All There Is To Know About Dash's Secret · 11:12am Oct 16th, 2012
Hey everypony! I've got a bit of a conundrum, and I was hoping my readers could offer me some advice.
So, as you know, I've just uploaded the third chapter of "Dash's Secret", bringing the story so far to a total of about 20,000 words.
(If you're reading this but haven't yet read "Dash's Secret", then be warned that there are spoilers en route.)
When I first wrote "Dash's Secret", it was intended as a one-shot story, a single chapter of about 10k words. The big reveal happens 4k words into the story, so there's a fair portion of the story which can leave the reader trying to figure out just what Dash's secret actually is. That's a decent ratio for stories where mystery is part of the attraction.
Now, however, the "reveal" happens 4k words into a 20k word story. My current estimate is that the final story will be closer to 40k words when it's finished. At that point, the "mystery" part of the story would be a mere 10% of the entire content. At that point, it's not really a mystery, it's just a social exploration work. Thus, is there any point keeping the central premise of the story as a spoiler?
Some of you may be familiar with the trope All There Is To Know About The Crying Game. It means that the "plot twist" or "surprising reveal" of a story is the main thing that would induce a reader to read the story in the first place, which makes it hard to get new people to read it without saying what it's about. I've noticed that the summary of "Dash's Secret" is a bit bland right now - there's nothing which distinguishes it from the dozens of other "pony X has a mysterious secret" stories out there. On the other hand, I've heard of a lot of people recommending it as one of the few transgender pony fics out there. (There need to be more, by the way, in this and every other fandom, I just don't understand why there aren't.) I can't help but feel that keeping the plot secret is doing more harm than good.
So, I'm thinking that I might just make the plot more explicit in the summary, rather than keeping it as a mystery. Thoughts, anypony?
I was surprised when it updated. It seemed to be a one shot to me. Maybe that is an option? Keep the first chapter as a one shot, and make the other chapters into a separate story as a prequel? Of course, I don't know what more is coming. It might not work.
In my opinion the Story is just good as it is. When you read about the Secret which Dash keeps from her friends, then it is, in my eyes, most likely, being a transgender.
To reveal the Secret in the summary is, in my opinion, not right.
You can give some hints tough.
But if it's revealed even before you start reading the story, then there is no point in reading the story.
To read of this secret and then of Sonics origin and how it all happened, how she builds up a life as Rainbow too, is just wonderfull.
I couldn't think of any better way.
I agree with you. It doesn't hurt the story to know from the start what it's about, so changing the summary might persuade more people to read it.
I don't think the story's strength is the mystery as much as its exploration of Dash's feelings, and in general what it is like to be different. Personally, I knew the secret before I started reading because a friend explained the plot, but I was still just as invested as I read. I'd compare it to another fic which is probably my very favorite ponyfic overall: the games we play. I believe that while anypony who read it might have been sucked in because of the promise of mystery, they got entranced by it from how it handles the psychology of the ponies, and gives us excellent insight into their feelings when they're under pressure.
Anyway, I am completely in love with Dash's Secret
, and I don't think the chapters written so far need any changes. It's up to you as the author to decide what you want to do with the fic, however :3 I think this is excellent in the discovering who you are genre, and need not necessarily be mystery. I don't think stories necessarily need to have anything off, blatantly setting them apart from other fics, when they can excel at things already featured in other stories, in this case pony psychology :3
I think that keeping it the way it is would work well. Though there are two things to consider as to whether they would make it even better or not nearly as good (it would still be good, but would take a tiny bit away). 1) Keeping it as is except mentioning that Dash is a transpony in the summary (people would still not know which type and given how tomboyish Dash is, people would probably guess that she is a transcolt as opposed to a transmare) which would have the advantage of making the story easier to find via searching for transpony stories at the cost of a bit of the mystery. 2) Separating it into two stories with the first chapter being Dash's Secret which will keep the mystery by not saying what the mystery is in the summary and then taking the other two chapters (and future chapters) and separating them into another story that has the secret in the summary and says it is about her growing up with it and then put in each stories' summaries, links to the other one. Frankly, any of these choices are good including leaving it the way it is. You just have to figure out which one is the best.
Maybe you should split them up. Dash's secret as a one shot and then Growing up Sonic as a prequel of sorts. Just a suggestion, not sure if it helps.