A note regarding Sun and Hearth, and Chapter 14 post-update blog · 2:34am Nov 16th, 2017
I just posted a new chapter of Sun and Hearth, with another chapter ready for next week, one that should be done by this weekend, and only four more chapters left to write after that. If luck is on my side, I’ll have it finished by the end of the year. If not, I’ll one hundred percent have it done by February, a year after I first posted it. Not bad for what’s going to end up as a 100k+ word fic.
Before I get to the post-update blog, let me talk a bit about where this fic is and where I am.
See, I’m really conflicted about this fic. It’s my most ambitious undertaking. Just about everything in it is intentional, and there are a ton of Cool Writer Tricks I’m trying to pull off -- symbols, leit motifs and recurring situations, non-sequential storytelling, implicit motivations ignored by unreliable third person limited narration…
I don’t know if it’s working. It certainly doesn’t seem to be for some readers.
I blame myself for this. I know I did the story a disservice by taking a seven month hiatus. I think even updating weekly probably didn’t help matters. I was also probably too subtle with things that were important (and please note, I know when some authors say “I was too subtle” they seem to mean “my readers weren’t smart enough.” I do not mean that, I mean “maybe this is only clear to me because I already know it’s important.”)
I’ll be fair to myself and say there also seems to be some personal bias in terms of things I see as understandably important to the characters seeming unimportant to some readers, while they get stuck on things I see as non-issues. But that’s a danger of writing fiction about anything other than the most universally agreed upon problems. I’m sorry if it’s the case, but there’s not much I could do about it.
The other things, well there’s not much I can do about the hiatus now, but lesson learned. I’m still trying for a weekly schedule because I prefer it and I doubt it matters at this point.
I did rework the chapters going forward, and bring on a new prereader, in hopes of clarifying without becoming heavy handed. My original ending didn’t change, but the order of some events and the emphasis of scenes did, so even if people were missing things before I hope we can end on the same page.
All of that being said, I love this fic. When I read it, it’s everything I intended it to be, and I intended it to be the most creative, complex, important thing I’ve ever even tried to write. For me, it ties all of that up with a pretty bow on top.
If that’s not what you get in the end, I can’t say how sorry I am that I wasted your time. I’ll have some more shorter fics coming soon which are back in my safe zone.
In the meantime, I’m going to push to get back on a weekly release schedule. The first scene in the first chapter takes place at the Summer Sun Celebration. This chapter I just published takes place just before Nightmare Night. So if I can get one chapter a week out for the next seven weeks, the end of the fic will land exactly where I want it, which would please me to no end. And everyone will be too busy to read it.
...yeah, that’s about right for this fic.
Now, go read Chapter 14 - The Crux of the Matter. If you already have, keep reading for the post-update blog!
Ending Credits Music:
Author Notes:
Smooth move on that chapter opening, huh? I mean, clearly that’s where I was going…
I have trouble with the word “footpony.” Technically I feel it should be “hoofpony,” but I balk at leaving none of the original word to ground it.
...Why yes, Celestia does have box seats at the water-opera-ballet-thing, why do you ask?
With regards to the reveal, I was planning to leave the framing in place for a while longer. But I think some folks were missing the picture for the frame, so now that’s out there.
Anyone who doesn’t know where Twilight arranged for Cookie to stay has forgotten who’s writing this fic.
Worldbuilding:
I can’t remember if I mentioned this before, but if I can’t remember you probably don’t, so I’ll say it anyway.
So, we got more Twilight, and Cookie is hanging around in Ponyville and there will probably be some Mane Six interaction, so this seems like a good time to mention that I purposely write Cookie differently from the Mane Six and Cadance, and not just based on age.
If you’ve read my other founders stories, you might have noticed that the founders were not the nicest ponies. Most of them drank and swore -- in their style -- pretty regularly, they were cynical, they were sharp even with their friends, or emotionally distant, some of them were raunchy.
This is intentional. None of them, Cookie and Celestia and Luna included, grew up in Equestria as it is today. The world they came from was rougher, meaner, more corrupt, and more violent. Compared to them, Twilight and the mane six are naive even at similar ages, because the founders succeeded, over time, at building a better world. Cookie, Celestia, and Luna have adjusted to this world, they expect it, but I try to show it in their concerns and reactions and the angles they come at situations from.
Questions to Answer:
So, who wants to have tea with Celestia?
Do you think I’m going to tell you what the magic is? Do you think I told you already?
I want to have tea with her!
And I think you already mentioned the magic when you broke down the different kinds of magic in your headcanon, but that there has been a sliver of a hint in story.
I really love how the founders’ unique worldview is more complex and nuanced that slinging a few ‘thees’ And ‘thous’. Cookie is so much fun to read.
Me me me me oh please me
I’m anticipating a bombshell aha! moment.
I, too, latched onto the word "footpony" and thought it should have been "hoofpony" instead. I think enough people know the original word well enough to not actually need any of it around anyways and for the ones that don't the context is there.
I've never been able to get into drinking hot tea. I've tried in the past but never found something I liked. I'm an iced sweet tea man, true southern raised (if not born). I'd still like to sit for cookies with Celestia if she didn't mind me having something other than hot tea to drink.
As for what the magic is... I'd like to know, and right now I'm still unsure if the story is better served without an answer or not. For there are indeed some answers to questions that detract from a story.
This story isn't about the magic keeping Cookie alive, it is about him and Celestia. The answer to this question, once it is clear it is not their love of each other that is, is not relevant to the story itself. It'd be nice to know, but not finding out will not make the story any less impactful.
I have the distinct feeling that rereading the story and the afterparty blogs will unveil the answer.
As for tea with Celestia, maybe, so long as we didn't get into an argument. I know I'd lose, and I'm not sure whether I'd hate her or thank her afterwards.
It's settled, you'll just have to get it right in the sequel. :D
And hey, what writer ever found satisfaction playing it safe?
Duh, everybody of course. Who wouldn't?! Sign me up!
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What do you mean..."get into an argument with Celestia"??
This story is anything but a waste of time, thought I would let you know. It is a very provocative story that brings up questions that the reader can reflect upon their own lives.
As to the blog questions, I would rather have tea with Princess Twilight but if invited I certainly wouldn't refuse or mind. As to the crux of the matter, perhaps you have layed out clues or perhaps not, I think that Smart Cookie's immortality is not based upon a spell or ritual or even a geas, nor is it simply a matter of love or harmony, perhaps it's a matter of proximity, like a form of radiation if you will, or perhaps if the stars actually do have a hand in destiny, perhaps it was always meant to be, or perhaps it was an innocuous thing, a look, a word, a single instance of Celestia and Cookie having "fun" with each other. I'll continue reading to find out and if at the end I still am confused I might PM you for the cliff notes that you mentioned several blog entries ago.