Status of the Author · 12:39am Apr 2nd, 2018
Things discussed in this blog: Writing progress, future of Broken Mirror, other stuff I may someday write. TLDR at the bottom.
Writing Progress:
When it comes to writing progress, I only really have one story I can discuss right now, Broken Mirror. I picked to start writing Broken Mirror at a horrible time. I wrote the first chapter during a sort of bright-spot in what has been a months-spanning "funk" (I'd say depression, but it'd be self diagnosed). Over the period of that funk, both before and after I'd written the first chapter, I put in just enough effort to maintain some semblance of a college career. I had thought that maybe writing would be something I could get motivated about, and I was motivated for the first two chapters, but this effort like so many others fell to the funk too. About two weeks ago I actually started feeling better and since then I've been pretty good at getting back on track. Now that I've got some amount of motivation and am trying to chart my future course, I've found that writing is very low on my priority list right now. This month is not only final exam period, but also an important period in figuring out what I'll be doing next year. Pretty soon after exams are over, I'll be heading off to China for ten weeks, meaning I also have to do most of the things I'd probably put off until the summer right now. So, basically, I'll be busy from now up until the end of July when I fly back to the States. That means that progress will be slow at best, though if I'm properly motivated at the time, I might pump some out during the brief break I have before leaving for China.
Future of Black Mirror:
To be honest, I'm not all that thrilled about what I've written for Broken Mirror so far. What I've written is solid, sure, but to me it falls flat. The plot has been slow to pick up, and I feel like everything I've written so far lacks pizzazz, which then makes it harder for me to work up the motivation to continue it. Instead, my mind keeps swirling with ideas on how I can instead revamp it. The problem is, the main idea I've got for revamping is just as if not more ambitious than my preexisting plans for it, at a time when I really don't need anything "ambitious" in my crowded schedule. I'm also worried about how my readers might feel about a revamp and about whether I would end up really feeling better about it. What if I write two chapters and lose all motivation? There's also the fact that I'd need to rework what I've already written, which would be a pain for both myself and my readers. In the end though, if its between never working up the motivation to continue Broken Mirror as it exists or making a reboot, I'll chose the reboot once I actually have the time to write it.
So, what form would a reboot take? Most likely, it'd take the form of a three story collection. The first two stories would be called something like "Broken Mirror: White Side" and "Broken Mirror: Black Side" As I conceive it now, they would cover the same chronology, from the time Twilight and Cadance entered the mirror to the point they returned. However, White Side would follow the human world while Black Side would follow Equestria, and both could be read as separate stories. They would eventually combine in a story called "Teo Torriatte: Let Us Cling Together", which is actually almost unchanged from my original plans for what a potential Broken Mirror sequel would have looked like (not that I've thought on it much). How would "White Side" be different from what I have planned now? It would be over quicker and feature less characters, while also leaning a bit more heavily towards fantasy/adventure. This would be to make it fit well with "Black Side" and "Teo Torriatte: Let Us Cling Together", which would both be fantasy/adventure heavy. There would also probably be a lot of music references, particularly to Queen. "White Side / Black Side" is a reference to the album "Queen II", from which I've drawn heavily on for inspiration when I've thought of a reboot, while Teo Torriatte is a double reference. One one hand, it references the Queen song of the same name. On the other, it also references a Tactics Ogre game that, if any of you have played, should give some hint as to the tone of the story. My first playthrough involved having to kill the resurrected corpse of my mass-murdering childhood friend. Nothing I'd write would be that dark, but it'd almost certainly deserve a dark tag Otherwise, I have a few other ideas lurking around in my head for stories, which I'll briefly summarize.
Other Stuff I Might Write:
1) "Scootaloo Sexes a Chicken", a short one-shot I'd hoped to do for today (April Fools). It will be, if I ever finish it, a story that tries as hard as possible to be E-rated while also containing as many instances of "Cock" in one paragraph as I possibly can. Call it silly, call it stupid, I just want to do it.
2) "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", a story where a scaredy-cat, somewhat depressed Roseluck is pulled out of her rut by the constant harassment of Discord. It would pretty much just be friendshipping, and would probably clock in between 5,000 and 10,000 words.
3) "Brotherhood of Man", a story that most closely resembles Life Ever After by Goof Theorist, though I had the idea before I ever read that work. Basically, multiple humans reincarnated in Equestria from various cultures and walks of life try to find their way in the world, eventually discovering each other and forming a sort of self-help group in the process. They may or not be mistaken for some kind of Discordian cult, and they may or may not include one member of the Mane 6, depending on how I feel if I ever actually write it.
4) "Scootaloops", a story about Scootaloo enduring a one-month timeloop with a twist: every time she loops, it's into a new headcannon universe. One loop she's the lovechild of Spitfire and Filthy Rich, one loop she's adopted by Photo Finish, etc. She knows she originally had some kind of family, but her memories of her home life before the loops started are fuzzy. So, once she's done freaking out about the timeloop, she begins working to find a way to restore her memories and return to the home she apparently had before, permanently.
5) "Outlaws of The Everfree", a crossover story for, of all things, MLP and Outlaws of The Marsh, a 100-chapter Chinese classic that I would highly recommend. Basically, the Mane 6 and others would form into a "band of gallant heroes" that basically act like Chinese-style Robin Hoods but with more drinking and killing. I would try to emulate as well as possible the writing style of the best English translation, by Sidney Shapiro, which features such wonderful, colorful lines as:
"He landed a punch on Zheng's nose that flattened it to one side and brought the blood flowing like the sauces in a condiments shop-- salty, sour, and spicy. Zheng struggled vainly to rise. The kinfe fell from his hand. "A good blow," he cried.
"Mother-raping thief," said the major. "How dare you talk back?" He punched the butcher on the eyebrow, splitting the lid so that the eyeball protruded. Red, black, and purple gore flowed like swatches of cloth in a draper's shop.
TLDR; Lack of motivation, exam season, and a China trip mean that I probably won't be writing too much in the next few months. Broken Mirror might get a more fantasy/adventure reboot and otherwise I have a few other ideas, three of which rely on classic Fimfiction tropes, Scootaloo, or classic Fimfiction Scootaloo tropes.
well here's hoping that everything goes great during your exams. i really like the idea of broken mirror white/black side, and when you get around to it I'm sure it will be an exciting read, as are some of the other stories you have mentioned (brotherhood of man, outlaws of the everfree, and scootaloops particularly). well wish you luck on your exams, here's hoping that things calm down for you.
Well, I'm back at last, so I'll go ahead and toss in my thoughts. First, I'm fine with whatever you do with Broken Mirror. I'll admit that I think it would work better with a lighter tone throughout because of the way it will let you mess with Sunset, but you seem to have things in hand so far and there's no reason a darker tone couldn't work so I'll stick with it either way. I will say that the parallel stories idea is a good way to handle a more complex approach to the backside like my thought about hooking up Luna and Chrysalis, especially since it will let the audience see and laugh at the complete disconnect between the assumptions and reality pointed both ways. That said, I think you should give some serious thought to how you can shift your plans with little or no editing before you commit to a rewrite since you haven't written all that much beyond the basic setup and introduction at this point and you can easily start the parallel story without changing anything if you decide you want to do that instead of leaving it hidden from the audience.
As for the rest, I notice you took my silly Roseluck/Discord thought and ran with it so that's obviously my preference if you want to write something else, and the HIE also sounds like it has a lot of potential (although it also sounds like a big project so you're probably better off holding off on it until you finish Broken Mirror). The chicken one also sounds silly and will probably be a good way to loosen up when you need it (and can be held until next year if you happen to finish early), although I'm obviously not expecting a masterpiece of deep literary thought there. The other two also have potential, but at this point I am so sick and tired of time loops that that story doesn't really interest me even if it probably will be good, and while I can see where you're coming from with the outlaws story, I think it will probably take too much forcing to get the MLP cast to fit into it which will probably kill the story.
Finally, good luck on your motivation and general life stuff. I don't think there's much I can say that will be useful on that subject, although you may want to consider bringing a laptop to let you write during your trip.
More, please.