The Year in Review: 2016 · 3:18am Jan 1st, 2017
Here we are again. Despite some appearances to the contrary, I did in fact survive the massacre that was 2016. Where many famous and notable figures left us to this year's bloodlust, I was spared. Even if I was puking like 18 hours ago, I only have to survive another 1.5 hours to make it into next year.
But that's all filler for the intro. Let's move onto what we're here for: my annual Year in Review. This year was a busy year, even if things were a little quiet towards the end of it. But before we go, I want to thank everyone for their support and interest in my projects, past and present, and to ask for your continued support moving forward. 2017 looks like it'll be a big year, but I'll cover that in my Year in Preview I do sometime later this week. But for now, we're gonna take a moment to look back at the past. So, let's get started!
What Good Is Any of This Anymore? by Sheandog
So in terms of new releases, 2016 started with a bit of an unusual one from me. The Mare of the Equestrian Eighth was my first serious foray into poetry, inspired by Everfree Northwest's Scribblefest 2016. This was shortly after the conclusion of Season 5, and the Crystal War timeline was still fairly fresh in my mind. When I saw that Scribblefest was giving out six different awards, one of them "for services to poetic language, beautiful diction, haunting prose, and overall elegance in writing," I figured I might try something different. The result was a ballad 2500 words in length with a kind of funky rhyming scheme that fell apart in some places, but overall a piece I'm proud of. Apparently, the judges thought it was a good story as well, because I ended up winning the Rarity Award I was gunning for. I'm thankful to them as well as everyone who has liked this poem. Since this was such a successful experiment, I might try something like it again in the future.
Karaoke Night by Rurik
So, this one. I'll be the first to admit that this was just pure fluff written because of the image Ruirik made above. We've Got Tonight was also inspired by the song of the same name, which I originally used before being kindly reminded about fimfiction's 'no copyrighted material' rule. So, I had to change it, and I didn't really like the song I made up for it... yeah, if you like Raridash stuff, you'll like this story, but other than that, I wouldn't blame you if you gave this one a pass.
Dioda by Ruirik
Here's an interesting one. Census was written purely for myself and for whoever else likes the worldbuilding in my former premier series, A Song of Storms, specifically with regards to Of Skies Long Forgotten. Census follows the story of a Cirran government official conducting a census in the Empire's lands 20 years before the start of OSLF. It's first and foremost a world building piece, with very little in the way of conflict or a traditional story structure. It's just a series of snapshots into the lives of the Cirran pegasi and griffons before OSLF, and I find it a fun and relaxing thing to write. Maybe I'll get back to it sometime. It's like half-done right now.
Daring Doodle Donkey by Ruirik
It turns out that Bronycon is useful for more than just meeting fellow horse authors out there. The kinds of discussions that can happen when you get a bunch of us in one room together can lead to some wonderful story ideas. Daring Doodle Donkey was the result of one such conversation, where we all collectively wondered who trained Daring Do to be such a great adventurer, and we thought it'd be a neat story if Cranky Doodle had done it, as he's been all over Equestria and the number of things he's seen have to be astounding. I jumped on that story real estate before somebody else did, and was rewarded with an Equestria Daily feature and a Royal Canterlot Library feature. This was by far my most successful story this year, or at least up there with Mare of the Eighth (because I won money for that one). I'm happy it was so warmly received by all you guys out there.
And now that we've got the new stories out of the way...
Duty by Ruirik
Oh man. I don't even know where to begin with this story. What can I really say about it? It failed. There are many reason for this, but the two biggest were a lack of a good plan to tackle it and an extreme lack of interest in writing it. The Summer Lands became an awful, convoluted mess in the waning days of its life, and the more I tried to reel it in and get some control over it, the more it refused to cooperate. In the end, I grew dissatisfied (dare I even say angry) with my work, and decided the best course of action would be to just kill the thing. I consider it one of my greatest failings as a writer to not finish a series, but if you ask me, I'd be happy to consider A Song of Storms concluded after Snow and Shadows. At least that one was actually a good story. There are "plans" for a rewrite, if you could call them that. But in all honesty, I'd be happy just leaving the thing dead. At the very least, getting back to it is not something I have any immediate plans for.
A Rainbow of a Different Color by Ruirik
Okay, I swear this one isn't dead. I do enjoy writing A Rainbow of a Different Color, even if I find it a bit harder to write than my other works. I just haven't felt particularly motivated to work on it lately. I know there are a lot of you out there who are always waiting for updates, and I promise, I will have more of them. I've just been distracted as of late with other projects. But those projects are for my Year in Preview, coming soon.
And now, numbers. Because what's a better snapshot of a year in review than numbers?
24's END OF THE YEAR STATS:
-Views: 32,211 (2015 = 34,268)
-Views per Day: 84.66 (83.87)
-Total Story Views: 133,599 (101,388)
-Followers Gained: 88 (104)
-Followers per Day: 0.26 (0.26)
-Total Followers: 406 (318)
-Follower Rank: 794th (905th)
-Blog Posts: 33 (44)
-Stories Posted: 4 (3)
-Chapters Posted: 24 (15)
-Words Posted: 90,014 (114,110)
And my 2016 goals I made a long time ago:
[ ] Finish Summer Lands
[ ] Finish A Rainbow of a Different Color
[4/3] Release three new stories
[X] Pass 400 followers
[ ] Get 150,000 total story views
[X] Have a story reach 400 likes
[1/2] Participate in 2 writing events/contests
[X] Get another story on Equestria Daily
Not bad, not bad. Wish I could've checked a few more off, but oh well. We'll see how the 2017 goals pan out. But that's all I have for my 2016 review. I hope you all have a Happy New Year and all that jazz. I'm just going to hide in a bunker until the last few hours of the day are over.
See you in 2017!
Ante Legionem nihil erat, et nihil erit post Legionem
24
Well, we'll still be here. See you in the future.