A.I. writing fanfic!NaNoWriMo Part 2; or, November is a Hard Month for Writing · 10:42pm Nov 8th, 2015
Saturday ended with 9,138 words in The bag, only 2,528 words under par! Believe it or not, that is quite the achievement given the week I had. It turns out that between work, volunteering, and getting ready for a trip, it all rolled out to about two hours a day to write.
Sometimes less. For instance, while Saturday was a very good day at about 2,500 words, Friday was... not. 21 words? It's a little embarrassing. 
Still, I have written every day. I have chugged along, and I am far closer to being finished for it!
I believe my main obstacle is going to be my inner editor. When I write, I write basically one draft. I go back and change a scene, or restart a conversation if it goes off track, but for the most part I don't continue with the story unless I like what I just wrote. It makes for a very "clean" writing process, but it's also a very long process. Writing a five-thousand words chapter takes hours and hours. I can't achieve the word-count if I'm constantly second-guessing myself.
Essentially, I'm learning a new writing process. A different writing process. A learning experience unto itself.
In other words, don't expect my unedited snippets to be masterworks. You've seen what I'm capable of in my prime, so I'll not apologize!
In story progress, I have introduced all the main characters, or at least the main players. Several chapters will require almost complete rewrites, but that's what additional drafts are for. The characters arcs are getting set up, as are the obstacles that will stand in their way.
Since the first passage introduced you to Martial Lionspaw and Darla Deutero, I think I'll post a section with Suzette Darning and Maximilian--the other half of the cast.
Suzette headed for a chair in the auditorium and flopped down beside Maximilian. He had his head in his hands, scratching his reddish stubble absently. She crossed her arms. “‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘It’ll be fun,’ he said. ‘Just like when we were kids,’ he said.”
He stared into space. His long face drooped. “Thanks, Suzie. I needed that.”
“You need a swift kick in the butt; that’s what you need.” Suzette applauded politely when one of the hopeful actors climbed onto the stage. “The Royal Circle. The queen and her hangers-on. The ruling class of the entire country. Just like when we were kids.”
Maximilian hung his head. He nearly poked his eyes with his pinkies. “Have you considered switching careers? You’d make a wonderful teacher. Always so patient and supportive.”
Amos belted out a rousing chorus, hitting most of the notes properly. Thistlethyme gave him a begrudging nod of approval.
“Class is in session,” Suzette said. “We aren’t kids anymore, Max. We’re adults. The world is a little bigger and scarier these days.”
The doors to the town hall opened. Two soldiers walked through and stood to either side of the isle. The captain marched in, differentiated from the others only by his purple sash. The red eyes of his helmet glowed bright in the dimly-lit auditorium. He made his way to Governor Thistlethyme and bowed at the waist.
Suzette tilted her head towards the two of them. “See what I mean?”
Thistlethyme bowed as well, sweat beading on his forehead. “Is something wrong, Captain?”
“No.” The captain’s voice echoed through the room. He reached upwards and touched his neck. The shimmering in the air surrounding his armor faded as he pulled his helmet off. “I’m just here to see the performance.”
“Is that all?” The governor turned on his heel and scampered to the stage. He wheeled a hand through the air, throwing the gesture to anybody who was watching. “Well, you heard the man! Begin the next audition!”
Maximilian brought his feet onto the chair and hugged his knees. “Is it just me, or is the governor more nervous than we are?”
“It’s our reputations on the line…” Suzette shrugged. “It’s his livelihood.”
“Point.”
Suzette tilted her head against the top of the seat. She stared at the rafters high above, where a booth had been constructed to house the massive marionette dragon. Onstage, another contender for the role of the hero warbled a stirring, inspiring piece. Suzette could have sung it in her sleep.
She heard a chuckle from Maximilian. She raised her head to ask him what was so funny, but she paused when she saw the look on his face. His thin cheeks were pulled back in a wide grin. His eyes sparkled with unadulterated delight. He bounced in time with the music, breathing the lyrics silently.
Watching him be so happy, she couldn’t help but smile, too.
“Suzette Darning?”
She jumped. She let out a small cough to clear her throat and turned to the voice. The captain stood in the row behind hers, his metal-shod hand resting on the back of her seat.
“Yes?” she said, her voice small.
“I served with your father,” the man said. “I would like to pay my respects.”
She found her finger twisting the end of the sash around her waist. She released the fabric and looked up at the face of the captain.
He was a few decades older than her, perhaps in his late forties or early fifties. Short, gray-flecked black hair crowned his head. Hard lines framed his sunken cheeks. Piercing green eyes sized her up and down. “I suppose this is a few years too late… Your loss is our loss. A nobler man I have not met.”
Suzette brought her eyebrows together. “That is… kind of you, Captain…”
“Harold.” The captain sank into the seat behind Maximilian’s, his armor pieces scraping against each other. “Harold Veil. It’s an honor.”
“How…” Suzette combed a hand through her hair. “How did you know I’d be here?”
“Richard Darning spoke highly of Lighton.” Harold steepled his fingers, touching their tips to his frown. “I decided that I would at the very least speak with you while I was stationed here.”
“I see.” Suzette drummed her fingers on her legs. “Well, it’s nice to know that you still think about him.”
“I would be wrong to ever forget the man.” Harold turned an ear to the stage and listened for a verse before continuing. “He saved my life a number of times. Under astonishing circumstances, I would say. I’ve never seen a Heartsong quite like his.”
Suzette’s rosy cheeks burned. “It runs in the family.”
“Does it?” Harold Veil leaned forward and gripped the backs of Maximilian’s and her seats. “You have a great gift, young lady.”
“So I’ve heard.” Suzette leaned forward to put as much distance between her and the captain as she could. While still being polite, of course.
Maximilian glanced between her and the captain. He gave the soldier an uneasy grin. “Hi.”
Harold Veil fixed him with a stern glower.
“Yes, sir.” Maximilian turned back to the performance.
A smattering of applause rippled through the auditorium. Governor Thistlethyme pointed at Suzette. “Next audition. Now.”
Suzette pressed her lips together. She clenched her hands together and jumped to her feet.
“Hey.” Maximilian dropped his feet to the floor and pumped his fist. “You’ll do fine. I promise.”
“Don’t make promised you can’t keep,” Suzette mumbled.
“Darning.” Harold hoisted himself to his feet. He gave her a slow nod. “Blessings on your performance.”
Suzette frowned and hurried down the aisle to the stage.
Maximilian leaned forward, his hands gripping the arm rests of his seat. A smile pulled his cheek back as Suzette took center stage. Her finger twirled a lock of brown hair, while her other hand pawed at her sash. He clapped his hands lightly. “You can do it, Suzie. I know it.”
Thistlethyme signaled his assistant, who started a record player. A scratchy approximation of the full song played. Suzette took in a deep breath, steadied herself, and began to sing.
Maximilian closed his eyes and let the music wash over him. There really was no voice like hers, not in his opinion. Each note pitch-perfect, each word clear as a bell, each line in perfect meter. She sang a soft farewell from the middle of the musical, when the princess despaired of ever being freed from the dragon.
The clank of armor, the furthest thing from musical, snapped Maximilian out of his reverie.
Harold shuffled to the side, sliding a two-pronged fork from his belt. He held it into the air, his face hard as granite. It vibrated in time with Suzette’s notes.
Maximilian watched out of the corner of his eye. He pinched his thumb and forefinger together as his muscles tensed. The old saying said that no attention from a soldier was good attention, especially when the nations seemed to gear towards war. There was enough stress going around without Maximilian contributing to it.
Stay out of their way, and they’ll stay out of yours, Maximilian thought. Get in their way, and…
Harold Veil snapped his hand around the fork, which rang against the metal of his gauntlet. He slid the fork back into his belt and marched towards the governor.
Maximilian eased himself out of his seat and followed at a distance. A long distance.
“Governor Thistlethyme,” Harold said, “you are to give her the role of the princess.”
“I beg your pardon?” Thistlethyme’s mustache bristled. “I haven’t even heard the entire performance, let alone the other—”
“You will make her the princess.” Harold laid his hand on Thistlethyme’s shoulder. “You will set her in front of the Royal Circle, the dignitaries, and every person in this town. They deserve to see her.” He glanced toward the stage with his bright, green eyes. “She deserves to be seen.”
The governor’s knees shook. He backed away when Harold released him. “The Queen asked me to be in charge of the play—”
“And Lady Annette Kingskeeper placed me in charge of this town.” Harold rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. “She is a lady I would hate to disappoint.”
Maximilian eased himself into a chair a few places from the end of the row. He rested his elbow on the armrest and cradled his head in his hand. The last of Suzette’s crystalline melody rolled across town hall, snatching his attention away from the two arguing men. He frowned as she took a curtsey, receiving well-wishes and words of encouragement from the other hopefuls.
He glanced back and felt a jolt run down his spine. Harold Veil stared at him from beneath heavy eyebrows. The captain lowered his gold-trimmed helmet onto his head and tapped the neck. The armor hummed to life, extending a shield from the body that left the air in a haze. Harold walked quickly down the center aisle, vanishing behind the front double-doors.
Maximilian hopped from his chair and scampered to the stage, barreling around a sweating, shaking Thistlethyme. He grasped the stage and hauled himself up. “Suzie?”
Suzette looked over her shoulder. “Max. What did you think? Good?”
“Yeah, yeah, it was great, but—”
“Next audition!” Thistlethyme snapped. “All others off the stage!”
Suzette moved to comply, Maximilian right behind her. He reached out to touch her elbow. “I think you need to stay away from Harold.”
“You don’t say?” Suzette rolled her eyes. “He seems like somebody who’s really bad with people. I wasn’t exactly planning on inviting him to dinner.”
“Yes, but—” Maximilian blew a breath through his lips. “When you started singing, he held this thing up. Then he made Thistlethyme give you the part.”
Suzette stiffened. She clenched her fists together. “What?”
“He forced Thistlethyme to give you the part.” Maximilian looked at his feet. He scuffed the toe of his shoe in the wood floor. “I don’t know if saying congratulations is appropriate or not.”
Suzette glared at him. She opened her mouth several times, closing it shortly after. She let out an exasperated growl. “No. It’s not.”
She ran across the room, opening a door to the backstage and slamming it behind her.
Maximilian scratched the back of his neck. He watched the door to see if she would come back out. When she didn’t, and the next few auditions got underway, he slunked back to his seat.
It's still really rough. 
Looks good to me honestly. I'm seeing plenty of what I believe to be pony influences, from armor that has enchantment when put on, to a record player in the same room as medieval weaponry, to freaking Heartsongs (unless that's a thing D&D bards have as well, I honestly don't know). I actually liked this one better than the last one. Any chance you could include a little of the song itself? If you can't think of any good lyrics you could always have someone else come up with them. Even if you don't put them in the story itself, it might make a nice addition for an appendix.
That's interesting, I wonder what the heck heartsongs are? Thanks for keeping us posted!
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I've found that pointing out the differences came easier when he was in a situation where he was an outsider. When he was with people who had never seen his species before, in person.
I'm trying to decide if him smiling at a baby, causing it to cry, is too cliche or not...
I've chosen a slower trickle of information regarding his species. Each chapter he's in builds on the last, adding a little more information. You should have a solid physical picture of him by the time chapter one is finished, which gets refined with subsequent, to use a forging metaphor, hammer blows.
Yes, the pony influences are there, and for the most part intentional. For one thing, magic as a science has significantly shifted how the world developed. One of the challenges for this story is making the perceived anachronisms convincing. It makes plenty of sense for My Little Pony to have spears and radios used in the same city, it's part of the comedy, but it'll take a bit to connect the dots in the world I've crafted.
It's also a world where the soldiers wear full plate armor, while a woman is walking around in shorts and nobody bats an eye. I'll admit it's a little weird.
I actually arrived at the term "heartsong" independent of the fandom. A google search didn't turn up much in the way of conflicting ideas, so I decided to roll with it. Mine at least has nothing to do with bursting out into random musical numbers.
Heck yes! I love it when stories include songs in the text. It's a wonderful bit of world-building and fun all in one go. Tolkien and Jacques had the right idea there. I have plans to include that particular song somewhere around the midpoint of the tale, and there's going to be a few scenes from the musical itself sprinkled through the story.
The problem with including it in the preview is that writing songs takes a long time. You gotta juggle rhyme and meter and make it not sound like a kid making up a theme song. For the NaNoWriMo challenge, that slows down the writing process too much. I'm gonna write the songs independent of the story itself, and insert them later. It'll be better if I can take my time with them.
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When I started out, I had shining dreams of being a successful bestseller. Then I discovered that such things take hard work...
But as a supplement to a more stable job, I can see it going places and still being fun. I'll hardly be the next Pratchett, but I can still entertain countless people with the tales spun from my heartstrings.
Who knows? Maybe I'll catch the eye of a publisher somewhere down the line, and they'll make the terrible movie adaptation (starring Chris Pratt as Martial Lionspaw), and I will be forced to disavow it (despite secretly loving it to death), and then years later my estate will sue.
Oh yes. Those people. It feels like you can find Speculative Fiction writers under every rock nowadays.
D'aw, and here I am thinking I was more of a MyDabbling.
They're the X-gene.
Actually, it's the most visible component of my Magic System. I'll probably hold of on going into details until the book gets closer to actually being, you know, finished.
3539095 I can think of a few places for you to try to get your story noticed. For instance, you could look up the Speculative Faith website, which in addition to blog posts by contributing authors, also has a library of various speculative christian or christian-themed stories, both classic and modern.
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Oh, wow. That's pretty awesome. Thanks for showing it to me! I think I'll be spending some time checking it out in the near future.