The Finite Lonely Day · 11:17am Jan 23rd, 2016
Alex in Socks by the fantastic PaintSplotch
End of an Age
So those who found this blog through the last chapter of The Eternal Lonely Day will already know what this blog is meant to announce. As of the most recent chapter, I have ended the story. This may be a great surprise to those who have been following. Those who have been following the story from the beginning will (correctly) realize that I originally planned to describe the full 10,000 year era it would take all humans to return in this story. I didn't even break 300 AE, so it ought to be very clear I've got a long way to go there. For various reasons I've elected not to continue this story that long, reasons I will illustrate here.
I wouldn't want to go further without another thank-you to my readers who made it this far. We've gone from several thousand to several hundred, but that doesn't mean I appreciate your support any less. Thank you so much for sticking it out with me. I really did write this much because of you. Your comments and feedback effected the story more than you know. I feel like a wiser, better author than I was when I first started this project, back when summer started. It's because of your support. Likewise I'd like to thank my artist Zutcha for all his fantastic work, and for pushing through and staying motivated even when he didn't want to. It wouldn't have been the same without him.
First though, I'd like to present what I will be doing instead. I won't be neglecting all the future. Those of you worried that this is the end of LPoE, you need not worry yourselves quite so soon. I do still want to tell the story of some of these future years. However, I intend to tell the story a little differently. As fun as it's been to use Alex's perspective exclusively again after taking a break from it in Founders, I've found it greatly restricts what I can do from a narrative perspective. People have pointed out in the comments, and they're not wrong, that it can be frustrating to have so much of Alex's story missing after the few hundred years I skipped. With a potentially immortal life to look at, there are obviously quite a few more years than just those 300 to consider.
I've elected to change the format for the future. Rather than restricting myself to a totally linear narrative where each chapter directly follows the previous, and rather than holding to a single character, I've decided to abandon both. Future updates to the universe will not be told as Chapters to Alex's story, but as self-contained "Episodes" Focusing on a single character who may or may not be one we've seen before. Each Episode will be a self-contained narrative, perhaps longer than my usual for chapters, perhaps shorter. Given the large periods in-between these sections, it's likely perspective characters will not recur. The only exception to this are our immortals, who I expect to make an occasional appearance every now and then.
I have not yet decided if I intend to have these chapters appear as part of ELD or not. If so, I'll likely rename the story, change the cover, and restructure things a little to keep things easy to understand. I might, on the other hand, start another sequel, which would certainly be the last in the series.
This project was ambitious, far more ambitious than I intended, and it's had the inadvertent side-effect of restricting my writing. This brings me to my second point: As I move to this new format, I will be moving away from regular updates. I know this is a change for me, given I've been publishing at least weekly since March of 2014. I do have good reasons, though. The first is that the chapters will be full stories in themselves, so might be longer and take more time to write. Secondly, I have other MLP-related projects I'd like to write, a few of which are already in the very late stages of production and will probably be published soon. I need to have a break from regular publication deadlines in order to get these stories finished and out there. As much as I've loved writing for LPoE this last year, I'd like to write other pony things for awhile.
Most importantly though I'm taking the next three months off from regular pony publishing in order to focus on getting my real-world novel ready for publication. I'll talk more about this later for anyone who cares about such things, but for now I'll only say I've got a unique and extremely limited opportunity at university right now and I'd like to take advantage of it while it lasts. I expect I'll return to more regular posting in three months, hopefully.
In the meantime, expect occasional updates from me. Some of those will be Episodes of ELD, some will be probably be to get a few shorter stories I've written posted.
Oh, and I've also got a project going with the artist of LPoE, which there will hopefully be another blog post about, so stay tuned. What could that project be? Well...
I was quite curious about the rest of the story (I love civilization spanning epics), but I understand your angle. I admit I never commented much, mostly because I always was late and others already said what I wanted to say, but it has been a great ride. Thank you for having written it!
I will wait for your other stories and your novel with trepidation. Let us know when you have finished it.
Again, thank you for the story and for all the work you have put into it.
Hey, you're the author. If you think this is the best way to present the saga, then I'm right there with you. Thank you for all you've done. I look forward to seeing what you have in store.
We'll see.
Cool.
I'll be sure to keep my eyes out.
I think the episodes should be part of a separate story. Keeping it all in the same story creates a huge style break.
It was a satisfying end for ELD. Either way, you're a great author and i quite literally cheered whenever the LPoE series updated.
Looking forward to your next episodes.
I agree. I think you really overstretched yourself going for 10k years. To me, ten thousand years feels like a mind-boggling length of time, and it feels like far too long to really describe such a huge passage of time without losing a lot of the investment we had in the characters. I mean, after The Last On Earth and Founders of Alexandria, I had felt quite invested in the characters - and then they all died in the first few chapters of the next one.And then I realized that this fic, by its very nature, was going to have a lot of characters live and die in it. And because of this, I feel like we can't actually get attached to any of them. It's become very "Eh, they'll be dead by the start of the next arc, oh well, move on".
Another question is probably: "Where are the ponies going to be in ten thousand years?" Hay, where are we going to be in ten thousand years?!?!? Because no doubt the answers to both will be remarkably similar. Does the use of magic allow ponies to develop FTL technology, thus allowing them to become a space-faring race? Is there other life out there that managed to survive the Event? Or the relics of one that didn't? I personally wouldn't mind hearing the story of space pony treasure hunters exploring the ruins of an ancient alien civilization... (E.T. got hit by the Big Sparkle)
My point is, I find the idea of it being ponies in sci-fi a bit... boring. Maybe instead the apocalypse happened, and magic was stripped from the world. Ponies can't survive without it, but luckily an alien species from an alternate universe used technology to transform the ponies into beings that look like them, and don't need magic to function. And then it all happens again...
I won't deny wanting to read about how you'd continue Eternal Lonely Day and how much I'll miss your regular updates,
However, today I most want to thank you for having written these stories and tell you I'll look forward to your next works.
While you're exploring new ways to write, consider this: The Writeoff.
It's a good place to challenge yourself, if you're looking for ways to improve as a writer.
Unexpected but not surprising. By the way, I don't think you've lost all that many readers since those who didn't continue reading LPoE after their first look at it still push up your viewcount... (also those that read the first story twice. Like me.
)and since it was featured regularly it attracted a lot of casual glances. Look at your like/view ratio instead: LPoE: 13%; FoA: 19% ELD: 17%
That's damn good.
Hundreds of dedicated fans is nothing to be scoffed at, no?
Also: 43 side stories!
Alright. I very much look forward to the stand-alone stories in the 'verse. I also hope there will be more sidestories: the world you built is a fantastic playground. I've looked at almost all the sidestories and a whole lot of them are great, so I do recommend that those who now will be in need of their LPoE fix to have a look!
On that note, in a way it might be beneficial for the group as a whole to stop ELD here. Now there is no absolute need to wait for Archive to round specific milestones to know if the story will be okay. Would you be open to answering the odd question about events on certain points of the timeline? I've got my hands full at the moment of course, but I don't think I'll be done with LPoE for the foreseeable future ;)
All the best and thanks for the ride. Good luck with your 'real' novel!
Got a link for info on that? In parts, your writing was better than some stuff I've paid to read.
Especially action scenes stood out for me. You're good at those. Edge of your seat good.
With only a few exceptions, your characters and their development were also very interesting, easy to get invested in... and I don't need to read pony all the time. Also, thanks for your support and advice. You're not the only one who's learned a bit about writing here.
So thanks again. Have a nice apocalypse.
Hmm... I'm usually not a fan of the smaller self contained narratives (That's not what I'm here for), but I'll give it a shot.
No promises of sticking around, cause that's usually just not my thing. Thanks for the adventure so far, though!
Maybe you could start the new story with a few "episodes" focusing around characters we've already met, like White or one of the guards at Alexandria, then just move on from there.
Well, you scared me with the beginning of this blog post, but at least the story with continue in some format. Just please try your best not to abandon it completely. I can understand your wanting to move on to a different story and I will continue to follow you for any future stories you write. I am OK with the format of having other perspectives. I only thing I would really like to eventually see is where all of the devolving plots in the story were going and what ultimately happens to Lonely Day. So, even if we don't see her whole story, I would still like to see where it all ends up.
You have done a really great job with frequent updates over the past year especially while attending school. So, I think less frequent updates would be fine and probably good for you; you need to have a life outside of colorful ponies after all. Thanks for the stories you have given us so far and I look forward for more in the future; especially the one with more Zutcha art. My Little Apprentice was the first story I read on this site and you still continue the be one of my favorite author here. Have a great day and good luck at school this semester.
Well, it was a cool ride while it lasted. Congrats on making such a neat world, and such a cool story!
And the journey ends. Somewhat.
You've certainly created a nice setting, with wonderful characters. It's been a joy following then for the last eight months!
During the start of the The Eternal Lonely Day I was looking forward Saturdays more for your story than the new episodes.
If you happen to publish non-horse words, do throw word around so we know about it!
It's a bit of a surprise, but I can't fault your logic. Thanks for sharing your world with us, and I look forward to whatever comes next.
10,000 years is a lot to write about, and I'm glad you know how much you can handle as a writer. I think a few well-placed side stories and small updates could tell the story of the entire timeline. But I'll have to tread lightly to make sure that, if/when I write about the future, I know what's canon.
I figured this blog post was coming. I just want to say thanks for writing a great story, I've enjoyed reading this work immnsly and I look forward to anything else you do with your new and expansive universe.
Well, I've stayed with the story since almost the beginning and while sad to see it end, even temporarily, is hard. But, I'm sure you'll be writing great fictions either way. Oh, also, I'd like to wish you luck on that opportunity. Good luck! And thanks for an awesome series!
I have enjoyed your writing so far. Would much prefer you to take a break and maintain the high quality than to burn yourself out trying to force one narrative out of yourself.
So this is partly my fault.
Those missing bits of context were never a huge problem for the story, just occasionally odd. But whatever you think is best.
Just thank you for the story. It has been a great ride & you deserve the break!
I love to see what else you can do in the future.
Tough it's sad ELD is finished (for now)
I've read all you wrote on here so far and loved it all.
i'm sure i'll enjoy whatever comes next
Fair enough, Starscribe. I look forward to more from you. :)
That last picture...
Are we going to see the whole series something RL-like? As if we get a book where it looks like Alex actually wrote and typed in it?
10,000 years is indeed a great amount of time to write about, but that's why we're here, to take up the slack where slack needs to be taken up.
Don't worry, Starscribe. We got this.
as I am helping with a few story's I know the kind of time you are spending and I know the work involved I just finished the second story and the Epilogue is just perfect.
I will say thus much I have a custom play list I like to hear when reading large story's. and wile I was reading the Epilogue it just happened that this song was playing and it fit like a glove to this chapter the video is good but think about the wording and the Epilogue at the same time.
Well dang. I only came across this entire site only a few months ago from another writer who started writing on here. As soon as I started reading LPoE three days ago I couldn't stop. Actually spent 7 hours non stop reading instead of sleeping. Finished it all in two days.
I find it sad the regular narrative is not continuing but I understand. But not many stories grab my interest like this has.
Keep up the great work, and here's hoping to see more of the archive and her alternate names.
I kind of hope you might bring back 'Alex writing a journal' thing again, both as you go forward and perhaps backwards to fill in a few/many of the gaps that cropped up in the opening chapters of ELD.
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I have been thinking of ways to bring back the journal style in places. What gaps were you thinking of, specifically? It would be helpful to know what to look for.
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I might be able to think of more, but two particular examples spring to mind: firstly, what happened with Adrian and Sky? I remember being a little bit confused around that particular section of the story (50 AE) since it's never really explained what happened to him or why he left or, more to the point, that he left all, until you drop the bomb about him having 'not lived there in a decade'.
The other example I think of as being sort of a gap is about the whole 'breeding program' thing. You mention it at the beginning the story, in an offhand (off hoof, hue hue) fashion, and again at Oliver's funeral, but you never explain what exactly the program is, and/or why it exists. I mean, this is a MLP:FiM fanfic, so my first go to thought is that there's a sex imbalance and that's why they might need such a thing, yet there doesn't appear to be any evidence for that; the founders are split (I think) 50:50. (I suppose you could make the case that since Whiplash and Lonely both used to be dudes, that there's a sex flipping bias, but I feel like you've implied that Adrian used to be a girl, and if so it's two males-->female and one female-->male, which doesn't strike me as much of a bias, if that.)
I feel like these sorts of gaps would be excellently filled in by Journal entries; in the latter I sort of imgine an entry where Alex talks about Oliver proposing the program, and why, and the former, well that's obvious, I guess.
'Course, the problem is where to put those entries haha. I guess in both examples the 'gap' as I see it is a bit of worldbuilding and character development that might not be interesting to Alex herself (ie Sky's husband leaving her is probably not as much as a significant event to her, as it is to Sky, which means it might work better as something she talks about directly in a journal but not as a 'scene') Or more exposition that would be worth putting in the narrative (ie the breeding program worldbuilding).
For my two bobs worth, maybe have some narrative from Riley as the Changeling Queen after seeing Alex and her self aware child and Riley's struggle for truly self aware drones. We haven't really heard much from her.