Discoveries · 11:38pm Sep 4th, 2016
So, I've discovered an incredible parallel between being a DM and being a writer. The urge to spoil things by revealing things is absolutely huge. I played D&D and other pen and paper RPGs for about 30 years. When people heard I was going to be running a campaign I had to turn people away. Everytime. The craziest was when I ran a Deadlands (pre d20) campaign for a group of 8 people. And during all that the hardest problem wasn't having a coherent plot, it wasn't keeping my players happy or even in check. It was the urge to reveal things in the campaign before their time.
It's like that I'm discovering as a writer. The urge to share things before their time is insane. I'm reminded of an exchange from the Dresden Files:
I took another bite. Cake doughnut. White frosting. Sprinkles. Still warm. And I had hot coffee to go with it. Pure heaven. I gave my brother a cryptic look and just took another bite.
"Christ," he muttered, starting the truck. "You don't even explain the little things, do you?"
"It's like a drug," I said, through a mouthful of fattening goodness.
It's like that. Revealing things, explaining things, telling the story. It's a drug, and I like the high.
And with that, I'm going to reveal a little something about the story that is my first and current tale, The Bridle Path. Brace yourself if you read the story.
It wasn't supposed to be like it is. It was supposed to be a simple bit of clop. One, maybe two chapters. Just something quick and easy to get my toe wet into writing. Bing, bang, boom, done. I'm writing it and, I swear, it was like Rarity was looking up at me and saying, "Really, darling? You can do so much better than that. You know I wouldn't just give in like that. I would fight, struggle, resist..." And then the twin cursed questions of being a DM arose. "What would make that happen?" and "Why would that happen?"
And answering those questions has spun me into a multi-chapter odyssey that likely has me looking down the barrel of writing probably another 20,000 words. And you know what? I think I like it.
Lately, I've worked my way through the existing chapters of The King and Shy. A tale of corruption and reformation. It isn't a great tale if you like characters welded to their show personas, but it is a good piece of escapism. Anyway, all the best to you and yours.
Careful, I had that thought. About a cute little pervy story of a goo-changeling and his redemption, helping Twilight defeat Chrysalis and living happily ever after.
That was 500k words ago.
When your muse sits behind you, when she rests her hands on yours and presses the keys with your fingertips, you can really get carried away into a whole new world.
That is, apparently, where really good stories come from. When the characters you write take a sort of life of their own and begin assisting in the writing process.
(also you might want to add the Sex tag to The Bridle Path if there's gonna be sexual content innit
)
4192284 I'm rolling right up to the edge, but I have no plans on going over. Teasing, frustration, stimulation, BDSM, yes. But no explicit sex. Initially, I didn't want to put the Sex tag on The Bridle Path because I felt it might lure people in expecting explicit content and then being disappointed because it wasn't there. Which is why I went for the Mature tag instead. I'd rather under promise and over deliver than the reverse.
You've been reading the story and have more experience than I. Do think, as it is right now, that the Sex tag should be on it?
4192327 I think the scene in the chapter before the latest, where Rares was being carried back by her harness, was at least edging close to Sex tag territory, but if that's about the level of content the story gets up to I don't know that it needs it.
I have noticed that, at some level, it depends on what (if any) site moderator comes across your story.
4192813 Okay, good. Like I said, I want to roll up to the edge without going over. But do me a favour? Let me know if I do cross that boundary. The last thing I want to do is violate site policies.
4193003 Well, I think the worst that would happen is the mods temporarily pulling your story and asking you to update the tags, unless you become like a super-duper repeat offender or something.
I don't care about clop anyways, so I'm perfectly fine with the way the story has taken by now. I never understood the appeal of straigh-up clop stories anyways; they often feel rushed and don't explain anything, which really breaks the immersion. A good story with (optional) clop in it is 100 times better than a short clopfic imo.
Also thanks for your suggestions for other great stories, I really enjoyed "A deeper change" and I'm definitively going to read "The King and Shy" as well
Did you also have the time to check out "Twilight, Revised"? I still think you will enjoy that one ^^
4193133 Thanks, I'm going to try to make it a point in these blogs, whenever I write them, to recommend a story I've run across that I personally enjoyed. As for 'Twilight, Revised'. Yes, I did read it and brrrrrr. That was scary. I was reminded of a quote from the Fifth Doctor, "A man is the sum of his memories."