• Member Since 23rd Jul, 2012
  • offline last seen 14 hours ago

Albi


Still tired. Still writing. Patreon

More Blog Posts288

  • 5 weeks
    Soon!

    I think I've used that blog title three or four times now.

    Anyway! New chapter of Spectacular Seven is almost done! I was hoping it would be done this week so I could post it on Saturday, but I need to rewrite a scene. And that's before I edit it! And before Drakey edits it! The good news is...

    Read More

    9 comments · 488 views
  • 18 weeks
    Ten Years, Still Here

    I think back to my nascent days here, reading stories and typing out my own, hoping for the day where I could call myself a veteran of the fandom. My stories would be remembered and I would stand alongside authors like Pen stroke and Aragon.

    And I look where I am now and go, ‘well, you got one big hit. Good enough.’

    Read More

    20 comments · 1,081 views
  • 20 weeks
    Thank You

    I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who contributed to the GoFundMe or spread the word for it. It really means a lot. Thanks to your donations and getting a little more on my first paycheck than I thought I would, I should be able to stay afloat again.

    Read More

    12 comments · 497 views
  • 21 weeks
    My Turn to Ask for Help

    Hello friends.

    I'm trying to raise money for me and Amber Spark after we suffered an accident with a U-Haul truck. The link to the GoFundMe page is here.

    Read More

    15 comments · 914 views
  • 26 weeks
    Spectacular Seven Day!

    So, Spectacular Seven is... seven years old today! godammitimoldthisstoryisoldwhyisntitdoneyetthiswassupposedtobefinishedliketwoyearsagowhhyyy
    Boy, where does the time go?
    I was totally not paying attention to the date, and even if I was, well... I wasn't gonna do anything.
    However!!

    Read More

    14 comments · 873 views
Oct
6th
2015

From now till January · 8:13pm Oct 6th, 2015

Hey guys, long time, no chapter!

...I'm sorry.

Okay, a lot to talk about. I'll start by assuring you that Long Road to Friendship is NOT cancelled. I would never do that, especially this close to the ending. That's kinda where the good news stops.



Back in July, I had every intention of finishing the story before November, if not then, then by the new year. I'm going to fail on both accounts. Remember that Long Week of Friendship thing that happened in August? Well... it burned me out for various reasons.

I think the main reason was some of the backlash I got over my story decisions. Claims that I had jumped the shark with the whole Lulamoon thing really kinda sucker punched me. Then there was the whole thing with the curse, but that one was kinda deserved, I guess. But between making the curse pointless and resolving everything in a chapter or making a little more conflict, I went with the conflict. And I know it's probably just the loud minority talking, but getting 7 downvotes in about a day, really hurts.

So, for a while, I consider much of what I had written a failure, and I didn't even want to look it at. Fragile pride. Not spinning this as a pity party, that's just how I felt. So, I walked away from the story hoping to cool off and gather myself. Maybe in a month, I could come back to it.

I might have if I hadn't gotten the idea for a vampire Sunset story. Well, that had to be a Halloween thing, so lo and behold Sunlight.

"But, Albinocorn, why not just work on Long Road to Friendship when you're done?" Because my curious children, I've decided to take part in National Writing Month this November. Not the pony version, the actual thing. I have an excuse to work on my novel. As such, I need the remainder of October when I'm not working on the last chapters of Sunlight to organize and brainstorm my fictional piece so I actually have something to write next month.

So yeah, that's that.

Unfortunately, you guys have a really good way of making me feel guilty. A user by the name of Clownfish made more fanart of LRtF which is amaing!

And then to add to my guilt, an amazing person by the name of Vero started an audiobook of this sad little story which you can find here. It's also kinda amazing. I listened to it all last night. There's only five chapter so far, but I'm dying to hear more. Now I finally know what you see in this story.

These two acts on top of me really wanting to see this story done, have resparked my drive. But I really won't have time until December, and even then it's going to be limited with finals going on. But, the second November is over, I will resume writing Long Road to Friendship. I plan on writing the final six chapters in one go, however, and posting them back-to-back similar to what I did in August. So, the earliest I can promise you new chapter is.... January.

Again, I'm very, very sorry. Just, bear with me. Next year, I promise you a whole slew of new awesome stories!

Now if the wiki would just update pictures, I could do my freaking follow-up of the Friendship Games!

Report Albi · 2,143 views · Story: Long Road to Friendship ·
Comments ( 38 )

I've always wanted to do NaNoWriMo, but I've never had the drive to go through with it, so good luck! You've got great writing chops, so I'm sure you'll do well!

I've thoroughly enjoyed all of your fics, literally all of them. I've not read everything one author has written on this site before (save of course for those who've only written one fiction) so I hope that in some way makes you feel better about the reaction to Long Road to Friendship (which is my favorite fiction on this site, period).

Anyway, take care of yourself, and don't worry about being less active for a while. And thanks for posting about Fractured Sunlight, I had added it to my read later and forgotten about it until you mentioned it! If you have any other suggestions of stuff to read in the Albinocorn dry spell, please do let me know!

Again, your work is awesome, don't let a vocal minority keep you down!

Hey the story is worth the wait and I quite enjoy Sunlight even if the dark tag scares me a bit.

And hey our life sadly isn't just ponies, so I think we can understand that. Also I am glad you got to see how marvelous your story is. And OMG this is a download I can listen to it every where :pinkiegasp: Best day ever!!!!

I dont see why so many people had a problem with the recent chapters of LRtF. I loved them.

I believe that I understand. About two years ago I did a thing that got a small amount of very loud criticism, and against all logic, it felt like it outweighed the positive. And sometimes, it still does.

Well. I, along with the vast majority of your readers, look forward to what is to come from Long Road, regardless of how long it takes.

Cheers.

I don't understand why seven people would downvote your story... it's amazing! Sure there are a few flaws, but honestly I don't know why that passes as a dis-like to some people.

Keep well, and I'll be looking forward to January!

In your last AMA you pointed out the next release for LrTF wouldn't be until early 2016 so...basically not much has changed at all.
God speed to ya in the National Writing Month challenge...thing..
Cheers

You have a Halloween themed Sunset story. All previous infractions are invalid. Best pony and real vampires? I almost find myself hoping that you just drop LRTF to write this for a year! Almost. :raritywink:

I dont fucking care if you take a full bloody year mate, as long as you bring some closure to the story, too much good story just get put to the trash and never get any proper ending



(Also I think the Lulamoon part was awesome, I mean...MAGIC)

Also you getting sad when your story has a 1713 vs 43 Like/dislike ratio (which is litteraly 1 dislike/40 like +1 Sin
I mean you litteraly get better ratio than the guy who runs your country, its pretty good
↑ this is a joke dont take it too seriously

I support you more than your story. Do what is right! don't be our slave. :)

LRTF is one of the few stories I keep thinking "I should really 'like' this story", only to realize I did soon after starting it. :facehoof:

But as much as I love that story in particular, I've found that anything you do with Sunset in it is basically going to be great. So I'm not about to complain about getting Vampire Sunset in the meantime!

Besides, Friendship Games has created a whole pile of mediocre to decent places to get my Sunset fix!

Don't mind the wait, as long as I get muh sunset+twi smooches!

For real though, I totally get the being disheartened by the vocal minority thing. I had that happen about 3 months ago, spent a week attempting to retool my whole story after publishing a chapter with not the best response, ended up hating what I was doing, and just not touching the thing for 3 months. I still wanted to keep writing it, but I never felt the motivation to. Finally forced myself to churn out a chapter out of guilt over several people asking if the story was dead, and surprisingly the response has been really pleasantly positive, which has in turn got me writing like crazy again. It's nuts how much reader response can affect the process, since I think most of us do this more for the readers than ourselves. Anyways good luck with the writing month thing and I can;t wait for more Long Road(and I'm also excited to start Sunlight in the interim).

Cheers!

If you love Sunset so much then why don't you marry her?

I've written a Sunlight trilogy that fell apart due to people not liking the end of the second story and it pretty much doomed the third that I did not finish. Don't let downvotes and criticism discourage you like how it did to me. I wrote it all when I was fairly new to the site so people's reactions mattered a lot but now I've learned that writing and publishing a story isn't about pleasing those who read it. It's about writing for yourself and making something that you like. If you want it to be a certain way, then the story will be the way you want it to be.

If others don't like it, then they can read something else. Hell, if they really don't like it, I challenge them to write an alternate version! Re-Write it and see how many people think of it! Most people would look at that version and say "It's not as good as the original" because nothing can beat anything as unique and creative as The Albinocorn's Long Road to Friendship.

It's only natural to judge and criticize things you see that aren't right, but half of us reading this story have either written absolutely no stories on this site or aren't skilled writers. Don't take anyone seriously since we all are suckers and those who bad mouth the story wouldn't be here to say anything if they did not find your work remotely interesting. And I bet you 50 bucks that they read the whole story up to the latest chapter even though they "dislike" it.

Dude, Long Road to Friendship is simply one of the best stories on this site. Screw what those naysayers said and the downvotes that came with said comments; that's just life, man. You can't impress everyone but you've impressed a lot of people regardless and that's worth something. Trust me, I've been lambasted before by people with way more experience than me but that's just another hurdle to clear. Let your artistic or literary vision come to life the way YOU want it to. Sure, you won't always make friends that way but you've already done so well and have something so special that it would be a real shame to see that undone over some unsatisfied readers. Keep going, man. Don't lose heart and good things will happen.

I still can't make myself read the thanksgiving chap. Not that it's bad, but I know shit's about to go down and I don't want to see it blow up.

And so, the long road to friendship lives up to it's name!

Nah, man, seriously. You do what you'd like, when you'd like. I'd rather have the story completed properly when you feel you're ready to write it instead of a story you rushed out to meet the demands of your critics.

Now, although I too feel like the lulamoons were slightly too 'out of story' for the story, as it were, I don't feel like it was awful in the slightest, and I am curious to know where it goes from there. So, until the next chapters then!

Okay, I admit I had some problems with the Lulamoon stuff... but if I went a bit far, legit apologies. You really do have an amazing story, here. One of the best Sunset fics here. But, doing the November thing is pretty big, too. Good luck with it. :) And we'll be waiting for your return.

i hope the story gets a sequel

Kinda sad to hear this, but nonetheless, I wish you GOOD LUCK! Hope there might be a sequel too.

P.S. It's also hard to believe that there's only 6 FREAKING CHAPTERS LEFT TOO!

I understand the criticisms, but I can also see being affected by it because it's not just a one-off writing mistake but a plot decision which will affect the future of everything you write in that verse.

*Cries Internally*

I'm honestly not sure what was so negative about the Lunamoons to some people. It didn't give me the feel that other stories do of rushed plot points or easy fixes so I don't know. They don't ruin what is, to me at least, one of the best fanfics on this site.

Anyway, good luck with your coming work. We can wait in the meantime, and look forward to a grand finale.

This is why I never set hard deadlines for myself: so I never feel guilty when real life inevitably keeps me from reaching them.

Youll get much more respect (from me at least) if you do what needs doing in your own life first so that youll be in a better mental and emotional state to create the best art that you can.

3448046
Fancy meeting you here, Rk.

IMO when it comes to writing harsh reviews of fanfiction, if you have to wonder whether you "went too far" then you probably did.

Long Road to Friendship for me rates up there with stories like The Life and Times of a Winning Pony, Heart of Gold, Feathers of Steel, Mort Takes a Holiday, and many others. So if it's going to take a little longer to finish it, then I'm more than willing to wait.

You cant have quality and quantity amirite? I trust youll make it spectacular.

Your story is amazing. It's definitely a vocal minority bringing you down. I'll wait for however long it takes you to finish it. :twilightsmile:

I have been completely obsessed with the story, reading it at work, at home, and then rereading my favourite chapters a hundred times. I love its fantastically balanced pacing, Sunset's characterization and her interacting with Twilight (and the others). I would not have drawn if not for LRtF. Handling critcism is difficult, though. How can one not take it personally? The story is loved (and leads to obsession...) by far more readers than a vocal minority, though. Have some more Sunlight for the LRtF obsessed.

I think the main reason was some of the backlash I got over my story decisions. Claims that I had jumped the shark with the whole Lulamoon thing really kinda sucker punched me. Then there was the whole thing with the curse, but that one was kinda deserved, I guess. But between making the curse pointless and resolving everything in a chapter or making a little more conflict, I went with the conflict. And I know it's probably just the loud minority talking, but getting 7 downvotes in about a day, really hurts.

So, for a while, I consider much of what I had written a failure, and I didn't even want to look it at. Fragile pride. Not spinning this as a pity party, that's just how I felt. So, I walked away from the story hoping to cool off and gather myself. Maybe in a month, I could come back to it.

I feel your feels so much man.

Just keep in mind those with issues voice it way more often than those who like it. I love your story. It's not one of my favorite Sunset Shimmer stories, it simply IS my favorite Sunset Shimmer story. I didn't dislike the curse thing, I just wondered how it was going to be resolved. I liked the Lulamoon thing, I thought it was an element to the story that was super cool.

When an author writes something good and goes in direction I can't see being good, I don't get upset, I just have faith the author knows what he's doing. It's his story, his vision. Even if you're making it up as you go, it's your creativity. I like to think I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

I hope you feel better dude, Sunlight has already got me enticed, so whatever you feel most comfortable continuing with, don't give up! I know it'll be awesome!

It could be worse I've waited months for a story just to see it be canceled heck I've been waiting for some story updates for upwards of a year at this point so I think I can wait a month or two. As long as it isn't cancelled I'll be here.

P.S: I liked what you did with the Lunamoons btw (although I totally understand why people wouldn't) and I've never really been against the curse but more so how Sunset isn't smart enough to bypass it (it really is rather simple).

I really don't get why the hell people downvoted it. Stories have its sad/tragic/bad stuff happening part, and it's actually when, in my opinion, it's gets even more exciting to read (I can I say I suffered a little once I realized Sun fucked up :derpytongue2:). The best of luck with your novel, I'm sure I can wait a few months :twilightsmile:

Don't let a few haters get you down Albinocorn! Any story that gets over 10,000 views and 1,000 likes has to be good. I've read plenty of stories I thought were amazing that didn't even get half the attention this story has been getting. Besides, you're practically like my favorite author on here simply because Sunset is my choice for best pony and you provide more quality content of her than anyone. I'd be so sad if you didn't keep it up. So take a break if you need it but please don't make it a permanent one. I'll be waiting here for your return so you better finish!

I noted the curse was seemingly superfluous to the majority of the story early on, but I think you may have overreacted attempting to fix that.

That said, seven downvotes are still a very small minority so you should try to just look at your much larger positive numbers.

Well, I'm glad you didn't let the put you off finishing entirely, anyway.

Ok dude I want you to listen carefully. Ignore the haters. No this story is not perfect, but it is the best SunLight I've read. This is the story that made SunLight my otp. I like what went down with the Lalamoons. I am hoping to see Sunny become like a part of their family.

finally a piece of advice. Write what you want for the people who enjoy it. Ignore the haters.

DF

Dude, chillax. NaNoWriMo only comes once a year, you taking time for it is completely understandable.

And hell, who here hasn't waited months or even a year or more for an update to a really good story? We can wait, especially when we have an actual rough date given and good reason to trust that estimate.

And here I'd start gushing about how nothing that's happened in the story is a deal breaker and that I have no problems with it in an effort to give your confidence a boost, but several other people have already made any point that I'd care to raise. Suffice to say that I like your story just fine the way it is.

You certainly don't have to apologize for anything you said :3. You've written in a previous journal all the plans you had in mind like the November writing or working on your original novel. You've developed so much, I don't think anybody can really blame you that you wanted to focus on your own projects for awhile! :3

And you definitely don't have to apologize for everything that happened with the Lulamoons! <3. I remember saying that I personally never saw what all the fuss was about: I always considered Artemis to be like Pinkie Pie in that he just does what he does. Nobody really understands where their 'magic' comes from, so the best answer is to just roll with it -- which really is how they look at life! :)

Please don't take what they said too closely! :(. Everyone can certainly afford to be patient while you continue to work to make this story as perfect as it can be! It will make the eventual updates, like with 'Sunset of Time', that much more exciting!

Don't you DARE apologize for this work of art. This is the best Sunset redemption fic ever. It's better than canon and I never say that about anything. We can wait as long as it takes for you to finish.

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