Takka Takka Takka: May 2017 Word Counts and My First Fanart! · 5:08am Jun 1st, 2017
Howdy one and all!
Before we get to the month, I’m just going to stop everything right now and freak out just a little. And by a little, I mean a heck of a lot. You see, I just got a comment on The Alchemy of Chemistry. Odd, I know, especially with all this focus in Diamonds Amidst the Stars. But someone apparently fell in love with poor sleep-deprived Sunset Shimmer in Alchemy.
So much so that they actually drew fanart of Sunset Shimmer from The Alchemy of Chemistry!
Seriously. I’m blown away. I’ve never had anyone do fanart of anything of mine before. I kinda feel like this is a rite of passage, too. To create something that someone loved so much that it inspired them to spend their own time and effort and create something cool themselves?
Just… wow. I’m humbled. I’m shocked. I’m still reeling. But squee!!!!!!!!!
This month was one crazy month. And while it’s not ending on the best note personally, I’m happy to say that it was at least somewhat productive. Some cool things happened. First and foremost being… I finally got a dang story out!
But let’s talk words.
Word Count: 30,253
So, while I didn’t hit my goal of 55,000 for the month, there are some pretty good reasons on why that is. But let’s hit those after the break.
First though, let’s get that random quote from a story I’m working on!
“I’ll just lift you into the air until you tell me!” Twilight muttered, her eyes sliding closed. “I can… I can do that you know… ‘cause magic and stuff…”
“Sure you can, Sparky. Sure you can.”
Twilight’s snore brought a smile to Sunset’s lips.
Another hard month for me personally with more family stuff going on. That’s… not looking to get any easier with time, at least not anytime soon. But writing is one of my primary coping mechanisms. And the comments you folks give on my stories do wonders. More than I could ever communicate in words. You guys really do rock.
I want to give a shoutout to everyone who’s joined me in my new Discord Server, Novel’s Nook. You guys have been an amazing font of encouragement and inspiration when I needed it. Plus fun. Fun is good.
As most of you know, I have a brand-new story that just came out this week, Diamonds Amidst the Stars. I’ll admit to being surprised to look back on my April Takka Takka Takka to find that I actually had the first draft done at that point. I’m not sure why everything got pushed down to the wire again. I think I still wanted to bake that story for a while and it needed a rewrite before I was willing to even let my editors see the story.
And this leads into why my word count suffered this month. For pretty much the entirety of this month, I was editing either How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative or Diamonds Amidst the Stars. Weep for the poor Wavelengths Editing Team. They need lots of sympathy for what I put them through this month.
Speaking of the Wavelengths Editing Team, I’m happy to say there’s a new member of the team: Cursori! Cursori comes to us from The Enchanted Library by way of Monochromatic. I’m so very happy she recommended him to me. He’s got this great cheerful attitude while not being afraid to say there’s some issues here and there. Originally brought in for a second fifth opinion on the path of Prerogative, he became critical to the editing of Diamonds.
Thank you, Cursori, for joining the team and I hope you don’t get too badly scarred psychologically (But let’s be honest… the chances of no scars is about nil).
And also a very special thanks to Monochromatic. She doesn't know it, but she's been a huge help to me this month.
Let’s talk about some cool Wavelengths news!
And a Sky Full of Stars Review
PresentPerfect, one of the Curators of the Royal Canterlot Library and a very-high profile reviewer, finished his piece on all the entries in FoME's Imposing Sovereigns Contest in early May! This included And a Sky Full of Stars and Ebon Quill's Little Truths, the prequel set in the Wavelengths Timeline!
I was super thrilled to get such a well-respected reviewer taking a look at one of my stories. And to this day, his words about Sky remain probably my favorite comment.
This story throws a lot of info at you and gives you zero time to process it; it's too busy being (b)ucking epic. Bottom line, if you want to read 15,000 words of Princess Sunset wreaking solar vengeance of everything in her path, this will get your blood pumping
He does point out that I don't give a lot of explanation about the world, which seems to be a reoccurring theme for me. A lot of the comments about Diamonds so far have been more about the world than the actual ship! I think there are more people clamoring to know about the Diamonds World than there were for Sky! Surprising, then again, Sky is a full-bore action fic, while Diamonds is a shipfic that’s very dependant upon the world in which it is written. Astra Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Lady Rarity are deeply steeped in this world, so I guess it makes sense that people would simply want more.
Then again, that works in my favor for Wavelengths. I’ve said it a few times that I’m never going to just infodump you on the universe. Everything will be shown in due time, but not before. It’s up to you to pick up the pieces of what’s going on and what happened in both the past and the future.
Okay, I think that about wraps up the news section of today’s post, so let’s hit the bookshelves, shall we?
May’s Writing Bookshelf:
How Not to Use Your Royal Prerogative - Third Draft in Progress - On Chapter 6
I know, I know. You’re sick of seeing this in the “in-progress” category. Trust me, I’m more tired of it than you. But it needs it. I ended up having to rewrite almost all of Chapter 5, which turned out to be a pretty critical chapter.
Diamonds Amidst the Stars - Completed and Published!
My very first “true” shipfic, showing two ponies getting together! Well, in this case, an alicorn and a deer. And Rarity was wonderful to write in this. Twilight was just as good. Dream sequence was fantastic. In fact, my favorite chapter is probably The Starbound Bond just because of how much pure banter is in there.
Everfree Northwest 2017
June’s Writing Bookshelf:
Coming of the Dawn - In Progress
A new story I’m playing with to get my head clear before going back to Prerogative. Don’t worry, this one is targeted to be short. It’s dealing with something specific. That being said, I’m not totally thrilled with the way it’s going. It’ll probably get a total reboot after the first draft is done. But it’s going to be short and my targeted release day is June 12.
How Not to Use Your Royal Prerogative - Third Draft in Progress - On Chapter 6
Just… yeah. I know. I’m taking a brief break on this one again, because I’ve been hitting my head against it so much that I’m totally and completely blocked. Need to clear my brain before I come back here.
Judging for Interwoven Colours Contest
I have to get to read twenty-four RariTwi stories and somehow judge them! In case you’re wondering, it’s twenty-four because mine doesn’t count, of course! That has to be done by the end of the month. Trying to get into the right mindspace to handle that… but I might just have to take the plunge and dive in!
Everything Else
Everything else is on hold until Prerogative is clear. I’m not even putting anything else on this list. I want Origins done. I want that story complete. This story answers a lot of questions and prepares things for A Study in Chaos Theory. And trust me, you’ll need to be prepared for that bombshell.
Time for my monthly story recommendation! In a recent story of mine, I ended up using Raven again and to my utter surprise, people thought she was an original character! I was shocked (and annoyed because I couldn’t correct them. Thankfully, someone else did). So, let’s clear that up right now with the classic Raven by SaintChoc.
No one alive today can say where she came from; simply that she has always been there.
And yet, few ponies have had a greater impact on Princess Celestia's life than Raven, her most faithful aide.
This story is simply amazing. Not only is it told in these wonderful slice-of-life snippets, but the chronology of the story is amazingly unique, allowing the reader to get a better glimpse into the past with each progression while understanding the future even better.
This is my inspiration for the Raven I use in Wavelengths, Sky and her brief mention in Diamonds. This single story cemented Raven as Celestia’s aide. Forever. Even if I did steal her to become Twilight and Sunset’s aide in Sky.
In other words, go read it right now!
That’s it for this month folks! Don’t worry, I’ll be back soonish with the Retrospective on Diamonds!
Until next time, this has been Novel Idea! Have fun out there!
Always nice to see a progress update! I hope your family stuff gets even a little bit easier for you to deal with.
And though your monthly word count may have dipped...it's still quite impressive. I'm looking forward to what comes from it, even if it's only Coming of the Dawn for now.
One day we shall finally learn how not to use our royal prerogative. One day. But until then...well, we read other fics I guess. I know I'll be checking out Raven, at least.
Edit: And I can't believe I forgot this, but congrats on the fanart! You've reached the next level of the big time, I think.
That's some mighty nice fanart!
It's a really awesome feeling, isn't it?
Yeah, that' pretty accurate for Sunset at that point in her life. Poor thing.
Looking forward to your June output. I actually missed Diamonds Amidst the Stars when it went out, but it's on my Read Later list now.
4554544 Thank you! I do hope to keep this a consistent monthly thing. And don't worry, that story is coming out. Just talking WAY longer than I wanted.
4554583 Beyond description!
4554649 I know? I feel even more horrible for her now... then again, it was probably less painful that a magical rainbow laser to the face.