[UPDATE] The first scenes from LLW to hit the cutting room floor · 11:03pm Apr 13th, 2017
As an author, there occasionally frequently comes a time when one must look at something you've spent quite a bit of time crafting that is great and works well, but doesn't let you tell the story you want to tell. Once you determine that, you need to ax that part, or it will turn into a festering sore that ruins any further work, no matter how good those sections are.
Today I made that decision regarding the following two scenes. On their own, they're good, but once I wrote them the just logjammed any further work on the fic.
So, without further ado, enjoy the first "extras" from Lost Little Wolf:
I used a word in English that would have gotten my mouth washed out with soap in any good private school you can name. Of course, I had forgotten that the hivemind had access to every word in English I knew, so I got a sound whack with a switch over my haunches for it. “I’m just saying,” I half-whined, “Wouldn’t it make more sense to do this after I’ve gotten a better handle on my magic?”
Azalea gave me the Teacher Glare (I swear they have a course for that in teacher school in every universe) and replied in the Teacher Voice, “A changeling’s ability to morph into the likeness of another creature or thing is unrelated to the use of horn magic. I care not a whit,” she admonished sternly, “For whatever education you had with you when you were born, this is clearly an area you are deficient in, and it is my duty to teach you, even though it should come naturally to you by now.” She pointedly swept her gaze over the otherwise empty classroom.
I rolled my eyes, “Fine, fine!” I griped, “From the top… ‘Empty your mind,’ I know.” I preempted her.
The goal was to reproduce a basic unicorn.
So far, I’d done a magnificent job of reproducing a basic me. Changeling queen me, not human me. And hey, no morphing fire needed! ‘Cause nothing was happening! I growled in frustration.
“This…other creature,” began Azalea. I turned to see her usual stern expression replaced with some contemplative concern, “The one you were before our Queen hatched you…did it have anything like a metamorphic cloak?”
I smiled, “No, humans can’t shape-shift, they can’t use magic, and they have no flight capability. Think Earth Pony without magic.”
_-/^\-_
My dream had concocted a fresh episode of Babylon 5, and when Nightmare came along and stabilized it we decided to take a tour. Naturally, a five mile long, 9-billion ton space station that only existed in a TV show was fairly incomplete in my dream, sections of Down Below leading straight to Blue Sector leading to the ambassadorial quarters in Red Sector. Fortunately, the Zocolo was still there, clearly labeled, and my fertile imagination was producing some very nice alien cuisine.
“This changeling morphing thing is driving me nuts,” I groused to my dining companion as I munched on something that looked like celery but tasted like baked potatoes in almond sauce, “I just can’t seem to figure it out.”
Sitting across from me was a Minbari woman from the Warrior caste. She was “dressed down” in something that didn’t look quite so space-elf-like, but was still clearly a set of Minbari robes. They weren’t nearly as voluminous as the Religious caste would wear, or even to the same level as a Warrior might wear in public. Nightmare just didn’t really like all that clothing. Not that I blamed her, she was a pony, and they didn’t normally wear clothes. Nightmare was enjoying being the alien, and being a warrior did suit her nicely, “My disguises and shape shifting are entirely magically based. I’m afraid I can’t help you with this trial.”
I scratched an itch on the back of my hand around the standard-issue Earth Alliance Navy communicator, “Yeah, I know. Honestly, I expected pretty much everything about the Changelings to be magic based.”
Moon muttered an agreement around the rim of her glass, “E’en during the time before my banishment, Changelings were more rumor than reality.”
So now that I've removed those two scenes, when will the next chapter be done? Well, those two scenes were setting up the rest of the chapter, so I'm headed back to the drawing board again.
So here's what I'll be doing from now on; I'm going to set a personal goal for myself to release a new chapter (in this case, tomorrow), and when that deadline comes, you'll either get a blog post from me with a new personal deadline, or the new chapter.
I gotta say, I saw this time coming. I've done enough writing to know that there comes a time in any project where your initial burst of inspiration peters out and you've got to just slog through the times you just want to watch (say) Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 (which just came out on Netflix and I bring up for COMPLETELY unrelated reasons and no I'm not watching that instead of writing and stop looking at me like that!).
On a related note, if you've never read The War of Art, you're missing out on some excellent writing tutallage.
