The Next Update (Change of plans)... · 4:41pm Jun 11th, 2012
I am utterly flabbergasted.
I've never gotten 1,000+ views in one day before. Nor so many faves, thumbs, and comments.
The incredible amount of positive response to this story over the last two chapter releases has me confounded, befuddled, humbled, and every other appropriate multisyllabic adjectives you can think of. I never expected this many of you guys to actually like it this much, and it makes me kind of ashamed at how relatively little effort I put into the earlier chapters. At how little time I put into it now relative to what you guys deserve.
Maybe, at some point, I can go back and do some work on the former. As it is, however, I expect you would all rather I do something about the latter.
So, I will endeavor to do so, and I will start with the following announcement: I am setting the official release date of the next chapter to this Friday June, 15th.
As those of you who have been around know, I normally release once every two weeks (once on the 6th or 7th and again on the 20th or 21st).
From now on, however, that will change. I'm going to try my damndest to see if I can pump out 3 chapters a month for you fellows starting now. Real life permitting, of course. My amazing readers deserve no less from me... probably a lot more, but baby-steps, people.
I'd also like to give a special shout out to the space battles peeps (don't think I don't see you guys popping in through the stats page). For some strange reason, some of you have taken it upon yourselves to post updates to this story on those forums (looking at you, Toon Warrior). Thanks. Seriously.
Same to the rest of my readers, thumb-uppers, and commenters (I read every one of them). Thank you for your encouragement, and I can only hope to continue bringing you some laughs once in a while. If I get at least one good chuckle out of you, I consider it a job well done.
I have no qualms in proclaiming this to be, by far, the best fanfiction community currently in existence.
Anyway, that's... pretty much it. I know I tend to gush a lot. And, sometimes, I know I can get a little silly. Thanks, for the nth time, for putting up with me!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some writing to do.
Sincerely,
Invictus
P.S. As always, I read every comment... so if you have any questions or suggestions (or just wanna tell me I'm a sappy, overblown pansy)... well... leave one.
Hey Invictus, you have five days left till your next chapter!
You're a sappy, overblown pansy.
Ha just kidding, but still...I'm watching you. i await your next chapter.
Wow, thanks so much for the shout out Invictus! I go by "Toon Warrior" over at Space Battles. Words can't describe how awesome it is to get kudos from an author as talented as yourself. It's great that you'll be giving us more of this great story so soon. Hope to catch ya Friday!
169673
You said he was talented? Um... well... all I can say or do to that is...
cckate.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/2ac29_surprised-cat11.jpg
169711
As much as I love LOLcats image macros, I'm not sure why my praise deserves that image macro.
Be patient with me, I still have a hard time picking up on RL sarcasm, let alone internet humor.
169935
It's always a bad thing to give praise to Invictus. His ego is big enough already... you are just going to make things worse!
169935
Don't listen to the crazy stalker. Praise away you magnificent beast, you. And thank you for speaking so well of my story. That kind of uninvited, unexpected validation is exactly the kind of morale booster that motivates a writer to push through blocks.
Don't get me wrong, I love constructive criticism as much as the next guy, and I hope you'll feel free to point it out if you ever see a mistake or a place I can improve... but goddamn it everyone likes a little unrepentant praise now and again!
169942
Quit pestering the one actual fan I've managed to acquire for some reason that researchers will still wonder at centuries from now after every other mystery of the universe has been solved.
170056
Haha... well you know that I'm a fan as well. You didn't make it on that very selective list of mine for no reason.
>>Invictus
Hmm, well, I think one area of the story you can improve is the descriptiive narrative. Basically, you can add more details to a scene in order to "paint a picture" in the reader's mind. You do a good job already, but while the details of the world of Equestria is conveyed well, you could add more detail to what is happening in the plot to make it more "vivid". Besides that, can't think of any other real issues with the story, besides the fact that I would like to see more references to the characters and events from Psych, especially Gus and Shawn's dad. Not an "infodump" or anything awkward like that, maybe a few flashback sequences or internal monologues.
Can't wait! Though, since you asked for it, my main complaints are not bringing Gus along (though I can see the complications from that) and the fact that he decided to drop the psychic act. However, I do feel you explained away the latter well enough. Keep it up.
170743
...
Mind if I ask which chapter you've read up to?
170758
All of them that were posted at the time of writing the comment.
172015
Haha, okay. I was just curious.
Yeah, I get both of those a lot. Of course, you're obviously familiar with why I chose for him to drop the act, and I hope I gave a good justification as to why he picked it up again (albeit a bit later in the story than I had intended in the original outline).
As for Gus... that one's a bit more selfish. Part of what really drew me to Shawn was his unique character, and how he interacted with the people around him. I kept thinking to myself, "Man, his dynamic would play off some of the mane 6 really well!"
When I finally did start writing the fic, I was a little scared that having Gus there with him wouldn't let me explore the dynamics between Shawn and the ponies specifically. There is a very set dynamic between those two, but it tends to get a little exclusive... and it would leave Shawn with little motivation to develop new ones between himself and the other ponies. Twilight, in specific.
I'm not certain I'm a good enough writer to pull off pulling the ponies into their interactions, and I felt the story would end up getting repetitive if Gus was there the whole time. In other words. Shawn works better in pairs (in my opinion), and I wanted to set him up with a few new partners. Not sure if I managed to pull even that off quite right... but it was easier than throwing Gus in there, too.
Anyway, I hope that clears that up a bit!