076 Announcing: Operation Wonderbit! · 10:34pm Jun 7th, 2016
076 Announcing: Operation Wonderbit!
Hi everyone, I hope you're enjoying the weather - it's sure been nice in my corner of the world lately!
So, today I'd like to share some additional details regarding the upcoming Of Lilies and Chestnuts sidestory. However, please note that due to a certain character involved in the story, this post may be also of interest to people waiting for the next chapter of Arcane Realms (yup, I know it's been over nine months, but hey - OLAC's guys have been waiting since March 2014, so don't lose hope!).
Ladies and gentleman, it is my great pleasure to announce Operation Wonderbit!
Read more under the break.
Let's start with the cover, because you'd scroll to it first anyway!
Asking who's taking those pictures is like asking who lit all those candles in Transformers 4.
The style looks familiar, doesn't it? As you can see, I'm going with the old snapshot routine that's been accompanying us through all the chapters of the original story. The upcoming one will have only a single picture to feast our eyes on because there's only this one picture of filly Echo (from whom Chestnut got her body, mane, and tail, being her recolor) on Zee66's profile. I hope the bright colors and general cuteness will be enough to draw in a few new faces - that's still how ponies work, right?
Alright, but what about the title? There's a Wonderbolt on the cover - Spitfire herself - but what's a Wonderbit? Well, there's a story behind it, too, and more specifically, a thread on The Writer's Group forum. It started with a guy called Pankrazius who roughly a year ago asked: How would you call a low ranking Wonderbolt? There's been many great answers, but one coming from Zodiacspear caught my attention.
Bookmark forum threads while you can - you never know which headcanon you'll need!
It was perfect, even if I wasn't thinking about writing anything Wonderbolt-related at the time. Kudos to both guys for inspiring me!
The idea itself crystallized sometime during the last year's Q4 as I was working on improving OLAC (I also got one or two other ideas for possible sidestories involving Chestnut which I hope to flesh out before the end of my pony writing career), but the works haven't started until I was done with the said rewrite, means February. Since then, throughout what little spare time I could muster, I've been working only on this story, which is why we're still waiting for Chapter 2 of Arcane Realms.
Speaking of, I promised a little something for those who enjoyed the adventures at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Individuals. In Operation Wonderbit, you will be introduced to a couple of orphans, and one of them is actually a character you've already met in Arcane Realms. You're smart people - you know about whom I'm talking about. Yes, that character and Chestnut from OLAC know each other! Even more so, if you're having a hard time figuring it out, the character's name was mentioned in Of Lilies and Chestnuts (Chapter 7 I think). So, while it may not be all magic and spells this time around, I hope you'll enjoy this extra insight before Arcane Realms provides more details about the character's past.
Here's a picture break. It's also highly relevant, because just like these two, my stories are connected. I'm running out of scarves, please send more.
I like to think of it as a treat to those who were kind enough to read a lot of my writing. For example, that picture on the cover on the top was taken in a place called Red Cuckoo, a café that was visited by Trixie and Princess Celestia in Stage Revival. Or, remember Mr. Inkblot from OLAC? His wife is a teacher in Arcane Realms. A connection here, a connection there... I should probably make a blog post explaining this little setting of mine.
Back to Operation Wonderbit. Is it a prequel to OLAC? Not really. The idea started as a sidestory, but since it's taking place before the original, it can technically serve as an "introduction" to the character of Chestnut. Doctor Hugs, the stallion in charge of the Canterlot Orphanarium will also play a part, and perhaps some other characters from OLAC will make an appearance. It's also difficult to think of something as a sidestory when it will reach a little over the half of the original (probably 25k-ish words throughout several chapters), but let's settle on calling it such.
Alright, that's probably all I wanted to share before the release. If all goes well, the first chapter(s) of Operation Wonderbit will arrive next week - hope to see you then!
Have a good night!
~Prane
Sounds very interesting... You don't say it's a prequel but I'm calling it. It's a sorta-prequel!
*excitement intensifies*
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"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" - or, in our case: I just hope you'll find the story fun to read regardless of how we classify it.
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♫ And you just can't hide it! ♫
Interestingly, I've been listening to a lot of 80s music while doing research for this story.
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