September, 2017 Update · 7:59pm Oct 1st, 2017
To those of you who may be new, I regularly post a blog post "Update" about what happened the prior month on the first of the following month. I probably couldn't have made that sentence more confusing if I had tried. Basically, this is a monthly update post, if you couldn't figure that out. This serves as a recap and update for the month of September and has other additional information.
Read more below the break.
I can now determine with fairly decent accuracy that September is probably my least favorite month of the year. This has certainly been one of the worst, if not the worst, month in recent memory for me. It was a bad month personally. College has been taking up a lot more time, which should be expected, I suppose, and since I'm not trying to get it all done at once, I'm finding that I have few days where I'm motivated to write. I also haven't been able to sit down and read like I want to in a while. I had a two-day period a couple weeks back where I had some very serious depression too... I'm not going into details on it. At one time, I probably said to myself I'd never comment about things like that...
September has been a very long, slow, and drawn out month for me. I am very glad it's over. I'm looking forward to a new month and a new start!
A recap and summary of my writing in September...
I did not write a lot this month. Without having sat down and done the excel statistics check yet, I would guess I actually wrote 12,000 words this month, of which I published maybe half that. Now, I'm probably grossly underestimating that, but that's what it's felt like for me. It's possible that I'm getting burnt out. I really hope not- I think it's just how swamped I've been with life.
I finally updated Civil War of Harmony this month after something like a 2-3 month hiatus. Unfortunately, my main prereader is still missing. I also haven't sat down to work on it anymore yet, since September has been a very trying month for me. I think I have a very basic/general plan for what's coming up soon, but I also think that I'm going to have to do some serious rereading in it before I really sit down and start at it again... So I don't know when the next update will come out. I'm hoping it will be at the end of October, but I have some serious doubts about that.
I finally finished Critical Mass! I'm not sure I should really say "finally" for that since I really wasn't working on it for that long. I'm pleased with how it's turned out, although the support I've received from it is less than I had hoped for... That said, I still look forward to continuing this series, and I did kind of forget that Critical Mass really isn't for everyone.
I finally managed to update The End War. It was hard to do this because almost immediately after getting the story out, I lost the motivation to work on it. I'm not sure what kind of update schedule is going to work out for it. Chapter 3 was originally much longer, but the second half didn't really feel right, and I didn't have time to work on it, so I decided to split it into two and publish the first part yesterday while saving the second part (which will probably get completely reworked) for later.
I started on the Author's Commentary series this month. So far, there are three entries, going from Meltdown to Reaction chapter 2. I'm kind of enjoying it, but I'm not all that motivated to keep at it. I've noticed that as I work on it, I more strongly want to get started on the next story in this series- but I'm not ready for it yet. My plans for it are still very underdeveloped. I know some things that I want/need to happen in the upcoming stories, but, as with before, I have ideas which I'm not sure how to reconcile or both fit into the main story.
Going into more detail, my current thoughts on the next story in that series (which really needs a name) currently pertain with a one-shot story, or something short, to bridge between Critical Mass and the next major story. Right now, I'm considering having Twilight and Rainbow going to the Crystal Empire. I don't really have a reason as to why they'd do that, and I haven't decided on whether or not her wing will have regrown yet, or be regrowing. I could potentially work that into the next major story in this series. The Crystal Empire, or rather someone there (possibly more than just one) will probably play a role in the next major story. I'm just not sure what all to do.
I also, perhaps obviously, have not worked on any new one-shots, despite my intentions to. I still have several ideas, but, as was said prior, September was a bad month. Currently, I have one one-shot planned, and I probably would have it finished, but I haven't started on it because I don't have a good name for it... Basically, it's a one-shot where Rainbow Dash is Princess Celestia's filly (and an alicorn). I'm still pondering it, but I think I have a pretty good (or at least okay) idea for it. The other major idea I'm pondering is another TwiLuna story. It might serve as a sequel to my other TwiLuna story, centered around Twilight's coronation.
Statistics, for those of you, who like me, are into this sort of thing.
Additional comments...
A lot of you who are following me are new! I'm excited about that. Pretty soon, I'll be doing another special for a follower milestone. This time, it'll be a 75 follower special! I'm not sure what I'll do to celebrate it yet. I'll probably do another Q and A session like I did last time. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in a comment! I've also considered the possibility of setting up a Discord server as a sort of celebration. That said, if you don't know, I'm an introvert, so that idea scares me. I'm still considering it, however.
I've also set a personal goal to get 80 followers by the end of this month, so I'm going to try to write more in an effort to reach that goal. Furthermore, I have a goal set to have 100 followers by January. That is probably pushing it a little too much, but it's something that might be obtainable, and, as they say, set your goals high to challenge yourself.
Also, fairly soon I'll be hitting another couple of milestones- Civil War of Harmony has almost hit 200,000 words in length, and the series of Meltdown-Reaction-Critical Mass (which still needs a name) will soon hit 300,000 words in length (most likely with the next story in this series).
A name for the series might be "fission", because it is the series were twilight and her horn split apart or something like that, though with a name like that it may get confusing since it is not instantly recognisable with the titles you've made. You'd have to think for like 5-10 seconds to make the connection so maybe it's not that good. Then again if the final story in this series is called "fusion" it may work better as it kind of links in to the start of the series and makes a loop.
As a name for the crystal empire strory, if it has a negative and sad tone mabye "decay" and if it has a positive and happy (or at least as happy as twilight can be) tone it could be called "half life" as twilight's pain fades away over time (though this title may be more suitable for a longer story, but that's just my opinion, I'm not the one writing this)
As for her wing maybe she could get a bionic wing? i mean it is very clear this equestria is much more advanced than the one in the show, because, you know, nuclear reactor. And if you want a reason as to why they can't make a bionic horn you can say something along the lines of " a spell is much more complex than a wing flap because it requires a very accurate ability to know exactly what the pony is thinking, it literally has to read their mind.". It, the wing, should have disadvantages like having to be recharged, not as effective as a regular one, and obviously training won't make it any better.
I'm just saying I want technology because I love technology, and a spell that solves the problem is kind of cheaty.
If i come up with any other/better ideas for names and twilight's wing then I'll post another comment.
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I was going to reply sooner, but things came up.
I like the idea of calling the series "fission," but like you said, it's somewhat confusing and not instantly recognizable. That said, it does make sense and I like the allusion you make about it as a reference to Twilight losing her horn. I also like the idea of the final story being called "Fusion" and having it sort of loop around to the series title. I kind of have plans to use "Fusion" as a title for one of the stories, but I'm still developing my ideas and plans.
The general plan for the next story is to be a lighter, happier mood, and once again, I'm feeling silly for not thinking of using "Half Life" yet, that said, that is a game and it also kind of sounds sad... I had thought about using Decay before, however. I may still end up using it depending on a few things. And the issue with needing a longer story is a bit problematic.
More detail about the idea for the Crystal Empire as a setting is Twilight's wing isn't regrown, but her side is healed and her wing is starting to regrow. She struggles to balance properly, but she can walk fairly well (although her left gait is longer than her right gait). She also is likely going to be fairly silent, and pointedly silent, due to the trauma she's been through. As the story progresses, I kind of envision her coming out of her shell so to say, and not being as silent as she had been. I've considered using a premise of them going for a vacation on a holiday, but I don't know what holiday it'd be, partially because I'm not sure what time of year it's going to be. (It happens soon after Critical Mass, but I'm not entirely sure I know what time of year the series has gone through yet...) I want to include in it talk about Twilight's wing regrowing, and her side being sensitive, shown with a scene of somepony accidentally touching her side and Twilight jerking away, while she'll still let Rainbow touch her side. I also want to include a scene with them telling Cadance that they're together, followed up with a scene between Cadance and Twilight talking. I'm also mulling over the idea of having Starlight and Sunburst being there and starting down a road where I can have them be a couple too.
I still have a lot to work out in that idea. I have more plans, but I need to weave it all together correctly. Although that said, the next long story will likely be quite interesting, since her horn's going to grow back, but not before something else of interest is dealt with...
Another person has suggested using bionics, robotics, or prosthetics to fix Twilight's wing and horn issue (also suggested alchemy and the such). I'm not the biggest fan of that idea, but that may be because I really want Twilight's wing to regrow and I just think that going down that route makes it impossible for her wing to regrow. Spells are definitely cheaty. It's part of the reason why Discord is unable to help Twilight with her issues. I did consider bringing out the Elements of Harmony to fix Twilight, but... again, that's too cheaty. I mean it would make sense that it would work, but it seems too forced.
I'd write more but it's late, so I might have more to say sometime tomorrow.