Future Content After MN7 · 10:58pm Jan 6th, 2017
As promised, I wanted to give an overview on where things are going and what to expect in the near and long future from my writing. MN7 was something of a watershed moment for me. I’m not going to go on a long tirade about it being “my biggest achievement” or anything, but what I am going to say is that it was what I set out to prove to myself.
That I could finish something. I spent years starting and drifting away from projects and it really bit hard at me. It’s a confidence killer. Eventually, I started small and worked back up again until I suddenly felt the urge to try just once more. Only this time, I was determined to prove to myself that I could finish something. I never anticipated it to take off like it did. That carried me through. But now that I’ve completed it, I have this buzz of “I can do things” going on that’s led me to really want to dive in and organise my writing plans for the future. I feel like I can do it now. I can remake and finish old story concepts. I can go after new ones I only realised after writing MN7. So here’s a current breakdown on plans. None of these will be MN7 in length (Please no!) and several of them are short stories, so that explains the multiple entries. So lets run through them.
For Want Of A Purpose is an FOE short story I have already written but not released yet. I wrote it just before the finale of MN7 to “recharge” myself a bit when I started to feel a bit run down. This story focuses around Flintlock, a unicorn born and living in Tenpony Tower. A paradise, certainly, especially with the wealth of his family; but something keeps him feeling unsettled and disconnected from the social circles at play. He wants for nothing, and yet has nothing he wants, even if he isn’t sure what it is he truly seeks at all.
This story will release on Sunday. It’s a story centred on self discovery and about what matters in life, that takes a closer look at the insides of this peculiar tower and its residents.
Frontier Six Two is otherwise known as the “lost chapter” of MN7. Originally planned to be crudely rammed in as Chapter 24, I was convinced otherwise by the editors and dropped it. This alterred concept as tells a short side story to the plot of MN7, set entirely during the Equestria-Zebra War before the Balefire struck and follows a small squad of hastily trained reservists caught entirely out of their depth. Those of you familiar with MN7 might be already be picking out just how this story will link up with it. A chance for a look at a mid-war Equestria from the ground up, and an expansion to a recently completed story.
The Brink (working title) is something I debated about for ages. I do not want to get caught into always writing pony stuff because I could be creating original content of my own and practising with that. However, the plans below about them will take time to surface and rework, and I could use something more fun to write in the meantime rather than just planning all the time, and I might just build some more readers in the process to then show it to in the end. As such, The Brink is a story with a much more fantasy styled angle to it, not a million miles from show style or that of Equestria Prevails. This won’t be as blunt as FOE, it’ll be more ‘teen’ than ‘mature’, and will tell of a fantasy adventure in a fractured, mysterious form of Equestria. More details in future, but this is a story concept I’ve been really grabbed by. I look forward to doing this multi-part adventure.
The Runner War is an old old OLD concept of mine, dating back at least 8-9 years, possibly more. I’ve been a long lover of stories about resistance groups, underground factions and uprisings, and many have told me how the running theme in my stories is “escape”. This is kind of the originator of all that. I tried writing it years ago, but failed at Chapter 7, the chapters are now lost to time, no longer anywhere. However, I was always proud of the world I’d created with it. A dark science fiction with a heavy grounding in practical, grungy technology (Think Alien), set around a resistance group amongst the industrially converted remains of what once was their world. The prevailing theme that, when you’ve already lost the war…what now? Practical, interesting technology; grounded in reality scenes and the bonds between characters are at the core of what I enjoyed even in my ill-fated attempt years ago. Now I’m working on finding a new story to utilise some of the old designs that still hold up, while improving it to create a believable world with a stronger core narrative this time.
The Journey is not a title, it’s just a concept. I’ve always wanted to tell a classic story of siblings, young lovers or a parent and child duo having to make a perilous journey from one place to another through great hardship. This generally comes to mind as “taking the sick character to somewhere they can be healed”, for examnple. The question of “will they make it?” hanging in the air, and chapter by chapter being what they find along that road as time runs out and stakes grow higher. I have no setting for this, it’s just a story format I really like and feel could be very powerful. I’m tempted to combine this story with the setting of the Runner War to bring ideas together, actually.
Horror Story. No details, I just want to really write one someday. I never realised how much I loved writing these scenes until I did Stable 93 and the Outer Metro. There’s a lot of people say they were some of the best parts of MN7 and that I should write a firm horror one. Well I’m gonna, but no concept in place yet other than a possible touch on a much more abstract setting…and I’ve always been quite a fan of stories that push beyond the veil a little…
Possible FOE Commissions. Okay okay, don’t jump to conclusions. I haven’t “opened commissions”, and I’m not “going to put up a price.” This wasn’t something I thought about until earlier this year when a couple friends read “For Want Of A Purpose” and asked if I could do the same sort of “short character story” for ones they had as a commission. If they want me to, I will do it. So you’ll probably get to read those as well if they come about. I know the characters they intend, and I would love a chance to go for it. But it’s up to them in the end, and up to me to decide how I feel about it. I did one commission before for the tabletop game Roan’s rulebook, so it’s not unknown to me after all.
So overall (as the pic explains) we have:
1 short story to be released in a couple days
1 short story to follow in a not huge amount of time
1 adventure story to watch for regular updates on about when it might start
1-2 original world stories that I am moving into full planning mode now to try and make a mark on my own original things
Several concepts for the future, or to replace the above if I feel they develop a stronger feel.
Possible occasional short stories from those who requested them from me as commission work.
There’s a lot to come, but don’t see that as me going scattershot and trying to do half a dozen things at once. This is going to be quite structured. Right now it’s writing Frontier Six Two and concepting original stories. After that it’ll be planning/writing The Brink while moving into full planning of an original story.
Then we’ll see where 2017 takes us, but this’ll easily keep me busy till 2018.
Feel free to let me know what interests you or what you think about the concepts! As I said to people elsewhere and here. MN7 wasn’t the end.
For me, in terms of knowing I can do projects, MN7 was only the beginning.
All very interesting. Wishing the best of luck on your other writing projects.
I think your idea of working on a horror story is interesting. The story certainly had good pacing when it came to the stable ghost. And the subway monsters are still rather a bit of a mystery because we don't really get a good accurate description other than the clue on when they approach, which gives them a bit of a Lovecraftian presence when talked about. Then the Factory workers at the end there, you really don't start to really expect something's up until Murky starts to take notice of their faces. Up until that point, I just thought they were everage slaves working in the plant at the time.
MN7 was a dantastic story and im very happy I had the chance to read it. If your future work is anything near the quality you showed, i am looking egarly torwards your next stories!
Keep on writing, you rising star!
I think we'll have to keep an eye out for you Mr. VeeVee--you're going to give us more to read and talk about....
Ooh, all of these sound really exciting! I'll be eagerly awaiting their release!
I've always noticed you write really differently when blogging compared to your stories. I realize it's informal speak vs prose, but it stands out to me.