters needed something, a goal to work towards. Captain Volkov was the first point at which I said "I am not adding any more people". I failed. The story grew as quickly as my ambition for it did, and soon enough I had gathered together a massive force, along with a fairly basic plotline.
No, that does not mean that I have no idea what I am doing. The best explanation would be that I have only half of an idea of what I want to do, and that the rest writes and ties itself in. Yes, I am aware that this is not precisely good. But it has worked well so far, so I won't complain too badly.
And with that, thank you for being patient and seeing me through this. While I would still happily write without such a supporting group of people, your comments and feedback always make my day better. In a way, you are the ones who have made the story: I've just helped it along.
As a side note, the next chapter should be out some time soon.
Lol I love that cliché "You"te all the reason this story was made" bit at the end. Lol twas funny.
2118102
Well, during the three-month hiatus that ended in September, that was literally the only thing that kept me from cancelling the story. Fans of this are also the only reason I currently have a editor/pre-reader, and have improved my writing skills enough to be able to write it.
You all influenced this as much as I did.
2118157 lol nice, its nice to hear a story getthat popular!
2118162
Well, popular for me. About 1.5k views, so that's pretty good.
2118536 Been with this story since pretty much its first chapter. I am still on edge every time I finish a new one!
Can't wait to see what your plans are for the next chapter!
2118536
eeyup 