End of NaNoWriMo 2014, and the One Year Anniversary of Letters from the Moon!

Expectation: It's finished! Yes, oh my gosh, I actually did it! This is so amazing and awesome and spectacular and oh my gosh, life is great!

Reality: Well it's about damn time I finished!

So yeah, The Adventures of Derpy, Lyra, and Octavia is done! And for me, this story means a lot of things. It was my first time completing a Nano novel, but also the first time writing a novel-length story for this fandom. It was my first foray into the realm of comedic writing, and... now, I had respect for comedy writers before, because intelligent humor is not as easy as it sounds, but that respect has skyrocketed in the past month. To all you out there who write comedy, bravo, just bravo. Keep on being awesome.

Gosh, even thinking back on Adventures, I still don't quite know what to make of it. What was born out of a joking conversation between two of my RL friends exploded into something that I never intended. I mean, Week 1 was like this:

Then it became something like this:

Then some insanity, and there was this, too:

And now I have no idea what it is! The story ran away from me and came back with a tsundere Lyra and Octavia, with a MOE Derpy to break the tension. The Doctor and Octavia romance broke off before it had the chance to start, then Derpy got a tragic backstory, Lyra got money for some reason, and Octavia picked up a sister. Berry Punch popped up, Carrot Top had a dog, I was sad for a few days, Roseluck being pompous made things better somehow, and I wrote two freaking songs! Then Discord came around, as if I had some master plan and didn't want to cover up any plot holes. God, I knew I could BS before, but this story took it to a whole new level. The only thing I had planned out was the weird dream sequence no one understood.

And God, I was tired and frazzled and confused and tumbling through my days, but that was part of the beauty of NaNoWriMo, I think. I relied on my writing to get me through, which I haven't done in quite some time. And I hope that when I'm ready to write my next story, this experience will help me to, if anything else, write faster. The last significantly long story I wrote, The Sum of Her Parts, was difficult, mainly because I kept dragging my heels and getting ticked off for not having it done already. It was hard to write after that. Granted, I don't want to write under pressure all the time, but I think this past month was useful in teaching me to set goals. Goals helped make writing less overwhelming, and as you can see by the numbers, once passed, I didn't stop there. Goals, not deadlines like I used to do, make me happy. And with this new direction I'm turning in, with the slice-of-life and the romance and the comedy and the other brightly-colored tags, just being happy writing is more important than ever.

Of course, with everything new, you remember the old, and for me, the oldest writing of substance for MLP was Letters from the Moon, finished on December 1st, 2013. My goodness, that story. It was sad, heavy, melodramatic, filled with imagery, over-the-top like a bad soap opera, and powerful. Now, I would never write something like it, but I still look back fondly on it even today, because to me, that was what writing meant. The defeat of the Nightmare Creatures, Celestia's monologue, Luna's "Cruelest Self" letter, that was all 14-year-old me, sitting on a beanbag and writing for two hours straight what she felt about the nature of life.

I think part of Luna's letter sums up this past year in ways I never would have imagined: And as I walk, I know I shall turn around, turn to see the graveyard that trails behind me, and wonder how much of me there is left to die. Because I have done that, many, many times. I've buried a lot behind me and transformed as a person, both in writing online and in my personal life. I've despaired that I would never write anything better than my past works, and I've risen above that misconception to enjoy life a way I'd never done before. My dreams for the future have changed, and maybe some people call scaling back on dreams giving up, but I think I'm just not taking myself too seriously, for the better. I've found I'm changing all the time, and I think that looking back on that graveyard and wondering what will take its place is exciting.

But I know that changing like this doesn't come without consequences. I know my initial followers came because they wanted the emotional melodrama of Letters from the Moon. I know it's hard to follow an author who fluctuates so much in content. And I'm trying, I'm trying to balance it out in upcoming projects. No promises, but bandwagon jumping? Emotional Dazzlings for the holidays? I can't please everyone, and I get why people won't like me changing what and how I write. (But folks, let's be real for a second. Comedy's a fun experiment, but emotional melodrama is my baby.) However, I sincerely hope that all you wonderful people will continue to support me as my writing continues to evolve, branch out, and (hopefully) mature, even if its author never will.

...Sheesh, Nano's done, and I still feel the need to keep cranking out words. TL;DR: Have a great December, everyone!

Now to go back and actually edit those 50,000 words.

Comments

[ConningOfficer]

You did a wonderful job and don't get down on yourself when you read back through - I know how much the editing will drive you crazy, Isabella the Perfectionist!!!! Congratulations!