Random Ramblings CLXI · 10:18pm Apr 13th, 2017
IN WHICH DAMMIT COFFEE
The last few nights have involved me opening up TextEdit to try and get some sort of writing accomplished, putting on some music – often an anime soundtrack because I'm a f**kin' weeb (sort of) – and then passing out before actually getting any writing done, then waking up in time to feed my cat and put him to bed. Sometimes I'll make supper for myself; sometimes I don't. I think the drugs I've been taking slightly suppress my appetite, in addition to making me sleepy.
I'd hoped to hold off on this blogpost until after I'd finished my next story but, sometimes you just need to barf your thoughts onto the screen — that phrase is adapted from a comment I left on one of "Todd"'s fics, now regrettably deleted.
Oh, author Dusk Melody recently asked for some feedback on a one-shot he wrote. I enjoyed it enough to agree. It's dark. Like, darker than the trash I write. Still, I'm looking forward to its publication.
So, you might be wondering, what's with today's sub-headline? Why am I talking about Coffee? Am I referring to the drink of which I partook today? Or perhaps to one of my regular readers? Follow me past the jump for answers to all of life's persistent questions!
If you read my last two blogposts, CoffeeMinion – who has unintentionally become my secondary muse through his comments alone (as he admitted that my own work influenced his… which surprised the hell out of me… speaking of which, I'm gonna shill Heavy Rock one more time) – asked me directly if I seriously planned to end Sunset's Recovery Arc on what will amount to a fluff shiptease story. Now, don't get me wrong; I love fluff if it's written well, because I'm a sucker for cute things (if I wasn't, then why would I be in this fandom?) – but I never intended to end such a serious arc of stories on fluff. That would be an insult to my readers, who seem to favour Sunset being in some form of mental distress, as well as to Sunset herself, and anybody suffering from real mental disorders.
But seriously, between my back-and-forths with Coffee and my conversations with Mugen about my Pinkamena fic (which I swear I'll clean up and post at some point before I die, I promise!), I've found that I can be surprisingly good at coming up with story ideas on the fly – the literary version of "rapid prototyping", I suppose – the result is…
I now know how Sunset's Recovery Arc is going to end. Like I already said, it's going to involve Sunset's magic diary. It's also going to feature three Alicorn Princesses. It'll probably be a two-chapter story – a short intro (where I can play up one of my favourite truisms: Twilight isn't as smart as she thinks she is), followed by a full chapter. It's going to be as close as I can get to resolving Sunset's issues without Sunny actually returning to Equestria.
Are any of y'all old enough (or watched Classic TV reruns like me) to remember that episode of Happy Days where Fonzie tries to admit he was wrong and he's sorry and literally can't say it? That's where I'm seeing Sunset with regards to her many sins in Equestria. She knows she fucked up big time but it's just hard to admit it.
I'm going to write this story after I finish Rarity's Photoshoot (working title) and Maud Pie Inspects A Burrito. The latter you can blame on CoffeeMinion, because he wants me to keep expanding the Burritoverse and gave me the idea to let Maud loose (and he didn't even mean to, I don't think). Dammit Coffee, you magnificent bastard. I can only hope the final product is as nuts as my brain wants it to be.
What else was I going to say? OH! Uh… do y'all think I should edit the long descriptions of my Recovery Arc and/or Burritoverse stories so they all link to THE GUIDE? Or should I not bother since most of these stories have been out for months if not years? I really would like to hear your thoughts on this.
That's all for today. Peace out!
Muahahaha...
Yeah, linking to the guide is probably not a bad idea. I was looking back through the Recovery arc recently and thinking that there's just enough stories to make it hard to keep track of the whole thing in my head.
If the end of Recovery takes Sunset back to Equestria, it could be interesting to put her in contact with the pony Mane 6, and especially to see how she reacts to pony!Rarity. Or would human!Rarity want to come with her? Would Sunset ask and/or would human!Rarity agree? I feel like human!Rarity deserves some resolution to the arc, just as Sunset does... and maybe that's The Photoshoot. I dunno.
4495348 - Well, I could tell you everything I have planned. Or, I could just keep you in suspense, and tease you (and anyone else) with vague hints.
I already have Sunset's return to Equestria planned out in some detail (as in, there's an outline for it saved on my laptop and backed up on a SSD). You said what drew you into H&L was its being different. Well, the end of Recovery may not play out like how you expect either. I know Sunset's return to Equestria won't be what anyone expects.
To be honest, I probably will use the Photoshoot story to give Rarity some resolution, since she necessarily must take a backseat in the stories I have coming up.
4495392 Well, good. It's the sort of thing where I might guess at how I'd try to end Recovery if it was mine, but it isn't, therefore the authorial vision rightly takes precedence.