Zero Blogs: CONTACT! · 7:39pm Jun 28th, 2016
I did it guys. I finally did it. After beating my head against the wall for almost two months, I finally figured out what Neo-Shine was missing compared to the old one.
I figured out that I lost my spark while writing it because I was focusing too much on how to make the story acceptable for EQD. And while that's not bad in of itself, I ended up forcing myself to write in a way that didn't mesh well with my creativity. That led to large staccato sentences, blatant info dumps, weak settings, and poor plot progression.
But, going back through Dusk for what is now the fourth time, I think I'm finally getting this "Show Don't Tell" thing down. But more importantly, I know how to incorporate the Dazzlings and Twilight now. I was so busy trying to be clever that I overlooked the simple solution that was more present in the original.
A Sunset Shimmer redemption story needs to revolve around Sunset.
Rose: It took you two months to figure that out? You should change your name from Infernity Zero to Captain Obvious.
Let me explain. In Old-Shine, I alternated between POV's throughout the story. Sunset, Twilight, Celestia, Rarity, Adagio, and heck, even Vinyl gets a moment. And while alternating perspectives did provide more of an insight; since their motivations were separate from Sunset, they ended up taking up space where Sunset's character development would be. The biggest example being a line from Adagio in her introduction about how they were going to use Sunset to succeed, but that plot went nowhere and Twilight became their pawn instead. For this to work, Sunset needs to be at the center. Only through interacting with everyone there can the story proceed properly.
In other news, Dazzled is going to be deleted and replaced with a new chapter once I finish editing Dusk for what will hopefully be the final time.
Rose: Where should I stand while we wait for EQD to shoot you down AGAIN?
Thanks for your patience everyone. Expect more updates soon.
I said it before and I will say it again: I am a patient guy, there is no need to rush.