Chapter 14, and Lore Supplements · 10:34pm Oct 20th, 2017
Hey there buckos. First things first: Chapter 14 is all written, edited, and ready to go. It's a real doozy, coming in at only 5300 words but boy does it pack a punch. Comments from my editor m1nt include snippets such as "Oh my god" in a scene involving Rainbow and Gava, and "Good one" in a scene involving Applejack. There's a few things that come to a head here, including Twilight's corruption and the whole Gava thing altogether, and although I hadn't planned for this chapter to be a climax, it's certainly shaped up to be a mid-act climax for the first third of the story. I'm just giddy at the thought of seeing your reactions!
The main reason I'm making this blog post, however, is the subject of lore supplements. A good author knows that a setting's lore should be treated like an iceberg: you show 10% and imply the rest. Good authors aside, every author knows that they want you to see all the effort they put into their cool-ass worlds. After testing for interest in the story Discord, I've decided to start writing supplemental lore chapters.
Fear not, you won't ever click a notification of an Empty Horizons update only to find its just a bit of lore filler. I will always publish a real story-advancing chapter of plot alongside any given lore chapter.
The lore supplements will be framed as the research Twilight has been doing throughout the story. Research is pretty dull, so I usually don't show it, but that little bookworm has been reading non-stop between every one of her scenes, catching up on the history and culture she's missed and learning about the new world she finds herself in. The first supplement (which I'm working on now, hoping to have it out with the new chapter in a couple days at most) will cover some of Twilight's reading right after she gets the library card. She's read a few history books already, but the supplement will focus more on an archaeological journal she picked up: Sir Sea Diver's Survey of the Sunken City of Stalliongrad. You can thank my co-author for that name. He's great.
I'll be sticking this supplement right after Chapter 4, and it's my hope to tackle topics such as government, religion, trade, and the details on specific settlements in future ones as the story goes on.
Obligatory Discord server plug.
Look for Chapter 14 in the coming days! like right now, apparently.
I always write some notes to see what elements I'll put in my story, and to remind me not to pull plotholes.
I look forward to it sir!