On Hiatus? Heck No! · 2:38am Feb 28th, 2016
A writer is best described as a person who is driven to put words down on paper (or the virtual equivalent). I really enjoy writing, and it seems that many of you enjoy the resulting stories.
The MLP may be on hiatus until sometime in spring, but I'm not. I've been working on a Starlight Glimmer novelette set when Celestia was still under a curse(*) by the Elements of Harmony for sending her sister unceremoniously and inharmoniously to the moon, when Twilight was so much a runt she was still identified as a foal(**), and when the single princess of Equestria still had two protégés. I've passed 13,000 words and ten chapters. I think Starlight Glimmer is about to earn her cutie mark, and she has certainly shown herself bad ass enough to one day take on an alicorn princess. The coming of age story will be rated young adult (probably a Teen tag) for themes of violence and sexual references(***). But it will get Starlight Glimmer from her estate in Grin Having(****) where Sunburst abandoned her to possessing the knowledge to execute a time spell in the Cutie Remap—as well as preparing her for my Charisma 7 series of stories and a half-plotted short where the cutie map sends her through the mirror(*****). I must finish before the sixth season begins because that Starlight Glimmer will likely become far different from the one I penned in Rediscovering Harmony.
So, I'm busy. Wish me luck completing it. (I do have a full outline.)
Meanwhile, read my stories!
* As detailed in Sisters in All but Blood.
** And this despite during her entrance exam opening a chasm from Canterlot to Tartarus (somewhat described in More Than Winning a Race) and through time itself (described in an unwritten addendum to It's About Time).
*** If you really want clues to where this is going, I hint about her past strongly in Bedroom Interlude and somewhat in Rediscovering Harmony.
**** I had to name the unnamed town SG grew up in, and I made it close to Horseshoe Bay where Duchess Moon Dancer came from as described in Sisters in All but Blood.
***** Yes, the EqG mirror.
Season 6 was announced to start in May, so you're better hurrying with your plans!
3782599 Good news. I was figuring on April. I'm at 19,000 words and working on the 13th chapter. I've passed the halfway point. Wish me luck.
3782800
Do you want to release this story in one swoop with all the chapters? From my experience here, a story released with many chapters at once has it a lot harder to get readers, because many don't want to or don't have time to read such a big junk of words at once.
>>Docontra
3782839
I actually have a restaurant in the story named One Fell Swoop; it's on the Strand in Canterlot, essentially cliffside, looking down on the Ponyville plain. Funny, you should ask that way.
I appreciate your comment. I plan to serialiize the story, one chapter per day until I run out of chapters. I am writing the story and arranging it to create cliff hangers, no pun intended. I would very much consider any advice you might give. I was considering releasing one a week or in a Friday, Saturday, Sunday schedule, but even the later might spread it over almost two months. I'm thinking of stating it's complete and giving the publication schedule in an author note on the first chapter. I'm even considering finding an artist to commission a custom cover as Starlight has a spectacular magical accident that leaves an interesting pattern burnt into her fur.
You seem well read. What works best in your experience?
3784285
Release a chapter every two days if there's enough time until Season 6 starts. That way, your readers can also miss a day once and then catch up on the next one anyway, without a new chapter already piling up.
Of course that only works if there's enough time. If Season 6 gets a definite start date announced and you don't have enough days anymore for that schedule, you must increase the speed of the releases.
Bad news..... No, NOT bad news, actually. But bad news for your story here perhaps:
http://www.equestriadaily.com/2016/03/season-6-premiere-on-march-26-confirmed.html
Can you get this done?
3792569
Maybe possibly yes. See:
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/605329/show-schedule-vs-writing-schedule