Zero Blogs: FRUSTRATION!

Okay, I have another confession to make.

I haven't been updating Spark recently. And yes, part of that is just because I'm in school four days a week and literally don't have time to work on it. But there's a little more than that.

When I wrote Shine, I had a clear idea of where I wanted things to end. Sunset transitioning from evil to good. To do so, that would require rectifying herself with the other students (by defeating Adagio), with Twilight (by saving her from Adagio's spell), and with Celestia (by showcasing her determination to remain pure). After that, I just had to fill in the blanks and the story formed on its own. (Later revisions not withstanding )

But with Spark...well.

My initial goal was to contrast Human Twilight investigation into Canterlot High with Pony Twilight's horn recovery. And that worked up to a point. But then, I hit a wall.

The conflict. As I had written them, there was no reason for the two to have any real conflict with each other. If anything, Twilight Spark's newfound curiosity about "Substance X" would have made her very open to a conversation with her alternate self. And if the story kept on as it did, it would have ground to a halt with the two meeting, having a casual discussion, and then going their separate ways. Especially since I had no idea why Sparks was even investigating the school in the first place. So I turned that into a conflict in of itself with her wondering that herself.

Except that STILL wasn't enough!

Unlike Sunset, whose flaws were the easily exploitable greed and hunger for power, Twilight's friendless flaws (exemplified through Moon Dancer) seem to be a Lack of Empathy. Without the guidance from her friends, she'd end up just not caring about others at all unless the relationship benefited her in some way, and heavily binding herself to logic and reason.

That sort of mindset doesn't translate well to our conflict. Sure, she'd want to examine how their magic works and I'm sure one could argue that I could just write her as a mad scientist performing crazy experiments in order to do so...

But to what end? What would they accomplish that couldn't be done through simple observation? Nothing I could think of.

Hence, the Crystal Prep plot.

Now, I deliberately kept the flashbacks up to the reveal as ambiguous as possible so I could fill in the blanks easier when the idea shaped itself. And yes, it does show why Human Twi's so cut off from everyone else.

What it DOESN'T show, I've realized, is her character.

Now, she's a victim of circumstance, not in control of her own choices anymore. Sure, she may have started the fire on her own, but that was in response to Cadance and Solaris's decision regarding the Advanced Program. And now with the blackmail plot, events are once more out of her control.

Shine at it's core was a character study. And Spark was supposed to be too. I wouldn't have brought back Searing if it wasn't. But instead, Twilight Sparks has become a pinball character: not doing anything until the plot drags her into the conflict.

I. Don't. Like. That. To the point where I'm seriously considering just nuking the past five chapters. I can't believe I did something so basic after all my talk about avoiding the Idiot Ball. But I just don't know how to put more character into my character and more story into my story.

Ugh, I need to rethink this.