It's a good thing I'm not professional · 7:42pm Apr 21st, 2016
So instead of writing Masks or the thirty minute prompts I hammered out a rough outline for the only story idea I had that no one seemed interested in, wrote two chapters of one of the more interesting ones (with an entire cast of characters I have yet to name, so every character is replaced with <Friend from town> and <son> or <protagonist>) and then stared at Masks for about forty minutes before deciding that yes, I am still unhappy with it.
That one actually is a self-help book title (or the first part of one) I saw the other day. Doesn't that sound like anti-help?
I think I want to rewrite Masks. That's not a whole lot of rewriting right now mind you, and that's a good thing. It messes with the behind the scenes stuff a bit but that's the point.
The original plan for Masks was to be real gimmicky. I was going to run Rose's story, the Mare-do-Well's story and then the stories of 3 other ponies (Monochrome, Dead Line, Film Reel) who were all supposed to be suspects for who could be the Mare-do-Well and keep the reader guessing right up until the very end. Originally I wanted this to be kind of like the Rorschach reveal in Watchmen but realized what I did instead was create an oversized cast with One character who should probably be the Mare-do-Well but isn't, one who could be but also just kind of comes across as nosy and with a death-wish until the review, and one pony who is just kind of there with no real purpose other than further obscuring the truth.
So I think that that whole gimmick should probably be scrapped. I still like the idea, and would have loved to do it, but all it does is further contort and confuse the already fairly chaotic and crowded story line. Additionally there are very many superfluous subplots that really should be cut .
So there are some serious changes in store for Masks which means chapters may disappear from that in the near future.
On Thirty Minute Ponies though is a whole different issue. I really want to write those, I just cannot bring myself to want to write the prompts. They're so... shippy. I like reading that but I'm not sure I'm even remotely equipped to write anything shippy, let alone as frequently and as straightforward as the prompts seem to intend. I'm gonna try and keep pushing through, but I'm probably skipping the next prompt in line (the mane 6 wake up in sugarcube corner with different memories of last night) mainly because I've been turning that idea over in my head for weeks and don't have any ideas, well beyond my ~30 minute limit.
Have you considered doing Writeoffs? Competition and a submission deadline do wonders for motivating on tenuous prompts.
3887119 I suppose I should. Sounds like fun. Of course I also shouldn't be wasting time on Dark Souls or honestly even writing right now with finals around the corner. OH well, probably will anyways.