The sun burns my skin, and Mystic has a question! · 5:06am Oct 4th, 2012
Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it? I think it might be time for a status update, and perhaps I might throw a question at you wonderful people.
But first, summer is beginning to rear its head down under. The sun is ungodly uncomfortable, the socially acceptable amount of clothes to be worn by both females and males plummets, and Mystic gets tempted away from study to go to the beach. How I am passing law school is a fact I am yet to work out. But honestly, when presented by two telephone book sized text books and a text saying 'Come to the bay!', the internal debate... well, calling it one-sided would be generous.
It's on days like this I miss swimming, really. But then I remember the five nights a week and two early morning training sessions and I suddenly don't miss swimming all that much.
Anyway! Back to pony. Still plucking away at the adventure. I honestly think it's my best work so far, and I really can't wait to show you all! But alas, we all know why that is still a little way away.
So what about some side projects? I have a couple of ideas, actually, and so here comes the question: what would you guys prefer to see? I am keen to do both, and both will prove to be useful exercises to improve specific areas of my writing, so I figure some outside opinion would always be nice!
Anyway, one of my ideas is a one-shot in a similar line of thought to Dancing on Silver Strings. A darker, meatier piece with a gothic/romantic spin. It's actually a Chrysalis origin story, and I think the best comparison of genre would almost be Cold in Gardez's magnificent piece The Glass Blower (seriously, check it out if you haven't already).
The other is almost a scrap book of ideas. My hyper-active imagination is constantly assaulted with pieces of epic high-fantasy adventure, and these scenes almost never get developed into larger pieces or incorporated into my other stories. The second idea would mean I pen out some of these scenarios (stuff like a pegasus knight defending his home from a legendary dragon, Starswirl taking on windigoes, or perhaps some sci-fi/post-apocalyptic stuff). The idea is to have each idea be its own little short (and I stress the word short) story/vignette and give them all a home with each other. Some of the ideas fit into the little head canon universe that The Sun Whispers and the longer adventure story sit in (actually, the longer one-shot takes a lot of elements from it as well...). I have a hundred pony worlds in my imagination, and some of them would love to see the light of day.
Anyway! Those are the ideas. What do you think? Chances are I might even write both. I honestly may not write either, depending on how I feel about them in the coming weeks. I am, after all, remarkably indecisive with ideas until I get stuck into them properly.
So there you go. Let me know what you think! Now I really should study for a couple of hours before the beach, huh? Siiigh.
Stay awesome! 
What? Summer is Australia? Dude, it's fucking October!
I love collections of one-shots. It ends up being how I do some of my best writing, though I have yet to turn to poniwords so my opinion on that specific topic isn't totally valid.
Still. Epic adventures broken down into the really interesting bits and presented in a bunch? Sounds good.
401363
Imagine the slutty Halloween costumes they must have since nobody needs to worry about cold.
401363 You guys are all backwards up north! :D Summer is at the end of the year and winter in the middle!
401364 I think I will call the collection 'Epic Ponies Doing Epic Things'. Sounds appropriate, hahaha.
401373
There's an abandoned coal-breaker not too far from where I live. It's a building, ten stories tall and filled with conveyors, grinding wheels, huge metal chains, broken glass, rusted steel. I picture story ideas being fed into the conveyor and hauled up to the top floor by the old lift, then beaten and pounded down until only the core bits remain.
...Also I can't believe that I forgot to set any of my stories at that place. Fixing that now.
401381 Screams Fallout: Equestria to me, haha.
401387
It would if I wrote Pony, but right now I'm working through a couple different sets of stories.
One of them is about how the industrial revolution could have gone very, very differently.
That one is just begging to have some major event take place there.
EDIT:
Also ponies have rock farms, dunno why they'd need mines...
October? Summer? Well that's weird.
Where I'm from it's only rain or shine. Storms and cold and sunshine have made me a very sickly pony.
One-shots are nice, just cause they're done right then and there, and they're pretty good too. Epic longfics are harder to conjure up because of how epic long they are, and dear help me, they take forever to update.
So, from what I understand is that you're gonna do a combination of both? Sounds interesting.
401387 I know how you feel about the heat....
+1 to collection of adventure one-shots.
Dancing on Silver Strings is oe of my new favorite fictions of all time. The message was deep, and the writing was stellar. If you could do that again with the Chrysalis fic I'd be satisfied
And hey, keep up with your studies in law school. I bet a routine will begin to form.
+1 for gothic/romantic
Can't say I have strong feelings one way or the other (as far as the stories go), except to say; I am glad it's October and an Arctic outflow has made the temperature plummet. Bring on the Winter!
Wow, I can have my super-duper winter while you are still lucky with melting-everything-away temperatures. This world actually can be fair sometimes. Nice.
To the question: "[...]darker, gothic/romantic[..]". Nothing to say here. It's my fetish!
401479 Summer starts early here =/ The temperature has been fluctuating wildly for a couple of weeks now, and the cold is starting to lose out. Just finished getting over the flu myself, actually, so I feel for you! :(
I know I personally prefer longer stories, but they take a lot more work to get ready, haha. I like to have smaller pieces in the interim to stop me from becoming too bored!
401534 Duly noted!
401581 Hehe, well I'm glad you liked it! I loved writing it, and I feel like it was a really positive step forward for me as a writer as far as quality goes. It's a step I don't plan on moving back upon either! Oh man, I want to release my adventure already! D:
401730 I miss winter already :( While the lack of clothes is always fun, the general discomfort of melting isn't so great.
I live in the tropics, so there's never really a defined summer for us. Just the stormy and sunny. We're in a cold stretch right now as we head into the holiday season, and the rain and cold aren't helping. Climate, why must you punish me so much?!
Also, good for you.
And finally... yes, more stories nao! (well, not right now, but you get what I mean)
401766 And now the suggestions either way are pretty much even! D: Hahaha. Well that backfired!
401776 And humid. Blech! Wet and hot means humid, and that makes Mystic die. =/
I'm for the Epic Ponies Doing Epic Things! A bunch of short shorts with a short story sound intersting and has the flair of the Decamerone- I haven't seen something like this on FIMFiction yet
Yet knowing you it would surely be something more along the way of Epic Ponies Dying WhileDoing Epic Things
Besides that... Do Fallout 
401373
I actually prefer romantic snow on X-mas... Well.. However, hot chicks with bikini and skirts... Oh what the fuck am I talking, I'd love that :D¨
Aaaaanywho.. To be honest, more then a sci fi/apocalyptic fic I'd prefer just some kind of epic advanture, romance you know, like the TSWYN and DOSS were. Yeah I think some kind of Starswirl story would be actually pretty damn cool, maybe you can (have to!!! :D) implement our two goddes there... Well you are the author so I'm not gonna say what you should or shouldn't put there
Take care!
402128 Epic ponies dying doing epic things? Hmm... Hadn't thought of that! Alamut you're a genius!
402534 Oh man, spending yesterday afternoon on the beach was fantastic. Except for the part where my friend almost got stabbed. Oh lord I wish I was kididng.
Actually, that bit was freaking hilarious. Yeah, yesterday was awesome, haha.
I think the collection of short pieces is winning, haha. Probably should start doing some solid planning, then!
403051
Stabbed? What stabbed him, enraged bee?
403051 Naah... Just a weirdo who reads too many books of too many genres
403943 Hahaha, nah, an enraged indigenous person. =/
404061
Oh crap. I hope he is okay...
404128 Hahaha, he's fine. We outnumbered the guy four to one so he backed down, haha. All in a day out!
405652
Crazy things happens in Australia...
I'm glad he's okay though
When I read All Paths Lead Home I felt a very deep connection to it. Maby it's because I love post-apocalyptic so much, or maby it's because I love adventure stories with wonderful characters. Whatever it is, I can say that if you write something similar, I will be very happy.
Can't wait to see it!
-JJ2
405958 Character development is honestly the thing I think I have improved most with this new long adventure, so hopefully you will enjoy it!