Work is proceeding on next story ... slowly · 10:47pm Mar 27th, 2018
Hello, all. I thought I would give an update as to the progress of the sequel to Pandemic.
Work has been coming along on it, but just not as quickly as I had initially hoped. It's certainly from no lack of ideas or ability to write. I actually have almost four chapters written in rough draft form, and they're even beefier chapters in terms of size and content than the chapters of the first story. The main problem is how to organize it all. There are multiple intertwined subplots going on, and the initial way I had been organizing it might not work out as well I would like.
Part of the problem is the venue in which I am posting the story. When you receive only one chapter every two weeks (what I will likely be aiming for in terms of update schedule), it makes it harder to draw out the setup of the story. Having characters introduced in one chapter not show up again until three chapters later then becomes an issue to some readers. When dealing with a completed novel in your hands, such problems don't show up as much because you have the ability to just keep reading for longer in one go.
In either case, though, I am sure I work out a solution. I feel it's better to just write and get ideas down while they're fresh in my head and see if the characters themselves are working out well. Without good characters, the rest of the story will fall flat no matter how well it's organized.
Perhaps a longer prologue to introduce us to most the major characters that releases along with the first chapter? It wouldn't have to go into great detail, just kind of get us to know who the cast is.
Or 3-5 chapters in the initial release, then go for a regular schedule of releases.
Introducing a character in one chapter only for them to become relevant later on is not unlike how the show does it either. Introducing a character halfway through the season who doesn't appear again until the finale is how we got Thorax, the Pillars, Starlight, Discord, heck even Luna disappears after the series opener and doesn't come back until season 2. As long as the characters are memorable, most will remember them and the others will learn about them again.
Well I honestly wasn't expecting a sequel to Pandemic.
This is good to hear.
Any idea what we'll be expecting regarding the type of story?
Are we looking at slices-of-life, something more like the original with an expanding, escalating crisis/mystery or a human/former-human conflict?
Are you revisiting characters from the original or new characters?
Is it set a long time after Pandemic or still during the pony-American depression?
This news has me kid of excited.
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He announced 2 sequels when he completed Pandemic.
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I guess I just completely forgot.
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Ah. There's also a Pandemic group that he and I are apart of.
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From what I know the first sequel is going to deal with the aftermath of the first story possibly a year later and will include both old characters such as Laura/Sunrise and Twilight as well as introduce new characters while the second sequel will take place about 20 years later in the 2040s and put at least some focus on the next generation of Earth born ponies ones who have never been human. However I am not ASGeek2012 so those plans can change.
Another idea is to have an anthology or character list posted.