Epiphanies and Breaks · 9:08pm Nov 27th, 2016
Well, not me, 'cause I don't drink. But you get the idea.
As of now I am over 670,000 words into Project Horizons, and it has at last managed something no other story ever has: it got in my head. No, not talking about philosophy or any of that stuff. It's just that the other day I actually had a dream that prominently featured Blackjack. Guess I've been reading about her crazy, suicidal exploits for so long that she's getting ingrained into my skull (ow). I can't believe I'm only about 1/3 finished with this thing!
Anyway, I took a break from writing completely in order to spend the last four days with my family. I read and wrote reviews, but even that was only at a fraction of what I normally attempt. But now I'm home, and the long drive back was filled with me thinking on all my stories and my plans for the future. I've got the writing bug back; we'll see if I can't make something of it.
Speaking of which, I had an epiphany not too long ago. It was last week's Writeoff that did the job. After my recent crisis of ability, I decided to try writing in a way I was, simply put, not used to. It wasn't enjoyable to write that way, not at all, and why write if you're not enjoying it? But it was a mere 750 word contest, so I went through with it to see what would happen. The result has been... lackluster, despite me getting into the final round.
But the comments made me recognize my mistake. By trying a new form of writing, I was essentially throwing away all my traditional writing tools that had been tried and proven in the past. And for what? To appease show vs. tell? To create something that sounded bland even to me?
And that's the epiphany: I don't need to change how I write. It won't fix anything. What I need to do is write like I normally do, then go back and tweak the mistakes. Or, to be more accurate, I need to get better at spotting those mistakes. My regular writing style was fine, I just need to tweak it a little – and ignore some of the 'show don't tell' criticisms in order to keep the wide variety of tools my regular style offers. I'm glad I came to this conclusion, because it narrows down that 'narrative voice' thing I discussed in my last blog to only one option.
With this revelation and a renewed eagerness to get to writing, I'm hoping I can finish my Derpy-centric short story before the end of the year, although I can't guarantee that. More importantly, I might finally be capable of getting back into my Celestia and Twilight stories properly.
On a side note, I really need to get back to writing The Silence and Order of Shadows. I was re-reading what I have of the former last week and realized that I shouldn't have stopped writing on them. I enjoyed what I've done with those stories and can't wait to get back into them! Alas, I must finish one of my ongoing works first... but soon.
In other news, tomorrow I begin another long reading project:
But, as I've mentioned before, this puts me reading two huge stories side-by-side. I don't have much room left for other stories. I've already scheduled out the coming weeks and tried several things to allow for regular postings, but alas, my word limitations have ended me. Early warning: there will be some weeks without review sessions in the coming two months. I'm trying to keep it so that I don't go two weeks in a row without a review session, but can make no promises. Things should return to normal around mid-January. Once this is done, I don't intend to pick up anything over 250,000 words until I'm caught back up to where I'm supposed to be on my schedule, i.e. three or four weeks ahead, and I aim to take some extreme measures to make it so.
In other other news, a special shout-out to LT-Cross, whose follow finally allowed me to break the 900-follower barrier. My thanks also to everyone who has helped me reach this milestone! Keep being awesome, guys.
Story Progress
Songbird Chapter 1 of 10
Re-writing & Editing.
Derp
Rough Draft in progress.
Thanks to L3Moon-Studios for making the bars!
Stats
Total Word Count: 1,885,000 over 37 stories
Average Words Written Per Week (2016): 6,850
Follower Rank: 250th
Overall Ratings Average: 94.51% (+.02%)
Highest-Rated Story (Not Counting Stories at 100%): Of Angels @ 285/3 or 98.96%
Story with the Most Votes: Tyrant @ 2259/67 (Year+)
Story with the Fewest Votes: Paul's Peculiarly Puny Pony Pieces @ 20/1
Longest Story: Order of Shadows @ 283,000 words
Congrats on making your way through PH- Plenty of people seen to abandon it or burn out part-way.
Also, nice of you to recognise that you have you own style of writing- you working better within that style is not an admission of weakness, but that you do something superb.
In regards to delays- I can wait as long as it takes for your reviews/posts. Don't feel pressured on our accounts to rush through or force anything.
Love the painting you found of Blackjack Paul :)
It is always good to try out new forms of writing. Something I am terrible about doing myself. Yet as the second Nightmare Night episode shows us, sometimes when you try new things the result is 'nah, I do not need to do that'. So you certainly don't need to change your writing process/style/etc. But I do hope you occasionally continue to try new ways from time to time.
Man, I remember when I was only a third of the way through PH. Good times, good times. Well, alright, crazy Blacjack abusive times but same difference. I look forward to how you found the ending to see if I should ever finish it up.
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Nah, I won't burn out. If anything, I kinda wish I could abandon my schedule and read it straight, but then I would go from little writing to no writing, which I find unacceptable.
If I feel any pressure regarding the reviews, it is due to my self-aimed disappointment and a desire to keep up with a schedule, although I'd be lying if I said disappointing my readers didn't play a part in it. More frustrating is the knowledge that the logistics of the work is making it downright impossible to select stories for the bi-weekly Round Robins.
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It was the best I could find. Doesn't catch the mood I was after, but quality artwork is quality artwork. Blackjack deserves more quality artwork.
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I regularly look for methods to challenge myself, but that usually extends strictly to the plot itself, not the writing of it. Eh, maybe I'll do some exploring again later, but right now it's too much of a hassle when I haven't published anything in what feels like ages.
According to my reading schedule, I won't be finished reading PH until mid-March.
But I'm starting to question just where this story is going, since certain things I didn't expect to see for a long time are suddenly happening. Makes me wonder how this stretches into another 1 million words.
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Oh, it goes on and on and on, and on... and on. Heck. I don't even remember what was happening at the 1/3rd point. What chapter you on? What stuff were you expecting to not happen for a while?
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I've read up to chapter 36, which is when Sanguine gets the pipbuck he's been after since the beginning. That rather pissed me off, not because of his methods, but because I saw half a dozen ways to stop him and Blackjack didn't so much as consider a single one. Why can't she be a smart pony? Can't wait to see how he gets his, the prick.
But that's exactly what I didn't expect. So the Key ot Hoofington is in the villain's hooves. In most stories, this would start the rush to the climax where the heroes try to catch up and prevent all hell breaking loose. But again, I'm only 1/3 through the story, so... what? Is Sanguine or the individual behind him going to drag his hooves getting into Hoofington? Are the heroes actually going to go inside Hoofington itself? Maybe I'm just rushing towards a milestone event, but I can't imagine what that milestone could be without them solving a number of the story's major puzzles, so... are new puzzles going to present themselves, setting us on an entirely different adventure seemingly unrelated to everything that has already happened?
As you can see, I'm a little uncertain about what's about to happen.
On the other hoof, I'm particularly eager to see if this story goes beyond the events of FOE. I will be greatly pleased if it does, and the more I learn about what's going on on the other side of Equestria, the more I suspect that will happen.
I thought that was just me! I dreamed about the storyline in His Greatest Treasure last night.